Superheroes, Dragons, Bears, Planets and Mini Monsters - New Books for 2020
And I've been madly promoting them on social media, organising blog tours and giveaways to help get these new titles in the public eye. Promotion online has become hugely important this year, as a many retailers have been closed for several months and are only just beginning to re-open so there have been very few opportunities for families to browse through books and choose the ones they like best.
Here's a bit about each one.
Knock Knock Superhero
Knock Knock Superhero is the fourth book in my Knock Knock Series, fabulously illustrated by Nick East and published by Hodder, an imprint of Hachette.
It's a hugely diverse, and very silly counting adventure that features 55 whacky superheroes on a crazy quest. When one small child hears a knock on the door, who should it be but Pasta Man! But something's wrong. Pasta Man has run out of pasta-power and naughty Madame Chilli is after him.
Can the Muscle Mums and Glasses Girls help? Quickly they find a secret trap door in the child's house and get booted and suited with the help of the Gadget Grannies and Brainy Boys. Then it's off to Meatball Mountain to find a cure.
The thing I love most about this book is that the characters are not your typical superheroes, they come in all shapes, sizes and ages. There are characters with all sorts of skin tones and hair styles and body shapes. We have grandads, and stepdads and body-building mums, we have superhero boys who use mobility aids and superhero sisters and aunties!
We hope this book shows children that ANYONE can be a superhero - even them!
Meet the Planets
Meet the Planets is the first in a new series illustrated by the truly unique Bethan Woollvin and published by Bloomsbury.
I was invited to write this book by my editor at Bloomsbury, who had spotted some planet characters that Bethan had posted on her website. Meet the Planets is a rhyming journey through space for very young children. Each planet has its own rhyme, many of which include bite-sized planet facts.
You might be surprised to know that I did LOADS of research for this book - you'd think writing one four-line verse about each planet would be easy, but it was actually quite a challenge to decide which aspect to draw out for each one. I wanted each character to have their own personality and voice, so what looks like quite a simple book was actually quite tricky to write!
As for the illustrations, Bethan creates all the artwork as layers of physical paintings. Normally, layering is done digitally but Bethan's technique much more complex. What results is a truly unique style that is different from any other illustrator I've worked with.
Not wishing to waste all my research, I've created a fact sheet for each planet and a couple of others about Really Big Numbers and The Solar System. You can download them all free here.
Meet the Planets was listed by The Independent in their list of Best Books to Read to Your Children in 2020.
Watch out for more books in this series coming soon!
Mini Monsters - Can I Play?
Can I Play? is the first book in a new series for preschool children illustrated by Tony Neal and published by Simon and Schuster.
It follows the adventures of four super-cute monster characters in a preschool or nursery setting and deals with the big emotions that our little people experience every day.
In this story, Sparkle is practising for a magic show with Arthur, but when Scout wants to join in, Sparkle isn't happy. She doesn't want to share her game. Scout becomes very upset and when Arthur goes to comfort him, Sparkle finds that she is the one who feels left out.
This is such a relatable scenario for so many young (and older!) children that I hope this story can help stimulate discussion on what friendship means and how our actions can affect other people's happiness.
I've been delighted at the hugely positive feedback this book has received. BookTrust say:
"Caryl Hart and Tony Neal's bright and colourful story about being a good friend (and saying sorry when you've been mean) is perfectly pitched for older toddlers and pre-schoolers." BookTrust
You can read some of the reviews here.
Book two is out next year!
Bears Love Squares
Shapes are all around us, we see them everywhere, but bears are very choosy. Bears love squares!
Bears Love Squares is the third book in a series illustrated by Edward Underwood and also published by Bloomsbury. It is a cute story about the joys of shapes. Bear is very determined that squares are the only shapes for him. But can Raccoon persuade Bear that other shapes can be fun too?
I didn't realise until I read a review of Big Box Little Box, the first book in this series, that the rhymes are somewhat influenced by the Dr Seuss books. It's funny how everything we read infuses into our work - by a sort of literary osmosis, influencing how we write and how we create our characters.
In my mind the bear in this story likes his world to be predictable and just-so.. something many families will experience with one or more of their children. It can be easy to form arbitrary preferences for any number of things in our lives - food, clothing, television shows, walking routes. But if you doggedly stick to the same set of things, it's much harder to grow and develop as a person. That's why friends are so great. They can introduce us to new things and bring us joy in discovery.
Bears Love Squares is a colourful celebration of shapes with adorable characters that I hope you will love as much as I do.
"A really fun and colourful story that my 3 year old loved. I've read it 5 times today and every time she has shouted BEARS LOVE SQUARES at the right moment."
Wormmcd42 via Toppsta.
When a Dragon Goes to School
The second book in the Little Dragon series, adorably illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw and published by Nosy Crow, is a lovely little story about going to school or preschool.
When a dragon hears us say,
Hooray! We're off to school today!"
Does she refuse to come inside
Or try to run away and hide?
Why no! Dragon's don't do that!"
How many parents have experienced the clinging, weeping anxiety of a young child who is worried about being left at school or nursery? My own children turned into screaming limpets every single morning and had to be prised out of my arms by understanding teachers. Many a morning, I would wobble away, sobbing silently and could spend the rest of the day feeling terrible. Later, I learned to peek back through the window - always to spot my little darlings happily engaged in activity as if it was the most natural thing in the world!
Starting school can be traumatic for parents and children - so books that help prepare them for what to expect are always helpful. In this story, we acknowledge that behaving is not always easy, and children love to see the chaos that the Little Dragon could create... but does not!
We've created some lovely activities for your own Little Dragons to accompany the book. You can download them free here.
We are currently working on a third book in this series and it's looking even more adorable than the first two!
Thank You!
I'd love to say a HUGE Thank you to all the amazing illustrators, editors, designers and publicity & marketing teams who have helped create and promote these amazing books. Publishing is a massive team effort and none of these projects would be possible without everyone involved being 100% dedicated to making each and every book the best it can possibly be.
Thank you, too, to all the book shops, book bloggers and lovely people on social media who have helped us promote these new titles - you've all been amazing.
Finally, and most importantly, to all the families, teachers, teaching assistants, librarians and children who keep our industry going. Thank you for buying our books and reading them!