Mad About Monkeys

Mad About Monkeys

By Owen Davey

Published by Flying Eye Books

Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys! Ever wondered about our simian friends and what makes them so special? If you're bananas about monkeys you'll love this fact filled book from Owen Davey.

With over 250 species inhabiting our planet, this book explores the many different types of monkeys from the smallest Pygmy Marmoset to the largest Mandrill, and provides all the facts you wanted to know and more. Discover where monkeys come from, how they swing from tree to tree, and why they fight and play with each other.

Visually striking in every way, you'd be hard pushed to find a more complete illustrated guide to these cheeky monkeys. Each page is jam packed with interesting facts and detailed illustrations of each type of monkey. It covers everything from social nature to mischievous reputations. A truly wonderful read that will make you mad about monkeys!

If you're unfamiliar with the work of Owen Davey I suggest you check him out. Mad About Monkeys was the predecessor to the wonderful Smart About Sharks, which is also available to buy from Flying Eye Books. To find out more about the author and illustrator please check out the interview I had with him here. Mad About Monkeys is available to buy from all good bookshops and from the Flying Eye Books website.

The 50 States Activity Book

The 50 States Activity Book

Written by Gabrielle Balkan
Illustrated by Sol Linero

Published by Wide Eyed Editions

There's some great activity books coming out at the moment, they're great for the summer holidays and with a little fun learning thrown in, what more could you want for your little ones. The 50 States Activity Book, aimed at children between 8-12, offers a little bit of everything; fun facts, state trivia, dot to dot and many more activities, with solutions provided at the back. 

This is a summer companion title to the The 50 States book, which I treated myself to when I visited New York back in February, more info here. Both books are lavishly-illustrated, keeping the same style - I especially love the different illustrated type and colours used.

I personally like books that are well designed, insightful, look good and are great when you can learn something new alongside your child. The 50 States also includes a large poster which has a map of the 50 states on one side and suggests adding the landmark stickers which are provided. The other side includes the 50 state flags and a list of all the presidents.

Enjoy a fun packed journey through the States with this action packed activity book - learn about wildlife, people and places unique to the 50 States! Available in all good bookshops or online here.

Tell Me a Picture

Tell Me a Picture

By Quentin Blake

Published by Francis Lincoln

First published in 2001, Tell Me a Picture has been reissued as this fine paperback edition. It dons a new updated cover and introduction from Quentin Blake. 

Quentin Blake was the first Children's Laureate, appointed back in 2001. He was asked to select 26 of his favourite paintings for an exhibition at the National Gallery. Artists covered were from fine artists to children's illustrators, creating a very diverse collection. Laid out in an A-Z format you'll find artists such as Emma Chichester Clark, Edward Hopper, Paula Rego and John Burningham. Although the works here are very different from each other, each painting in the collection had one thing in common, they all have a story to tell.

Tell Me a Picture prompts children to take an interest in art and ask questions about what they're looking at. Quentin illustrates throughout, with characters passing thoughts on the art that is displayed on the opposite page. A clever way to get children to do the same and use their imagination and look for stories in the pictures.

A cleverly curated collection of art which helps introduce a diverse collection of art to a new generation. Tell Me a Picture is available to buy from all good bookshops and online here. To see more about the exhibition that took place 15 years ago, I recommend watching the video below.

Smart About Sharks

Smart About Sharks

By Owen Davey

Published by Flying Eye Books

What a better way to celebrate Shark Week than to get your hands on this beauty. From the creator of the best selling Mad About Monkeys, Owen Davey brings the fascinating world of sharks to life using his signature style. I'd advise you to take a deep breath and immersive yourself into the deep to learn about these truly magnificent fish.

Jammed packed full of new fascinating facts about sharks, the book explores all the species, covering their behaviour and eating habits. I wasn't too familiar with the shark world before I picked this up, but from just a first read through I found myself hooked and quoting facts to family members. 

Owen Davey's illustrations are beautifully rendered throughout and the colour palette used is very pleasing to the eye, with pink being often used for a backdrop. He covers everything from what a shark eats to comparing the size of Dwarf Lanternshark to a pencil.

This is an Owen Davey must buy. In the same vain as Mad About Monkeys, this book is sure to help educate a child about how there's much more to sharks than what is represented through TV and other media (there's more to them than just being scary predators!). All in all it's a truly immersive read!

