Otto the top dog by Catherine Rayner

Otto has a terrific life and best of all he has his 'lovely comfy' cushion-soft basket. Otto is also a kind dog, and he loves to share so it seems quite natural that he would ask a friend to come over for a visit and, because they are both a little tired, Otto tells Lupin he is welcome to share his basket. 

This is of course just the beginning because Lupin tells other dogs at the park about Otto's wonderful basket. Eventually even more dogs arrive, and poor old Otto is totally squashed and unhappy. How can he solve this problem without hurting the feelings of his friends?

If you love dogs and you love endpapers you have to find this book! I can imagine spending time with your young reading companion looking closely at the face of each dog (there are over 90) talking about each dog - their breed and personality.

Publisher blurb: After Otto invites one of his friends to share his comfy basket, word quickly spreads around the neighbourhood. Soon he's sharing his cosy bed with all the dogs in the area, even taking in the local strays! Before he knows it, everyone is having the best sleep in his beloved basket: everyone, but Otto! Will Otto ever get his basket back to himself? And will he still like it if he does?

Here is a review from IBBY.uk: The illustrations are wonderful, so accurately drawn in each dog’s own body and character. A perfect book about kindness and sharing, and re-thinking what to do when things at first don’t work perfectly.

I think all primary school libraries should have at least one, but preferably more, book by Catherine Rayner. Her art is amazing yes, but her stories also always have another deeper layer of meaning such as the themes in this book about kindness, sharing, and problem solving. You can see a few pages inside this book here. My friend is crazy about her dog - she is sure to love this book because one of the dogs from the park is named Bentley! With your class you could make a list of all the dog names from this book and then make a list of pets and their names from your class. This book was published in 2024 and the hardcover is only AUS$27 but many of Catherine Rayner's books are now available in paperback. 

Pop the name Catherine Rayner into my side bar or 

click her name on the labels for this post to read more about some of these books.

The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration and Writing Shortlists 2024

 

• The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander (Andersen Press)
• The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell (Usborne Publishing)
• Away with Words by Sophie Cameron (Little Tiger)
• The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books)
• Choose Love by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Petr Horáček (Graffeg)
• Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher (Hot Key Books)
• Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
• Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books)

I have read and shared here Safiyyah’s War.

• The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker (Walker Books)
• April’s Garden illustrated by Catalina Echeverri, written by Isla McGuckin (Graffeg)
• Lost by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
• The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy (Walker Books)
• To the Other Side by Erika Meza (Hodder Children’s Books)
• The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry (Templar Publishing)
• The Bowerbird illustrated by Catherine Rayner, written by Julia Donaldson (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage (Walker Books)

I have previously talked about The Bowerbird illustrated by Catherine Rayner.

Literacy Hive: The 2024 shortlists for the UK’s longest running and most prestigious book awards for children and young people have been announced today, Wednesday 13th March. (You can see the longlists here). 

The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration (formerly known as the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals) celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively. Judged by a panel of children’s and youth librarians from across the UK, this year’s longlist of 36 titles has been whittled down to 16 – eight titles for each of the two award categories.

Poetry is a major feature of this year’s Medal for Writing, with three verse novels and a poetry collection accounting for half the shortlist. Picture books prevail on the shortlist for the Medal for Illustration, which includes previous winner Catherine Rayner and three-times shortlisted illustrator Poonam Mistry.

Long list books I have previously talked about:

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll, illustrated by Lauren Child

Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean

The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books)

Arlo: The lion who couldn't sleep by Catherine Rayner

This book reads just like a lullaby for a young child with delightful lyrics repeated three times throughout the text. Here are a couple of verses:

Relax your whole body, slow your breathing right down,

Imagine you're sinking into the soft ground ...

As you fall into calmness so comfy and deep,

Your mind will rest and you'll drift off to sleep."

Arlo cannot fall asleep. He is so tired but the grass feels prickly, the earth is hard, the trees are noisy and the desert is way too quiet. His wife, the lioness, and his cubs are all too restless. Thank goodness for the wise owl who sings the all important lullaby. Arlo stretches and relaxes and lets his mind wander to all the places he would like to visit and before he knows it he has fallen into a delicious long sleep. He races over to thank his new friend the owl but it is daytime and the owl should be asleep so Arlo repays the favour and sings the song himself. Owl then falls in to a deep sleep. When he wakes up, Arlo and Owl share their song with the lioness and cubs.

