Foundation Stage

SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN, written and illustrated by Chris Haughton (Walker)

Chris Haughton uses a distinctive colour palette in each of his books. In this, his third picture book, he utilises many shades of blue to depict the nocturnal wanderings of four bird catchers. The attempts of the three fellows at the front to capture the radiantly coloured bird are consistently foiled. And then … the littlest one at the back takes a different tack, with unexpected results. The book has a simple repetitive text, which children will quickly access for themselves as they enjoy the pictures peopled with Chris Haughton’s characteristic and comical angular and wide-eyed figures.

Year 1

Bedtime for Monsters, written and illustrated by Ed Vere (Puffin)

Do you ever wonder if somewhere, not too far away, there might be MONSTERS? This charming and funny book takes children on a journey to find out what monsters are really like. This clever tale explores different layers of meaning, with one story being conveyed through the text and another through the illustrations, with a touching ending that should allay fears of the monster under the bed.

Year 2

Grendel, written and illustrated by David Lucas (Walker)

Grendel is a little monster who adores chocolate. So when he is presented with the opportunity of making three wishes – guess what he does? In this new take on the King Midas story, a wish that everything he touches would turn to chocolate has the inevitable consequences.

Year 3

Here Comes Frankie by Tim Hopgood (Macmillan)

Frankie decides that the extremely quiet life he leads with his parents needs livening up and he acquires a trumpet. As he learns to play, he discovers that he can see and smell sounds conjured by the music as well as hear them and this awakening of the senses extends to his parents and neighbours too. This is demonstrated visually through colours and patterns in the illustrations and the book begins and ends with palette pages on which each colour is evocatively named. A brief note explains that what happens to Frankie is known as synaesthesia and mentions creative people who have also experienced this.

Year 4

Is there a dog in this book? written and illustrated by Viviane Schwarz (Walker)

The playful cats Viviane Schwarz introduced in two earlier books reappear for further face to face interaction with us, their readers. They suspect that there may be a dog close by and they implore us to hide them from him. Do they really need to be afraid? And who is really the scaredy cat?

Year 5

The Story Machine by Tom McLaughlin (Bloomsbury)

Elliott is a curious boy who finds a mysterious machine. He can’t figure out what to do with it. Then one day he makes it work by accident and discovers that it is a story machine with letters that make words. However, Elliott finds letters hard to contend with until, the aid of his imagination and a magnifying glass, he notices a picture amongst them. This sets him off on the path to a world of his own storymaking. His enthusiasm means that the machine eventually ‘malfunctions’. Initially made despondent by this, Elliott soon realises that he is the true creator of his stories not the machine. The Story Machine is never named in the text but the pictures make it clear that it is a typewriter. The font used mimics the typeface of a conventional typewriter in the days before computers allowed experimentation with these and this is also an integral part of the illustrations.

Year 6

Croc and Bird by Alexis Deacon (Red Fox)

Croc and Bird hatch out from eggs lying side by side on the sand and assume that they are brothers. They nurture and shelter each other but the day comes when they realise that they are not brothers after all. Will they follow nature’s course or allow the behaviour they have learned from each other and the interdependency of their early lives to influence what happens? A touching portrayal that would complement other picture books about identity.