A large-format picture book edition of this title, featuring a young girl's favourite boats; an old boat being painted red and green, the houseboat, the dredger, the lobster potter, the ferry, the cargo boat, the liner and the sailing boat. Illustrated in full colour by the author, winner of the 1995 Mother Goose Award.
Tells the story of a young child whose spirit of adventure is dampened when the day ends and gives way to night. Taking their wheelbarrow, they set out on a mission to stop the sun from setting again, joined along the way by a charming collection of animal friends. But when darkness falls again and worst comes to worst, it is hope that eventually carries them home, where they see the dawn breaking again. -- Amazon.com
For ABC read appealing, bold, colourful Expressive, full-page paintings picture two words beginning with the same letter - something large and something small - from ants and alligator to zebra and zip. Each letter of the alphabet appears in upper and lower case too.
In The Mermaid's Purse, Ted Hughes explores the ocean. From starfish and seagulls to mermaids and monsters, 28 poems capture the beauty, drama, and mystery of the sea and the seashore. Here is the ghostly cormorant: "Drowned fishermen come back/As famished cormorants/With bare and freezing webby toes/Instead of boots and pants." The strange and comical flounder: "The flounder sees/Through crooked eyes./Through crooked lips/The flounder cries." And the mermaid herself: "Call her a fish,/Call her a girl./Call her the pearl/Of an oyster fresh/On its pearly dish."By turns lyrical, whimsical, and robust, The Mermaid's Purse showcases the distinctive voice and appreciation of the natural world that made Ted Hughes among the most respected of late-20th-century poets. Made doubly accessible by Flora McDonnell's distinctive black-and-white art, this sea-themed collection will delight children and be welcomed by educators.