Recently a friend of mine was talking about the glorious art found in children's books by Edward Ardizzone. I passionately want children to experience the best art in the picture books that we share with them. I would add the work of other illustrators who have very fine hand drawn illustrations to this list such as Brian Wildsmith, Ron Brooks, Charlotte Voake, Patrick Benson, Quentin Blake, John Burningham, Helen Oxenbury and Christian Birmingham.  I could of course, list heaps of others but my point here is you need to also know Catherine Rayner - her work is equal to the work of these other famous names. Take a look at Catherine's web pages.

Image Source; My Book Corner

Here are some other examples of art found in picture books by Catherine Rayner:

Norris - The bear who Shared by Catherine Rayner

Image source https://tinyurl.com/y7h9s9jz

Several years ago I visited the main public library in Edinburgh and saw their newly refurbished children's library where I spied the beautiful art work of Catherine Rayner. Ever since I have kept an eye open for her books and art.

This week I found Norris - The bear who Shared.  This is one of those perfect picture books.  Important topics (sharing and kindness) handled gently (feels like a fable), beautiful illustrations and a poetic text.

Norris was wise.

And being a wise bear,

Norris knew that plorringes

were the best fruit of all.

Don't you love the idea of plorringes.  I adore "invented" words. One of my all time favourite books Hairy Tales and Nursery Crimes by Michael Rosen contains invented words I use every day such as orange wash (orange juice), chocolate kick (chocolate cake), you can eat a sandwitch and put something in your sneezer (freezer). I often tell the children I live in our 'li-berry'.

Back to that plorringe. It is also seen by Tulip (a curious raccoon) and Violet (a tiny mouse).

They clambered closer to the plorringe

and gazed at it.

It looked delicious ...

It smelt of honey and sunny days. ...

It felt as soft as candy floss.

The ripe plorringe is due to fall from the tree and Norris is patiently waiting below. When it falls it bops him on the head WHOMP and now Norris can enjoy his treat but what of Tulip and Violet?

Take a look here at all the books by Catherine Rayner.  This reviewer gives more details about the language in Norris - the bear who Shared and links her comments with the illustrations.

Victor: The wolf with worries by Catherine Rayner

"Wolves are BRAVE and BIG and FIERCE. They are very wolfish! 

Wolves do not worry about anything."

"This is Victor. Victor thinks he is not wolfish enough, and he is very worried about it. 

In fact, Victor worries about pretty much everything."

Victor worries about being not being brave so he pretends to be brave but then he worries that he might actually have to DO something brave - oh no. Victor worries that he is not big enough so he tries to pretend to be big but then he worries that he might have to DO something because others think he is big - oh no! Is he fierce enough? What if he frightens the others? Pretending is not working. 

Luckily Victor has a wonderful friend named Pablo. Pablo explains the idea that a problem shared is a problem halved. So, Victor opens up to his friend about all of his worries. Pablo has other strategies. Put the worry into a bubble and blow it away. Go for a run in the forest and take your mind off things for a while. And best of all Pablo explains that everyone worries and it is actually okay.

I am slightly torn about my feelings for this book. I am a major worrier - I wonder if this book could have helped me? I applaud the possible discussions this book are sure to generate. But are the solutions to Victor's worries too simple? I do have quite strong reservations about books that warrant the label 'bibliotherapy' but perhaps that is not the appropriate label for this book. Take a look at this thoughtful article from Horn Book Magazine about bibliotherapy. 

On the other hand, I adore the art in this book and all books illustrated by Catherine Rayner. See inside this book here. Her little wolf has such an expressive face and every page turn is just a delightful experience. And some of the strategies are very appropriate to share with young child. 

Blurb: Victor the wolf has lots of worries. He worries that he isn't brave enough, that he isn't big enough and that he isn't fierce enough. In fact, Victor feels anxious about almost everything. But when Victor shares his concerns with his best friend Pablo, he starts to feel a bit better. And with Pablo's help, Victor learns even more ways to deal with those pesky worrying thoughts. And as the worries grow smaller, Victor feels a bit bigger, a bit braver, and bit fiercer inside!

