Pick A Story – A Pirate + Alien + Jungle Adventure
Sarah Coyle and Adam Walker parker
Farshore, paperback £7.99
Interactive story books – where the reader chooses the path the story takes, have been around for a while, usually catering for the Key Stage 2 and above age groups, although I feel sure this more interactive format is something many early years children will find a lot of fun.
In this cleverly designed book, packed with energetic characters that help zip the pace along,
children get to decide the paths Vincent, a young boy, and his dog named Trouble take, when they find themselves thrown into an unexpected adventure which begins when Trouble disappears during a walk in the park.
There are three different themes within the story; pirates, aliens and jungle, and the adventures take place in which-ever setting is chosen at given steps along the way. Author, Sarah Coyle, says her inspiration was Knightmare, a medieval fantasy TV adventure show from the Eighties, where children would direct team mates through a series of challenges, and her vision for this book was to give children a taste of the excitement that comes with having to make a decision based on your best course of action. Sarah also aimed to provide as much choice as possible, with those choices being lots of fun, but not too easy, and with consequences for the decisions made – not all choices are good choices.
I can see this book being great for group story sharing sessions, with children taking turns to decide on which path to take, and particularly helpful for encouraging reluctant book sharers or early readers, especially if they show difficulty with concentration or sitting still for the duration of a story.
Don’t
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
Otter-Barry Books, hardback £12.99
‘Once there was Daddy and Mummy and me. Then there was Daddy and Mummy and me and... Boo!’
When Geraldine gets a new baby brother, mum and dad seem to think every little thing he does is wonderful, be it roaring, kicking, or biting. Geraldine can do all these things too, although mum and dad don’t like it when she does it. 
This funny picture book with beautiful illustrations perfectly captures the feelings of a young child’s frustration when a new baby arrives in the family, and steals some of the attention previously bestowed on them. This is a really good read aloud book for two years and above. I read it to a group of three-and-four-year-olds who laughed out loud at Geraldine’s naughty behaviour, and it would be especially good for children who have recently welcomed a new baby into their home.
At the end of the book, it’s Geraldine who tries to cheer up a crying Boo, finding empathy with her baby brother’s tears. A simple story, perfect for young pre-schoolers which also works well as an action story, with children roaring, kicking, and pretending to bite – we had a lot of fun with it.
The Perfect Present
Petr Horacek
Otter-Barry Books, hardback £12.99
Two little cats, Tom and Mot, are best friends. On their shared birthday, Tom gives Mot a feather – but could it be a feather from the most spectacular bird in the world? Mot gives Tom a marble – or is it the smallest planet in the universe?
Tom would like to give a whale, a dolphin, a sea monster and an elephant, while Mot would give rivers, mountains, forests and even the sun!
But ultimately, the best present either could give turned out to be the perfect day spent playing together.
The Perfect Present is a beautiful story showing the true worth of real friendship as seen through a child’s perspective. Petr Horacek’s illustrations burst off the page with their sense of excitement and vibrant colours, drawing you into a magical world where imagination rules. 
The Perfect Present manages to perfectly capture the feelings of having a best friend, the joy children can find in simple things, and a stage of life when playing and having adventures together rules.
This is a great book to accompany activities on the themes of friendship or birthdays, or to accompany movement or drama sessions, using the imaginative play scenarios shown in the book to inspire mime and dance activities.
Dance with Oti: The Lion Samba
Oti Mabuse and Samara Hardy
Walker Books, hardback £12.99
The children are excited to return to dance class with Mrs Oti and waste no time preparing for their animal-themed dance show. Mrs Oti teaches the children to move and dance like all sorts of animals, from stomping like an elephant to stretching up really high like a giraffe. But when disaster strikes on the day of the show, can the courage of one little lion save the day?
Oti Mabuse is well-known as a professional dancer and choreographer, often seen on TV in Strictly Come Dancing and Oti’s Boogie Beebies, and her love of dance shines through this story of finding your courage when feeling afraid. The back of the book contains step-by-step, child-friendly instructions for dancing The Lion Samba, and could be used as a fun music and movement extension activity. The book also includes a QR code where you can watch the dance tutorial and listen to The Lion Samba song, so there’s a lot of milage here. 
The story itself is simple and child-friendly, complimented by lovely vivid, busy illustrations containing lots of little details children can look out for, which help bring the story to life – a diverse community is well represented here.
Also included in this series: Dance with Oti: The Bird Jive; with Dance with Oti: The Turtle Tango due for release next June.
The Rock From The Sky
Jon Klassen
Walker Books, paperback £8.99
Now for something completely different! At first sight this book looks as though it should be aimed at an older age group than the 4+ in which it’s been categorised, and at first I wasn’t sure if many pre-schoolers would really tune in to Jon Klassen’s deadpan humour, but all I can say is, the three four year-olds I shared it with really loved it – it’s often surprising how sophisticated a young child’s sense of humour can be.
The story involves Turtle, who really likes standing in his favourite spot. He likes it so much that he asks his friend Armadillo to come over and stand in it, too. But now that Armadillo is standing in that spot, he has a bad feeling about it. This perfect spot turns out not to have been so great after all when a huge rock falls from the sky with a lucky near-miss for Turtle. What follows is a series of misunderstandings and unheard remarks that leave Turtle, Armadillo and Snake in varying states of confusion. The humour here comes from the simplicity of what isn’t being said and the restraint in both the written and flat illustration style. I thought it was really funny, and so did the children I read it to, although a lot of the humour does come from the way you put the story across to those you read it with.
This is a great addition to a circle time library, showing children books come in many styles and formats – this book is broken down into five very short chapters. Probably a firm favourite for some and not for others, type-of-book, but well-worth getting for its originality alone.