Picture Book Special

Picture books can have a reputation as being very simple and undemanding but there can be so much to them and the illustrations themselves can say so much. They can take you from highs to lows and everything in between! Make yourself a lovely cocktail and then browse the pretty selection, who needs kids to enjoy an adorable illustrated book?

I've adapted a traditional cocktail to make my own version, a Cookie Gin Fizz! Usually served in a tall highball, I've made mine in a flute with a candy cane garnish. In a shaker, mix 30ml gin, 20ml lemon juice and 15ml gingerbread syrup with ice. Strain into your glass, top with tonic and add some pomegranate seeds. Yum!

Leave Me Alone! by Vera Brosgol

Grandma just wants a bit of peace to do her knitting so she goes on a wonderful adventure, but nearly everywhere she goes, her kitting still gets interrupted. She has to go quite far in order to really get away but then does she really want all that solitude?

Vera is one of my favourite graphic novelists and her picture book was just as wonderful as her other books.

Do Not Say These Words by Frances Tosdevin

Your mission is to read this book without laughing, chuckling, sniggering and most certainly without giggling, ok??? Your only dispensation is to say the words just this once, while reading aloud. But never again!

Hmmmm, somehow I was not convinced that anyone would succeed, I definitely didn't...

Gathering the Glimmers by Ffion Jones

Wren is lost in the woods and her worry about making it out safely is taking over, until she starts to notice the glimmers! This book starts off quite dark and creepy, you can feel the stress and danger. Then the feeling of relief as the tone changes along with Wren's emotions.

The illustrations were amazing, strangely realistic while somehow otherworldly at the same time.

Fishing for Condiments by Ashley Baxendale, Anna Kukleva (illustrator)

Little Neget is worried he and his grandfather won't catch any fish for their dinner. Home is full of condiments which are no use at all without some tasty fish to put them on! This one was a little too simple for me, and felt like maybe I was missing part of the story. But the illustrations were beautiful and I loved the close relationship between Neget and his grandfather.