Joseph Coelho, illus. Freya Hartas
Walker Books
Age 7-9

This illustrated verse novel is the perfect story for young readers seeking gruesome tales. The grey scale illustrations have just the right balance of gore and humour.

A librarian discovers a dusty corner of the library with a selection of fairy tales which have gone ‘bad.’ When Cinderella slips and dies the shadow of death breathes life into her body.  For three nights only she becomes Zombierella and is able to attend the prince’s balls travelling in a mushroom coach pulled by her skeletal steed Lumpkin, she seeks revenge on her fake sisters and mesmferises the vampire prince with her beauty.  This is the first in a series of ‘fairy tales gone bad’ for those hungry for more.

Watch a trailer and listen to a performance of part of the book 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X84vfSuRiAo

Talk about the story

• This is a very surprising version of Cinderella! Share what you each found the most surprising bits, the scariest bits, the funniest bits and the best bits.

• Did any lines stick in your head? Talk about your favourites.

• Your child might be interested in thinking about similarities and differences with the more familiar version of Cinderella.

Things to make and do

Perform the story
Choose sections to read together for example the poems told by the Shadow of Death or the Librarian. You could decide which of you should read each line and perhaps read some lines together.

Make a miniature bookshelf of fairytales gone bad Miniature Bookcase With Books : 10 Steps (with Pictures) – Instructables

Make stick puppets for a scene from the story
Use the illustrations in the book to help you.  See here for help with making stick puppets

Write a proclamation from the Prince
Write an announcement from the Prince to say he is searching for the owner of the foot he finds on his steps. If you have black paper your child could try writing in red like the prince in the story does with a red crayon or felt pen.

Write a poem for Lumpkin, Zombierella’s horse

Make a zombie and vampire feast
Your food could include tomatoes stuffed with olives or blueberries for scary eyes, madeleines Madeleines recipes – BBC Food with twiglet or chocolate stick legs for cockroaches and potatoes peeled and carved with spooky faces, see here for more ideas How to make a Halloween feast – BBC Good Food

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Read more stories or poems by Joseph Coelho The Poetry of Joseph Coelho | Joseph Coelho

The Girl Who Became a Tree verse novel for older children 

Overheard in a Tower Block

Werewolf Club Rules

How to Write Poems

Picture Books

Luna Loves Library Day lovemybooks | FREE reading resources for parents

If all the World Were…..

Find out more about illustrator Freya Hartas Freya Hartas Illustration | Freya Hartas is a children’s book illustrator

Find out about vampires 8 spooky things you might know about vampires | Explore | Awesome Activities & Fun Facts | CBC Kids

See Usborne Fairy Tales for a beautiful pop-up version of the more familiar European Tale Usborne: Pop-up fairy tales Cinderella – YouTube

Find out about international versions of Cinderella here Cinderella Tales: 10 International Versions of the Beloved Tale (fairytalez.com)

See our activity page for Cinderella of the Nile http://www.lovemybooks.co.uk/cinderella-of-the-nile

Rebecca Cobb
Macmillan
Age 3-5

This story is about a little girl, totally absorbed drawing and painting animals when mum calls her for lunch. She sits at the table but refuses to eat anything. Suddenly three animals appear: a crocodile, a bear and a wolf; the very same animals she had been drawing but life size… and alive! They seem very interested in her lunch and in no time at all have gobbled it all up. Later that day she has a very hungry tummy and when it is dinner time eats all her food up speedily before any animals snatch it.

A simple, endearing and magical story which taps into a familiar problem for parents and children, the difficulty of tearing yourself away from games and activities to fit in with mealtimes.

Share the story

Read aloud
Before you start reading the story together talk about the cover, and talk together about what you both see in the picture and what might happen in the story. Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about what is happening in the story and the pictures as you do.

Join in
As you re read the story children will enjoy joining in, perhaps as the different characters.

Talk about the story

Talk together about the little girl’s feelings about mealtime at the beginning of the story and at the end. What made her change?

