Perfect Picture Books to enjoy this August 2025
When Summer Comes
- By Ekaterina Trukhan
- Published by Nosy Crow
This beautiful little book has been published in collaboration with the National Trust, and tells of all the things that make Summer the most amazing season to enjoy for little ones. From playing activities in the garden to working on a veg patch with mum, the things the little girl in this book does are all beautiful things that little ones will recognise from their own routines and home environments too.
The gorgeous illustrations encapsulate summer perfectly through the use of bright colours and a softness to the design, much like the prints seen on summerwear all over. There is a real joy that is tangible from this book, and though the sentences are short what they depict is much larger, and really does reflect all that is to be enjoyed and embraced in the summer season.
I see a cloud : teeny tiny science
- Written by Saskia Gwinn
- Illustrated by Daniela Sosa
- Published by Nosy Crow
Written in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, this book deserves to be top of pile in the water cycle topic boxes in schools, and enjoyed by children at home too (of course!). I know from having created the topic boxes in primary school from library stock we had that books for younger readers themed around water cycles, and so this particular book is going to be much sort after by children and teachers alike.
Told in the form of an adventure filled story with children at the heart of it, this book tells of absolutely everything to do with the water cycle process from how it goes from the sea to form a cloud, how the clouds travel and disperse rain miles and miles away, how rainbows are formed, and the uses of water including animals drinking from streams for example. There is so much more included, all to be learnt through story format, which will appeal to the younger readers for sure. The illustrations truly do bring the adventure and the informative content to life for little ones to get a better understanding, and this will appeal to visual learners massively too.
Becoming Real : The True Story of the Velveteen Rabbit
- Written by Molly Golden
- Illustrated by Paola Escobar
- Published by HarperCollins (Clarion Books)
The first thing I noticed about this book is how utterly stunning the illustrations are, evident from the book cover itself. The hand drawn style to the visual side of this book gives it a personal feel, and that does justice to the content of the story itself given it is at times a very raw telling of a young girl’s childhood, including the loss of her beloved father and thus we come to appreciate the origins of a beloved story for generations of readers, that of the Velveteen Rabbit.
Each turn of the page enriches your reading experience through the stunning illustrations, and the continuing of Margory’s story as you come to know her like a friend, and hold on to the hope that things improve for her after she is sent away following the loss of her father. Though their is a tangible sadness to some scenes in this book the overall feel from the book is one that inspires and leaves you wanting to read more of that very special rabbit.
One Cat, Two Cats
- Written by Jonathan Emmett
- Illustrated by Rob Hodgson
- Published by Nosy Crow
Whether you are a cat lover or not, you’ll fall in love with this book immediately. We get an indication from the cover as to what to anticipate inside “A lift-the-flap, pop up book with 20 cats to count!” and the fun designs of the cats adorning the cover too, but the inside surpasses expectations with its menagerie of interactive elements that vary through the book, and add additional fun and feel good to this book as little ones count from 1 to 20 cats along the way.
An array of different designed cats await readers inside as you look to find more and more of them, reaching a grand total of 20 by the end of the book. There are some hiding under flaps that little ones will need to interact with, and obviously gladly do so, and there are others that are discovered via the amazing pop-ups that make this book an absolute pleasure to interact with.
Each cat wears a numbered collar, which is another interesting design element to this book as it allows you to get little ones to find the cats in number order, which is turn embeds the information of numbers and sequences through the repetition this added design detail offers young readers, and we love books that hold additional opportunities to make best use of their content. This is a fantastic example of that.
Every household either is home to a cat, or homes a cat known to others ourside of that household, and yet rarely do you get 20 cats to admire and enjoy in the one place – until now. Twenty beautiful cats await little ones inside this book, and the various flaps to find them under and utterly awesome pop-ups bring an energy to this books content that feels fitting given the theme. Counting to twenty has genuinely never been this much fun…until now!
Published by
Published