Dolphinbooksellers – Page 3 – Bookmonitor

What are you playing at? Alanna Books

What are you playing at?

A great book challenging stereotypes and play activities.

It’s produced by Marie-Sabine Roger and Anne Sol,published by Alanna Books.The format of the pages is designed so there is a hidden extra page which shows the other side to the statement.

Check out an example on www.Alannabooks.com.

The photographs are brilliant, with real live examples of boys who really do dance, of girls who really do play football and other things too!

How great to have a book that is clear and non patronising. The images around ‘ Boys don’t cry’ are fantastic, the hidden page shows a famous footballer at the end of a match, crying with emotion so raw that you all know just how he feels.

A good book from a good independent publisher.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books, always on line

Bookmonitor is our news source for reviews and project information.

Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

We use Stripe to handle your e-purchase. Buy with confidence from BgW. Customer FAQ's here.

Two New Titles from Jane Nissen Books

These two classics are brought back to life by Jane Nissen Books, beautifully presented and a joy to read or to re read.

Bringing classic children’s books back into print is the mission for Jane Nissen Books and as Jane says,’ To enable a new generation of readers to discover for themselves high quality timeless titles that should not be lost’.

The Lost Prince is the story of two boys brought together by fate and given an enormous task of adventure to find different people across Europe. They set out with little money but high determination and courage.

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry is the story of the Godolphin Arabian, who travelled in around 1724 from Morocco to Cambridge.

It’s a great story and more than worthy to be read.

Click on the book covers and buy both as a treat for Christmas… I bet you will find yourself reading at least one of them before you can get it wrapped!

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on

Poetry for Children

Poetry will be back in the mainstay of children’s learning at school. Frances Lincoln have just published a brilliant array of books in a series called, Poetry for Children.

Titles and authors include; Kathy Henderson with The Dragon with a Big Nose, Cheryl Moskowitz with Can it be about Me?, Brian Moses with The Monster Sale along with Roger McGough, Grace Nichols and Wes Magee.

The new Primary National Curriculum, to be introduced from September 2014, will bring a focus on poetry. The Bookseller said,

“The move could help to boost children’s poetry publishing output, support poets in schools and encourage booksellers to revitalise their limited children’s poetry offer.”

Take a look at the Frances Lincoln poetry books, and from our Dolphin site go to Anytime Book Shop and shop via Amazon. When you buy books through Dolphin we will donate 20p per book to supporting children at school in Nepal(or at least getting to school as the recent monsoons have meant a long break!).

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on line

Books go Walkabout – e-Print Publisher

Books Go Walkabout has just started on a new journey, into e-publishing. The project is now able to publish books for authors and creative writers around the globe.

Books go Walkabout is the e-publishing arm of SmithMartin LLP, the parent practice of Dolphinbooksellers.

An exciting new adventure and we are pleased to start our journey with the first book in series called Writing about Africa. Short stories about Africa, fiction, travel, interest and lots more to come.

The first story, The Goat That Vanished is by Ifeoma Onyefulu. A story of a goat, some elders and a wedding gift that went wrong… a story of culture, humour and family life.

Ifeoma Onyefulu - a story about a goat — The Goat That Vanished

Ifeoma writes for children and uses her captivating photos of African life as she travels across the continent.

Buy from the Amazon Kindle Store for less than the price of a cup of coffee here.

Our publications are set to grow, in conjunction with the Worldreader programme, who provide 300 stories on a Kindle free to individual children throughout Africa. Great readers!

Our publications are designed to feed into social projects supporting children and literacy in Africa, but their interest is world wide. already the story is available across the globe, in 9 different countries.

A real success for Books Go Walkabout…join us on the journey.

Books Go Walkabout – Children and authors using technology across the globe

Hero on a Bicycle

A stunning first novel from Shirley Hughes,one of the world’s best loved children’s writers and illustrators.
Set in the countryside, Hero on a Bicycle, close to Florence in 1944, Italy is occupied by Nazi German forces. But the Italian Resistance movement has not given up hope.

In Villa Crivelli, Paolo and his sister Constanza are desperate to fight the occupation. Their father, a known Partisan and resistance fighter has had to retreat to the hills. Their mother Rosemary is British but has lived in Italy for many years.

As the Nazis become increasingly worried about maintaining their position they become more and more interested in this unusual family living in the countryside, they suspect a close liaison with the resistance fighters.

Shirley Hughes, is a wonderful story teller and writer. The story is focused on Paolo, a fourteen year old boy. As he rides his bicycle along the lanes to Florence he becomes more involved with the fighting and Il Volpe (…the Fox), than he had planned.

There is a brilliant web site with information,sketches and a video from Shirley, see below, as she describes her work and her time in Florence. See more here…

This is a beautiful book from Walker Books. You can buy a copy here…

Dolphin Booksellers
The best in children’s books always on line.

