Tag: Clavis Publishing

Where Is My Coat? Farm Animals – Anita Bijsterbosch

This adorable board book is aimed at toddlers from 12 months old. The farm animals in this book have lost their coats and need your child’s help to get them back. One page shows the animal and its young in silhouette and asks the child what animal it is. The animal is revealed in full colour on the next page.

I can imagine a toddler’s joy at saying the right answer and the page turning to magically reveal a coloured picture of the animal and its young. I’m sure I’d be following the correct answer with an, “And what does the duck say?” I’m getting clucky just thinking about it!

The coloured illustrations are lovely and make the animals look happy and friendly. I love young children’s books that are interactive and really like that this book engages the child by asking them to guess what animal the silhouette shape represents. Anita Bijsterbosch has created a really sweet book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. If I knew anyone with a child in the right age group I’d be purchasing this book for them and would probably insist on being the first one to read it to them!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The farm animals in this book need your help. Will you help them find their coats and give them their colors back? Turn the page and discover who they are. Pigs, ducks or cows? Or maybe horses? An animal book with black-and-white and color pictures that stimulate visual development.

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I Give You My Heart – Pimm van Hest

Illustrations – Sassafras de Bruyn

“When you give love, you can grow anything.”

I Give You My Heart is unlike any fairytale I’ve ever read, easy to read yet with so much depth. There’s wisdom to be found in this book and I expect with each reading there would be more to be discovered. I immediately reread this book when I finished it for the first time and gleaned more from it the second time, although I’d be interested to know the author’s ‘story behind the story’ so I could fully understand the layers of this book.

Unlike other fairytales I’ve read I feel like this one needs to sit with me for a while as I don’t feel, even after the second reading, that I’ve grasped the full meaning. I’m not sure at this stage that I’d want to read this book to a child as I don’t think I could answer any of their questions about it to their satisfaction. The illustrations are beautiful and intricate, and some have a slightly haunting feel to them.

I’m not sure if I’d recommend this book or not. I know as a child I would have passed it over and feel as an adult that maybe I’m trying to read too much into its meaning. I’m wondering if children in the Netherlands grow up reading fairytales like this and because I’m from Australia I’m missing something.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Yuto receives a special gift. A gift that will change his life. A gift that moves him and brings him comfort, warmth and shelter. A gift for life. A gift to pass on. A poetic fairy tale with valuable life lessons, 56 pages of stunning artwork and magnificent laser cutouts that will enchant you. The story is about a special life-changing gift; I Give You My Heart is an ideal gift itself, one that will change the life of all who read it. 

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