LJ's beautiful books

By Nadia Shireen Penguin Random House Children's All ages I love, love, love this book - I read it cover to cover with a smile on my face (apart from scary dragon bits). Billy and Fatcat (cat companion -sold already!) are at a fancy dress party with little animals when a dragon grabs and flies away with Fatcat! It's up to Billy to rescue her sidekick... This book has humour - including Fatcat's expressions, (just one example of the simple, textured and expressive illustrations). It has animals so adorable they literally have an 'adorable' prefix. It has a determined, brave heroine - dressed as a knight, who represents girls of colour. However, although Billy is physically brave and the rescue is funny, she is clever - she discovers why the dragon took her cat in the first place in a really smart plot twist. Cleverness, cats, girl knights and dragons called Simon... absolutely brilliant!

By Rachel Bright and Chris Chatterton Published by Orchard Books All ages How can a book about anxiety also be adorable? Because Worrysaurus is a seriously cute little dinosaur! These soft, simple illustrations show not only Worrysaurus on a picnic, but also what he is worrying about. At the centre of this story however is how he uses techniques to refocus - my favourite is him hugging his teddy! Anyone anxious, big or small can relate to this heartwarming tale of a dinosaur overcoming his anxiety and learning to enjoy the present moment - or picnic! 

By Jane Hissey (My 1988 edition published by Beaver Books) All ages  Bringing a wonderful classic picture book back for your attention because it deserves it! This tale is about determined teddy animal friends who try different ways to reach Old Bear - who has been put in the attic by the humans. Each toy has a different idea but the biggest involves them all!  Each character is illustrated so vividly - (even down the the type of fluff they have) that they come alive even without the text and at a poignant moment when Little Bear sees Old Bear, the two page spread becomes illustration only - a formatting statement that honours the quality of these beautiful pictures.  Adults find this book nostalgic yes, but anyone who loves teddies or fluffy toys, names them or imagines adventures for them will love this book.  In this story the currently used teddies want to make sure Old Bear is still included as a teddy. Hopefully 'Old Bear' will also be...

By Matt Carr Published by Egmont All ages This cover pops out at you like confetti and I love it! This story of Ron the rhinocorn is my picturebook of the month.  Ron knows that rhinos are meant to be grey, grumpy and solitary but he just doesn't feel that way. He, along with an amazing group of meerkats set out to change the rules and get colourful in the process... There are two aspects to this book that I love. The first is that it encourages creativity and expression (I too, love pink and stars...) The second is that the meerkats defend and help Ron (as well as paint pretty flowers). This book is bright, fun and full of colour, but ultimately the story is about Ron and the meerkats being brave. I heart it. 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

By Judith Kerr Published by HarperCollins children's books All ages There is so much to love about this classic picture book. It's funny - Mog sees a 'walking tree', dreams of mice and is mistaken for Father Christmas. It's beautiful - Kerr's illustration of Mog is cute, expressive and lifelike throughout. What I love the most is that Mog is part of the family Christmas, with her own present and the picture of Debbie cuddling Mog by the Christmas tree is one of the cutest images ever. A perfect Christmas gift for cat lovers of any age! Buy on Waterstones.com

By Rihannan Fielding and Chris Chatterton Published by Ladybird All ages What's better than a sparkly unicorn book? A Christmas sparkly unicorn book!  This picture book is a new festive addition to the cute 'Ten Minutes to Bed' picture book series and a second pre- bedtime adventure for Twinkle the little unicorn. This time, told in the same style of a rhyming countdown, it's Christmas Eve and 10 minutes before Twinkle's bedtime she meets Father Christmas who has one missing poorly reindeer but lots of presents to deliver. Is there enough time for Twinkle to help? The illustrations throughout are all on a purple-blue-pastel background which is gorgeous. The pictures of Twinkle with all the reindeer are guaranteed to make you smile, as are the little touches such as the poorly reindeer's hot water bottle or the excited rabbits that appear throughout the book.  This is a pretty, perfect, picture book gift for little ones and unicorn lover...

By Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell Published by Puffin All ages This is one of my all time favourite picture books that touched my heart immediately. I believe should be considered a 'classic'. It has deservedly won the UNESCO Prize and been shortlisted for the Smarties Prize and the Kate Greenaway Medal.  'Something Else' (pictured on the cover with his adorable mini-me teddy that I love) is called that because that's how everyone else sees him. He is 'different' and made to feel lonely for it. Until he meets another creature considered 'different'... The text is simple and short, but, paired with such vivid and emotional illustrations proves so powerful in few words:  'He didn't see the things they saw'. The first time I read it - and I mean read Riddell's expressive pictures just as much as Cave's text - I nearly cried with the empathy I felt for 'Something Else'.  This story is about fr...

By Eric Carle Published by Puffin All ages Time for one of my favourites... because I think this is one of the most beautiful picture books there is (but not as well known as a certain caterpillar...)! This story highlights the male seahorses and fish that carry and look after eggs instead of the female - which makes it a unique picture book to begin with, however visually this is Carle at his colourful best. Mister Seahorse himself is a BEAUTIFUL work of art (and wait for the babies!). This seahorse, with the fish and plants make for such vibrant images on each page. In addition, some sea plants are on see-through pages for both a collage AND hide-and-seek effect for the reader. This art, story and format makes for a very special, standout, picture book. Buy on Waterstones.com

By Michael Whaite Published by Puffin books All ages This picture book is a fun, colourful celebration of all kinds of cat - including their different personalities. The types of cat are part of an overarching rhyme which finishes in a wonderful illustrated collage of cats.  Readers who have or know cats will enjoy choosing or matching them to the ones in the book - I know I did! Buy on waterstones.com  

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.