There is a very subtle difference between the front and back end papers of this book. At the front we see four birds flying over a lake towards the mountains and at the back it is the same scene but three birds are further away and only is still travelling over the lake.  Does this have a deeper meaning - perhaps. I need to do more thinking. 

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has worked with me to create Pinterest collection of picture books about worries and anxiety with over 120 titles. Here are a couple of screen shots.

Use the label below - Catherine Rayner - to see other books I have shared on this blog. 

Five Bears: A friendship tale by Catherine Rayner

"All the bears looked at each other.

All the bears thought for a while.

All the bears felt happier than they had in a long time.

Then they all spoke at once. 

Because actually, it was simple ...

'We all just like each other!'"

Here is another book that has just popped up and it utterly surprised and delighted me. This is one of those books you could share with very very young children and equally with much older readers where I am sure their discussion would touch on very deep themes such as:

• how are friendships formed?
• is there a 'right' way to react to offers of friendship?
• how can you diffuse anger if a greeting receives a hostile response?
• what does acceptance of others and acceptance of difference mean?
• can you link this book with human relationships, tolerance, race relations?
• what should you do if an offer of help is refused?
• are there tiny things you might do to alleviate the loneliness of others?
• has this book shown you anything about the way teamwork works?
• why is is significant that the "stuck" bear is a polar bear?

Here is the blurb: Bear is walking through the forest, minding his own business when he comes across another bear. The Other bear is different. The two bears wander along, thinking different thoughts, and looking in different directions. Soon the two bears come across another bear and then another bear and eventually find a bear stuck in a tree. The bears realise that perhaps they aren't that different after all and perhaps they could be friends?

This is a large format, hardcover book with an affordable price so I highly recommend you add it to your library shopping list. 

It is my dream that this book helps to make a difference to our future generations' attitude toward helping 'stuck bears' all over the world. Catherine Rayner

Picture books have a great deal to offer to young readers from exciting stories of derring do to direct instruction and, as here, reflective texts that through the perfect marriage of image and word allows the audience to make a connection from the imaginative to reality. Excellent. Books for Keeps

I do adore art by Catherine Rayner - take time to explore her wonderful web pages.

The Bowerbird - books by various authors

Image Source: Birdwatching Daily

Image Source: Australian Museum

This week two new Picture books about Bowerbirds have appeared in our shops. They are so very different from one another and at first glance it seems perhaps Catherine Rayner has "made a mistake" with her little brown bird who looks so different from the glorious and iconic blue specimen depicted by Aura Parker.

Actually both of these illustrators are "right".  I found these images of the Great Bowerbird and he is brown not blue and so looks very different from the Satin Bowerbird. The Great Bowerbird also collects things to fill his bower in order to lure a mate.  Take a look here to see photos of both birds and their bowers. The very rare Regent Bowerbird is yellow and black! And the juvenile Satin Bowerbird is also brown.

Bowerbirds are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, with 10 species in PNG and eight in Australia. Two species are common to both countries. The species found in Australia are:

• Spotted Bowerbird (Chlamydera maculata)
• Regent Bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus)
• Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)
• Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis)
• Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris)
• Western Bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata)
• Golden Bowerbird (Prionodura newtoniana)
• Fawn-breasted Bowerbird (Chlamydera cerviniventris)
• Tooth-billed Bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris)
• Black-eared Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis)

Bowerbird facts:

• Satin Bowerbirds are renowned for decorating their bowers with all manner of blue objects collected from the vicinity of the bower and sometimes from farther afield. These odds and ends may comprise feathers from parrots, flowers, seed pods and fruits, butterfly wings and artificial items such as ball-point pens, matchboxes, string, marbles and pieces of glass.

Image source: Museums Victoria

• To attract his mate, the male bowerbird gathers sticks and assorted trinkets, with which he plies his skill as an architect, builder and decorator. After carefully constructing a twig avenue on the forest floor; he chooses decorations, arranging them around the sunny northern entrance. He favours blue, but may use yellowish-green ornaments, like the female’s plumage. If anything outside his colour scheme (such as a white flower) falls onto the bower, he’ll quickly remove it.
• Bowers, which are located on the ground, are either avenues (in which mating takes place) or maypoles (where a series of sticks are woven around a central pole). Avenue bowers can be up to two metres long.
• Males steal from each other’s bowers with the aim of displaying the best-looking structure to visiting females. Female birds visit several bowers in the process of selecting a mate. To make selection easier, several bowers will be located close together.
• Female satin bowerbirds and young males have olive-green tones and brown wings.  Young males will start to acquire their blue adult plumage at age five. Adult males will be fully attired at age seven.

