Some stories are told to communicate a lesson, others are just for fun and silliness… but there’s nothing like a good old tale of adventure to capture a child’s imagination. Here are some of my daughter’s (okay, MY!) favourite adventure stories:

Wendy by Gus Gordon


An adventurous chicken leaves the farm to pursue a career with the circus, performing as Wendy the Flying Chicken. She becomes famous for her stunt jumps, being written about in the newspaper and interviewed on television. Wendy has everything she ever dreamed of, but she still wants more, so she carefully devises the biggest stunt of her career. But when she crashes, she thinks of life back home on the farm, with her family. It’s back to the quiet life for Wendy… although her schemes aren’t finished just yet. A funny, beautifully written and superbly illustrated story.

Leaf by Stephen Michael King


A little boy escapes his mother and her looming promise to cut his hair, heading outside for an adventure. When a bird drops a seed in his unkempt hair and a leaf sprouts, the boy is thrilled and searches for a way to water it and make it grow and grow. His boisterous canine companion bears the brunt of all the misadventure. This is a unique story without text, allowing King’s wonderful illustrations to shine and tell their own version of events. It will make you laugh hysterically.

Where on Earth is the Moon? by Ruth Martin, illustrated by Olivier Latyk


Luna is obsessed with the moon and loves to watch it shine down on her. But she’s curious about where it goes during the day. She decides to stay up and watch where it disappears to but, falling asleep each time, she is instead taken on adventures in her dreams. Luna heads higher than the mountains, further than the clouds, beyond the ocean and eventually finds the answer. This is a stunning, beautifully descriptive adventure of the imagination.

Rufus the Numbat by David Miller


Rufus doesn’t even know he’s on an adventure when he heads from the city back to his home in the bush. But the people he’s encountered sure do. He causes all sorts of chaos and mishap, from sending a cyclist flying to getting under the feet of a dragon at the grand parade. The greatest appeal of this story is the amazing paper sculpture illustrations and the unusual contrast between the slow, methodical text and frantic visual scenes.

Vivi Finds Bean by Vanessa Holle


Vivi is so keen to meet her godmother, Bean, that she heads on a quest from Germany all the way over to Sydney to find her. Travelling on whales, turtles and kangaroos, she makes her way across the seas and the great big land of Australia to stay with her beloved Bean. This story is told in funny rhyme and the words flow right across the pages in their own mini adventure.

Songs about adventuring!

Activities which might go well with these books:

Megan’s selection has certainly provided me with a few more books to add to my wish list – Thank you Megan!


If any of you have more suggestions for great picture books on the theme of adventure, please let us know about them via the comments, and do please visit Megan over at Writing Out Loud and say hello!

One of my [Stephanie's] favourite parts of parenting so far has been getting to discover great new books together with my son. Even before he was born, I’d started collecting some of my old favourites from my own childhood, but for this post I wanted to talk about three books we discovered together and both love. The linking theme is independence: all three of these books feature characters going out into the wide world without their parents, dealing with strange adults and facing the unknown, just like every little kid eventually has to do.

I’m Not Scared by Jonathan Allen


Baby Owl ventures out into the woods at night, carrying his stuffed owl with him. He’s not scared…or at least, he won’t admit he is, despite all the interfering adults who keep on startling him by popping up out of the darkness to worry about his feelings.

My son and I laugh and laugh when we read this book. The writing is sharp and funny, the pictures are hilarious, and I love that at the end, when Papa Owl whispers: “It’s okay to be a little bit scared of the dark,” feisty Baby Owl immediately says to his stuffed owl: “He means you, Owly.” Baby Owl is not about to learn any silly moral lessons himself…but his story is wonderfully reassuring, as well as funny, for little kids to read. (And as a parent, I’m intensely grateful for picture books that make me laugh on the hundredth re-read!)

There’s an Ouch in my Pouch! by Jeanne Willis and Garry Parsons


Poor little Willaby Wallaby hasn’t left his mum’s pouch on purpose. He was kicked out by a terrible ouch! He leaves in disgust to find a better pouch to live in, but none of the other animals he meets have suitable pouches…and it’s only his good bouncing skills that save him when Ma Dingo tries to trick him into visiting the “pouch” in her mouth! In the end, he returns to his own mum (and the baby sister who dislodged him) but realizes that he doesn’t need a pouch any more – he’s a big boy who can happily bounce at his mum’s side instead of hiding in the shelter of her pouch.

My husband and I both love reading this book to our son because of the incredibly bouncy, dance-able rhythm of the text, as well as the humour of the story and the pictures. We cursed the tongue-twisting nature of the words the first few times we read the book, but our son loved it right away, and we both came to love it too – once you’ve got the knack of the text, it rolls off your tongue and is sheer fun to read, in a very tactile way.