How might her Mummy feel?

What is your favourite bit of the story?

Were there any surprises?

What is the little girl having for lunch and dinner? What is your favourite lunch or dinner?

Watch the story

Things to make and do

Tell the story
Children could set a table for lunch or dinnertime, use soft toys as the animals and tell the story. This would be more fun if you join in too.

Draw, cut and stick
Children could draw or paint some animals like the little girl in the story and cut them out to stick in a little book like she does. They could compose captions about the animal and what they like eating eg The wolf likes apples

Draw lunch on plate
On a paper plate or a circle drawn on paper children could draw or cut and stick their favourite lunch or dinner.

Make a shadow picture
On the title page the little girl is shown making a shadow picture on the wall have a go at doing this together – see here.

Find out more

Find out more about Rebecca Cobb here

The Something

Aunt Amelia

Missing Mummy

The Paperdolls (written by Julia Donaldson)

Read another story about a reluctant eater

I will not ever, never eat a tomato by Lauren Child

Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French and Alison Bartlett

Ross Montgomery, ill. Sarah Warburton

Walker Books

Ten teachers miss the school bus and decide to take a short cut through a forest. They don’t spot the hungry monsters waiting to pounce. One by one the monsters pick off the teachers on their way through the forest until only Miss Hunter, the nursery teacher remains. However, she is more than a match for monsters and in no time at all takes them in hand teaching them some manners and how to count to ten!

This is a very funny counting story with a humorous rhyming text well matched by the illustrations – the monsters are fantastic and might encourage young readers to design their own.

Watch author Ross Montgomery read from the book in this trailer:

Share the story

Before reading the story look together at the cover illustration and talk about what is happening and what the story might be about.

Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about what is happening in the story and the illustrations  

Join in

When you read the story again leave gaps so that children can finish the rhyming and half rhyming lines.

Talk about the book
➤When you have finished the book you could:
➤ Share your favourite or funniest illustrations – talk about the parts of the story you and your child liked best
➤ Talk about unusual words such as ‘snaffle’. Collect all the words you can find for the monsters ‘gobbling’
➤ Talk about all the different ways the monsters catch the teachers.

Things to make and do

Counting fun
There are lots of counting opportunities in the story, you could:

• Predict and count how many teachers are left
• Count how many monsters you can see ready to pounce
• Count how many eyes the monsters have

Practise counting backwards from 10, 20, 50 – you can make this more or less challenging depending on how confident your child is.

Draw or make a map of the dark woods
Give your child a large piece of paper to draw an enormous map of the dark woods. Alternatively, you could create a kind of map on the floor using fabric, cardboard trees stuck on modelling material.  Children could use small toy figures, or decorate small bricks, cardboard tubes or cotton reels to represent the teachers and monsters.

Design a monster
Use collage materials to create a monster – your child will need backing paper, scissors, glue, and material to cut or tear such as magazine or fabric scraps and wool.

Make thumb print monsters
Using finger paints or other washable ready mixed paint help your child to paint their thumb and create a series of ten thumb prints on a piece of paper. When they are dry, they can add arms, legs and different numbers of eyes like the monster in the book.

Play Monster’s footsteps
Play a version of grandma’s footsteps with one of you being the teacher and the other being a monster creeping up from behind. This is even greater fun if you have more children playing.

Find out More

Try these activity sheets based on the story by illustrator Sarah Warburton WEB_READY_Ten_Delicious_Teachers_Activity_Sheets.pdf (rossmontgomery.co.uk)

Find out more about author Ross Montgomery Ross Montgomery | Award Winning Children’s Author and visit his YouTube channel Ross Montgomery – YouTube

Find out more about illustrator Sarah Warburton Sarah Warburton Illustrations

Read another story by the same creative team (Ross Montgomery and Sarah Warburton) Penguin Huddle

Read more picturebook stories by Ross Montgomery for example Space Tortoise lovemybooks | FREE reading resources for parents and The Building Boy illustrated by David Litchfield

Rod Campbell
Puffin
Age 0-5

This interactive, lift-the-flap picturebook engages young children’s interest and invites them to take part from beginning to end. This is a classic story which keeps children guessing about what new pet will arrive next in the post, building their interest and enjoyment with each parcel.

