The Nice Book by David Ezra Stein, a Caldecott Honor winner, is very nice indeed! It shows the very young good manners in a simple and humorous way. The author/illustrator's delightful artwork is painted in an abstract style, with a pair of animals on each page; their expressive faces perfectly convey the art and the act of being nice as suggested by a word or a phrase accompanying them. This charming book makes a brilliant gift for a child.

Peter Reynolds, author-illustrator of The Dot and Ish as well as illustrator of the very popular Judy Moody series, celebrates creativity in Sky Colour, his final book in his Creatrilogy. In this story he reminds us how we can look at the world around us in a new light and be inspired to create. A little girl called Marisol wonders how she can paint a sky without a blue paint in her paint box.  But when she gazes at the sky at sunset, at night and when it rains, she discovers something new about the sky that she didn't notice before. The book may bring out the artist in everyone of us.

What makes a hero/heroine? Bestselling author Brad Meltzer answers the question, one great role model at a time in Ordinary People Change the World, his new series for children about 5 to 8 years old. In I Am Amelia Earhart, the author tells the story of how the adventurous Amelia Earhart followed her dream of flying and broke flying records, proving that women can soar as high as men.
If you want your child to learn about fairness, then I Am Abraham Lincoln is the book for you. Young readers will get to know young Abraham's life through the series' illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos' charming cartoons, making biographies of great people more accessible to young readers.
In the author's own words, "To me, this is not just a series of books. This is my dream for my daughter. My dream for my sons. My dream for all of us who need to see the power of an ordinary person... and the power – and potential – in each of us."

E.B. White said, "All I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say is that I love the world." His much loved classic, Charlotte's Web, is proof of that!
Charlotte's Web, first published in 1952, is now available in a large format in full colour, beautifully illustrated by Garth Williams. The story starts with a little girl called Fern who rescues the runt of a litter of piglets on her father's farm and names him Wilbur.  Wilbur later becomes close friends with a beautiful spider called Charlotte who subsequently devises a marvellous way to save Wilbur from the butcher's chop. The larger format is perfect for bringing this timeless story about friendship, life, death, love and life on a farm to younger children.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, winner of 2013 Newbery Medal, is based on a true story. It is about the friendship between Ivan, a gorilla and Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild. The story is told from the point of view of Ivan, who has spent 27 years performing in a shopping mall. He is forced to look at life through the bars of a cage in a shopping mall after witnessing the death of his own elephant friend, Stella. It tells how he helps Ruby to escape from life in captivity. This heartwarming and thought-provoking novel about friendship is perfect for shared reading as it is equally enjoyable for children and adults.
This book was chosen as one of the books at our Book Sharing by Jan Mann on 5 April for 8 + readers. Highly recommended.

Kevin Brooks, critically-acclaimed, prizewinning author of many young adult books now has a new series for younger readers. The Ultimate Truth, the first in his new Travis Delaney Mystery series, is an exciting and fast-paced read for readers 11 + and young adults. When Travis' parents, who ran a detective agency, mysteriously died, he starts looking into the last case they were investigating. The more he looks the more intriguing it becomes but he is determined to find out the answer. Master storyteller Kevin Brooks has woven a suspenseful tale for anyone who enjoys this genre.

Half Bad is about Nathan who lives in a world where its inhabitants are classified as either black, white or non-witch but he is half black and half white. His father is a powerful and cruel black witch whom he doesn't know and his mother is dead. As an outcast hunted by all sides and trapped in a cage since 14, he has to struggle for survival in a mysterious society of witches. By his 17th birthday, when he will receive the power from his father to become a witch, he must choose to follow or die. But first of all he has to find his father. This gripping original tale by a debut author about alienation and survival is a page turner for teens who like something dark.