HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here comes our first picture book recommendation for 2022...

Happy New Year everyone! It seems a bit late to be saying that now but, even though it feels like we’ve taken an extended break, we have spent the Christmas holidays reading the most fabulous books and are excited for yet another year of reading and reviewing. We’ve also been brainstorming a few new features, including Classic Corner and a weekly video recommendation from the youngest readers in the house.

One thing’s definitely for sure though, after the last couple of years we really wanted to kickstart 2022 with something joyous and fun. And Lu Fraser’s upcoming One Camel Called Doug is the perfect picture book to kick off a wintry January. Drenched with sun on every page, this text reminded me of the song Alice the Camel that I sang as a child at Brownies. It always made me smile and this riotous, rhyming camel-fuelled tale, brilliantly illustrated by Sarah Warburton, has had exactly the same effect.

One Camel Called Doug by Lu Fraser and Sarah Warburton

Link to publisher

Published by: Simon and Schuster, 17th Feb 2022

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As fun as this book is, there are some clever layers that make it a top text for 2022. Firstly, it’s a counting book from one to five and secondly, there’s a clever double message about balancing friendship with time alone or, to put it another way, balancing party time with downtime. We really liked that the story comes full-circle and the ending really does make it the perfect bedtime story.

We are big fans of Lu Fraser’s picture books and Lu seems to be setting a trend for unusual, fun and larger than life animal characters. The Viking That Loved Icing and The Witchling’s Witch were both big hits but One Camel Called Doug is very much in the same ilk as Lu’s debut, The Littlest Yak. With yaks and now camels, we simply can’t wait to see what is coming next!

One Camel Called Doug is available to pre-order and released on 17th February 2022. A big thanks to @NetGalley for the digital review copy.