Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Month: January 2023

Selfies With Komodos

By Brian Moses & Illustrated by Ed Boxall

A sparkling new collection from a leading children’s poet

Every day is an adventure in this brilliant, eagerly awaited collection from one of the UK’s best loved poets. Find cats, dogs and dragons, a rock’n’roll iguana and the Rescue Centre for Mythical Beasts. Take the night train to Transylvania, learn to fly or send a postcard from Pluto – but never take a selfie with a Komodo!

Such a great book full of poems that are sometimes catchy, sometimes scary but always fun.

 A poem called Dragons, it just helps your imagination to roam beyond wherever you are.

When I met the dragon of vanity,

we gazed into his mirror.

When I met the dragon of discovery

we roamed the known world together.

When I met the dragon of imagination

we tiptoed in and out of each other’s dreams…’

Poet, Brian Moses is one of Britain’s favourite children’s poets and he is featured on the National Poetry Archive. He has written more than 200 books and has sold over 1 million of his poetry books and anthologies.

… never take a selfie with a Komodo!!


Illustrator, Ed Boxall, is an artist, performer writer and educator from Hastings, a seaside town in the south of England. He has written and illustrated loads of books. His website is packed with ideas and books of course. Try Word Dreaming, you’ll have fun and learn lots alongside.

Otter-Barry Books have a wonderful collection of poetry books and are an inspirational publisher for children’s books which spark imaginations and bring dreams to life.

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

Letters to Anyone and Everyone by Toon Tellegen , illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg

A collection of special letters…

Winner of the Marsh Award 2011 for Children’s Literature in Translation. Translated by Martin Cleaver. In this newly formatted edition of Letters to Anyone and Everyone, Toon Tellegen conjures up a world where the creatures of the earth can send a letter to the sun (and get an answer); where you can actually write a letter to a letter; and where just writing something down can make it true. Perfectly complemented by Jessica Ahlberg’s delicate illustrations.

Ever since I received this book it has stayed by my sofa. It is so delightfully calm and intuitive. The idea of writing a letter and receiving a wonderful reply is so stunning. Wouldn’t that go some way to solving some of the worlds’ problems!! ( Don’t quote me on that one!)

The tortoise for instance, who had a problem as he woke up to discover he was in a hurry! So he wrote to snail, who replied…

Dearest Tortoise,

That is a tragedy for you. It’s so cruel when you’re in a hurry. Fight your way out of it and defeat it. Fold it into an insignificant ball, then bury it in the ground. Above all, keep your cool, If you and I lose cool, what then?

The snail.

What a joy! Heartfelt and emotive, great for learning about empathy.

The new hardback edition with bookmarking ribbon is a wonderful book to have and that is why I and others in the family keep reading it again and again.

Written by Toon Tellegen is a Dutch writer, poet, and physician, known for children’s books, especially those featuring anthropomorphised animals. The illustrator, Jessica Ahlberg studied at Winchester School of Art and illustrated many books for children. She lives in Brighton and is the daughter of Janet and Allen Ahlberg.

Published by Boxer Books, this edition is an excellent part of their increasing and beautiful portfolio.

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

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