Please Mr Panda

Please Mister Panda – Steve Antony stole my heart from the minute I looked at this book. Having already been a fan of Steve’s previous work (The Queen’s Hat & Betty Goes Bananas) it was no surprise that I loved it. I am not ashamed to admit, I am quite fond of a panda. Mr Panda, in this adventure is one of my favourite fictional pandas I have met. He is delightfully grumpy whilst being very cute.

 

Mr Panda walks around all day offering various animal friends his doughnuts. They all reply to him rather abruptly that they would or wouldn’t like a doughnut and become upset when Mr Panda replies “No, you can not have a doughnut. I have changed my mind.” Until one of his friends, a rather cheeky looking lemur says the magic word…please! The lovely lemur is then rewarded with all of Mr Panda’s doughnuts for being so polite.

This is a fun and hilarious picture books that teaches children about the importance of manners. The illustrations, for me is what make the book so funny and unique. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Antony recently at his launch party for Please Mr Panda and from what I could gather; everyone in the room (and in America by the sounds of it) has fallen in love with Mr Panda.

King Bidgood's In The Bathtub

 

For my first blog post I feel it would only be right to start it with a truly wonderful book. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub has for me all the great makings of a fantastic picture book. Enjoying his bath time a little too much King Bidgood decides that he will not get out and will conduct all of his duties from the bath. A stream of his court visits him one by one to try and coax him out of the bath, only to be dragged in. When the court feel they have exhausted all efforts to get the King out of the bathtub the young page comes along and pulls the plug out for them.
 

The thing I love most about this book however, is the marvellous illustrations by Don Wood. His artwork is completely unique and beautiful. Every page is brimming with colour and imagination. King Bidgood’s banquet in the tub with his wife is truly stunning.

I discovered this book whilst working at Waterstones and fell in love with it. It was always one of my favourites to recommend to customers who had a lot of the main stream titles at home and wanted something different. Before I could buy a copy of this brilliant book for myself it went out of print! To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Recently on a visit to New York’s finest bookshop; Books of Wonder, I found a hardback pristine edition of King Bidgood. It now sits pride of place upon my bookshelf.  If you have not discovered this one of a kind, royally fun picture book I urge you to go online and buy yourself a copy while they are still out there!