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A Visit to City Farm
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There is a great story behind A Visit to City Farm, published by  Firetree Books.

The book is the result of close collaboration between the children of Chalkhill Primary School in Wembley and Firetree books.

Chalkhill Primary School are the proud co-publishers and the children's names are included in the book.

Firetree Publishers have received Arts Council funding for the project, a real achievement in the production of such a wonderful book, and a splendid idea.

The story is set in London and we follow the children on their journey from school, 'Coats zipped, rucksacks light, hands free for holding tight'. The class sets off through the noisy traffic and reaches the underground, where the train comes roaring through a deep dark, tunnel.

A Visit to City Farm

At the farm they meet the animals, help to feed some and then enjoy their packed lunches.

'That was the best day ever, said Rainbow class.'

Written by Verna Wilkins, who is a great supporter of diversity in books, which is clearly shown through the children and teachers at Chalkhill Primary, Wembley.

Karin Littlewood is a terrific illustrator and the images are full of character and fun between the children and the animals. Karin also illustrated The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman.

We recommend A Visit to City Farm for ages 5-7 years, an excellent book  and a very interesting dimension on how to work with children in writing and creative projects.

Sue Martin

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Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


one-cheetah-one-cherry
Review or buy this book from Amazon.co.uk here...

One Cheetah, One Cherry is stunning in design, colour and  use of numbers for counting to ten. It combines maths and art with ease in glorious technicolour! 

Always a joy to have a book by Jackie Morris in your hands. One Cheetah, One Cherry is no exception.

A real winner for Otter Barry Books.

 

Gold, blue and purple are combined to give  excellent illustrations and works of art, they have wonderful creatures on every page in eclectic settings.

Six bright tigers for instance, playing pat a cake, has six wonderful tigers on their hind legs each with a different friendly smile on their face.

Seven giant pandas with pretty painted parasols, has the seven pandas out of their normal habitat and enjoying each others company.

An otter in a hat! Well fancy that!

A beautiful book to have and to share with others. It is a vividly descriptive book on numbers and will  really support visual memory and understanding. And for the colour and energy of the animals alone this is definitely a book to buy.

Hope you  enjoy the book. Review or buy a copy here.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers

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Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Adder, Bluebell, Lobster - book cover image
Review or buy from Amazon.co.uk here...

There is more to this Wild Book of Poems from Otter-Barry Books than meets the eye!

From Adder to Wren, forty fantastic poems celebrate forty amazing animals, birds and plants and their beautiful names - names which you can help poet Chrissie Gittins save from EXTINCTION!

They are all words which have been left out of the latest Oxford Junior Dictionary. Join authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Margaret Atwood who along with 28 other authors protested against Oxford Junior Dictionary's replacement of natural words with 21st century terms.

The poems are brilliant, each page has a poem from Chrissie and illustration from Paul Bommer such as. Harry the Hamster...

'Harry the hamster, in his ball

rolled round the bedroom,

rolled round the hall.

He rolled to the bathroom,

he rolled to the stairs

where a huge teddy bear

took him clean unawares'.

We recommend for ages 6+ and for all ages. Follow the picture link to buy.

Sue Martin

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Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


My Little Book about Me
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This is a really good series of books from QED and My Little Book about Me written by Angela Royston is an excellent addition to this series.

It brings together pictures and information about the body which is easily accessible for young children in Reception and Key Stage 1, at school, and into Key Stage 2. It's also a really useful book for the bookshelves at home.

Each page is a separate section, such as The world and me... which explains how we use our senses and bodies to see, taste, smell,speak and listen. The page on Inside my head describes the brain like a super computer with over 100 billion tiny nerve cells and only takes to 2% of the body weight and 20% of the body energy! An amazing fact!

There are lots of other books in the series, weather, ocean life, space, sharks, emergency vehicles. trains, volcanoes, rocks, minerals and gems. In fact, they cover about everything you might need to know if you are aged about 6 yrs old!

And in school, a library or at home they will be really interesting to have for children from the ages of about 4 - 8 years old.

At a retail price of around £7.99 they are a good buy in this hardback edition.

