Moon Mouse by Corrinne Averiss illustrated by Lora Hill

Moon Mouse lives all alone on ... yes the moon! There is no one to 'squeak to' but he is used to the silence, and he keeps busy with his garden, cooking and viewing earth through his gold telescope.

He especially loves to look for birthday parties. 

"Lost in that joy - he forgets ... he's alone."

Moon Mouse has a plan. He is building a rocket. When it is finished he hopes to go to a real birthday party - one with a magic show. Through his telescope he sees a terrific birthday with cake and singing and friends but then oh no, the little boy lets go of his birthday balloon. 

Have you ever wondered where those lost balloons go? Perhaps they get as far as the moon. Yay - Moon Mouse now has is very own birthday balloon. But what about that little boy - his balloon is lost. It must be time to fire up his rocket. How will he find this boy? What will happen when he reaches the house? Is there a way to deliver the balloon so it does not float away? Moon Mouse is very shy - will he talk to the little boy? Is there way they can become friends? You will notice that on planet earth has to wear his space helmet but from the cover you can see this is a very special kind of helmet - could this help the boy and the mouse?

With themes of kindness, friendship and its joys, and bravery, this charmer of a rhyming story is written by Corrinne Averiss and illustrated with details aplenty by Lorna Hill. Young children will particularly love exploring the scenes showing Mouse’s lunar abode and that of the birthday boy’s bedroom. RedReadingHub

The illustrations add so much to the text, as we watch Moon Mouse, with a rattle, a rumble, a BOOM and a BLAST, setting off for planet earth. The illustrated contrast between Mouse’s moon home and the birthday boy’s is great, as his lost red balloon is returned. Moon Mouse’s heart is bursting with pleasure, mission complete, as he zooms off into the night. We understand that a friendship has been cemented. A book to be savoured over and over, to be enjoyed for its rich language as well as for the quality of the detailed pictures. Books for Keeps

This book is a paperback. Here in Australia it is not expensive. This is a book you should add to your preschool library shelves and also to the shelves in your Primary school library along with other books by Corrinne Averiss. 

My Pet Star

Joy

Take a look here to see more glorious art by Lorna Hill. 

The Balloon Blow Up! by Andy Geppert

 

"A balloon as big as the moon will quickly pop. I think we need to make it smaller."

The little girl asks her friend the elephant to blow up her balloon. To make it big, bigger, biggest - as big as the moon!

After Elephant explains this might lead to a disaster she watches as he shrinks the balloon smaller and smaller until it goes pfft!

Then a new voice takes over the balloon himself speaks up. (In a way this shouldn't be a surprise if you notice the image on the title page). The balloon sets up his conditions for use and care in the form of an owner's contract. This reminded me of this book:

I am certain this new Australian Picture book will be a CBCA Notable (Early Childhood). Andy Geppert won Children’s Book Council of Australia Crichton Award ‘Best New Illustrator’ (2010).  The Balloon Blow up! is such a fun book. It is one you will want to share with many groups of readers in your school library. The limited colours of grey, yellow and mauve all done in a soft focus are perfect. Grab a balloon and your toy elephant and settle down for a terrific reading experience. The cover alone, with those 'O' balloons will surely make you want to open this book. 

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a Pinterest collection of books about balloons. Here is a set of teachers notes written by Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright. The notes also include a list of other picture books about balloons. Here is my favourite:

The Balloon Blow Up goes to show you that even just one decision can be quite a complex thing. It can take quite a bit of thinking. Good Reading Magazine

Andy Geppert’s exquisite illustrations add an extra layer of magic to this adorable story. The mostly monochrome palette is offset with fun pops of colour. Cute and expressive characters add personality, and there are lots of little details for children to spot. Reading Time

Sometimes the smallest things can have the biggest impact on our little ones. Geppert captures the feeling of being overwhelmed – and how to step down from the rising sense of panic – with sincerity and generosity. This is a perfect story for parents and children who are looking for an alternative to the brash colour and noise of many kids’ picture books! It’s fun and full of energy, but it never shouts. Better Reading

Here are two other books by Andy Geppert:

Backyard Birdies

Please bring Balloons by Lindsay Ward

 

As it says on the dust jacket: "For anyone who has ever imagined what it would be like to ride a carousel animal right off its platform, this enchanting story is your chance - happy travels!" I just wish this book was not out of print because it is a sheer delight.

A little girl finds a note under the saddle of the polar bear on the carousel. She takes a red balloon and ties a red balloon. "I hope you like red,' she whispered." The next day the note says please bring more balloons. She ties these to the polar bear and they are up and away. They drift through starry skies and arrive in the land of ice and snow. The discover the polar bear rumpus and a wild night ensues. After a terrific night they travel safely home. The next day, though, there is another note under the saddle on the polar bear - clearly more adventures await.

There’s pull out pages and such a fun combination of colors and patterns that it’s very difficult for the reader not to enjoy themselves. Absolutely stunning and truly unique, this was a phenomenal read. Home Grown Reader

Make sure you check the end papers. In this post Lindsay Ward talks about her book.  I'm very keen to see other books by Lindsay Ward.

The Bear and the Moon by Matthew Burgess illustrated by Cátia Chien

 

Bear wakes from his long winter sleep and finds a red balloon.

"It was red as a berry and round like the moon with a long silver string drifting brightly in the breeze"

The little bear wants to play with this bright red thing. The balloon and the bear romp through the forest all day and into the night. 

