Ten Brand-New Picture Books We’re Looking Forward to Sharing With the Kids We Know

If you’re looking for a special treat to refresh your child’s library or a lovely gift which you can be sure the recipient won’t already have, you’ll find a whole crop of brand new picture books on the shelves at the moment.

Here are ten which we’re looking forward to sharing with our little ones. Each has stunning illustrations, read-aloud appeal, a kid-friendly theme – or all three!

Click on the titles or cover images below to find out more about each book or buy a copy.

Dinosaur Dump – This dinosaurs and poo story from two young Australian creators is gross, but hilarious! We know several three and four year old boys who are going to absolutely adore it, and with pleasing rhyming text and some terrific colloquialisms, it’ll be a lot of fun to read aloud.

Perfect – We adore Freya Blackwood’s illustrations and think her books make wonderful gifts. This new story about three siblings, written by Danny Parker, has us reminiscing about childhood summer holidays. The simple rhyming text will be a pleasure to share.

Box – We’re admirers of Nosy Crow Publishers and their clever, child-friendly novelty books which push the limits of paper, glue and ink. And, having enjoyed many a game of building cardboard box cubbies and other creations as kids ourselves, we can’t resist this story! It features flaps, pull-outs and a die-cut cover.

Charlie and Lola: One Thing – We’re long-time fans of Lauren Child’s quirky, gentle humour and stylish illustrations – a blend of mixed media. We love the gentle humour: the observations of family life, including the effort it takes just to make it out the door, will have lots of the parents we know smiling too. Even better, Child makes maths and numbers seem fun!

This & That – This is new from children’s book legend Mem Fox and illustrator Judy Horacek. Horacek describes it as ‘Where is the Green Sheep? meets Where’s Wally?’! It has a simple, repetitive, read-aloud text and we know we’ll have fun spotting all the little details in the illustrations. The story also has a lovely resolution as the two little mice characters make it home – perfect for settling down at bedtime.

Counting Lions – Although this is a counting book, we have it in mind for some of the slightly older creative kids we know, as well as the real nature-lovers. We think the larger than life, beautiful drawings in charcoal will be really inspiring and there is important information about each animal species . There’s an interesting time lapse video of illustrator Stephen Walton at work available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZIV3mQvSpG0.

Grug Gets Lost and Grug Meets a Dinosaur – Quirky, stripy Grug and his bumbling adventures are already favourites with lots of kids we know, from age one right through to the first years of school. So we know they’ll be delighted by these new stories! The small format and very affordable price make them easy little gifts, too.

Wombat Wins – So many of the kids we know (and their parents and teachers) adore the original Diary of a Wombat with its charm, humour and gorgeous illustrations. So we feel sure this new Mothball story will be a hit. Even just the promotional blurb has us smiling!

Little Elliot Big Family – Elliot, the tiny, spotted elephant, is a hugely appealing character (he previously starred in Little Elliot Big City) and we think many kids will identify with the themes in this book (feelings of loneliness, how friends can become your family), while the beautifully rendered 1940s New York City setting will delight their parents.