New books published: February 2012

Baby

Pull and Play Opposites

By Ana Martin Larranaga

Published by Campbell Books
ISBN 9780230750401
RRP £4.99

Adorable jungle animals make learning about opposites lots of fun for very small children. Each page, including the cover, has a sturdy tab to pull – the elephant squirts water, the giraffe’s neck grows and lion’s tail wiggles.

With each tab come word-prompts for the reader, reminders that you can point out the opposite to the child. So the elephant is big while the bird is small, the snail is slow and the cheetah is fast and so on.

The colours throughout are gorgeously bright and the illustrations are full of energy, making them very appealing to little ones, while the mirror on the last page is going to catch their attention every time.

Toddler

Jump on Board the Animal Train

By Naomi Kefford & Lynne Moore

Published by Simon & Schuster
ISBN 9781847385895
RRP £5.99

A clip-clopping, trip-trapping, click-clacking journey to meet the train – Jump on board and off we go!

One little boy is going on a fantastic journey to meet a train. On the way he is joined by bears, elephants, tigers and more – but just wait until the birthday boy reaches the train and discovers the biggest surprise in store!

Children can follow the visual clues on the split pages to guess which animal is coming up next and join in with the different sounds the animals make – the tiger’s tail swishes, the bear’s paws pad, the elephant’s feet plod.

And look out for the cheeky monkeys, the happy hippo and the singing penguins in the final surprise!


 

3 - 5 years

Socks

By Nick Sharratt

Published by David Fickling Books
ISBN 9780857560377
RRP £10.99

A socktastic, sockalicious, sock-a-zooming celebration of all things socks by one of the nation’s favourite author / illustrators, and the creator of ‘Pants’.

The ‘sockywockydoodah’ rhymes will take a little bit of practice but once you’re in the rhythm, this sock-adventure flows.

‘Sockywockydoodah!
A-tick-a-tick-a-tock
What’s the time in Sockland?
It’s always socks o’clock!

A girl and boy set out to explore Sockland where everything is made of socks. Look out for the ‘sockerel’ singing sock-a-doodle-doo!, the teeny tiny sock ponies and even Goldisocks (and three cross bears) make an appearance.

The black and white illustrations are enlivened with an array of colourful socks, encouraging children to guess the names of the curiously sock-like creatures that fill the pages. The humour and the rhymes make this a brilliant story to read-aloud, while the illustrations will be endlessly explored and will raise many a chuckle.

For more information on ReadingZone please visit www.readingzone.com