So, the Harry Potters ended with a good deal of pain, unfinished business and
the possibility of posthumous revelations, like an actual bereavement. The
sequence deserves wild applause. But important information was later added %26ndash;
through webchats and at author events %26ndash; about the characters%26rsquo; jobs,
marriages and (less need-to-know) sexual orientation. In future, perhaps it
will be necessary only to publish half a story: the rest can be told in
answer to readers%26rsquo; questions. The following books %26ndash; my favourites of 2007 %26ndash;
observe the convention of being complete in themselves.
0-to 3-year-olds
Polly Dunbar%26rsquo;s vibrant Penguin (Walker %26pound;10.99 or %26pound;7.99 in
paperback plus a DVD), about a toddler and his frustratingly silent soft
toy, was the winner of the 2007 Early Years award. With flat colours, white
space and a big blue lion, it addresses themes of anger, danger and love,
and encourages children to remember events, read pictures and laugh.
No two-year-old%26rsquo;s life is complete without We%26rsquo;re Going on a Bear Hunt by the
children%26rsquo;s laureate Michael Rosen (illustrated by Helen Oxenbury). The
Bear in the Cave (Bloomsbury %26pound;10.99) now reveals what the bear gets up
to when he is not being pursued: leaving his seaside cave to visit the noisy
city (%26ldquo;vroomity vroom%26rdquo;). Adrian Reynolds draws cosily pneumatic figures and
makes atmospheric use of light. The book includes a CD humorously read by
Rosen.
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Related Internet LinksPurchase books from Sunday Times Books First
Glittering literary prizes 2007
From hidden secrets to sizzling suspense, Peter Kemp kicks off the Christmas books selection by revealing the fiction that gripped him
Celebrity festive favourites
The Times Christmas choice: fiction
Background
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: biographies
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: trees
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: art
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: music
Background
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: sport
The Sunday Times best books 2007: gardening
The Sunday Times best books of 2007: food
After Mog%26rsquo;s demise in Goodbye Mog, how pleasing to have a new cat picturebook
from Judith Kerr with a feel-good plot and her gentle, pencil-crayon
pictures. In Twinkles, Arthur and Puss (HarperCollins %26pound;12.99), three
cats with three owners turn out to have an unexpected link.
A hoot for 2-to 5-year-olds is Rob Scotton%26rsquo;s Russell%26rsquo;s Christmas
Magic (HarperCollins %26pound;5.99), his third picturebook about Russell, the
googly-eyed sheep from Frogsbottom field. Russell saves Christmas by
adapting an old car when Santa%26rsquo;s sleigh crashes. Illustrated with twinkling
caricatures sprinkled with stardust.
For 2-to 6-year-olds, The Bear with Sticky Paws (Orchard %26pound;10.99) by
Clara Vulliamy has cuteness, skilled draughtsmanship, spirit and decorative
flair. A grumpy girl left briefly alone is visited by a bear who eats a lot
of countable edibles. The messy visit reforms the child%26rsquo;s behaviour.
Elements of The Cat in the Hat, The Hungry Caterpillar, Raymond Briggs%26rsquo;s The
Bear, and The Tiger Who Came to Tea give it the feeling of a classic.
Tony Ross is so prolific that his humorous, casually dextrous illustrations
may be taken for granted, but in Three Little Kittens and Other Nursery
Rhymes (Andersen %26pound;12.99) they reward scrutiny. Costumes from various
historical eras, for instance, often have one anachronistic modern detail.
Nursery rhymes help instil language in babies; this collection (of 48) will
also stimulate older children. After all, a hardback picturebook is for
life, not just for Christmas.
4-to 7-year-olds
A bucktoothed inventor mouse in Chris Riddell%26rsquo;s Wendel%26rsquo;s Workshop (Macmillan
%26pound;10.99) learns never to throw anything on the scrapheap when a robot he
rejected rescues him from an overzealous successor. Scrap has never been so
picturesque.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems (Walker %26pound;10.99), for 3-to
6-year-olds, is about a little monster who is terrible at being one, even
when he tries to %26ldquo;scare the tuna salad out of%26rdquo; a boy he ends up befriending.
Reminiscent of Maurice Sendak, and Charlie Brown comic strips, its funny,
pared-down text in decorative capitals like Victorian theatre bills and
quirky cartoons concentrates emotion.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have never quite matched the extraordinary
success of The Gruffalo in subsequent collaborations, but their celebration
of story, Tiddler (Alison Green/Scholastic %26pound;10.99), could do it. In
flawless rhyme and rhythm, a small fish tells tall tales to excuse his
lateness at school. When a real drama gets him lost, a trail of his own
stories, retold admiringly by wide-eyed sea creatures, leads him home.
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