Once Upon An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

I confess that I have a bit of a thing for Oliver Jeffers.

I love his cartoony drawings, I love his sense of humour, I love his quirky ideas on friendship, belonging, fear & the environment & I love his choice of words.

Once Upon An Alphabet: Short Stories for all the Letters is simply another reason for me to love him.

Each letter of the alphabet gets the Jeffers' treatment - 3 pages packed with words and images celebrating that particular letter.

Each tale is a combination morality tale or fable dealing with actions & consequences, problem solving, connections & word play.

This lovely hardcover new release will make the perfect Christmas gift for your favourite 4+ early reader. 

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers

I admit up front that I'm an Oliver Jeffers fan. I am predisposed to loving any new books with his name on the front.

Some books are quirky and interesting but don't quite hit the 'I must reread this book as often as possible to as many groups of children as I can' category (i.e. This Moose Belongs to Me and The Huey's).

Some of Jeffers books are heart-warming and poignant but fill a niche need (i.e. Heart and the Bottle).

And others are books that have become instant modern day classics (i.e. How To Catch A Star, Lost and Found and The Way Back Home).

The Day the Crayons Quit is Jeffers latest picture book...and surprise, surprise...I loved it!

The Day the Crayons Quit is actually written by Drew Daywalt, but Drew and Oliver are obviously kindred spirits. The text and illustrations complement each other perfectly. The story is full of the humour, quirkiness and charm that we have come to expect from Jeffers solo ventures.

Duncan opens his crayon box one day to discover a pile of letters addressed to him. The crayons are concerned by how well-used or ill-used they feel they are by Duncan. Each colour writes a letter to Duncan outlining their issues.

Highly recommended for 3 - 93 year olds!

Postscript: 2/10/2014 - A new crayon book is in the works - click here for more information.

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

I've already declared my love of books by Oliver Jeffers, so you will not be surprised to see his latest book here.  

This time we have a little boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree. To try and get it out he throws his shoe up...which also gets stuck, followed by his other shoe, another toy, the family cat and so on.
Every time the object thrown into the tree gets a little bit bigger and a little more absurd!

This book is silly and quirky and appeals perfectly to the young child's sense of the ridiculous.

I recently read 'Stuck' out loud to my storytime group to popular acclaim. And it seems to be the kind of story that gets stuck in a child's imagination as I have had several families come back saying their child is now obsessed with the book. High praise indeed!

Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers

It's hard not to love Oliver Jeffers' quirky stories and delightful illustrations.

Up and Down is a happy return to his well-loved stories about a little boy and his friend penguin. This time it is penguin that drives the story forward - he wants to fly. Together they explore how best to do this.

As per usual, half the story takes place via the illustrations. I can spend hours just pouring over each page, chuckling at the humour and wallowing in the pathos.

Jeffers view of friendship leaves us all with a sense of hope.

Oliver Jeffers weblink