Smart About Sharks is available to buy now in all good bookshops and on the Flying Eye books website.

ABZZz... A Bedtime Alphabet

ABZZz... A Bedtime Alphabet

By Isabel Minhos Martins & Yara Kono

Published by Thames & Hudson

This is no ordinary Alphabet book, it's a Bedtime based one which is a great idea - especially with the all important snoozing letter Z! 

The book starts with a short introduction, explaining to the reader that they should be prepared to fall fast asleep as most readers fall asleep before reaching the letter P. I felt this was a nice touch as it almost sets the child a challenge to get to sleep before the book ends.

Yara Kono's illustrations are beautifully rendered, full of cute child characters and adorable animals. The choice of subject for each letter is refreshing, with each one being linked to helping the child drop off. There's also explanations to what sleep helps us with, which again will help a child that finds it difficult to shut those eyes.

This is the perfect wind down book for any younger child that finds it hard to drift off to sleep. The colours are consistent and not too loud, using simple shapes and screen-printed textures on mostly solid colour backgrounds.

There's also lots of funny moments that made me chuckle, I especially loved P, with Pee being the subject. The yellow puddle summed it up nicely. With lots of interactive elements and activities to help parents make that bedtime routine that little bit easier.

ABZZz... A Bedtime Alphabet is available to buy now from all good bookshops and from the Thames & Hudson website here.

Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs

Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs

By Joe Lillington

Published by Flying Eye Books

This is a picture book with a surprise difference, alongside an adventurous story about a feathered dinosaur called Neffy, there are educational facts about a whole load of feathered dinosaurs from the Creataceous period. This new book from Joe Lillington is based on recent scientific discovery and is a picture book first!  

The story follows a feathered dinosaur called Neffy, a young Microraptor which had feathers evolved for gliding. She lived in a Cretaceous forest in what is now China.

Throughout Neffy's journey, she comes across other feathered dinosaurs, all of which can't fly but have evolved feathers for other reasons. Each different dinosaur she comes across has a short bio and a size comparison to a human being. 

We follow Neffy through the forest as she escapes predators and leads to her first flight to the skies. There she meets the Confuciusornis, a dinosaur that look very similar to our modern birds. They show Neffy how to glide and fly away from danger. Of course we learn that these feathered dinosaurs were the dinosaurs that went on to evolve into modern birds and survive extinction.

Author/illustrator Joe Lillington brings colour and character to all the dinosaurs featured in the story, making the book a joy to read. There's even slight touches of humour which I thought was a nice touch, especially when most dinosaur publications can be quite stale and serious. 

Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs is an entertaining story which is a great introduction for children who are starting to get interested in dinosaurs and that period of time. Towards the end of the book there's a glossary explaining words that children may not understand - very useful for going back and explaining these when you come across them. There's also a great size comparison illustration showing the size difference of all the dinosaurs to an adult and child. And to top it all the endpapers double up as an interesting map showing what Earth looked like at this time, detailing where each species of dinosaur was likely to originate from. Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs is available to buy now from all good bookshops and from the Flying Eye books website.

Interview with Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

With the follow up to the stunningly brilliant, Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space, Dominic and Ben have done it again and put the super intelligent alley cat on a second outing where he explores the important world of physics. I had the opportunity to interview Dominic and Ben and find out what exactly makes these books more than just educational.

Dr. Dominic Walliman is a scientist who lives and works in Vancouver where he works on Quantum computers. He studied Quantum Device Physics at Birmingham University where he also taught Physics. He also holds a BSc and MSc in Computer Science.

Ben Newman is an award-winning illustrator and the author of two books, The Bento Bestiary and Ouroboros under Nobrow.


BWB: Dominic, when researching the book was there any facts that you found hard to explain in a simple way?

DW: Because I'm a physicist, and know the subject really well, the thing I found really difficult was how much information I wanted to pack into the book. My early drafts were way to long and detailed and so the difficult part was cutting it down and getting to the essence of each topic. Whenever we cut anything I thought "But that is all so interesting", but you have to draw the line somewhere, and Ben helped me out loads with this.


BWB: Ben, how did you feel about returning to Astro Cat after the huge success of Frontiers of Space?

BN: I was really pleased 'Frontiers of Space' was received well so I was excited to return to a project that I didn't think we’d get a chance to. Dominic and I had spoken earlier about subjects that we would like to do with Professor Astro Cat but didn’t want to get too ahead of ourselves in case it didn’t happen. We learnt a lot about working together on the first book but I think we learnt more on ‘Atomic Adventure’.