Piglet and Mama by Margaret Wild and Stephen Michael King


When Piglet wakes up and finds herself alone, she’s scared but determined. She sets out to find her mama and won’t let anyone stop her – not even all those well-meaning adults who try to distract her by offering to play with her themselves. Sometimes, no one but Mama will do – and when Piglet finally does find her mama, her joy shines off the page.

I can’t imagine any little kids who couldn’t identify with Piglet from time to time – and the lovely ending of this book is perfectly designed to elicit real-life cuddles for the mamas (or daddies) reading it. It would be worth reading for that benefit alone, even if it weren’t so sweet and well-done.

Every little kid has to face the world without their parents from time to time. Whether it’s in the care of a relative, a childminder or a nursery teacher, it can be an awfully scary feeling. These three books are reassuring as well as funny and smart. I can’t think of a better combination.

I (Zoe) will be tracking all of these down! J is very keen on asserting her independence at the moment (“No Mama, me can do it!”) and I think she’d love every one of Stephanie’s choices. We have I’m not cute by Jonathan Allen and both girls think it’s extremely funny so I can well imagine that I’m Not Scared will also be a big hit.

Some songs that might go with these books include:

Some crafty projects that could be fun after reading these books include:

Thank you Stephanie for a wonderful selection of books today! If you’d like to find out more about Stephanie you could visit her website, say hello to her on her blog, or read the first chapter of her new novel. And if any of you have suggestions as to other books that would work well alongside these, please let us know via the comments

We’re half way through National Refugee Week here in the UK and as my small contribution to it Fantastic Fiction for Kids is this week all about refugees. It is also, necessarily, about humanity, compassion, despair, empathy and hope.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi


Unhei has left Korea and is just starting at her new school in the US. Children on the school bus tease her about her strange sounding name and so when she is asked to introduce herself to her classmates she decides she needs to choose an American name. Her new classmates are welcoming and supportive. They enjoy making suggestions of new names for Unhei, but in the end she feels accepted enough to stick with her Korean name.
Whilst this warmly illustrated picture book alludes to the less welcoming experiences of a newcomer, it is ultimately all about kindness, generosity of spirit and left met me (albeit with a tear in my eye) feeling hopeful about humankind’s capacity to be thoughtful and open-hearted.

The Island by Armin Greder


Where The Name Jar left me feeling optimistic, The Island left me in despair. Where Unhei’s arrival brings riches and welcome opportunities for learning to her classmates, the community on the eponymous Island of this book treat the man on the beach “where fate and ocean currents had washed his raft ashore” with a great deal of hostility, fear and suspicion. Although one or two lone voices wish to offer a welcoming hand, ultimately the community not only force the man to leave the island, they turn their home into a fortress, deliberately isolating themselves from the world outside. The bleak, gloomy, but pitch-perfect illustrations are as haunting and unsettling as the text.

The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Karin Littlewood


After the grey desolation of The Island the vibrancy and optimism of The Colour of Home was uplifting. It is Hassan’s first day at a new school, having arrive from Somalia, and he feels very far from home. Everything is different, from the routine to the weather, from the food for lunch to the language. He and his classmates settle down to paint and first Hassan creates a happy and colourful picture of his family and home back in Somalia. But as Hassan continues to paint the reason for his family’s flight from Africa becomes clear. The following day Hassan’s class teacher arranges for an interpreter to help her and listen to Hassan tell his painting’s story using his own words. This act of acknowledgement is the first step towards Hassan feeling able to use the word “home” for where he now lives.
At the same time as depicting the cruelty people are capable of, this book is full of kindness and hope. The rich colours of the beautiful illustrations will capture the attention of any reader.

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Doug Chayka


This wonderful book full of muted colours as if faded by the sun tells of the friendship that springs up between two Afghani girls living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Following the distribution of used clothing by relief workers Lina and Feroza each come away with one sandal from a matching pair. Shoes are highly prized – neither girls has had shoes for a long time, old shoes having been worn out on the long trek to the refugee camp – but the girls decide it is better to share. Thus the pair of shoes is worn by one girl on one day and by the other on the next. Yet, when the girls are separated, Lina and her family having got their papers to leave the refugee camp for America, the girls decide to take one shoe each as they would rather remember their friendship than be entirely practical.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan


A breathtaking, wordless book that perfectly captures the experience of having to start a new life in a new country where customs and language all seem strange. The illustrations are astonishing! Click here for my full review

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As always, some music to go with today’s picture books:

As to activities to accompany these essential books, you could

Books about refugees