Thursday, June 8, 2023

Joy by Yasmeen Ismail and Jenni Desmond

2019          

A small kitten has lots of fun playing.  It finds a ball of wool, makes quite a mess of the house as it plays with it, annoys the dog a little, plays with its mum, eventually falls down the stairs and is then comforted by its mum.  The story ends with the kitten finding its favourite toy, the ball of wool, and being ready to start all over again.    

It is indeed a joyful book.

This is a conventional picture book in that more story is packed into the pictures.  It rhymes gently. There are also a lot of onomatopoeic words that may be fun for the child to join in with in repeated readings.

The text is written in a simple font but on that has difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  The onomatopoeic words are in upper case, perhaps introducing the potential reader to comic book traditions.   

The Others by Sarah Merrett

2024    Reuben lives with his grandmother.   He has to wear special glasses because he has something wrong with his eyes. He and his...