Share the story

Picturetalk
Spend time talking together about the cover picture, what they notice, and commenting on what the story might be about and where it takes place.

Read aloud
Read the story aloud, taking time to talk together about the pictures as you do. Encourage children to open the flaps themselves. Invite them to imagine what might happen next and turn the page to see if their predictions were right. Talking about the book adds to their pleasure and understanding of the book.

Join in Read the story again (and again!), this time leaving spaces for children to join in with the repeated phrases and sounds. It will be fun for them to try out different animal ‘voices’.

Tell the story After hearing the story a few times, children will get to know it well, especially  the repeated phrases. Encourage them tell it to you in their own words, turning the pages, lifting the flaps and using the pictures to help them.

Watch the story read by the author:

From World Book Day

Things to make and do

Storyplay
Gather together different kinds of boxes and containers, with animal toys, some the same as the animals in the book. Children can retell the story using their own toys or make up their own story.

Make a flap book Children can make their own flap book with pages for more animals arriving from the zoo  and needing to be returned ( because they are too noisy, prickly, heavy……) until they have the perfect pet. Click for instructions to make a simple lift-the-flap book.

Write a letter
Four or five year olds beginning to write for themselves could write their own  letter to the zookeeper asking for a pet.

Find out more

Read more books by author/illustrator Rod Campbell

Titles include:

Oh Dear!
It’s Mine!
I’m Hungry!
I Won’t Bite!
Noisy Farm
Buster’s Day
Buster’s Zoo
The Pop-Up Farm

Find out more about zoos here.

Mini Grey
Jonathan Cape
Age 5-7

In a clever twist on the well-known fairy story Little Red sets off to catch a wolf. Her mum isn’t too worried about this plan as wolves disappeared long ago. Hunting for wolves isn’t so easy though and as Little Red goes deeper into the wood it becomes shadowy and quite scary.  Finding a welcoming door she is surprised to actually meet a wolf and also a bear and a lynx. They are friendly but rather hungry with only acorns to eat. They tell her about the good old days when the forest was much bigger and food was plentiful. Little Red shares her packed lunch with them and they help her get home safely. But Little Red is determined to help them and decides more trees are what they need. Mum helps her to plant some, but sadly they will take a very long time to grow.

There is lots to talk about in this ecological story, both about the impact of the loss of woodland habitats on wildlife and in the detailed, often amusing and sometimes quite moving illustrations.

Mini Grey speaks about The Last Wolf

Mini Grey talks about raising awareness and making things happen with picturebooks:

'When I began The Last Wolf, I was vaguely thinking about Red Riding Hood and wondered: what if, instead of taking that basket of goodies to Granny, Red is in the woods because she wants to catch a wolf? But could she actually find one? In England, wolves were probably extinct by 1600, and in Scotland by 1680. But the great thing about making picture books is that you can make anything you want happen…so I thought – What if there was ONE wolf left, the Last Wolf? And what if he was living quietly in a tree? And what if he wasn’t alone? What if in the tree were the Last Lynx and the Last Bear too? They’re all animals we USED to have in Britain but are long extinct now. In the UK we have lost just about all of our larger wild animals. Beavers, otters, pine martins, lynxes, wolves, bears – all driven to extinction or near extinction. I wanted the Last Wolf to have a feeling of what’s been lost, but also that it can come back if we make more habitat, and if we are more wildlife-tolerant; otters and beavers are now returning.

