Gorgeous selection of  picture books from Scholastic India. Incredible illustrations. Fantastic stories.

Lucia And Lawrence by Joanna Francis celebrate friendship, respecting boundaries and differences between gregarious Lucia and reserved Lawrence.

The Great Zoo Hullabaloo! by  Mark Carthew and  Anil Tortop is a mystery, a gentle adventure and a magical escape, told sweetly in rhyme. Lovely! Lovely!

Aunt Grizelda Treasury Of Grim And Grisly Rhymes by  Anna Best and  Natalia Pavaliayeva has a whacky sense of black humour. Sufficiently macabre to get young readers hysterical with delight. The crazily dark yet full of light illustrations do immense justice to the poems.

The Robot Who Won’t Cry by  Karen Hidgson and  Madalina Dina is about Rusty who wishes to cry but is unable to, convinced that robots do not cry. His friends try and help him to cry, achieving unexpected results when they least meant it to happen. Warm little story about empathy and friendships.

Last Tree In The City by Peter Carnavas is about Edward who finds a tiny spot where a lone tree stands in the urban concrete jungle. One day the tree is cut down. Edward is saddened but then one day spots a sapling at the base of the tree stump. Apart from it being an environmentalist story if it is meant to be a modern twist to  Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, then Peter Carnavas’s book is far more preferable.

I Don’t Care Said Claire by Karen Hodgson and  Harriet Rowe is about a self-absorbed, stubborn and petulant Claire. Always with a frown on her face, Claire did whatever she pleased. The open ended conclusion to the picture book is a wonderful twist, a great conversation starter for children — what happened next?

Mr Darcy by  Alex Field and Peter Carnavas is another fabulous book on friendship, loneliness and socialising. It is about Mr Darcy, the reserved duck, and his circle of friends in Pemberley Park.

Brilliant haul of books from  Scholastic India. Reasonably priced too for the local market.Worth getting for school libraries and personal collections as they will give much more than the few pages of story.

Enjoy!!

8 August 2019