Children's Book of the Month: Blown Away

We could hardly have April's Children's Book of the Month be anything but the very picture book which last week won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, could we? Rob Biddulph's Blown Away is already a huge favourite amongst our booksellers and we're delighted to be able to further shout about it.

Rob Biddulph himself drew the above version of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize logo (thank you, Rob!) and here's Isabel Popple from her in-depth look at the prize:

Penguin Blue has a new kite and it’s the perfect blustery day to try it out. Oops! Maybe it’s a bit too windy today – Penguin Blue’s been swept up into the sky! His friends try to help, but they get caught up too and are soon being blown across the ocean to a tropical isle. How are they going to engineer a way back home? With rhyming text, this crazy animal adventure is a lot of fun – it’s humorous and enjoyable, with bright pictures and – obviously – a polar bear named Clive. 

What's more, Leilah Skelton, Children's bookseller and occasional blog contributor, even went so far as to write a poem.

Look here! A wonderful debut,
With kites and flights and Penguin Blue
Delivered with a sing-song rhyme,
That makes this great for story time.

Moral: It’s not how far you stray,
Nor perils met along the way.
No jungle heat, nor bright sea foam
Will match the comforts of your home.

For when you’ve whooshed and Blown Away
Then made it home, (with stowaway..?)
That feeling is so very nice,
To have your feet on solid ice.

Intrepid adventurers, beautiful pages,
Appealing right across the ages;
A penguin wasn’t built for flying
But, gosh, this book was built for buying.

Not many books inspire us to write poetry (apart from the poetry books, of course). To sum everything up, we love Blown Away. We honestly can't recommend it enough.