 

Trees are fantastic habitats because they are so multi-layered, and we can have them in our gardens, towns and cities. More trees please! Also, Fairy Tales really owe wolves a favour – Fairy Tales I think are extremely responsible for making the wolf into a monster! Loss of woodland and impact on native species A few years ago an announcement came out in the news. According to the WWF Living Planet report, since the 1970s more than half of the wild vertebrate animals on Earth had quietly disappeared. Half of our animals are missing! – how could we have been so careless? And those were the big, visible animals. In a more recent study from Germany, 75% of flying insects - the insects on which everything else depends - were found to have vanished in 25 years. Things are quietly disappearing – why are they disappearing? Underneath the major driving factor is habitat loss. If we protect habitats and make more, we can make it easier for all our wildlife. 

 

But the utterly brilliant thing is that increasing our nature by reforesting and rewilding is one of the most effective ways of reducing atmospheric CO2 – and helping us win the battle of climate change. Nature can be our climate-change crash mat if we defend, restore and re-establish forests, peat lands, mangroves, salt marshes, natural seabeds and other crucial ecosystems. The great thing about picture books is they often involve an adult and a child reading together – so the picture book message can be for everyone of all ages. A picture book might not change the world, but it can change your mind. Books are a fantastic delivery system for ideas, and every book you read will change your mind a bit.

 by Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane – has had an incredible impact. There is a feeling of enormous urgency developing about protecting our world, and with Greta Thunberg and the Kids Strike for Climate we can see that it doesn’t matter how young you are – you have a voice and you can call politicians and leaders to account and ask them hard questions about the Emperor’s New Climate. There are so many brilliant environmental picture books I think children and parents know nature is precious and needs protecting. So, it could be time to make a list of picture books every policy-maker should read….'

 

We’re delighted to have been sent these sketches and illustrations by Mini Grey, click on each to enlarge.

Share the story

Read aloud
Read the book aloud pausing to talk about what is happening in the story or illustrations when your child wants to.

Join in
When you re read the story children can join in with parts eg Little Red saying ‘I’m off to catch a wolf’ and the punch lines in bold eg ‘bin bag’ ‘tree stump’ ‘last wolf in the land’

Talk about the story

• Other stories like this – children might mention Little Red Riding Hood or other stories with wolves in.

• Share favourite pages in the story

• Talk about the illustration of the endless miles of forest. What animals can you see? Your child can look for the wolf, lynx and bear and also a badger and woodpecker amongst others.

• Look through the illustration of the last woods. Talk together about what is different and what might have happened to the woods.

Things to make and do

Play the story
What would you need to go hunting to catch a wolf? Dress up as a hunter and try lurking, stalking and slithering through an imaginary forest. To be a hunter you have to be very quiet, creeping without being heard. You could make this into a game like ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ with one of you as the last wolf.

Go for a woodland walk
Go for a walk in the woods or park if no woods are nearby. Look out for different trees, which are the oldest, youngest. Can you identify any from their leaves? See here

If it is Autumn you could look out for acorns or other seeds such as conkers. Stand very still, can you hear any birds?

Grow a tree

See here. If you look after it carefully and it starts to grow into a sapling you could think about where to plant it together.

Make a poster
Look at the wanted posters in the book at the beginning and end. Make your own wanted poster for more wolves, other animals or more trees. Children could cut out letters from a newspaper or magazine to make the words, arrange and stick them on a piece of paper and then draw their illustration.

Make a tree house for the Last Wolf

Mini Grey creator of The Last Wolf and Lovemybooks patron has created a lovely resource on her website with templates and instructions to make your own tree house for the LastWolf.

Find out more

Mini Grey writes about the background to this story here 

Read more stories by Mini Grey

See our activity pages for these titles:

Biscuit Bear

Traction Man is Here!

Space Dog

Toys in Space

The Bad Bunnies’ Magic Show

Find out about woodland animals here and here

Find out about disappearing woodland here.

Buy the book

David Solomons
Nosy Crow
Age 9-11

When Luke’s annoying brother Zack is randomly selected by a visiting alien to save not one but two universes and is equipped with a range of amazing superpowers Luke is not too happy about it; HE should have been chosen, HE is the superhero expert after all. If only he hadn’t left his brother alone for five minutes while answering the call of nature!

