Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Rave Reviews...

Check out these fantastic reviews of some of our upcoming Picture Book Picnic titles from the people at We Love This Book:


The Boat That Rocked


Polly Dunbar’s surreal seafaring voyage proves to be a boat not to be missed.


When little Arthur wakes one morning, he’s eager to explain the strange, seafaring dream he’s just had to his mum, dad and siblings. But they don’t seem to be listening, and elements of Arthur’s dream keep cropping up on each successive page. Not even Arthur seems to have noticed the boat steadily perched on top of his head. Unless, of course, this is the dream…
  Polly Dunbar (Penguin, Dog Blue) writes and illustrates this unusual little tale. She takes a fairly tricky notion- how do you explain how dreams work to a youngster?- and lets a very simple story do all the work. Towards the end words fall away entirely, leaving only sparse, striking images, replete with eye-popping colours and patterns. It’s gently surreal, in the grand tradition of bizarre children’s picture-book creators such as Maurice Sendak, Davis McKee and Anthony Browne. While fun from the first pass, it reveals more and more with each reading. Small readers will spend many happy hours unravelling the little details within.


Walker HB Out March


By Chris Haughton
Walker HB Out March


When Harris goes out for a bit, George the dog promises to be good- but chocolate cake is very hard to resist, and he does love to chase cats and dig soil so much… Oh No, George!, the second picture book from Chris Haughton, the award-winning writer and illustrator of A Bit Lost, is fun to read and will appeal to children and adults alike. The story is full of humour, but there’s also a great message about saying sorry and trying to be good- even when it’s very difficult because your urges are pulling you in the other direction! With his strong, vibrant colours, lively characters and distinctive writing style, Haughton is quickly becoming one of our best new picture-book authors.