Fireside Tales

Verushka, our Children’s Book Expert from “The Book Lounge” – an independent bookshop in the Eastern Precinct of Cape Town City Centre, shares her favourite winter tales. Thanks Verushka!

To find out more about how to buy the books, visit www.booklounge.co.za

Title: A Flower in the Snow

Author: Tracey Corderoy

Illustrator: Sophie Allsopp

Publisher: Egmont (Penguin Books SA)

Price: R145 (paperback)

Summary:  Far away in an icy kingdom lives a little girl called Luna, who loves everything about winter, but best of all, she loves her best friend, Bear. One day Bear sees a beautiful yellow flower and picks it for Luna. It is the prettiest thing she has ever seen. When the flower eventually dies, Luna is very sad and nothing can make her happy again. Bear decides that all he can do is head off in search of another sunshine flower. He searches jungles and deserts and finds nothing. Back home, Luna is lonely without her best friend and with the start of every new day, hopes that this will be the day that finally brings him back home. Eventually he returns without the flower, but when Luna sees him she realises that he is the one who makes her happy. Magically illustrated, this is a wonderful book all about friendship.

Title: My Friend the Weather Monster

Author: Steve Smallman

Illustrator: Bruno Merz

Publisher: QED (Pearson SA)

Price: R80 (paperback)

Summary:  Whenever the Weather Monster is sad, it rains.  Currently it has been raining for days and the villagers are desperate for some sunshine, so they send Tom up the mountain with a cake for the Weather Monster. All goes well until Ron, the Weather Monster, realises that the cake was sent to change the weather and not as a gift for him. His anger turns into a storm. Will Tom be able to save the situation and turn Ron into a friend of the town so that there is a chance of sunshine again? A great book to make young readers realise that monsters are not always as unfriendly and scary as we think they are!

Title: Percy the Park Keeper: After the Storm

Author and Illustrator: Nick Butterworth

Publisher: Harper Collins (Jonathan Ball SA)

Price: R105 (paperback)

Summary:  Percy the park keeper works hard looking after the park and all his animal friends who live there. Together they embark on many adventures. A storm is raging outside and Percy is having a sleepless night. When he gets up the following morning, he finds that the old oak tree has blown down. This is a disaster as many of his animal friends live there. Together they set off to look for a new place to call home, but it is not as easy as Percy first thought. After a bumpy start they eventually find an enormous hollow tree on the water’s edge that seems like it could do the trick, but it would take all of them to work together to pull it off. Percy the park keeper is a classic story book hero with over 7 million books sold.  Their adventures will warm any heart.