LJ's beautiful books

By Charlie Mackesy Published by Ebury Press. All ages. This truly stunning book deserves the praise and love given to it and its place as the Waterstones Book of the Year 2019. In this book, a boy has conversations with his companion animals as they travel and they offer wisdom to each other. It reminded me of A.A.Milne the first time I read it - gentle, thoughtful prose and characters. While the illustrations are raw but beautiful, the writing is simple yet proverbial - which makes this book universally appreciated. I love that adults can enjoy this picture book the way a child does, whilst reflecting on the profound writing at the same time. It is a special book, a gift book and is filled with encouragement. Buy on Waterstones.com

By Beatrice Blue Published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books All ages This really sweet and gorgeous picture book tells the story of how June teaches a little horse to fly in a magic forest and how unicorns got their horns. My favourite part of this book is June finding the 'tiny magic horses' in the forest - HOW UTTERLY CUTE! However, the heart of this story is about finding magic through helping others to be happy. A delightful little read. Buy on Waterstones.com

By Britta Teckentrup Published by Little Tiger Group. All ages. This is a simple but poignant picture book featuring lovely illustrations of animals across different habitats with rhyming text describing their similarities. There are little cutouts throughout that link the different pictures and text in a subtle but clever way. The illustrations are just gorgeous - my favourite is the cat family on the first page. Animal and nature lovers will enjoy this picture book that also promotes reflection on our world and its creatures. Buy on Waterstones.com

By Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Brigette Barrager Published by Random House New York All ages. Uni the Unicorn (also featured on this blog) is one of my favourite picture books - it is so beautiful (and also now all over my store...). However it is all about the dreaming and the reader only imagines Uni and the little girl meeting.... UNTIL NOW! This hardback features even more illustrations, colour, rainbows and unicorns than the first book. However, my favourite part of this story is the little girl and Uni helping other animals... just like they dream they do in the first one. A magical picture companion to fans of the original book! Buy on Waterstones.com