My Illustrated Encyclopedia

My Illustrated Encyclopedia

Illustrated by Alain Grée
Published by Button Books

My Illustrated Encyclopedia is a beautiful collection of illustrations from the archives of Alain Grée; Child friendly and engaging page spreads, this makes a lovely first encyclopedia for young children. It offers simple but interesting facts, and covers a broad range of subjects, for example, flowers, woodlands, animals, wildlife, seasons, weather and landscapes, food, space and transport etc.

With labels, names, and an offering of facts, there's just enough information for young minds to take in. I believe there's enough information to hold a child's attention and be a starting point for further discussion. With a retro feel, the illustrations are engaging and sweet. It would make a beautiful gift for any inquisitive young child and to be honest I quite looking through it to admire Alain Grée's illustrations. Available soon.

 

Welcome to London

Welcome to London

Illustrated by Marcos Farina

Published by Button Books

Thinking of taking the children into London this summer holiday? Then check this book out before you do! Welcome to Marcos Farina's vision of London; he explores most well-known landmarks, offers interesting facts, and suggests activities and things to look out for when in the capital. A beautiful book that will make you want to visit London!

With beautiful end papers, there's so much beautiful imagery to explore per page, I think you will continue to find something new each time you open this book. This delightful book references a variety of transport, people, locations and well known buildings, there's even a few film references that show London. I like the spread that explored the different bridges that can be found and trees in Hyde Park. And if you plan to visit the History Museum, there's a reference to the new blue whale exhibition that replaced the Dippy the Diplodocus within the entrance.

I like how the illustrations include a variety of different coloured people, shapes and animals to represent the diversity of people that live and visit London; it allows the illustrator to keep his limited colour palette and works well. You can see that the illustrator has a Graphic Design background; good character design, bold and colourful, each spread is varied in its composition and layout. My daughter is a little too young for this book at the moment, which I'm selfishly glad about as I might keep this one all for myself!

You can find out more information here about the illustrator and book.

Fun And Games

Fun And Games

By Alain Grée

Published by Button Books

I love activity books, so when I seen that there was an Alain Grée one available I was very excited to see what it had in store. 

Packed with more than 50 activities compiled by Alain Grée himself, using a huge number of his illustrations created over the years, this activity book will keep a child busy for hours on end (and some adults too!). The activities include spot the difference, matching games and mazes as well as ones involving cutting out, folding and creating objects such as building a paper house.

As any fan of Alain's books would come to expect, this activity book is bursting with his signature style. Each page of the book is perforated and is single sided so it can be removed from the book. A useful addition to an activity book and not something I've seen done in the activity books I've come across. There's plenty to do and will keep any eager mind busy for months, with puzzles, hide and seek and craft games to play. If you're a Alain Grée fan like me you won't be disappointed, though you might resist tearing out the pages! 

Fun And Games is available now at all good bookshops and more information is available on the Button Books website here.

The Sky Guys, The Safari Set, The Forest Folk, The Marine Team, The Jungle Crew, The Polar Pack

Mibo -
The Sky Guys, The Safari Set, The Forest Folk, The Marine Team, The Jungle Crew, The Polar Pack

By Madeleine Rogers
Text by Jason Hook

Published by Button Books

This month, Button Books are releasing this fun collection of animal books that feature simple but interesting facts about the animal or their habitat, bright and bold illustrations and the added bonus of paper animals to cut out and play with.

Within each book there are 2 spreads dedicated to each animal as well as fun facts. The Forest Folk features the red squirrel, wolves, brown bear, otters and deer. At the back of each book, children will find an envelope containing five paper animals to cut out with additional scenery, to play against an illustrated environment on the back of each book's dust jacket. 

The Polar Pack features penguins, walruses with massive tusks, a polar bear and her cubs, reindeer, and snowy owls. Each book has it's own colour theme that relates to their environment, for example, each page within The Polar Pack is filled with blue, grey and white, which works well in expressing the coldness and harsh conditions of where these animals can be found.

The Sky Guys offers a variety of feathery friends; the large albatross, pink flamingo, an owl, pelican and the beautiful hummingbird. I love the colours within this book. Aimed at ages 5+, younger children would still enjoy reading and looking through these books however they would struggle with assembling the characters. The Jungle Crew, filled with lovely shades of green inside a leafy jungle, features swinging chimpanzees, screeching macaws, a hungry tiger, toucans hiding and jumping tree frogs.

The Safari Set is set in the scorching hot Savannah, where there are roaring lions, tall giraffes, intelligent elephants, a herd of zebras and water loving hippos. The Marine Team is the last book in the collection, set underwater, and with a scary great white shark on the front cover, and his many white, sharp teeth!! There's also turtles, seals, the giant blue whale, and rainbow coloured seahorses.

This is a lovely collection and I love the animal covers. The set is bold, graphical and colourful. But it's the back of the dust jackets that are great - each cover features a beautiful landscape that would make me want to play with the animals against! Designed and created by Madeleine Rogers, who started the company Mibo in 2001, she's had an interesting career that started with selling lampshades at Old Spitalfields Market in London. If interested in the series and would like to know more, please click here.

My first book of the FARM / My first book of OPPOSITES

My first book of the FARM /
My first book of OPPOSITES

By Alain Grée

Published by Button Books

I must admit I've been keeping me eye on the Alain Grée series as I'm a big fan of his retro style illustrations. There's 9 books in the My First Book series as well as flash cards, hard backs and activity books featuring his distinctive style, all published by Button Books. 

My First Book of the Farm is a board book covering a good selection of animals and what you may find on a farm. Animals, such as cows, pigs, sheep and goats as well as farmers. It gives a few selection of birds and jobs the farmer may undertake, like looking after the animals and growing food. Farm vehicles are also mentioned. It's a lovely introduction for very young children. 

Aoife is now at the age where she is taking a huge interest in animals and enjoys visiting the farm which makes this a great book to use to help identify animals and learning the words for the food and vehicles that she may have seen. She already likes looking through the book by herself and making the sounds of the animals.

My First Book of Opposites is filled with a good collection of opposites; big, small, light, heavy, hot, cold, empty and full among a few more. The illustrations are clear and easily convey the words well. Alain Grée's illustrations are simple but engaging.

I've only seen two books from this series but I'm definitely considering a few others for Aoife. Other subjects include Animals, Colours, Letters, Nature, Numbers, Sounds and Vehicles. These books are sturdy little board books, suitable for babies and young children. You can find more information on this series here.

A Cat Called Panda

A Cat Called Panda

Written by Melanie Arora and illustrated by Charlie Brandon-King
Published by Button Books

A Cat Called Panda, written by Melanie Arora, features a naughty cat explaining his unusual name to a young girl named Amanda. Written as a whimsical nonsense-style poem and aimed at ages 1+, this delightful little book would make a great gift for any age, young and old. 

Panda is a cat who is very fond of bamboo and tries to explain to Amanda that though he is called Panda, he is very much a cat. A cat who has bright green eyes and can see in the dark and can make dogs bark! He is a cat and it’s as simple as that! 

It features a monochrome theme throughout with splashes of colour. Children will be able to spot all the different animals that are black and white, such as a panda, badger, magpies and cows among many more.

The illustrations are simple, but being black and white the images are striking. I especially like the hard back cover under the slip cover, a striking animal pattern of white on black. A Cat Called Panda is available in all good bookshops or online here.