Sue Martin      Dolphin Booksellers

My little book of rocks, cover image

My little book of sharks - cover image


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


My Little book about tractors cover image
Review or purchase this book from Amazon.co.uk here...

A book about tractors packed with facts and photographs.

Always a great read and this new book published by QED and written by Rod Green is a book which will be a favourite for all those young children who are just fascinated by tractors.

The photographs are clear and pages are clearly laid out with sentences close to the pictures, which are just right for remembering about all sorts of tractors across the world.

Rod describes tractors from two wheel vehicles in Thailand in rice fields to multi-wheel tractors for large fields of wheat production. There is a page on combine harvesters which will be fascinating in this period of harvesting in the countryside in the UK.

Definitely going to be a well read book. We recommend for children aged about 4- 7/8 years.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


 

Spot the Bird
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Spot the Bird on the Building Site is a new book in this series of Spot the... by Sarah Khan and illustrated by Moreno Chiacchiera and published by Quarto Kids, QED.

A wonderful choice for Summer Holidays reads, they are packed with images of activities, around for instance, a building site. Trying to find the image amongst an array of pictures gets everyone searching, reading, looking and learning too. They are great fun!

These titles are part of the QED publishing for children's books, which are excellently produced in style, content and feel. They are books to have and to read,which will linger on the table and the shelves.

Spot the Bird on the Building Site shows some major building projects, like cranes on buildings in London. There are facts on every page,such as, ' The world's tallest crane is also the strongest. It can lift a load the weight of 12 blue whales over 50 storeys high.'

My favourite of the series is Spot the Seal around the World. It's a tour around the continents of the world and images and a few facts to remember, such as, 'Oceania is made up of lots of islands - the biggest one is Australia'.

Spot the Mummy in the Museum
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Spot the Mummy in the Museum has a curious mummy figure in bandages with two wide open eyes as it finds its way around the museum; the collections of dinosaurs, masks, buried treasures, Ancient Greeks and Romans , great to follow and acquire more information as you go over the pages.

We would recommend these books for a wide age group, as they will be easily delved into by 9 and 10 year olds as well as exploring with 5/6 year olds along with parents and teachers.

Have fun reading, exploring and finding out...

Spot the Seal

 

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


File 004Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories; an exhibition curated by Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, Newcastle upon Tyne 2nd July 2016 - June 2017

This is a unique opportunity to visit this remarkable collection of notebooks, manuscripts and correspondence that have been part of Michael Morpurgo's story writing, life and dreams. The exhibition combines much of his life and ethos and is woven into an iconic display, on the fourth floor of Seven Stories.

Take your time…. This exhibition requires that you stop and dream a while, reminisce or ponder on the way Michael can find stories in places, wherever he is; stories from the past, stories of animals, children and people, from war time and in present day. He is a great story teller and story writer and the author of over 150 books for children, Children's Laureate and a voice for reason and peace.

This blog will take you on our journey through the exhibition and point you in some directions, we hope it will mean you also will have chance to make this journey one day over the next year. It's worth it!

Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943 and went to boarding school at seven, and eventually into military officer training at Sandhurst and then he became a teacher. He found the military life difficult and as a teacher he wanted to help children to be creative, give them opportunities, take them out into the world and fire their imaginations, tell stories. There was a clash between curriculum driven tasks and this approach. Later, with his wife Clare, they moved to Devon, where they developed the City Farm for children.

He became friends with Ted Hughes and learnt that as he said, "I have a story of my own to tell and a voice of my own with which to tell it."

Interesting quotes from the videos at the exhibition in the Dreamtime corner are;
"Live an interesting life. Fill your head with this world, of which you are part, care about it deeply, make up your mind to write about events, memories, conversations and something will emerge."

"Lose yourself in the story, get into it and go for it; know the people, the place, let the dreams in your head reach the pen on your page, tell it as if to your best friend, as a secret."

There are many orange notebooks in the exhibition, school notebooks filled with Michael's writing, thoughts, changes, crossings out and revision. He works and receives inspiration wherever he is, but his favourite place is his converted shepherds hut.

