LJ's beautiful books

By Chris Wormell  Published by David Fickling Books 9 yrs and upwards This wonderfully illustrated adventure story is about a lonely and mistreated girl called Clementine trying to escape from her horrible aunt and uncle who live in the Great Black City. Locked in the house, she dreams of The Magic Place... but one day she gets a chance to escape and her adventure begins. Little does she know though, that someone out there is searching for her too... Clementine is aided by her best friend Gilbert, a very clever cat and the drawings of them both together are my favourite illustrations in book. Gilbert being crucial to the story is what initially drew me to this book. The writing and characters are reminiscent of Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket; the aunt and uncle are typical villains, (and sometimes violent) but they also get what they deserve...  The story involves roof-top chases, a big twist, hero dogs, a very important toy rabbit and of course, crucial help f

By Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler Published by Scholastic All ages 'The Ugly Five' isn't as well known as The Gruffalo and friends... but it should be!  Each illustration of the savannah animals with the African Plains backgrounds by Scheffler are colourful and gorgeous- but the moral of the tale is just as beautiful.  The text is the traditional silly and memorable rhyme that Donaldson does well, but this time is based on a song that changes with each new animal who joins in... with a lovely twist on the song at the end. Five animals including a warthog and wildebeest sing about how 'ugly' they are (how they see themselves) until their REALLY cute baby animals appear and tell them the truth and how they see them. Cue perception and song change.  In short, 'The Ugly Five' is adorable. 

By Alison Uttley Published by Puffin 9 yrs and upwards  I don't know how I missed this time-honoured British children's novel when I was younger, but I was excited to find it recently and read about Penelope's forays into Tudor times and whether she would meet Mary Queen of Scots!  There are some really beautiful descriptions of Penelope's home farm in Derbyshire, but I would have liked Penelope/the reader to have spent a little more time in the past - of which we get limited glimpses (which does add to the suspense, of course).  That Penelope dreams and daydreams and is often unwell reminds me of Marianne Dreams - another British children's classic. The way Penelope transfuses in and out of the past is an unusual and ethereal quality of this story, again written using lovely and haunting descriptions.  Most of Penelope's time in the past is spent directly contrasting the two farms in their different times, which would appeal to history