"And when evening became night it glowed softly in the moonlight."

The bear takes his new friend on a tour of his world - the trees, hills, waterfall and grasses. Bear loves the balloon so he reaches out to give it a hug and ... uh-oh!

Bear tries to fix the balloon "but nothing bought it back."

With a heavy heart he sits down and looks up at the sky. The full moon rises over the lake and "gently stroked his fur." Bear is comforted.

"Good bear. Kind bear. Don't worry bear."

The emotional arc of this story is just perfect and the illustrations are enchanting. One of my passions is the importance of providing young readers with picture books filled with wonderful art. The Bear and the Moon is almost tactile. Cátia Chien is originally from Brazil she now lives in New York.  

In this video Matthew Burgess talks about his book. And here is his web site. When you find this book be sure to look under the dust jacket - there is a surprise! Oh and the end papers are perfect too! In this video Cátia talks about her processes and Matthew shares some pages.

As delightful as a balloon—but with more weight. Kirkus Star Review

With simple, gentle, poetic text, Burgess conjures experiences and emotions that the littlest listeners will connect with, also showing how to cope with difficult feelings, especially loss and guilt. Chien's illustrations capture the swell of emotions, pairing them perfectly with the natural world. Books4YourKids

Here are two more books by Matthew Burgess:

Clouds by Peggy Blakeley illustrated by Kazuo Niizaka

Tuesday Treasure

This is one of my all time most most most FAVOURITE books in the whole world!  I had a copy of this book in every Primary school library (there are four of them) where I worked as a Teacher-Librarian.  Very sadly the last copy was disposed by the replacement staff in my last (former) school library.  A few months ago I was browsing through used books and yippee I found a copy of Clouds - a used copy from a library in the UK. It arrived today and I am smiling a enormous smile! I just couldn't wait to share this tonight even though it is not Tuesday!

Why do I love this book?

1. I love the colour green used for the cover and the grass (my photo doesn't do this justice and this older copy is fairly faded)
2. I love the idea of making a story from the cloud shapes - I'm sure we have all done this
3. I love the way the balloon, that has floated away from the children, becomes part of the cloud story
4. I love the simple, direct prose
5. I love the words - spread-eagled, scuttered, strutted, stumped.
6. I love the way the text is repeated at the end - rather like a bookend.
7. I love that this book is just about a small event, a tiny part of the day where two kids enjoy lying on the grass with their dog Ruben watching the clouds and talking about what they can see

"Tom and me were out on Saturday in the sun with Ruben and our red balloon. 
We'd galloped, panting down the hill then dropped spread-eagled on the grass watch the clouds that seemed to hover over us, Tom said, before they drifted past. 
Ruben scuttered off after an imaginary rabbit and there we lay Tom and me and the red balloon floated away."

Clouds is a really old book - first published in 1972. You might be lucky and find it in a well stocked library.

Peggy Blakeley was the author of over 150 books including the music books Apusskidu, Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay which are titles I am sure many Primary school teachers will recognise. She died aged 85 in 2006.  Clouds is the only book, in English at least, that I can find illustrated by Kazuo Niizaka. A colleague in Japan did some more research for me. Kazuo Niizaka (1943-1987) loved kites and he wrote several books about them. Here is his book Tobeshiro Owl from 1980.

I would like to know more about the books by Peggy Blakeley - and why, in the 1970s, so many of her books, published by A and C Black (series Read Together Books), were illustrated by Japanese illustrators. Sorry Momoko and the Pretty bird appears here - it is not by Peggy Blakeley it's by Chihiro Iwasaki.

Illustrator Kenzo Kobayashi

Illustrator Shomei Yoh

Illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki

Here are some more text quotes from Clouds:

"And then came a whale blowing across the great wide sky at noon chasing, quite ferociously, our little red balloon."

"Next an unlikely elephant came with Tom and me up on its back. 

A mangy lion, a fluffy dog, a frightened hare, a tiny mouse - it seemed the sky was full up there.

But the yellow bird was flying high and our red balloon went bob, bob, bobbing by."

"Tom and me were out one Saturday in the sun with Ruben coming home and the only bit left of our lovely red balloon. And we lay spread-eagled on the grass watching the clouds as they went drifting past."

The Blue Balloon by Mick Inkpen

Here is a list of things you need to know :

• The Blue Balloon is not a new book (first published in 1989)
• The Blue Balloon is near the top of my favourite picture books of all time!
• The Blue Balloon review is number 700 for my little blog and today is the 7th day of the 7th month I am such a fan of number sequences like this
• The Blue Balloon is a book for all ages.  It is a book to treasure and read over and over again.
• If The Blue Balloon is a book you have not yet discovered rush out right now and grab a copy - you will not be disappointed.
• The Blue Balloon is the first book which features the cute dog Kipper - he went on to star in a whole series of books nearly all of which you can find in our school library.

"One day after my birthday party Kipper found a soggy blue balloon in the garden." This is the opening sentence.  Perhaps this balloon is nothing too special but the next sentence tells us "the balloons at my party were red and white." And so a day of pure balloon fun begins.  Featuring flaps and fold outs this balloon is subjected to all sorts of rough treatment but it always survives and as an added delight changes in the most marvellous and truly magical ways.

I am so happy The Blue Balloon emerged on the top of my reading pile in time to celebrate review number 700.

You might also like to read my review of another Mick Inkpen gem - Nothing.