Looking After Gran - Read at home - Level 4

Author: Roderick Hunt

Illustrator: Alex Brychta

Year: 2005

Publisher: Oxford University Press, UK

Age: 4 and above

No. of Pages: 30

ISBN: 978 0 19838 417 5

Website: Read at Home series

The lovable Read at Home series features Floppy, an intelligent and industrious canine.

This story was supposed to be about Gran looking after Floppy while his family is away on a vacation but the tables are turned rather quickly!

The book offers an interesting challenge too – a game to spot the 10 even numbers hidden in the pictures. 

The illustrations are friendly and filled with colorful characters.

Other titles in the Read at Home series include:

• Funny Fish
• Silly Races
• Dad’s Birthday
• Poor Old Rabbit
• I Can Trick a Tiger
• Floppy and the Bone
• The Old Tree Stump, Review here
• The Real Floppy
• The Spaceship
• Hungry Floppy
• Husky Adventure

Excerpt

Gran was away for a long time. The tide started to come in. A wave splashed the front wheel.

Then a wave splashed the back wheel.

“Gran has parked too close to the sea!” thought Floppy.

“I must find Gran,” thought Floppy.

He ran into town as fast as he could.

Cowboy Roy - Puffin Young Readers - Level 2

By Cathy East Dubowski and Mark Dubowski

Year: 2000

Publisher: Penguin Group, USA

Age: 4 and above

No. of Pages: 32

ISBN: 978-0-44841-568-0

A child’s best friend is his imagination and Roy has plenty of it!

Meet Roy, an aspiring cowboy, Meg, his sister and her doll Dolly. Roy desperately wants to learn how to ride his steed, Silver (he thinks it’s his horse but we know it’s just a bicycle ) like the others. 

One day, when Meg is in trouble, Roy and his steed rise up to the occasion and surprise everyone else.

This book belongs to the Puffin Young Readers series. 

Excerpt

So my dad puts on some training wheels.

Meg says, “Try again, Roy. You can do it!”

I try again. I can ride with the training wheels. But do I feel like a cowboy?

No!

I feel like a cowbaby!

Other titles in this series

• Level - 1: A new friend
• Level - 1: At the beach 
• Level - 1: Ice Cream Soup
• Level - 1: Nicky Upstairs and Down 
• Level - 1: Play with Blue
• Level - 1: Tiny goes camping 
• Level - 1: Tiny the Birthday Dog 
• Level - 1: Tiny the Snow Dog 

• Level - 2: Red, White and Blue
• Level - 2: Shape Spotters
• Level - 2: The Garden that we grew  
• Level - 2: The very lonely firefly

• Level - 3: Agapanthus Hum and the Eyeglasses
• Level - 3: Amanda Pig on her own
• Level - 3: Why do birds sing?

Britannica Discover Library - Sounds

Illustrator: Joseph Taylor

For Ages: 2 and above

Publisher: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Year: 2005

This book helps children discover and understand the sounds around them. Packed with full-page color illustrations, sounds and activities, this book is a winner.

Excerpt

Did you first hear a rooster crowing at dawn?

Or maybe it was a neighbor mowing his lawn.

Was it the yelp of a puppy expecting a treat?

Did you hear cars and buses out in the street?

Once you are awake, there are so many sounds to hear. 

Oscar's Half Birthday

Author and Illustrator: Bob Graham

For Ages: 5 and above

No. of Pages: 32

Publisher: Walker Books, London

Year: 2005

ISBN: 978-0-76362-699-0

Here’s a story of sweet, little Oscar who’s just turned 6 months old. Millie, his 4-year-old sister  and his parents are excited as they look forward to celebrating his ‘half-birthday’.

The sensitive narrative could easily be a slice of life from any of our lives. The author obviously has closely observed a baby with all the tenderness that can well up only in a parental heart. Or maybe I’m wrong. It is Bob Graham, after all, an award-winning children’s author.

Check out this passage:

In the lift, Millie (Oscar’s sister) the dinosaur presses all the buttons. Bright as a Christmas tree they shine, bright as candles on a cake, glinting in Oscar’s dark eyes …

And, this sentence:

Oscar frowns up against the light – six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.

Or this one:

His (Oscar’s) shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns.

The book is a treasure, not just for its heart-warming text and gentle humor but also for its breathtakingly detailed illustrations. 

Said Mouse to Mole

Author: Clare Bevan

Illustrator: Sanja Rescek

For Ages: 3 and above

No. of Pages: 22

Publisher: QED Publishing, London

Year: 2004

ISBN: 978-1-84538-015-1

If I were to make a list of some of the finer things of life, it would include poetry, paintings and innocence. I would not have thought it possible, but I found all the above packaged beautifully into this lyrical story about two friends, a mouse and a mole.

One fine day, they find themselves gloomy and wish to be somebody else until they realize they are perfect just as they are.

Each page is a painting and the book will brighten up your children’s bookshelf. The story will delight young readers especially those who have been introduced to the concept of rhymes.

It’s one of those rare books that make you want to frame each page up.

Excerpt

Said Mole, “I wish that I could be

Taller than the tallest tree.”

Said Mouse, “But if you grow so tall,

Your little house will be too small.”

Said Mouse, “I wish that I could change

To something beautiful and strange.”

Said Mole, “But if you’re strange and new,

Will you like me? Will I like you?”