Karl's Reading List

I started putting together this fourth picture book entry last year, but time got away from me, so I put it down. Then, when we were staying at my parent's place recently, I ended up reading quite a few books to Ezekiel from their collection, so thought it would be fun to add some of them into a list. So, for this entry, four of my five books are ones that we found in my parent's house. Only Hug! remains from my earlier draft five.  As with my previous picture books entry, I have given each of these books their own 'sub-page' within this larger individual list entry. If you want to check the individual books out you can follow the links below, or simply skip ahead to my next 'main book' at the bottom of the page. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ; Slide and Find Trucks ; Make Tracks Trains ; Guess How Much I Love You ; Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's World of Trucks ; Snappy Play Set Garage ; Big Machines ; Did You Do This Poo? ; Truck Tro...

Published in Western Germany, date unknown. This book, sitting in the 'children's room' at my parents house, has a dedication inside the front cover saying it was given to my mum by her brother, obviously when both were children. It has no publication date, no author's name, and putting the title into Google doesn't provide any further information. Quite interesting to find something so 'mysterious' in today's easy-access-to-information age. As for the story and the layout: Simon's Adventure in Goblinland is a very accurate title for a book that tells the adventures of Simon in Goblinland. Simon, playing in the woods, rescues a trapped goblin, and in return is allowed to visit Goblinland, where he is guests at a wedding and helps save an injured animal. After this, he returns home. It is simple and sweet, and has a large number of full-colour (and almost full-page) images that help tell the story. It comes across mildly old-fashioned (it seems to dat...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: Vauxhall Walk, London, 1996 (1994). Ok, so this one is pretty cute. Little Nutbrown Hare is getting ready for bed, and wants to communicate to Big Nutbrown Hare how much he is loved. So Little Nutbrown Hare begins to say how much he loves Big Nutbrown Hare, using actions such as outstretched arms, high jumps into the air, and even describing distant locations to say, "I love you this much." However, whatever Little Nutbrown Hare is able to do, Big Nutbrown Hare can repeat, but do it bigger, or see further, suggesting that he loves Little Nutbrown Hare even more! At times, Little Nutbrown Hare is very impressed with Big Nutbrown Hare, such was when Big Nutbrown Hare reaches his arms up to say he loves Little Nutbrown Hare as high as he can reach, and we read: "That is very high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that." The game continues until Little Nutbrown Hare, trying to find the most distant thing he can, says th...

Published by Little Tiger Press: Munster Road, London, 2013. This book is written and illustrated by Ben Mantle, who also illustrated Bunnies on the Bus, a book I featured in my first picture-book group review , and that still remains one of Ezekiel's favourite reads. A sweet rhyming story about the joy of hugs, each page of this book shows a pair of animals embracing in some way, with descriptive adjectives describing the type of hug it is. From "wriggly, jiggly" for a pair of snakes to "upside-down" for a pair of bats, each animal is given fun illustrations to add to the light-hearted nature of the poem.  The book builds to the final statements: "Sharing hugs is lots of fun. Time to snuggle, everyone!" In the context of a children's book being read to a child by their guardian, this is a good message. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's...

Published by St Martin's Press/Priddy Books/Macmillan Publishers Ltd.: London, 2007. A book that has numerous sliding sections on each page, and themes to each page, this proved useful in helping Ezekiel begin to understand that words have meanings too. For example, on a page that gave four different trucks, each with a different colour, the text then asked the reader to slide the 'door' with the right colour written on it (also, handily, written in the appropriate colour) in order to reveal the appropriate truck. This meant that we could point to a truck, ask Ezekiel what colour it was, and then have him point to the appropriate word in order to reveal the appropriate truck. Handy, and providing good visual cues. The only tricky bit was when Ezekiel mislabelled a truck's colour, pointing at the word 'yellow' and saying 'orange.' However, when he was corrected he embraced the right word in it's place. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinla...

Published by Nosy Crow Ltd: The Crow's Nest, London, 2023. The fun gimmick with this book is even observable if you look closely at the cover: the track that surrounds the central picture of a train has a moveable train 'token' on it. You actually make it move around the track! Each page has a similarly laid out feature, highlighting a different train and the journey that it may take. We get underground trains, high-speed trains and others, and each one can be taken on a literal journey. It needs no further reasoning to see why this book is a favourite one for Ezekiel whenever we go to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It's even fun for me as his fellow reader. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's World of Trucks ;  Snappy Play Set Garage ;  Big Machines ;  Did You Do This Poo? ;  Truck Trouble Previous Book  ~ Next Book (Ezekiel Books) ...

Published by My Story Tale, 2025. In the vein of When Ezekiel Was Born which was featured in my first collection of picture-book reviews , this book was custom made/tweaked online for Ezekiel, this time by one of Ezekiel's friends Reuben, and his mother Morgan. Whereas When Ezekiel Was Born focuses on Ezekiel himself and the 'story' of his naming, this book stars a little truck who just happens to be named Ezekiel, and his journey to figure out what sort of truck he wants to be when he grows up. With Ezekiel already being fan of vehicles, this book is definitely a hit, featuring as it does such trucks as a fire engine, a tipper truck, and an ice cream truck. If there is not quite as much customisation as in When Ezekiel Was Born (which changes the whole plot in order to correctly spell the customised name) it still gives a little extra thrill by keeping Ezekiel's name featuring throughout. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  M...