Book review: Fun, learning and adventure for autumn nights

Age 2 plus:

How to Hide a Lion at School

Helen Stephens

Take one rib-tickling lion, a very cute little girl, a big, big secret and what do you have? Helen Stephens’ ever-popular picture book hero, of course… a warm and witty package full of laughter, lovely pictures and a lovable lion.

How to Hide a Lion is the third rollicking adventure in the bestselling How to Hide a Lion series which has sold over 100,000 copies and won the hearts of children everywhere.

In the new adventure with little Iris we find our favourite playmate heading off to school without her hero lion who is loved by all (except Iris’s teacher) because he once rescued the mayor’s best candlesticks from some robbers.

Lions aren’t allowed at school but Iris’s lion doesn’t want to be left behind so he sneaks in after her.

Today they are all off on a school trip and lion manages to stow himself away on the bus. But when he hides among the exhibits at the museum, there is soon madness and mayhem. Good job that when the bus breaks down on the way home lion jumps to the rescue again!

Stephens has her hand well and truly on the pulse of children’s humour and this heartwarming story about a very special friendship is guaranteed to win new fans from both the young and older generations.

The simple text and an easy-to- understand story are ideal for pre-school children while the off-beat illustrations have a distinctly nostalgic feel in their style and presentation, providing all the right ingredients for a firm family favourite.

(Scholastic, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus:

Pinball Science

Nick Arnold, Ian Graham and Owen Davey

Science in motion! There’s nothing like getting hands-on when it comes to learning the laws of science…

So how about building your very own working pinball machine and then discovering how it all works? Open up this wonderful box of tricks – a 32-page book, 88 model pieces, elastic bands and a marble – put them all together and create the coolest working model in town!

Nick Arnold and Ian Graham provide the knowledge, technology and words, and illustrator Owen Davey brings the science to pictorial life in an ingenious book that is bulging with facts, fun, ideas, innovation and creativity.

From Isaac Newton’s laws of motion to types of energy and forces, the book explains everything you need to know about how your elastic band-powered pinball machine works, and includes awesome experiments to do at home.

Learn about key scientific principles such as force and motion, speed and velocity, acceleration, matter, mass and weight, all with illustrated spreads explaining how they work. And then using the sheets of cards and multiple components, follow the step-by- step instructions to assemble the pinball machine with its elastic-band plunger, bumpers, spinners and flippers. It’s fun, easy to assemble and will give your brain a boost as well.

The do-it- yourself way to learn how science works!

(Templar Publishing, hardback, £17.99)

Age 7-8:

The Magical World of Amy Lee

Amy Lee

A recent survey of children aged seven to fourteen revealed that one in three girls play games every day, and yet girls are more reluctant to describe themselves as serious gamers than boys…

So bypass YouTube and dive into a new and dazzling puzzle book to discover the cutesy online world of Amy Lee, star of the biggest girls’ gaming channel in the UK, and the bringer of love and adventure. Every day Amy uploads videos to YouTube and all have a heartwarming central message

of love for each other.

This colourful, fun-packed odyssey is the first book from Amy Lee and features all the best bits from Amy’s Land of Love, the series she creates in the world of Minecraft. Meet all the favourite characters from the Land of Love, including Mittens, Grandfather Oak, Stampy, Lexi and Ash Dubh, and enjoy pages of facts, puzzles, quizzes, drawing, activities, fill-in fun, colouring, mazes, stories and tips.

Can you escape from the creepers, decode a secret message from the fairies, stop Mittens causing too much chaos, escape from that pesky witch and become a cute recruit?