A grizzly romp, a memory thief and glorious food  by various authors – children’s book reviews –

Age 3 plus:

The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist!

Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis

‘When darkness falls in rising mist, Beware the gruesome grizzled grist.’ Watch little smiles light up when they get their hands on this fun-filled picture book featuring a school trip that turns into a gorgeously grizzly adventure.

Written in a romping rhyming verse by New Zealand-born Juliette MacIver, and stunningly illustrated by talented Aussie artist Sarah Davis, this exuberant read-aloud story positively fizzes with wordplay and madcap energy. And little ones will delight in finding Liam and spotting the elusive Grizzled Grist as they follow Davis’ lively and colourful illustrations.

It’s the class trip to Dismal Hills wilderness with Ms. Whiskersniff (or Ms.Whisk when she’s in a hurry). The children aren’t at all worried about the legendary Grizzled Grist who lives there... they’re just excited to show off their outdoor forest skills of foraging, climbing, trapping and hiking. And certainly no one is impressed with quiet and observant Liam’s skill when it comes to hiding. But it turns out a hider can see what others think does not exist... a hider moves with soundless ease and treads as softly as the breeze. And what is this the hider sees? When the children and their frazzled teacher walk confidently into disaster, observant Liam saves the day... what a triumph for the quiet child that no one notices!

The award-winning creators of That’s Not a Hippopotamus work their special magic again on this wonderfully playful and charming tale which features a picture perfect story, laughs galore, and a call and refrain wordplay that will enchant toddlers, pre-schoolers and early readers.

(Gecko Press, hardback, £11.99)

Age 9 plus:

The Chestnut Roaster

Eve McDonnell

Who can catch a memory thief? Immerse your senses in a thrilling tale of memory, danger, kinship and magical realism... all served up with an alluring and authentic French flavour!

The Chestnut Roaster is the gripping new historical fantasy from Eve McDonnell, acclaimed Irish author of Elsetime, which was shortlisted for The Awesome Book Award and won the Wells Festival of Literature Children’s Book Award.

Starring a dazzling, but tiny heroine who will stop at nothing to catch a memory thief and restore some lost children to their parents, this atmospheric adventure is set in Paris in 1888 and takes us above and below ground as we follow a tiny but dazzling heroine into the depth of the city’s catacombs where the dead rest uneasily... and the living are on a furious race against time.

‘Starting on All Fools Day, twelve years ago, I remember everything. EVERYTHING. That was a wet Saturday, and that was the day I was born.’ Twelve-year-old chestnut roaster Piaf has the ability (and burden) of remembering everything that has happened since the day she was born. Her mind, Piaf imagines, is a series of tiny wooden memory boxes and only by fiddling with a secret button sewn into her coat sleeve can she stop her ‘non-stop nagging memory dead.’ But when a sinister stranger arrives at her chestnut stall, all her old, danger-filled memories are dug up. And when she discovers that everyone in Paris has forgotten the entire last year, 1887, including the disappearance of twenty unusually gifted children, Piaf and her twin brother Luc embark on a dangerous journey that takes them to the depths of Paris’s underground Catacombs and on a perilous mission to capture the memory thief and find the lost children.

Paris in the Belle Époque springs to rich and vivid life – thanks to McDonnell’s mesmerising brand of lyrical storytelling and the extraordinarily detailed illustrations of Ewa Beniak-Haremska – as this dark and atmospheric Parisian odyssey explodes into a fusion of fast and furious action.

This is an author who knows how to blend fact and fiction, magic and realism, history and mystery with precision, soaring imagination and word perfection. An absolute stunner... don’t miss it!

(Everything with Words, paperback, £7.99)

Age 7 plus:

Take a Bite: Eat Your Way Around the World

Aleksandra Mizielinski and Daniel Mizielinski

Food glorious food! Eat your way around the world in this tasty, giant-sized book which explores the food, recipes and cultural traditions from twenty-six different countries.

Take a Bite is the work of talented graphic artists Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski, the creative married couple behind the bestselling Maps, and its 116 pages of food of every taste and description are guaranteed to make mouths water and tummies rumble.

Packed full of fascinating facts, recipes and cultural traditions, this cornucopia of deliciousness takes youngsters (and their parents!) on an entertaining and feast-filled adventure full of delectable food and cookery marvels.

Where do corn, wheat and potatoes come from? What have people in Turkey been eating for centuries? Learn how to make Polish pancakes, Vietnamese pancakes, Brazilian pralines and Hungarian lecsó. Be a guest at a Moroccan feast, sail along a Vietnamese floating market and indulge in the haute cuisine of France’s master chefs. As well as discovering a host of new delicacies, readers will also learn about their remarkable history and cultural roots along the way.