Kids book club – November

0-4 years
When I Was Born
Isabel Minhos Martin/Madalena Matoso
£6.99
9781854379580

Picture books are supposed to be visually appealing but this takes the biscuit. In years to come it deserves to be cooed over in vintage design emporiums. A delightful assemblage of vibrant primary colours and clear-cut illustrations, originally published in Portugal, it's quietly eccentric and immensely pleasing to the eye. The text is a delightful evocation of the completely fresh perspective that children have on the world, a simple little hymn to wide-eyed innocence and early experience. It possesses a refreshingly old-school feel that parent readers should find as beguiling as young listeners, pretty much guaranteed to raise happy smiles all round.

4-6 years
Maudie and Bear
Jan Ormerod / Freya Blackwood
£12.99
9781921541407

This is a picture book compendium of little tales about the inseparable pairing of Maudie (a little girl) and Bear (a bear). They go on bike rides, they make picnics, they have naps. Their relationship isn't always entirely harmonious, but their adventures are unfailingly sweet, gentle and unapologetically old-fashioned. Maudie can be stubborn and impulsive, but her large ursine companion has limitless supplies of patience and affection. Essentially a series of gossamer-light lessons about childhood friendships, with illustrations in a suitably classy, timeless style, it's like a warm sleepy hug in book form.

6-8 years
Find Chaffy
Jamie Smart
£5.99
9781407120904

Chaffies are curious, fluffy, white creatures that have wandered into the wider world. They'll need guiding back home, once they've been located amongst the busy scenes on every page. Undeniably there's a strong whiff of Where's Wally? about this, but then the 'search the illustrations' format is established as a classic now, and has inspired everything from Where are Santa's Pants? to Where's Bin Laden? Actually this manages to put a fresh spin on the idea with admirable brio. The pictures are bright, cheeky, and jam-packed full of colour, with a barrage of rhymes and puzzles adding variety. The world of the Chaffies forges its own charming identity, and spending time there is terrific fun.

9-12 years
Noah Barleywater Runs Away
John Boyne
£10.99
9780385618953

Boyne's 2006 book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was a massive worldwide hit, spawning a film adaptation and making it onto the GCSE English syllabus. His latest novel is aimed at a slightly younger readership, and comes complete with illustrations by celebrated childen's artist Oliver Jeffers. It's also a distinct change of tone, eschewing historical realism for a fantastical, fairy-tale feel. On the face of it, eight-year-old Noah wanders away from home and into the forest, and encounters a curious toymaker who takes him under his wing. But nothing's exactly as it seems, and as Noah goes on a life-changing journey with the toymaker, the whole extraordinary, often moving truth unfolds. The flights of imagination and the sudden shifts in narrative perspective make this a remarkable, assured tale about the challenges of life and growing up.