What on Earth Books!

At the Federation of Children’s Book Groups conference we were blown away with this new concept.

The What on Earth Wallbook, from the Big Bang to present day.

A whole wall book of facts! It’s a book with no spine, that doesn’t mean it has no real bite, this book will give you all the facts and information you need to know about the whole history of the world for billions of years.

It’s dynamic and creative and is just amazingly brilliant.

It goes on to become a whole wall display or even larger…. an outside huge wall covering for passers by.

It’s a treasure hunt of learning, it’s a story on a time line, and it changes scale like a telescope, especially as humans start to appear on the world scene.

On Monday April 30th Chris is launching the Wallbook of Sport on London’s South Bank. a great event if you can make it, or find visit World of Books.

Definitely worth finding out more and you could even make a discovery about this wonderful world.

This is clear view thinking!

How Chris made this journey himself is fascinating and resonates with all who feel that the National Curriculum is a barrier to active learning.

Or, as Chris expressed it, ” It makes discovery feel like looking through a pane of shattered glass”.

pictures courtesy of Chris Lloyd

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers- the best in children’s books always on line.

Walkabout in November – autumn or spring?

bgw Books go Walkabout

Stories the world over…

Children and authors using exciting technology to talk across the globe.

Next trip underway between Australia and the UK. Meetings planned with schools and classes of children. Great letters came back from 4D in Balgowlah Heights to Ifeoma Onyefulu,and letters to Lindy Batchelor in Sydney from Babraham Primary School. See them now on Books Go Walkabout.

We are meeting with authors in Australia and the UK in the next few weeks,to build those bridges and bring more books and stories to children from all over.

In Nigeria, children anxious to get hold of books, we can just make that happen and in an inexpensive way too.

Keep in touch with the project Books Go Walkabout, maybe there are some links you would like to make.

Sue Martin

Dolphin Booksellers – The Best in children’s books always on line.

Jackie Morris Watercolour – auction for Tiger Conservation

Jackie Morris, children’s book illustrator and author has some wonderful illustrations of tigers. These fill many of her books with colour and splendour, and capture that engaging image of the tiger in the wild. Yet, within the picture lies a sense of majesty,strength and compassion.

The original watercolour from the book, Lord of the Forest, illustrated by Jackie and written by Caroline Pitcher is being donated by Jackie and auctioned on eBay in aid of the 21st Century Tiger.

From the 21st March for 10 days you can bid in the auction for the painting.

21st Century Tiger is a unique fund raising partnership between the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol.They raise money to support conservation products throughout Asia.

Jackie says.” Even though in my lifetime I may never see a tiger in the wild, my world is a richer place for knowing that these wonderful creatures are there…. It is my hope that when I have grandchildren tigers will still walk through their dreams and through the forests of the world as living creatures and not something from history, creatures of myth.”

Information can be found at 21st Century Tiger

Dolphin Booksellers – bringing you the best in children’s books always on line.

The Grizzly Bear with the Frizzly Hair

” Yipes!” blinked the itzy bitzy rabbit. ” What are you going to do?”

” Have my lunch, growled the bear. ” And my lunch is…YOU!”

Poor old Grizzly Bear, there was nothing left to eat in the woods. Because he had eaten it all!

From tasty toes to biting in half, this bear means business when he comes across the rabbit. But unlike other animals Rabbit is not scared.

He has intriguing reasons why the bear should not eat him for his lunch and it works!

A great story in a picture book retold in a very appealing way. The drama, the pictures, the way it is presented and the rhyming text make it a joy to read and to share.

It comes from Sean Taylor and illustrated by Hannah Shaw,the team who put together Crocodiles are the best Animals of All- short listed for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009.Newly published by Frances Lincoln, this book is a great one to read and to buy.

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always

Dolphin Bookshelf

Books for Children’s Centres and Communities

A new project!!!

We wanted a place for books to be part of the Centre, there for children and families.

Space to sit and read together.

Time to look and to buy a book, or simply to have a chance to read in comfort when the children are happy too.

DolphinBookshelf also supports the Centre by giving a discount on all books sold.

Contributing to sustainability.

It links to a whole range of literacy ideas and projects too. It will help the Centre to keep literacy at the heart of its work, and bring a whole new world into the building. read supp

Brought to you by Dolphin Booksellers, part of SmithMartin Partnership LLP as an initiative to bring books into Children’s Centres and community buildings.

The pilot project has started. It is going well and centres are adapting the way of presenting books depending on the setting. Some have the basket right at the reception so parents can buy straight away. Others take the baskets and books as part of story time sessions.

Let us know if you are interested, they are great books in a basket made from English willow from a charity working with the homeless – so it’s a winner all round.

bkshelf logo

Sue Martin – Dolphin Booksellers bringing the best in children’s books always on line.