How to Grow a Garden by Frances Tophill and Charlotte Ager

2025   

 

Adult, fluent reader, ages 9 -99+, ages 7-11, Tophill Frances, Ager Charlotte, rewilding, environment, picture book, non-fiction, horticulture,   

This book would make an excellent contribution to a primary school library and interest wouldn’t be restricted to those who are passionate about the environment. It is aspirational.   

 A contents page near the beginning of the book identifies sections: Flowers and Herbs, Trees, Hedges and Edges, Grass, Fruit and Veg, Water, Exotic Plants and Further Resources.

Each double spread shows pictures of the topics discussed and provides bite-sized information.

At the end of each section there are suggestions about what you can do in each season.

The book opens with an introduction about how the text works. It invites the reader to join in an interesting journey.

Throughout the text there are many activities suggested to the reader.

There is a glossary and an index at the end of the book.

This works like a standard picture book in that the illustrations give additional information.  For the most part it uses a plain sans serif font with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s. There are a few lines here and there in a font that looks like handwriting.

The book is in a quite a large format.    

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 Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.  

 

The Hunt for the Golden Scarab by M.G. Leonard

 

2025   

 

Sim and his mum are always on the move. Fortunately Mum is a champion n in martial arts and Sim is also pretty good. They always seem to be on the run and Sim isn’t sure why.

He finds out Mum has the power to unlock doors in time. This is related to her playing the flute Does Sim also have this powers? Unfortunately he plays the piano and you can’t exactly put one of those in your back pack. Yet he finds out that his tuning fork that has as much power.

Sim finds out he has an uncle, Emmett, and a cousin, Jeopardy, who have similar powers. Emmett can be difficult – he often steals artefacts from the past.

Emmett and Sim’s mum Callidora are in trouble with the Council of Keys, which has become corrupt. They have to prevent the Council form stealing the golden scarab that belongs on Nefertiti’s tomb.  Yes, they have gone back to ancient Egypt and met Tutankhamun. On the way Sim has met Howard Carter excavating Tutankhamun’s tomb.  

Callidora loses her power. Sim has to take over.

The novel is 262 pages of blocked text with a serif font and difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s. The end material includes some detailed notes on aspects of the past they have visited, author and illustrator bio and an excerpt form the next book in the series.     

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Are You an Alien? By Sam Banfield-Keller and Rosemary Banfield

 

2025      

Makhosi is curious about aliens.

She looks everywhere for them and she asks everyone she meets if they are aliens. She gets to know many other earthlings.

On her quest Makhosi meets all sorts of animals which may or may not be familiar to the reader.  We learn something interesting about each animal. Here is an opportunity for the adult to discuss what the child sees in the pictures.  

Both Makhosi and her grandfather are curious and optimistic. But in the end Makhosi cannot find the alien she wants to befriend … except just at the last moment she meets a strange little green creature.       

As we would expect there is more story in the pictures.

The text uses a plain font with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s.

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Coorie Doon by Jackie Kay and Jill Calder

2025      

Like Jackie Kay herself, protagonist Shona is adopted and her skin is a different colour from that of her parents. It is quite uncanny that Kay tells us the father in the book looks just like her father and the garden is similar to the one where she lived as a child in Glasgow.

Shona’s father sings ‘Coorie Doon’ to her as she settles down to sleep.  There are other songs: ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ ‘The Riddle Song’ and ‘Tree Love Song’. As the book progresses we enter Shona’s dreams.

Then in a thought-provoking twist at the end of the book sixty-year old Shona sings ‘Coorie Doon’ to her ageing parents.

Jill Calder’s’ illustrations are quite delicate, particularly in the dream scenes.   As ever more story appears in the illustrations.

At the beginning of the book is a QR code that takes you to an interview with Kay and the songs.

At the end of the book there is a letter from Kay to the young reader and simple biographies of both Calder and Kay.

There are sixteen double spreads in the book. The text uses a serif font with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s’. It is meant to be read aloud by an adult. Some Scottish dialect may be a challenge for some English readers.  

Find your copy here  

 Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.