Pictures and Conversations

The Children of Swallow Fell by Julia Green

Julia Green's new book could be a story of our time; it is certainly one for our time. Without ever explicitly referring to any of…

Two fun picture books today, one featuring a polar bear and the other a penguin. Both are the work of author/illustrators. Engrossed in the big,…

I've never troubled to hide my feelings about history. With very few exceptions, if it happened before 1800 I'm just not interested. I realise that…

I adore this sequence of books - as I know I have said before. They're clever and witty and engaging in word and picture. However,…

In my less realistic and rational moments (I can't actually write and I don't own the copyright) I imagine writing a follow on novel for…

Regular readers of this blog will have been unable to avoid the revelation that my favourite mid twentieth century writer is Dorita Fairlie Bruce. I…

Nosy Crow is one of my favourite publishers. I love their production values as well as the books themselves. This lovely little board book makes…

I only meant, last night, to read the first few pages of The Enigma Game to get a feel for it but I ended up…

Benny, a cute and friendly robot, has one button that is to be pressed only in the event of an emergency. We've met Benny before…

About fifteen years ago I went to Italy with a couple of friends for a winter week. We stayed first in Verona, a beautiful city,…