Picture books of the month: finding your happy place

Environmentalism has been a big theme in children’s picture books for years but there are only so many books you can read about loving trees and helping bees before everything starts to feel the same. Thankfully, Joe Todd-Stanton, who burst on to the scene in 2018 with his prize-winning seaside fable The Secret of Black Rock, doesn’t do boring and now returns with The Lost Robot (Flying Eye, £12.99).

A little damaged robot called Mio wakes up in a mountainous rubbish dump and, gradually recalling fond memories of its child owner, embarks on a quest to find him. But the tech has moved on and Mio, witnessing that they’ve been replaced with the latest model, sorrowfully retreats to the toppling towers of waste. Years pass, beautifully depicted by Todd-Stanton in six mournful panels showing Mio motionless through the passing seasons. Eventually, though, a mother and her young daughter, with big boots, big hearts and a fabulous scavenger-punk aesthetic, scoop up Mio to be repaired in their cosy home beside the sea, cocooned in nature.

Stylish yet full of soul, visually The Lost Robot recalls The Wild Robot, Pixar’s Wall-E and even Star Wars. But Todd-Stanton’s dazzling illustrations, combined with his heartfelt message about love, belonging and seeing the value in all things, make for a fresh and uplifting tale.

Elsewhere, loss and loneliness also loom large. Fifteen years after Michael Rosen’s Sad Book detailed his grief over the death of his 18-year-old son Eddie, Rosen revisits its themes in Where Are You, Eddie? (Walker, £12.99). Still the most highly recommended title for children coping with bereavement, Sad Book was pioneering in its tone and content, and paved the way for a boom in books helping children deal with challenging feelings. Its follow-up takes the form of a conversation between Rosen and his cat Meg, who urges Rosen to look for Eddie in his everyday surroundings. Sad Book was illustrated by Quentin Blake; here Gill Smith’s lovely, blurry-edged images have the soft quality of warm memories, whether of a young Eddie tickling his dad’s legs on the bus or making sandwiches in the kitchen. It’s a beautiful book, perhaps not as radical as its predecessor, but still deeply poignant, and it will doubtless bring comfort to many.

In Dog Stayed (Allen & Unwin, £7.99), by Tammy Forster and illustrator Margeaux Davis, an old man haunted by the happy family photographs on the wall and the empty chair beside him at the fire is slowly coaxed out of his lonely, grumpy state by a dog who takes a shine to him. Slowly, the smile returns to Mr Hindbottom’s face. But what happens when he reaches the end of his days? A great book for gently exploring the cycle of life with kids.

Still dog-themed but picking up the pace, Jenny Bloomfield’s The Chase (Quarto, £7.99) is a simple but well-executed tale of a young girl throwing a bright red ball and the frenzied, multi-dog chase that ensues. The bouncy, barking, flappy-eared hounds and their infectious energy reminded me of Lynley Dodd’s beloved Hairy Maclary series.

But the funniest book of the month is Monkeypig (Puffin, £7.99), Huw Aaron’s follow-up to last year’s sensational Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob. Molly is a pink pig with a gingery top knot and a big secret: she loves living with her monkey besties in the jungle but they are unaware she’s not one of them. When head monkey Norman tries to sniff out the imposter, can she prove that she belongs? It may have added laughs, squelchy bananas and oinking monkeys, but Monkeypig shares with The Lost Robot a heartfelt message: that there is joy in finding your tribe.

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Illustrations by Margeaux Davis; Joe Todd-Stanton/Flying Eye Books Ltd