This is a very amusing and exciting story in which younger brother Luke finds himself in a race against time to help save the world and his brother from an evil power-hungry villain. Packed with superhero fun, this book includes real insights into the ups and downs of sibling relationships.

Listen to the first chapter read aloud 

Talk about the story

• What would you tell someone else about this story?

• What superpower would you like to have? You could have a family debate about the relative merits of being able to fly, have super hearing, or the power of telekinesis.

• Talk about the characters you found most interesting, their feelings and how other characters feel about them.

Things to make and do

Draw or paint a picture of Star Lad deflecting the asteroid from Earth at the end of the story.

Make a poster
Make a poster advertising Star Boy as a superhero ready to save the day. What sort of outfit will he wear? Don’t forget to include his superpowers.

Create a superhero
Design your own superhero. You could draw your ideas or improvise an outfit and dress up as your superhero. See if someone can take a photo of you in your outfit. What sorts of superpowers would you have?

Write a comic strip story
Make a comic strip story with a further adventure for Star Boy. Or you might prefer to write an adventure for your own superhero. Here is a comic template to use.

Make a superhero chart
Choose four or more superheroes. Draw them on a chart adding information about their superpowers and the names of their alter egos. See links below to find out more about superheroes.

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Read more books by author David Solomons 

My Arch Enemy is a Brain in a Jar

My Evil twin is a Super Villain

My Gym teacher is an Alien Overlord 

Interested in comics? Have a look at the Phoenix website  

Find out how to make a flying superhero

See this great resource from the British Library which includes covers of superhero comics and how to make a flying superhero. 

Find out more about superheroes
Superhero information for children here.

Find out about asteroids

• Have a look at this webpage 

• Watch a short film about asteroids 

Hopefully your child will not experience at first hand the impact of war. But sadly, many children in our world are living in conflict situations or trying to escape from them. Your child may encounter new arrivals at their school or in their neighbourhood who are survivors, seeking safety and a new life. The reception asylum seekers and refugees receive varies and is not always positive. Stories can be the ideal vehicle for children to begin to develop some insight into the experiences of individuals escaping from conflict situations, and empathy for their plight. Despite the theme these books all contain threads of hope and indicate the power of kindness.

Emily Gravett
Walker Books
Age 3-7

Rabbit goes to the library in search of a book about wolves and gets more than he bargains for. This book-within-a book is full of surprises as the wolf leaps out off the pages and after rabbit. There are flaps and letters to open and hints at how wolves behave in fairytales. Emily Gravett’s innovative style blurs fact and fiction. Two alternative endings help children to think about what they want to happen to rabbit. Lots to think about, talk about and enjoy.

Share the story

Read aloud
Before reading the story, encourage children to look at the back and front covers  and the end papers and talk about what they see. Then read through the story, pausing to talk about the pictures. It’s a book that lends itself to being read expressively to bring out the suspense, excitement and humour.

Join in
As you read and reread the book, encourage children to join in with the reading where they can. This will build as you reread the book together and children become more familiar with how the story goes.

Talk about the story
Which pages did especially children like? They can choose their favourites and say why.

Talk together about which ending they like best and why.  Why did rabbit chose a book about wolves?

Tell the story
Using the pictures in the book, children can tell the story in their own words.

Things to make and do

Make a wolf picture
Using a thick, soft lead pencil or charcoal, and a large sheet of paper children can fill the space with a big wolf picture. Begin by talking through the pictures to remind children of the features of the wolf: shaggy coat, large claws, jagged teeth, long tongue…

Read Little Red Riding Hood
Read (or tell) the story of Little Red Riding Hood and talk about what is the same and different about the wolves in the two stories. You could write down some wolf characteristics that children notice, for example: fierce, big and scary, sharp teeth, clever, hungry…

Tell a scary story
Children can make up their own scary story about a wolf, using their wolf drawing to help them. You can help them write it down and they can draw more pictures if they’d like to. When it’s finished, you can read it aloud together.

