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Reviews of Children's Books recommended by our children's books editor.
Authors I to K
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Author
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Mick Inkpen
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Illustrator
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Mick Inkpen
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Title
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Kipper’s A to Z
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Date of First Publication
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2000
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Publisher
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Hodder Children’s Books
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 3 to 6 year olds and featuring the popular
Kipper the Dog. Story is based around Kipper and
his friend Arnold trying to find things for each letter of the alphabet.
Large text type make reading easy for new readers. Clear, lively
illustrations help decode text and use of a familiar character will help
children gain confidence in their understanding of the alphabet.
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Author
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Oliver Jeffers
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Illustrator
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Oliver Jeffers
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Title
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How To Catch A Star
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Date of First Publication
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2004
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Publisher
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Harper Collins Children’s Books
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 4 to 6 year olds with beautiful, unusual
illustrations. Tells story of a boy
who wants to catch a star and all the different ways he goes about this.
Gives readers an opportunity to think about problem solving in a unique way.
Excellent to read to a whole class as a “quick” story (asking questions about
what might happen next) or for a reader new to longer books.
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Author
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Paul Jennings
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Illustrator
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Craig Smith
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Title
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The Cabbage Patch Fib
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Date of First Publication
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1988
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Publisher
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Puffin
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 7 to 9 year olds and dealing with “where
babies come from” in an amusing an unusual way. The story follows a curious
nine year old who finds a baby in cabbage patch. Vivid illustrations break up
text making the book ideal for children tackling longer books for the first
time. The subject matter is sensitively if unusually dealt with and might be
useful for helping children who have started to ask the questions the main
character has.
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Author
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Ann Jungman
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Illustrator
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Sami Sweeten
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Title
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Septimouse, Supermouse!
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Date of First Publication
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1993
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Publisher
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Puffin Books
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at confident 7 to 10 year olds, with a large
clear text type. A funny story about a very talented mouse who arranges for
his family and friends to make cheese. Touches on themes of working together,
negotiation, compromise and determination. Black and white line illustrations
pick out key events in the text.
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Author |
Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Goodbye Mog
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Date of First Publication
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2002
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds with simple text
(featuring word repetition) and beautiful, clear illustrations. Excellent to
read with a child or class and ideal for developing readers. Deals with the
death of a pet in a sympathetic, reassuring manner. Children will find it
both sad and funny. May be of use in dealing with bereaved children –
providing both explanations and provoking discussions.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog’s Amazing Birthday Caper
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Date of First Publication
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?
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Publisher
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Picture Lions
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 3 to 5 year olds. Mog bursts a balloon at
a party and dreams an entire alphabet of events. Fanciful, funny and
imaginative, text is alliterative. Bright, simple illustrations bright the
text to life and show the many alphabetical items Mog encounters. Good for
children just beginning to learn their alphabet – the funny and unusual story
will help them remember.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog and Bunny
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Date of First Publication
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1976
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds and featuring Mog and her
own special toy. Children will recognise Mog’s attachment to “Bunny” and begin to develop a sense of
empathy. Clear and comical illustrations help reinforce children’s
understanding of how Mog is feeling.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog and the Baby
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Date of First Publication
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1988
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed 5 to 7 year olds. Mog suffers at the hands of
a neighbour’s baby. Children with younger brothers or sisters will
particularly recognise the baby’s behaviour and possibly identify with Mog’s
misery. A near accident is dealt with sensitively and amusingly. Colourful
illustrations complement text.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog and the Vee Ee Tee
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Date of First Publication
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1996
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Publisher
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Collins Picture Lions
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. Mog has to go to the vet
after getting a thorn in her paw. Story is told with great humour and
colourful illustrations. Useful to help children afraid of the doctors as the
story is sympathetic and funny. Illustrations explain the text, helping
developing readers to understand the book.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog’s Bad Thing
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Date of First Publication
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1980
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. Describes Mog’s
“accident” after she is scared by a tent. Use of repetition (“disappeared”)
and more complicated sentence structure. Children will find the story funny
and also understand that everyone is scared sometimes. As with other Mog
books, illustrations are clear, bright and funny and complement the text.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog’s Christmas
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Date of First Publication
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2000
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. Follows Mog’s confusion
at Christmas and is ideal for reading together in the run up to Christmas.
Deals with themes of change and sensitively shows the confusion that can
arise with a break in routine. Illustrations amusingly portray Mog’s confusion
and help children to follow the text. Ends happily when Mog realises that the
change is not “bad” – useful for using in Circle Time – “not all changes are
bad/threatening”.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog In The Dark
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Date of First Publication
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1983
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Publisher
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Collins Picture Lions
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 4 to 6 year olds. Mog is out in the dark,
imagining all the things that could be out there with her, and all the things
she could do. Text is specially limited to 50 words to help new readers and
text features lots of repetition of words and phrases. Illustrations are
bright and funny and help emphasise what is happening in the text.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog on Fox Night
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Date of First Publication
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1993
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Publisher
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Harper Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. Simple text full of
repetition (“It played with…”) to help build confidence. Story follows events
when foxes invade the kitchen from Mog’s perspective. Theme of helping (tidying the kitchen) and looking after
each other can be built on in circle time. Winter setting makes this a good
book to read with a class in January.
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Author
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Judith Kerr
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Illustrator
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Judith Kerr
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Title
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Mog The Forgetful Cat
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Date of First Publication
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1970
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Publisher
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Harpers Collins
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. This book first
introduces Mog and uses humour and everyday settings to draw children in.
Ideal to read as a class or on a one to one basis. Funny, sweet illustrations
capture the typical cat excellently. Language is simple with repetition to
help build a developing reader’s confidence.
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Author
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Dick King-Smith
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Illustrator
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Jo Davies
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Title
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Dumpling
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Date of First Publication
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1986
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Publisher
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Puffin
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 6 to 8 year olds. Bright, clear
illustrations help children follow and read text. Simple story of a dog who
wants to be like his siblings. Links to notion of “different is ok” – good
starting point for class work along those lines. Longer sentence structures
will stretch readers while others will enjoy being read the story.
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Author
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Dick King-Smith
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Illustrator
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Ann Kronheimer
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Title
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Flora The Schoolmouse
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Date of First Publication
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1994
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Publisher
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Puffin
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 8 to 10 year old with some illustrations
that both compliment the text and on occasion replace it (eg a picture of an
apple is illustrated, rather than described). It describes events children
will recognise – the everyday life of a school – whilst also illustrating how
education can be useful. It also features romance and humour and is likely to
appeal especially to girls.
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Author
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Dick King-Smith
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Illustrator
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Sian Bailey
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Title
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The Roundhill
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Date of First Publication
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2000
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Publisher
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Viking
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Qualities/Features
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Aimed at 8 to 10 year olds. A young boy visits his
favourite hill every summer and is always alone there until one day a
mysterious girl appears. Gentle, thoughtful story which links Alice in Wonderland
with ideas of people having a favourite or special place they like to visit.
Text is broken up by occasional large line drawings which illustrate both
particular events and also places such as the Roundhill.
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