Further Reading:

Bush Heritage Australia

Birds in Backyards

Backyard Buddies

ABC Radio Canberra: Bowerbirds building booty bases in backyards treat neighbours to beautiful courtship ritual

Australian Museum

Bowerbird Blues begins with glorious end papers which are different front and back. In the story we meet a Satin Bowerbird. 

"I am a collector. Always looking, finding and keeping! Swooping, snatching, scouring, scavenging. Oh how I love BLUE! A skerrick. A scrap A piece of blue. If only I could find the perfect hue."

Take some time to think about the perfect construction of this text. The alliteration and the rich word choices such as skerrick and hue. 

There is blue all around this bird - blue in the sky, blue in the water but those shades of blue are impossible to collect. After diving in the ocean, which is littered with dreadful plastic fragments, the bird is washed onto the sand surrounded by blue litter - bread tags, buttons, plastic spoons, straws, pegs and plastic topped pins. The Satin Bowerbird gathers all these things and he takes them back to his bower which is already full of other human detritus - bottle caps, tooth brushes, and those dangerous plastic rings from milk bottles. Take a look at this photo on the National Geographic site - warning image may distress younger children. 

The bowerbird, in this story by Aura Parker, is searching for something special and wonderful. It wasn't the perfect blue object it was a mate and at the end of the book she arrives.

"Smiling, soaring. Floating, feeling! Sharing, nesting. Cuddling, snuggling. Loving, knowing how much I love you."

So this new Australian title has an environmental message linked with our curiosity about the strange behaviour of this special Australian bird. I especially love the colour palette used by Aura Parker. Aura posted this video on her facebook page. I am going to make a bold prediction and say we are sure to see this book featured on our Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) notables list for the 2024 book of the year award (Picture Book or Early Childhood). 

Julia Donaldson discovered our Australian Bowerbird when she watched a documentary by David Attenborough. I am not sure if this is the video she saw - it features a Satin Bowerbird (blue as expected) and a juvenile male (brown feathers) and shows how the bower is constructed and the collection of blue objects. And in this video David Attenborough shares the work of a Bowerbird found in PNG. He is using pink flowers not the blue you might have expected. Perhaps Catherine Rayner used these two videos as inspiration for her art in The Bowerbird or perhaps she wanted to use a juvenile bowerbird to contrast with the sneaky adult male who tricks little Bert.

Juvenile male bowerbird Image Source: Birdwatching Daily

As you would expect Julia Donaldson has created a wonderful text for her book. Yes it is in rhyme but she is a master of that form.

"He places a purple flower outside, then sat and waited for his bride."

"A rose hip, a rusty zip, a pencil and a paperclip, and then the shell, the silver bell, the wrapper from the caramel, plus the pretty purple flower."

Her story is a cumulative rhyme. Bert gathers more and more things for his bower - a fir cone, a stripy stone, a marble and a mobile phone! But nothing satisfies Nanette. Then along comes a trickster - a bird called Claude. He looks like a large adult male satin bowerbird and he tells Bert, Nanette will love him if he can gather a golden ring. While Bert is off looking for this illusive treasure, Claude robs the bower. Poor bedraggled Bert arrives home to discover all of his carefully collected treasures are gone. 

Have you guessed the happy ending. Bert did not need all of those objects. Nanette was not worthy of his love. Just as he is about to give up another sweet bird arrives.

"The sweetest bird he'd ever seen. She bowed her head and said, 'I'm Jean.' She looked Bert over once or twice and added 'You look very nice, and what a pretty purple flower!' and then she came inside his bower."

See inside The Bowerbird here. Fans of Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner will adore this new book and it is one you will want to add to your school or preschool library. In fact you must add both of these books - the new Australian one by Aura Parker too. With a group of older students it would be terrific to compare these texts - plot similarities and differences; illustrations; book design (cover, title, endpapers, and even the dedications); colour choices; and deeper themes of environment, betrayal, and the search for true love! 