Make a book
Find out more about wolves using the links below. Children can make a simple zigzag book with drawings and interesting facts about where they live, what they eat and what they look like. Do they deserve their ‘bad guy’ reputation?

Find out more

Read more books by author/illustrator Emily Gravett here

Titles include:

Orange Pear Apple Bear*

Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears

Blue Chameleon*

Dogs

Monkey and Me*

Meerkat Mail

The Rabbit Problem

The Odd Egg*

Cave Baby

* See more lovemybooks ideas

Find out more about wolves here and here

David Almond, Alex T Smith (illus)
Walker
Age 7-9

Bert Brown is fed up with being a bus driver until one day something amazing happens. He finds a tiny angel in his pocket. Perhaps he and his wife Betty have found the son they long for. They name this (rather flatulent yet very appealing) mini angel Angelino. He has an effect on everyone who meets him. Nancy and her school friends are filled with wonder, acting head teacher Mrs Mole is less than keen. Criminals Kevin and the Boss, capture him and plan to sell him to the highest bidder. Scary Basher Malone wants to gobble him up. How will Nancy and her friends rescue him?

This is a charming and delightfully illustrated story about wonder, magic, mystery and the power of imagination. It will encourage reflection about bullies and why they behave as they do, the importance of childhood experiences, dreams and how they may stay with us.  A story which celebrates imaginative free expression through the creative arts likely to encourage lots of painting, model making and storytelling. A hint of criticism about an over rigid curriculum perhaps!

Talk about the book

Here are some ideas to choose from to talk about as you go through or when you have finished the story:

• Which chapter or scene in the book did you like best? Read them again and talk about why you like them.

• Talk about the character/s.  Which are the most interesting? How do Nancy, Kevin, Bert or other characters feel at different points in the story?

• Why do children think the baddies behave as they did?*

• Talk about why the angel might have come.*

• Does anything about this story remind your child of any other stories they know?

• Talk about Smellie and Nutt’s rules for school in chapter 46 – see if you can think together of some better ones?

Things to make and do

Draw the cast of characters

Make a mini book with drawings and notes about the characters in the story

Make your own Angelino Brown or mini angelic creature

Look at images of wings and draw some carefully on card or stiff paper. Cut them out and stick onto a small doll or toy.  Children could make a mini bed for their little angel from a box like Betty and Bert do.

Act out your favourite scene

This is easiest with a group of people but conversations between a couple of characters can be easily done if you join in with your child.

Play guess the character*

Take turns pretending to be one of the characters from the story.

Write a story

Write another story about Angelino or, as the author suggests, Basher Malone’s story ‘The Salvation of Basher Malone’. Maybe he stumbles upon Angelino or another angel and changes for the better.

Paint a picture or make a model

Children could paint a picture or make a model of an imaginary world or an imaginary creature ‘with horns and wings, fairies and princesses and ghouls, aliens with five legs and seven eyes.’

Write your own list of rules for school

Have a another look at Smellie and Nutt’s rules in chapter 46 then have a go at your own for a school that might be more fun.

Lauren, a parent, writes

Lauren tells us about sharing the story with her seven year old son Dylan:
We both really enjoyed this book. Dylan was hooked straight away with the early arrival of the angel in the story. And just as the characters in the book accept this as something ‘possible’, so did Dylan. He loved the humour of the cheeky little angel and of course couldn’t resist the giggles when Angelino had wind troubles!

He also liked talking about the characters in the book and we enjoyed playing ‘guess the character’, taking it turns going into role. It’s especially good fun taking on the role of a strict headteacher.

Later in the story we had discussions about friendship, family relationships, whether or not the baddies were ‘really bad’ and why people behave in the ways they do, or become the people they are. He had many ideas about why the angel came suggesting it was to spread some happiness, help Bert and Betty after they lost their child or because Angelino was Bert and Betty’s boy that had died.

