Finding top summer reads with new books from Egmont Publishing

This half term I’ve read a complete paperback. In fact, I’ve read more on the beach in the past few days than I’ve done on any other holiday with kids. The reason was that Big Girl had received a funny and entertaining summer book to review, which turned out to be perfect for the two of us to read out loud on the beach.

We were reading The Fintastic Diary of Darcy Dolphin, a book written by Sam Watkins and illustrated by Vicki Becker, and we loved the hilarious main character in the book. Darcy, a whimsical dolphin, is a kind and impulsive school-aged dolphin who sometimes adapts her own unique interpretation of instructions from grown-ups.

She writes about all this in her laugh-out-loud funny diary, taking readers on a three-week journey with herself and her school friends under the sea. In the first week their class teacher announces a pet competition, and later in the book the sea creatures prepare for a Finderella school play.

Today has seen the release of the sequel to Sam Watkin’s Darcy Dolphin – Darcy Dolphin is a Little Bit Magic (£5.99) – which promises to be another hilarious beach read.

The feel-good books are aimed at children aged 6 and over, and the diary style means they’re split into short sections, and some pages also feature fun black and white illustrations. Great fun for reading to little ones on the beach, or for children to enjoy reading on their own!

Other summer reads from Egmont for younger children:
Little Monster’s Day Out with Dad
My toddler adores his review copy of Little Monster’s Day Out with Dad by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt (Egmont, £6.99), a colourful lift the flap book with illustrations of different monsters, cars and trains–all things he seems to love at the moment. The book tells an easy-to-follow story about the Little Monster going on an excursion with dad, ending up at a fun fair. Spot on for summer!

The Thing
One of the picture books I’ve really enjoyed reviewing recently has been The Thing by Simon Puttock and Daniel Egnéus (Egmont, £6.99), which is also out today. The book is unique and captivating despite being a children’s book, as it looks at the meaning of modern life and I think it’s a picture book that can be enjoyed by all ages. It is about a Thing that falls from the sky and four strangers stumble across it and take care of it. It becomes famous and people start coming to visit it. Because of the tourist attraction link, I think it’s particularly timely for the summer season when many families will be visiting new places.