‘The Night Gardener’ by The Fan Brothers

One day, William dis­cov­ers that the tree out­side his win­dow has been sculpt­ed into a wise owl. In the fol­low­ing days, more top­i­aries appear, and each one is more beau­ti­ful than the last. Soon, William’s grey lit­tle town is full of colour and life. And though the mys­te­ri­ous night gar­den­er dis­ap­pears as sud­den­ly as he appeared, William – and his town – are changed forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Lucie Goose’ by Danny Baker

Lucie Goose lives all alone in a house at the edge of the woods. She has nev­er met or spo­ken to anoth­er ani­mal of any sort until… a wolf, bear and lion turn up on her doorstep and go Rraaaar­rrrrr! She should start scream­ing. She should run away. But Lucie Goose isn’t very good at being scared. What will she do?

 

 

 

 

 

‘Drawn Together’ by Minh Lê

When a young boy vis­its his grand­fa­ther, their lack of a com­mon lan­guage leads to con­fu­sion, frus­tra­tion, and silence. But as they sit down to draw togeth­er, some­thing mag­i­cal hap­pens-with a shared love of art and sto­ry­telling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Jerome by Heart’ by Thomas Scotto

“Raphael loves Jerome. I say it. It’s easy.” This sto­ry fol­lows a lit­tle boy named Raphael, whose dai­ly rhythm is steeped in his immense affec­tion for his friend Jerome. The two boys share jokes and snacks and plan future adven­tures to the Himalayas. Even when Raphael’s con­stant talk of Jerome is dri­ving his par­ents crazy, he remains stead­fast: “Raphael loves Jerome. I can say it. It’s easy.” And the truth is, when he’s with Jerome, Raphael feels hap­py, liked, and under­stood― even spe­cial. Thomas Scotto’s sim­ple, strong, and insight­ful prose and Olivi­er Tallec’s delight­ful, expres­sive illus­tra­tions give much emo­tion and imme­di­a­cy to the story.

‘Marwan’s Journey’ by Patricia de Arias

Mar­wan is a young boy on a jour­ney he nev­er intend­ed to take, bound for a place he doesn’t know. On his jour­ney, he relies on courage and mem­o­ries of his far­away home­land to buoy him. With him are hun­dreds and thou­sands of oth­er human beings, cross­ing the deserts and the seas, flee­ing war and hunger in search of safety.

He must take one step after another—bringing what­ev­er he can car­ry, hold­ing on to dreams. This is the jour­ney of one boy who longs for a home, and we fol­low his path, walk­ing hand in hand with him as he looks for­ward with uncer­tain­ty and hopes for a peace­ful future.

This beau­ti­ful, heart­felt sto­ry gives a human face to the plight of refugees all over the world. Marwan’s jour­ney is everyone’s journey.

‘Oi Dog!’ by Kes and Claire Gray

Frog’s had enough, he’s chang­ing the sta­tus quo! Cat insists that there are rules — only mules sit on stools, no one but hares should sit on chairs and how­ev­er irri­tat­ing, dogs MUST sit on frogs.

‘Well, I’m chang­ing the rules,’ said the frog.
‘From now on, dogs sit on logs, not frogs!’

And every­one else is going to have to sit some­where else too. Will Cat want to sit on gnats instead of cushy mats? Will spi­ders like sit­ting on glid­ers? Will whales be hap­py to sit on nails? And, most impor­tant­ly, where is FROG going to sit?