I was very excited to receive a wonderful trio of picture books from Little Tiger and really enjoyed reading each of them and looking at their beautiful illustrations. These will all be published on 3rd April. I have reviewed each of them in this Blog Post.
Our Tree is a stunning hardback picture book celebrating togetherness, community and acceptance.
Tree feels a small animal’s feet climbing up their trunk. They welcome Little Red who wants the tree all for himself but Tree good naturedly reminds him that lots of other animals and insects rely on them for food, rest and shelter from caterpillars to swifts to elephants. Little Red would rather be swishing leaves than eating them, jumping on branches than resting in them and playing by himself than being together with others. He is not at all impressed when he discovers that Tree is for everyone and not just for him so decides to find a tree that’s all for himself. In his rush to leave Tree, he falls and finds himself in need of friends …
This is a wonderful story that will teach young children the importance of friendship and community as Little Red learns lessons in sharing, tolerance and acceptance.
The language is a joy to share with younger children with its use of onomatopoeia, action verbs and repetition of the phrase “Look behind you!” which I can imagine young children enjoying joining in with as they listen to the story.
The illustrations are stunning with an image of Tree personified on every page, full of gentleness, kindness and celebrating the community that they welcome. The colours are a blend of both muted pastel natural shades of browns, greens and blues with Little Red and the other creatures shown in brighter hues. I really liked this contrast and the wide variety of animals and insects on the pages which I have no doubt young children will enjoy finding and identifying. I also loved the movement within the images which suits the use of the action verbs within the story perfectly.
A gorgeously illustrated picture book for young children of 3+.
I am Strong Just Being Me is a beautifully illustrated poem celebrating ways to be strong for ourselves and others told through the imagery of strength in nature.
This beautiful, thought-provoking story begins with a series of questions about the meaning of what it is to be strong and whether it is something we should strive to be.
Bean sets out to explore the concept of strength and begins by asking her nanna what strength is. Her Nanna answers her question by first sharing what strength is not and then by sharing a range of ways in which strength is shown from knowing when to speak up and when to be quiet to making mistakes and asking for help as well as finding the courage to say sorry, forgive and give others a second chance.
Bean and her Nanna share their conversation in her Nanna’s beautiful, wild garden and the illustrations of nature act as metaphors for the written traits of strength such as a mouse keeping quiet when a cat is hunting, birds defending their chicks or a tiny seedling growing in strength into a tree capable of changing and growing. I love the final message that there is strength in just being yourself – wonderfully empowering!
The illustrations are gorgeous with both bright and pastel colours depicting a wild, spring garden with its plants and creatures. I loved how Bean and her Nanna stand out against the more impressionistic depiction of the garden. The close bond of love between Bean and her Nanna is perfectly portrayed in both words and illustrations.
The endpapers are beautiful with beautiful illustrations of plants and herbs with a note of what they are associated with from friendship to protection to happiness and bravery.
A stunning hardback picture book with an empowering message about strength, perfect for children of 3+.
Small Steps, Big Change is a wonderful picture book on sustainable living, inspired by The Sustainable Development Goals (formulated by the United Nations).
Children are introduced to illustrations of twelve heroes from Nature Hero to Fairness Hero and Energy Hero before they start the book. The characters encourage children to take small steps for change to protect our earth, ourselves and each other and to share these steps with friends and family.
Each of these 12 heroes share small ways in which we can make a difference for ourselves and others from sourcing food locally to taking care of our minds and bodies to saving water and energy and treating others fairly. This book is both informative and empowering and I can really see it being a catalyst for children to make changes in their own lives and to encourage the adults in their lives to do likewise. I think this is a wonderful book for teachers to share with their class to open up discussions around sustainable development. The message that taking small steps can lead to big changes is such a powerful and hopeful one.
This book is incredibly engaging with direct questions to the reader, practical advice from the sustainable development heroes and factual information. The illustrations are both fun and helpful and complement the encouragement from the heroes perfectly.
A wonderful book to encourage and inspire young readers – and their adults- to make a difference through small steps that will lead to big change. This is a book I’m excited to share with my class and is ideal for readers from 5+.
Thank you to Little Tiger for providing me with copies of these three fantastic picture books. It was my choice to review them and all opinions are my honest reviews of these books.
Book Craic 