Dylan was keen to make his own Angelino by adding some wings to his doll. He reread the section where Betty makes a bed from a box and searched for a box which would be the right size, and some cotton wool and a cloth for bedding. His sister also enjoyed joining in at this stage and wanted to turn her doll into an angel too to be ‘a friend for Angelino’. Overall the book was a great success. Funny, exciting, sad and thought provoking in equal measure. And of course perfect for those of us who’ve worked in education; David Almond hits the nail on the head with his description of life in

*With thanks to Lauren and Dylan for adding these talk and activity ideas.

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Meet the cast of Angelino Brown here

Read more books our patron David Almond.

Titles for younger readers include:

The Boy who climbed into the moon

My Dad is a Birdman

The Boy who Swam with Piranhas

Mouse Bird, Snake, Wolf

For older children Skellig award winning modern classic book about a mysterious angel-like creature.

Read more books by Alex.T.Smith. Titles include:

Claude in the City the first in the series of Claude stories.

Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

Bert tells Angelino the story of a wooden boy who came to life – Pinocchio.
Read the story here.

Buy The Tale of Angelino Brown here

Ying Chang Competine, ill. David Roberts,
Abrams Books
Age 7-9

This story is based on Hans Andersen’s well known tale. Ming Da, Emperor of China at only nine year’s old has greedy, selfish ministers who steal from him, becoming rich while the people of his kingdom are poor and hungry. He hatches a plan to deal with this. Dressed in rough sacking the young Emperor convinces his foolish ministers he is dressed in finest silks and persuades them to have similar clothes made to wear at the New Year’s parade. The crowd laugh when they see the Emperor and his minsters wearing old sacks. Realising they have been tricked, the corrupt officials run away and Ming Da can now feed and clothe his citizens.

There is information at the back of the book into the author’s experiences and her inspiration for the story. The illustrations are striking, amusing and detailed, the parade scene is particularly stunning with lots to spot and talk about.  This would be a great story to share at Chinese New Year, there are instructions for how to make a New Year parade costume at the back of the book.

Share the story

Watch the trailer

Before you start reading the book

Share what you know about the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Andersen

• Does your child know the Hans Andersen story on which this is based? If not either tell them about it or watch the cartoon version together (see below).

• Think about the Emperor’s problem at the beginning of the story

• Before you start reading the book look at the first image of the Emperor on the throne. What do children notice about him? Read the first few pages with the boy emperor listening to his corrupt ministers & meeting his tailors. What might his plan be?

Read the story aloud

Read the story aloud to your child or take turns reading a page each. Pause to talk about what is happening in the words or the pictures.

Talk about the story

• What do children think about the characters of the Emperor and his ministers, how they behaved and how the ministers were tricked?

• Talk about anything that puzzles your child, eg unfamiliar vocabulary or Chinese New Year celebrations – see links below.

• Share favourite illustrations and favourite parts of the story.

• Did you spot the cricket and mouse, one or both of these feature in most of the illustrations. What would they tell each other about the ministers and how they were tricked? Have an imaginary conversation between them.

Things to make and do

Draw a favourite scene
Children could choose a scene from the story they find the funniest or like the best to draw. Talk about what they have chosen to illustrate.

Make a New Year costume
Make your own New Year costume from an old pillow case (follow the instructions at the back of the book

Make a Chinese dragon puppet
Make a Chinese dragon stick puppet. You can invent your own or use these ideas and resources.

Make the puppet move and dance.

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Watch an animation Hans Andersen story of the Emperor’s New Clothes here.

Read a version of the Hans Anderson story here
Find out more about Chinese New Year celebrations here

Find out about the Chinese dragon dance here 

Find out more about author Ying Chang Compestine here

Read the author’s note about the background to the book together.

Read more books illustrated by David Roberts:

Tyrannosaurus Drip with Julia Donaldson

Rosie Revere Engineer with Andrea Beaty

Dirtie Bertie written and illustrated by David Roberts