0-5
Usborne Book of Pop-up Birds by Laura Crowan
From hovering hummingbirds and dancing pink flamingos, to diving penguins and owls spreading their wings before your very eyes, birds fly off the page in this gorgeous pop-up book. Lyrically written and informative, this book is a delight to read aloud, introducing a lovely selection of birds in a wonderful, memorable way.
Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson
From ant to butterfly to caterpillar . . . to zebra and then back again, Animalphabet is an entertaining puzzle as well as a gorgeous alphabet book to treasure. There are clever hints and peekaboo holes within the artwork that will amaze and delight young children as they learn to use the alphabet. This is a preschool must-have.
6-8
Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah
Talking Turkeys is an unconventional collection of straight-talking poems about heroes, revolutions, racism, love and animal rights, among other subjects, that will entice many new readers to poetry. It is his very first ground-breaking children's poetry collection - playful, clever and provocative - this is performance poetry on the page at its very best.
The Crow Starver by Dick King-Smith
From the moment he's left as a foundling in a lambing-pen on Outoverdown Farm, Spider Sparrow is surrounded by animals. Adopted by the kindly shepherd and his wife, Spider has comes to know all the animals on the farm, including the crows he must scare away from the newly sown wheat. Amazingly, every animal who meets him implicitly trusts the young boy, and he loves them all. This magical rapport is Spider's unique gift, but nothing else in his life comes so easily.
9-12
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
Swift, a young wolf cub, lives with his pack in the mountains learning to hunt, competing with his brothers and sisters for hierarchy, and watching over a new litter of cubs. Then a rival pack attacks, and Swift and his family scatter.
Alone and scared, Swift must flee and find a new home. His journey takes him a remarkable one thousand miles across the Pacific Northwest. The trip is full of peril, and Swift encounters forest fires, hunters, highways, and hunger before he finds his new home.
Inspired by the true story of a wolf named OR-7 (or Journey).
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Once upon a time, O my Best Beloved . . . So begins this classic collection of gloriously fanciful tales of how things in the world came to be as they are. This collection includes the story of how the lazy camel found himself with a hump and how the insatiable curiosity of the elephant earned him his long trunk. It reveals how the whale was given a throat, and why every rhinoceros has great folds in his skin and a very bad temper. We also find out about the cunning cat that walked by itself, and how clever little Taffy and her Daddy Tegumai made the first alphabet. Rudyard Kipling first entertained his own children with these delightful, warm, and humorous stories, which he later wrote down for publication in 1902. Conjuring up distant lands and exotic jungles, they are bewitching for both children and adults.
13+
The Age of Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
Discover the mind-blowing truth behind their REAL prehistoric story, told to you by the world's ultimate dinosaur professor. The Age of the Dinosaurs is a must-have for any young dinosaur-enthusiast!
You've likely seen Jurassic Park, heard of Godzilla and know about Rex in Toy Story. Dinosaurs are everywhere: on TV, in books, you can search them on the internet and see their bones at museums. And you MIGHT think you know everything there is to know about dinosaurs; but what if you've got it wrong?
Join modern-day dinosaur hunter Dr Steve Brusatte as he takes you on a brilliant prehistoric journey – armed with cutting edge technology, he is piecing together the complete story of how the dinosaurs ruled the earth for 150 million years. Discover their incredible true adventures, meet other dinosaur hunters, find out what it's like to be a paleontologist and even how it feels to discover a new type of dinosaur!
Born Free by Joy Adamson
Fifty years ago Joy Adamson first introduced to the world the story of her life alongside Elsa the lioness, whom she had rescued as an orphaned cub, and raised at her home in Kenya. But as Elsa had been born free, Joy made the heartbreaking decision that she must be returned to the wild when she was old enough to fend for herself. Since the first publication of Born Free and its sequels Living Free and Forever Free, generations of readers have been enchanted, inspired and moved by these books’ uplifting charm and the remarkable interaction between Joy and Elsa. Millions have also come to know and love Born Free through the immortal film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. But here is the chance to rediscover the original story in this 50th anniversary edition, in the words of the woman who reared Elsa and walked with the lions.
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