Planet Picture Book

Spotlight on

Slovenia

A Boy and a House

A Boy and a House is a wordless picture book by Maja Kastelic, a Slovenian author/illustrator with a background in painting and fresco restoration. As you may know, I am a big fan of wordless picture books, a format...

Ireland

Oh No, George!

George is a dog, a bright orange and red dog with floppy ears and a very long purple snout that looks like it’s been dipped in black paint. He is the glorious creation on the front cover, whose eyes implore you to buy...

Ireland

Ireland

Back in October last year, I received a message on Twitter from Gráinne Ní Mhuilneoir @BooksAsGaeilge asking if I was looking for picture books from Ireland to review. Um . . . yes please, I responded! And within 24...

Still in the limelight

Syria

Nour’s Escape

Nour’s existence really is an unhappy one. She has no family and no home. And she’s haunted by an anonymous ‘annoying voice’ that draws attention to her sorry lot, jeers at her and won’t leave her alone. She thinks...

Syria

The Jasmine Sneeze

AACHOOO! Poor Haroun. He can’t stand the scent of jasmine. It makes him sneeze and prevents him from sleeping. The problem is Haroun lives in Damascus and there is jasmine everywhere! Fortunately, he’s a crafty kind of...

Syria

The Dot

This is the first of two reviews of books originally published by Bright Fingers Publishing House in Damascus. The English editions are published by Darf Children’s Books, an independent children’s publisher...

Previous destinations

Tanzania

Lupompo and the Baby Monkey

All is not well in Lupompo’s village. People are cutting down trees and draining the land; the forest animals are leaving and villagers are falling sick. Lupompo is determined to find out the truth. This title was...

Tanzania

Let’s Play, Tucheze Numbody

Learn to count from one to ten with this bilingual Swahili/English book, which also features music and movement. This is no ordinary counting book; it’s a bilingual counting game in both English and Swahili! And it...

Tanzania

The Story of the Crow and the Frog

In this retelling of a classic story, a crow mocks an old frog for moving slowly along the seashore and challenges him to a race. The frog assures him he will win and he gathers together all the other frogs to enlist...

Tanzania

Tanzania

There do not appear to be many contemporary picture books coming out of Tanzania. Unless I have been looking in the wrong places . . . I tried a variety of channels in my search, including Africa Access which is a great...