It’s only as I was looking back at all the wonderful books I read in 2023 that I realised that five of my favourite picture books and early chapter books were Hook Books! I love the series, and I’m always excited to read new additions to it.
A usual, I begin my list with a disclaimer – not all the books that feature in this list and the ones that follow were published in 2023. I just happened to read them in 2023. One difference this time, however, is that I received many review copies last year, so an overwhelmingly large number were actually published last year too! Here are my top six for ages six and under (though, of course, I’m not under six, but I loved these books anyway!).
What Feelings Do When No One's Looking
What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking was the very best kind of birthday gift. It’s a book I would not have bought for myself, but one that I treasure, not just because it was a gift, but because it’s such a gorgeous gift. Endearingly written and beautifully illustrated, this picture book is a gem!
The Big Bad Fight
Another book about big feelings, The Big Bad Fight is about anger and all the complications that come with trying to make up. We’ve all been riled up by a sense of injustice. That doesn’t necessarily excuse something we did in anger, though. This lovely little Hook Book talks of all the emotions that go with those terrible arguments that happen between children who are best friends.
Boy, Bear
I read four Hook Books one after another, and three of them feature on this list of my favourites! Boy, Bear is a book about empathy and love. Animals and children belong together. They forge relationships unlike any other, and Boy, Bear is all the more poignant because a happy ending is not always a perfect ending simply because of everything that happened before. A lovely book that deals with big themes with courage and kindness.
The Grand Chapati Contest
I love Asha Nehemiah’s books! They sparkle with imagination and humour, and The Grand Chapati Contest is no different. When the king wants perfect chapatis, the best way to find a royal chapati maker is to hold a contest. Who will win? The elephant that can stamp four chapatis at the same time? Or the one who can make butterfly shaped chapatis? This early chapter book will make you laugh out loud!
Cyrus the Whyrus
Another Hook Book that I loved because of how wacky it is, Cyrus the Whyrus is a hilarious story about a boy who cannot stop asking ‘why’. Page after page, I chuckled at Cyrus’s hapless family, all of whom have to listen to his endless whys. Priya Kuriyan’s illustrations go perfectly with Lavanya Karthik’s text in this fun book.
Passepartout, Is That You?
Another Hook Book that I love because of how well the text and illustrations go together, Passepartout, Is That You? by Menaka Raman and Jemma Jose is a treat from start to end. So many of my favourite children’s books involve the reader, and in this story, we, along with Shyam and Kannamma, hunt for the tortoise Passepartout. Can we see the tortoise when the protagonist cannot? Of course we can, and that makes the story even more fun!
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