The very best words by Erin Munro illustrated by Sarah Trolle

Emma has a new baby brother. He can't talk yet, so she decides to help him find the very best words. Over the year - each month - Emma shares words with James. And by the end of a whole year, at his first birthday, James says his first words back to Emma.

This book would be an absolutely perfect present for a family with a new baby. I have a Pinterest of picture books for families with a new baby brother or sister. At the back of the book there is a word list with brief definitions - I found a new word - susurration (a soft whisper or murmur). The list also includes some of my own favourite words - bamboozle; flibbertigibbet; winndershins; collywobbles; and kerfuffle. Of course, the most important word of all is love!

See inside this book here. This is a picture book from New Zealand. It is published by Little Moa. 

Sarah Trolle (pronounced Tro-lay) is a primary school teacher and illustrator living near Kina Beach in Nelson, New Zealand. She has always loved painting, drawing and printmaking, and from a young age was inspired by writers and illustrators such as Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley, Shirley Hughes, Raymond Briggs, Jan Pienkowski and Julie Vivas. She now spends a lot of her time teaching and creating art with children. You can find Sarah on instagram @SarahJTrolle.

Erin Munro (author) is a content and copywriter by day and can be found working from a local cafe, or her home while the family is out. Working with words keeps her imagination running wild, and she now carries around a notebook to keep track of fun words she comes across - the current favourite is dandelion. The very best words is her debut picture book. 

I am the Seed that grew the Tree Part Two

I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree is the size of 12 picture books, with 334 illustrated pages and 366 poems spanning the last four centuries.  Frann Preston-Gannon illustrator

The quote above comes from Frann who illustrated this book. Here is an interview where you can read how she illustrated of I am the Seed that Grew the Tree. What a mammoth task it was to illustrate so many pages. We are so lucky she took on this task - the final book is one to treasure.  I mentioned I will share a poem or two from this glorious book from time to time.

Here are a few more for you to enjoy:

January 21st

Over wintry wind-whipped waves

The white-winged  seagulls wildly sweep:

Weaving, winding, wheeling, whistling,

Where the wide waste waters weep.

Anonymous

July 16th

When the heat of the summer

Made drowsy the land,

A dragonfly came

And sat on my hand,

with its blue joined body,

And wings like spun glass,

It lit on my fingers

As though they were grass.

Eleanor Farjeon

August 7th

THE SHELL

On the shelf in my bedroom stands a shell.

If I hold it close, I can smell

The salty sea.

I can hear the slap

Of the waves as they lap

The sandy shore.

I can feel once more

The tickling tide

As it gently flows between my toes.

John Foster

A friend mentioned this book had a different cover in the US.  I tracked it down - this wasn't easy because it also has a different title. I wonder why?  The Kirkus review says majestic and inspiring as nature itself.   You can see 66 pages inside the book which is the same as the UK version on the publisher web site.