A simple message in Emily Gravett’s Tidy (Pan Macmillan, 2017), but one which the badger takes to extremes. A forest is no place for being tidy (and arguably no place for a book).
Category Archives: Self-reference
The Great Big Book of Families
As we all know, every family looks different. Many of them are portrayed in The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Ros Asquith (Frances Lincoln, 2010), which is the very book that Grandma’s reading.
I Love You, Too!
It’s bedtime for Little Bear (not this Little Bear!) and tonight’s bedtime story is I Love You, Too! by Michael Foreman (Andersen, 2014). Cunningly, Dad holds his paw over the cover so we can’t tell if there’s a smaller book and so ad infinitum.
Pajama Time!
Pajama Time! by Sandra Boynton (Workman, 2014) is a bedtime book (and song!) featuring her adorable anthropomorphic animals in all their different pyjamas. ‘Some are red and some are blue’ and some are reading Pajama Time!
The Scariest Thing of All
This is Pip, a little rabbit, preparing for The Scariest Thing of All (Bloomsbury, 2012), and there are the monsters reading Pip’s story, whether for thrills or encouragement. Another self-referential book from Debi Gliori.
See also The Trouble With Dragons, Dragon Loves Penguin, and Stormy Weather.
Little Bo Peep’s Library Book
Before How To Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell wrote Little Bo Peep’s Library Book (Hodder, 1999).
All the pull-out books in our secondhand copy have been pulled out, unfortunately. In the pictures, Bo Peep finds the book she needs at the library on how to find sheep. On the cover, though, she’s very clearly reading her own story – but whether before or after it happens, we can’t tell.
Oranges and Lemons
A sweet collection of ‘singing and dancing games’: Oranges and Lemons, compiled by Karen King and illustrated by Ian Beck (Oxford University Press, 2006). The elephant and the teddybear are holding an earlier cover than my reprint.