There are too many books to mention them all, but my favourites are; War Horse, which only sold a few thousand copies until it was made into a stage production and is now his most famous book, Farm Boy, the sequel to Joey the war horse, Why the Wales Came, set on Samson island in the Scillies, the Wreck of the Zanzibar, Alone on a Wide, Wide, Sea, The Dancing Bear and Waiting for Anya.

I will follow this blog with something more, there is a curiosity about the books, the man and his talents at finding the story and retelling in a wonderful style, which will mean further reading and an excuse to add more of his titles to our bookshelves.

A final quote,
"I know it, lying under the sun on a summer's night. I know it watching buzzards floating over the valley where I live. It is a learnt belonging from children who stop to gaze, to breath in the world about them, to feel part of it."

Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories at Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, Newcastle upon Tyne. A digitised archive is available on 7 storieswww.sevenstories.org.uk/collection

Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


Outside. A Guide to Discovering Nature
Review or purchase this great book from Amazon.co.uk here...

A real discovery book, excellent in all aspects of creating a love of nature, finding out and just getting outside with a purpose.

Outside. A Guide to Discovering Nature was published by Frances Lincoln in March 2016 and is a great book to buy now for the summer holidays and for enjoying time together in the Big Outside.

The authors are: Maria Ana Peixe Dias and Inês Teixeira do Rosário and the book is beautifully illustrated by Bernardo P. Carvalho, all from Portugal.

This book won the Bologna Regazzi award, which aims to arouse curiosity about fauna, flora and to get to know the outside world.

Every page turned has an intriguing illustration or fascinating information in the text. From how to build a swing and reach the clouds, with facts about making a swing in a tree to the different types and styles of beaks on birds! It is literally packed with information for children ages, 8-12 and for adults who have maybe forgotten that stuff or never knew!

Who does this footprint belong to?
What is this worm up to?
What is the name of this tree?

Even if we live in the city, nature is still all around us: clouds and stars, trees and flowers, rocks and beaches, birds, reptiles or mammals.
What are we waiting for?

I will definitely be using this book through the summer and can't wait for a child or two to share our time in the Outside. A Guide to Discovering Nature.

Very much recommended!!

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout           Dolphin Bookshelf


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


The SEal ChildrenThe Seal Children by Jackie Morris has been republished in this captivating edition by Otter-Barry Books.

The water colours on every page are a joy in themselves and you can spend so much time just looking as they portray the story in picture.

The story is about a fisherman who falls in love with a Selkie – half woman, half seal – she gives him her seal skin as a sign of her love, and bears him two children, Ffion and Morlo, before returning to her own people. When a stranger comes to the village, telling of a land far away, the children remember their mother’s stories of the cities of gold and pearls beneath the waves….

This is a wonderful book from Jackie Morris. Presented in a beautiful new gift edition, this is a haunting story of love and freedom, for all ages.

'A lyrical story with beautifully painted watercolours' Books for keeps

A book for everyone to have, in the home to share, and to read alone, in schools for all sorts of projects in education and in the libraries. It is a book that definitely will not be staying long on the shelves but will be on the table, by the rug or in the fireside chair ready to be read time and time again.

Recommended for all ages and especially for me!!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout

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Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


The Princess and the CastleAll Genevieve wanted was for her Dad, who she imagined to be a king in a castle, to be waiting for her as the princess. So, she wouldn't go to the beach with friends, " Princesses don't like beaches" she would say.

In fact she was afraid to go near the water, as her father was lost at sea.

This is a beautiful book, the illustrations are breathtaking and the story of restoration to friendship for a small child is perfect.

The Princess and the Castle is written and illustrated by Caroline Binch and is republished as a launch title for Otter-Barry Books. Caroline is the illustrator of Amazing Grace and won the Smarties prize for Hue Boy.

Otter-Barry Books is an exciting new children's imprint aiming to make a difference,push boundaries and publish books that children will love.

The Princess and the Castle is one of my favourite books and is definitely for reading alone or together at home or in school or the library.

Sue Martin Dolphin BookSellers and Books Go Walkabout


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.