We began the year in Toronto, where Tundra published A Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime, written by Eija Sumner and illustrated by our Nici Gregory. A busy year for Nici, who illustrated a pair of middle-grade novels too – Joseph Elliott’s Nora and the Map of Mayhem and our Susie Lloyd’s middle-grade debut…

Susie’s Badgers Are GO! is gloriously eccentric and outlandishly funny. A story that has been cooking for many, many years. And now a sequel is in the pipeline…

Then grown-up poet Kathryn Simmonds made her children’s publishing debut. Be My Sunflower, with Rosalind Beardshaw, for Walker. Vernon the seed is happy in his packet, and reluctant to grow into anything at all, thank you. The first of many from Kathryn.

Come to think of it, Vernon the cautious seed shares a lot with the hero of Sarah Tagholm’s We Are The Wibbly!. He’s a niceably relaxing blob in a pond who will not be growing a tail, let alone becoming anything resembling a frog. Jane McGuinness drew the most sumptuous art to fit Sarah’s text, which Bloomsbury won at the end of a frothing, frenzied auction.

Incidentally, we were delighted to find a starred Kirkus review for Wibbly at year’s end. America gets it!

At the other end of life’s journey – and the other end of the year – also by Sarah, When Will My Woodlouse Wake Up?. A book that helps small people gently grasp the finality of death, in the form of Manu Montoya’s sadly expired creepy-crawly.

April was a month for knightly goings-on. Susie Lloyd’s noble nitwit returned, mansplaining his way into someone’s sandwich in Here Be Giants, as brilliantly drawn by Paddy Donnelly.

The far more sensible hero of Leonie Lord’s Grotti finds something small, green and baby-shaped, and swaps his sword and shield for a buggy so that he can ferry it around. Happens to even the manliest of us, I can tell you.

Leonie also illustrated the latest Slow Down book – Patience, by Rachel Williams. Co-editions rolled in – which is always nice.

Our Friend Tree followed Dawn Casey’s and Genevieve Godbout’s Apple Cake for Quarto: spare, lyrical poetry and lusciously romantic artwork. And also from Dawn – a veritable cornucopia of nature books – Bumblebee Garden, Nature Tales and RSPB Bird Tales.

Catherine Cawthorne kicked off a hugely exciting partnership with Sara Ogilvie for Bloomsbury – The Big Bad Wolf Investigates: Fairy Tales. Could the prince
really have climbed up Rapunzel’s hair? Your favourite stories, brutally fact-checked by science!

For Michelle Robinson, two new pairings in 2024. Counting Sheep – a properly funny farmyard counting book with Nicki Dyson for Walker. And Daddy’s Footsteps – a heartfelt father’s day story for Andersen, dinosaurs courtesy of the wonderful Paddy D. A sequel is set for 2025.

As Michelle now lives in Canada, 2024 saw her Canadian debut – Lobster’s Vacation. Easily the most Nova Scotian crustacean-based picturebook in, I’m guessing, a crowded field.

Eoin McLaughlin had a new partnership at Faber with Morag Hood and a delightful story called Goodnight Sun, about a cosmic ball of energy who refuses to go to bed. (You’ll want to watch out for more from him in 2025.)

Rob Jones’ third very loooong board book arrived later in May. Small readers who enjoyed finding Brian’s Bottom now ask: Where’s Willy’s Welly?

Susie Lloyd and Kate Hindley’s Who Ate Steve? posed a similarly existential question. Published by Nosy Crow, it proved rather a hit in bookshops.

And Marcela Ferreira embarked on a new partnership with Dan Chambers for OUP (more from them in 2025) with the brilliant Bear vs Dragon.

Autumn Feast, gorgeously illustrated by Cinyee Chiu, completes Sean Taylor’s and Alex Morss’ season cycle for Quarto. Sean had two Walker books out too: the foolishly funny Natterjack Toad Can’t Believe It! with Kathyrn Durst, and his very original guide to how-to-write-poetry-for-tinies with Sam Usher, You’re a Poet.

Author-illustrator Polly Noakes‘s first book with us came out in October. Just The Two of Us is an imaginative, comforting book that asks – what happens to our imaginary friends when we don’t need them anymore?

And finally, the debut solo book by Lucy Catchpole – yes, her! Mama Car is illustrated by Karen George for Faber. It comes from the same world as What Happened to You? and You’re So Amazing!, but it’s not a Joe book. Joe has long since grown up and traded his sword for a family car – you might glimpse him in the background – but this one’s the story of his little girl and her mother, and her mother’s wheelchair.