BWB: Dominic, how did you and Ben get introduced?

DW: Ben and me go back a long long way to our school days in secondary school. Fast forward a few years, he had become a successful illustrator and I had just finished my PhD. He wanted to create a kids science book, and I think he remembered me in school enthusiastically telling him about crazy and amazing the Universe is, and he thought we would make a good team. I jumped at the chance!!


BWB: Ben, what inspires your beautiful colour palette?

BN: I like to work with restrictions on my colour palette so I only use the secondary colours that that palette provides. I collect lots of old printed ephemera, like 50s matchbox labels, so that physicality has had a big effect on my perception of colour and how I use it.


BWB: Dominic, what gave you the idea to do this second book with Ben?

DW: Physics is a subject that a lot of people remember being difficult and kind of intimidating. I think this is such a huge shame as physics is deeply fascinating, and doesn't have to be difficult if it is explained well. So this was my approach to the second book, physics is very dear to my heart and I wanted to try and share the joy with young people today to help them have a really positive experience with it.


BWB: Ben, what part of this book did you enjoy illustrating the most and why?

BN: Funnily enough, the front and back cover. I think it’s because it’s the first thing people see and is often a reason why they pick the book up to look at it in the first place. There were a couple of spreads inside that took me a long time to solve but I really enjoyed drawing the pages with lots of characters. I get free reign over the page designs and illustrations so it’s impossible to not enjoy that. I’m very lucky.


BWB: Dominic, would you like to do another book with Ben?

DW: Yes please! With two books under our belt we are becoming an ace team and Ben is a pleasure to work with. I still think it is amazing that I get to have my words illustrated by Ben Newman. Wowza! What a privilege!


BWB: Ben, what's next for Professor Astro Cat?

BN: Hopefully more adventures in different areas of science. We have plans. Some are already in motion. Some are still whispers.

A huge thank you to Dominic, Ben and Emma at Flying Eye Books for this insightful interview. Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure is available to buy now from Flying Eye Books.

Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure

Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure

By Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

Published by Flying Eye Books

The smartest cat in the Universe is back, and this time he's here to teach us about the fascinating world of physics.

Ever wonder how a boat floats? Or why the sky is blue? Or where electricity comes from? Well, listen up! Professor Astro Cat has the answers!

Fresh off his journey through the Frontiers of Space, Professor Astro Cat is back on Earth and ready to explain how physics is responsible for the wonders of the world around us! 

Ben's illustrations once again don each page of Atomic Adventure - much in the same way that they helped each topic/fact more digestible. I just can't get enough of the retro pictures and the fact that Ben can even make the periodic table look beautiful and stylised.

Again Ben has used a gorgeous colour palette and subtle textures that help make it feel even more retro and too cool for school. Dominic's words again are easy to understand and make the most difficult subjects an interesting read. Perfect for any child struggling to grasp physics.

Another fascinating book from a great duo! I hope Ben and Dominic have a few more of these up their sleeves as I think any child (or adult in fact) will not be able to put it down. A great way to learn about facts and topics that are usually not told in such a simple and interesting way, making learning a joy! Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure is available from all good booksellers and from the Flying Eye Books website.

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space

By Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman

Published by Flying Eye Books

Meet the smartest cat in the alley - Professor Astro Cat, and he has come to teach the young and old about the Universe! 

Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space will tell you everything you need to know about our planet, our solar system, our galaxy and the universe that there could be to know. Our clever little cat has made sure of that, he’s a fastidious little feline!


Astro Cat explores topics such as gravity, extra terrestrial life and time with fun facts and fascinating insights that will take you and your children on a journey to the very frontiers of Space!

Ben's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to Dominic's words, with each illustration simply showing each fact in a beautifully rendered way. Ben has also added a touch of humour to some spreads that will keep children of all ages engaged. 

I also can't praise Ben's use of colour enough. The whole book is a retro coloured delight to look at, with subtle colours used throughout, making each page a work of scientific art.

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space is the perfect book to get any child into astrology. It is full to the brim with fascinating facts, I even found myself learning things I never knew! And based on my own experience I know that there's probably quite a few adults that would love to have a read of this fascinating book too. Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space is available to buy from all good booksellers and on the Flying Eye Books website.