Otter-Barry Books – The Bell Bookshop

King School

Emma — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There’s a new king in the land, but he’s a child!

The people say he must go to King School, but the king hates wearing heavy robes and remembering difficult rules.

So the king says, “NO!”

And he takes the people into the forest and shows them a different way to be king?.

A brilliant new story from the internationally acclaimed author of Beegu and Slow Loris.

A Kid in My Class

Emma — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

They're all here…every kid in the class has their own poem. The pushy one, the shy one. The whizz kid and the daydreamer. The best-friender and the kid who runs in his wheelchair. The tough kid, the poet. And not forgetting the class hamster.

This collection from an outstanding poet, Rachel Rooney, winner of the CLiPPA Award, is perfectly matched by the amazing witty and inventive illustrations by Chris Riddell, the former UK Children’s Laureate.

Big Red Dragon

Emma — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Find hamsters, dogs, robins and unicorns, little cars and big diggers, stomp like a dinosaur or fly like a big red dragon in this beautifully illustrated collection of 15 action rhymes, each with clear instructions for the parent or carer on how to act out the rhymes.

Rhymes celebrate festivals and special events, such as Easter, Halloween, Diwali, Christmas and Chinese New Year.

This book is a perfect companion to Jane Newberry’s very popular first collection, Big Green Crocodile, which was shortlisted for the CLiPPA award. At home, playgroup or nursery, the rhymes provide fun while also nurturing children’s responses to language, rhyme and images.

Boing!

Emma — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hop, leap or bounce into Boing! for bug and mini-beast poetry fun and fascinating facts.

Find beautiful butterflies, ladybirds and dragonflies. Marvel at worker bugs, from tiny ants and busy bees to leaping grasshoppers and fleas. Discover mini-beast heroes – dung beetles, millipedes, spiders – and those amazing ‘pigs in space’, the tardigrades!

With 24 poems, including shape poems, riddles, rhyming poems and free verse, plus amazing and informative facts about each bug or minibeast on every page, the world of insects is brought buzzing to life, matched by Neal Layton’s witty colour illustrations.

Remarkable Animals

Emma — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Remarkable Animals is one of the most ingenious mix-and-match books ever devised. Based on ten real-life animals, each described in words as well as pictures, it offers 1,000 fantastic variations.

Just flip the pages and see ten remarkable animals become 1,000 crazy creatures, taking on new names and astonishing new identities as their heads, bodies and tails are swapped around.

Devised and brilliantly executed by master-artist Tony Meeuwissen, this is a book that will be treasured by readers of all ages.

One Cheetah, One Cherry

Emma — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

One cherry, one cheetah

Two dogs, two balls, one big, one small

Three bears, three bowls, three silver spoons

This stunning counting book, illustrating numbers 1 to 10 in beautiful animal paintings, is now presented as a very special board book, embellished with gold leaf as in the original hardback edition, bringing this gorgeous book to a younger readership.

With playful words and stunning pictures with lots of detail to pore over, the book depicts dogs, bears, foxes, elephants, tigers, pandas, otters, mice – and of course one cheetah and a cherry – making this a perfect introduction to numbers and counting.

My Book of Classic Nursery Tales

Emma — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A beautiful new collection of eight nursery tales – traditional stories for younger children, including all the favourite classics, delightfully retold and enchantingly illustrated by James Mayhew, internationally bestselling author and illustrator of Once Upon a Tune, A Symphony of Stories, the Mrs Noah series and many other much-loved picture books.

The stories included are: Goldilocks and the Three Bears (England), Little Red Riding Hood (Germany), The Billy Goats Gruff (Norway), The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf (England), The Enormous Turnip (Ukraine), The Tortoise and the Hare (Ancient Greece), The Gingerbread Man (North America), The Vain Little Mouse (Spain)

Using the same technique of colourful cut-outs and collage as in his bestselling Once Upon a Tune: Stories from the Orchestra, James Mayhew has created another spectacular gift book, this time for a very young audience.

The Poetry World of John Agard

Emma — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A towering figure in the children’s and YA poetry world, John Agard has chosen favourite poems from eight of his previously published collections: I Din Do Nuttin; Say it Again, Granny; No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock;
Laughter is an Egg; Grandfather’s Old Bruk-a-Down Car; We Animals Would Like a Word With You; Come Back to Me My Boomerang, and Points of View With Professor Peekaboo.

Over 80 poems are included, reflecting the genius of Agard through a range of poetic forms and styles and most of all his extraordinary ability to connect with children of all ages through poetry.

I Really, Really Don’t Like Parties

Emma — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dora really, really doesn’t like parties! They are too loud and too busy. Maybe she won’t have to go if a gorilla steals her party dress or if a giant frog eats her shoe!

But…what if Dora could find a nice quiet place at the party, and someone else who doesn’t like noisy parties? Then they could have a lovely time – in their own way. and that would be…absolutely, completely, totally and perfectly OK!