Another book that is about to be released is this fable by Australian author Sophie Masson. I have not had the opportunity to see this book but from my investigations it is not specifically about the Satin Bowerbird but uses this as a metaphor for the young boy who collects blue objects. This looks like an interesting book to explore with a group of older students. 

Here is the blurb: Every morning early, when no-one’s about, Satin slips out of the forest and walks along the sleepy sunrise streets, looking for blue… He’s collected all kinds of blues, from all kinds of places. He’s making something beautiful, with all those blues. But something’s missing, and he doesn’t know what it is. And then, one day, he comes to a street he’s never been in before. And what he finds there will change his lonely life forever. And here is a review.

Here is one more book featuring the Bowerbird:

Pig and Small by Alex Latimer

One morning Pig wakes up with a squeak.  His nose is squeaking!  It squeaks through all his daily activities including bath time so pig "got, the big medical book down from his bookshelf and looked up Squeaky Nose Syndrome."  He finds a long list of squeaky syndromes but nothing about noses. Pig squints down to the end of his nose and sees a tiny bug waving and squeaking.

Pig knows the little bug wants to be his friend but their size differences will certainly make for some serious lessons.  They try bike riding (Bug can't assist much here on their tandem bike) and chess (Pig falls asleep because each move takes Bug so long). Bug makes a cake and knits matching jumpers. It seems all the activities they attempt have predictable outcomes.  "Pig and Bug were very sad.  They'd tried so hard to be friends, but it just wasn't working. So they said goodbye ..."  At that moment Pig sees a newspaper with an article about a movie entitled "The Pirate, the Ninja and the invisible dog."  He has at last found something they can do together.

Friendships are always about adjustments.  This odd pair of friends love the movie and then discover so many other things to enjoy together.   By the end of the story they are also ready to welcome a new friend too. And yes he is also very different.

Here is a web site for the author.  We have most of his books in our school library.

You might like to follow this book with Sylvia and Bird by Catherine Rayner which is also a joyous book about an unlikely friendship.  When I visited Edinburgh recently I found the main public library in the centre of the city which has huge and very special murals painted by Catherine Rayner.  I love her art work.

Sylvia is a dragon.  She is lonely and alone. Then one day she finds a little bird. Together they travel to the moon.  There is a catastrophe which will seal their friendship forever. This is a book for a very young child and I think it is one you will re-read many times.  I have so many picture books in this blog about friendship - just click the link on the sidebar or check out my pinterest list.  You can see two cover pictures here - which one do you like best?

The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson illustrated by Catherine Rayner

The Go-Away bird rejects every offer of friendship from her rain forest companions. 

"I am the Chit-Chit bird. Will you chat with me? We can talk of the weather and other things like the colour of eggs, the the ache in our wings."

"I'm the Peck-Peck bird. Will you eat with me? There are juicy berries on every twig. We can peck, peck til we both grow big."

The four potential friends are each rejected and then along comes a huge brown bird - the Get-You Bird. This huge bird will not go away simply because the Go-Away bird demands this. Luckily the rejected friends see the danger. They form a team and save the day. But what of the Go-Away bird? Her life has been saved - how will she react? How should she react? I love stories that contain a life lesson but not in a didactic way. With an older group you should take a look at Shelter which is a perfect book if you want to talk about rejection and forgiveness. 

Everything about this book is of the highest quality as you would expect from the team of Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner. Too many authors attempt rhyme and it just fails but rhyme in the hands of a master like Julia Donaldson can sing. In fact in this book the words do feel like a song. The rhyme is not used for every line and the repetition of "go away" is simply a perfect way to engage young children.  This is a book that should be added to preschool read aloud program.

Make sure you take time to notice the fern leaf pattern on the end papers which is repeated on the title page and then used in various ways throughout the book. 

This is a delightful story about the value of friends especially in times of need. Kids' Book Review

A lovely tale about needing time to oneself, but also the value of friendship and teamwork. Lovely. Rogan's Books

This is a stellar author/artist partnership. Julia’s witty, bouncy rhyming text is pure pleasure to read aloud and highly join-in-able; and Catherine’s art is simply awesome – richly coloured and textured, superbly expressive: every spread is a joy to linger over – after you’ve read the story aloud once first. Red Reading Hub

Companion reads:

The Bad Mood

Oddbird

Little Wise Wolf

Welcome

Elmore