Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Category: Otter-Barry Books

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

WATER

Protect Freshwater to Save Our Earth

By Catherine Barr & illustrated by Christiane Engel

Protect freshwater to save life on earth…

A ground-breaking global introduction to water that includes sharing and protecting freshwater worldwide, Water is life! Freshwater bubbles, flows and floods with the most wonderful life on Earth – and all of us rely on it to stay alive. BUT today, because of pollution and climate change, it is becoming more and more difficult for people and animals to find the clean freshwater they need to survive. It’s time to act! 

Water tells the story of freshwater around the world. Discover the history of water, how the water cycle works, learn about the different kinds of water and about the amazing variety of wildlife that freshwater is home to. Then find out what happens to water because of climate change and global heating; the importance of clean water for health; the worldwide problem of water pollution and the devastating impact of water shortage on children’s lives and education. 

A glass of pure water is colourless but called blue water…

Catherine Barr challenges us to take action, to use water wisely and protect freshwater to save our planet. Catherine’s many books are witness to her skill in presenting information to children in a visual and bite sized text within the illustrations . From my experience in working within schools, this book is highly engaging and can be used as part of many areas of the curriculum to bring new knowledge to children. Each page has a  Face the Facts section to enable quick and speedy access to information.

Chrsitiane Engel, the illustrator has a wonderful style which will enable talking points on every page.

How to draw a caiman!

Otter-Barry Books have published this remarkable hardback edition into their new books for March 2022, and the quality of production and care to every detail will make it a great success.

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

Women Who Led The Way

Great Explorers and Adventurers

By Mick Manning and Brita Granström

Diverse and inclusive range of explorers

Twenty-one amazing women explorers and adventurers from all over the world From Aud the Deep-Minded, an early voyager to Iceland, and Sacagawea who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition across the USA, to Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space and Arunima Sinha, the first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest, this book shows the incredible courage, determination and power of women explorers over the last 1200 years.

1788-1812, Shoshone Nation, USA, Guide & interpreter on Lewis and Clark Expedition


These women have led the way exploring lands, oceans, mountains, skies and space, but have also made pioneering discoveries in the fields of science, nature, archaeology, ecology and more.
The lives of these women, told as personal stories, are an inspiration to us all.

Great Explorers and Adventurers is packed with wonderful stories about women who have been at the forefront of great explorations and discoveries across the world and in time.

I was fascinated by the records in this book of so many women from the past who have now entered the historical records for heroism and courage. This book not only tells the story but provides intriguing text and engaging illustrations.

Mick Manning and Brit Granstrom are an award-winning duo with a plethora of non-fiction picture books to their credit, having written and illustrated over sixty books and numerous awards.

Otter-Barry Books is a unique independent publisher with a real flair for producing high quality and inspirational children’s books.

Women Who Led the Way, Great Explorers and Adventurers is an amazing book and I am looking forward to exploring all the women who did indeed lead the way.

Sue Martin

Poetry Books from Otter-Barry Books

Otter-Barry Books have a wonderful selection of poetry books and these two new publications are full of exciting poems to inspire and engage young readers.

Roger Steven’s is my favourite poet. You’ll love this collection. Baroness Floella Benjamin

Razz Ma Tazz The Poetry World of Roger Stevens; illustrated by Mike Smith

Once you open this book and start reading the poems you won’t put it down. From poems which are just too cool, like the Year 6 boys, to Shouting to the Ocean, which gives you the chance to just throw all your emotions in the ocean!
 ‘So if you’re hurt, upset or angry

Write down all you want to say

Then post it in the ocean

Watch your troubles float away’

Cool boys and Year Six Sisters to the Chicken School Timetable, Dad’s terrible dancing to Mum’s cunning treasure trail, plus the joy and fun of poetry. There is something for everyone in this paperback collection of poems.
With themes of Family, School, Pets, the Wild, Being a Poet and Personal Favourites, this is an outstanding, exuberant collection of the very best work from one of the best-loved poets writing today.

Roger Stevens is a very well known poet author, with lots of tips about writing poetry. The illustrations by Mike Smith are brilliant, showing each poem in its own unique way.

Wonderful images…and words too

The Universal Zoo by Neal Zetter and illustrated by Will Hughes

If you want to engage young children with poetry and fire their imagination this book is a must to have in the school or at home.

Welcome!
Roll up!

Come on down
to the Universal Zoo.
Want to see amazing animals?
Buy a ticket, join the queue.”

Every creature has a place at the far end of Space, in the Universal Zoo.

Look out for the Shy Shimmereen, the snoozing Snoralotz, the Invisible Ballaboo Beast and the Ten-Legged, Swivel-Headed, Bushy-Bearded, Twirly-Tailed Horrox. Meet the Martian kids with two heads, and stare at the Enormous Egg. And if you think dragons don’t exist and dodos are extinct, then think again. But never, never, never feed the Gronk!

Beware of the Gronk!

A riot of imagination and fun, these poems also send a message about conservation and saving species.

Otter-Barry Books have a website full of information about their books and you can review many of the pages of poems, but the real best thing is to buy the books!!

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

Stories Across the world…

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