We’ve got some great October Books that I’ve hidden in the cupboard from my kids, waiting for this month to roll around.

And now that October has finally started they’re allowed into circulation in our library.

You may have guessed from all our previous posts on reading and books that we have a lot of books. A lot. We have bookcases for each of the kids and then piles of books everywhere. It’s a bit of a mess but it’s great. Just when I think we own or at least have read every type of book I come across another goodie.

Each of the October books are very very different from one another, from illustration to story!

Our October books include Where’s Wally Double Trouble, Emma Yarlett’s Beast Feast and Sophie Dahl’s Madame Badobedah. We’ve also got a new author with a completely different style in The Corner of my Eye. It’s a strange choice for us, both story and illustration wise but there was something about it that drew me to it.

At least two of these would make absolutely fantastic Christmas presents.

Our October Books

Where’s Wally Double Trouble at the Museum

We are very familiar with Where’s Wally, we have most of the collection and my son has been frantically looking for Wally since he was 2. We’ve also dressed up as Wally and Wanda for Book Week. This series has been a huge hit in our house.

At one stage, I used to keep 4 Where’s Wally books in the back of the car so that the kids could look through them on our countless car trips. It worked really well until my son started getting car sick.

Now this Where’s Wally is very different to the usual ones.

This Where’s Wally is a spot the difference with literally hundreds of differences to spot.

I won’t lie, this isn’t an easy book. It’s definitely suited to kids 6 or 7 and older. I even struggled at the beginning to work out what was going on. But if you love Where’s Wally then this is one you have to add to your collection.

The Corner of My Eye

This is such an unusual book. Very unusual but also very sad and sweet and touching.

I’ve never experience a back inside cover of a book setting the tone of a story like I did with the Corner of My Eye. So much so that I’ve included the following quote from the inside cover so you can get a sense of the book.

“When you get Old Age, you don;t actually forget anything. You’ve collected so much stuff inside your head there’s not enough room for it all, so you throw lots of it away. The trouble is that sometimes you throw the wrong memories away and then it’s too late… Then sometimes, a little thing as small as one word or the smell of something can make you remember another thing that reminds you of something else that brings a whole roomful of memories that you hadn’t thought about in years. And they become wonderful all over again“

Colin Thompson in The Corner of My Eye

Sally’s grandad has lost something. But more than that, he has lost the word for the something he’s lost. He has dementia. And while everyone else in the family thinks “he’s lost it”, Sally knows that everyone loses things when they’re not concentrating on them.

Sally sets about looking for it but she herself gets distracted and so will you as you read this story and marvel at the pictures.

This book is written an illustrated by Australian Colin Thompson in his very distinct style. Many people actually collect his works because of this style and his approach to writing. You’ll see what I mean when you read this.

The Corner of My Eye is definitely the most heart rendering of our October books!

My children won’t understand the deeper underlying meaning of The Corner of My Eye, the themes of Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss and what it’s like to lose your confidence but they will understand the beauty in the relationship between Sally and her grandfather and how she can help him rediscover certain memories.

Madame Badobedah

the suprise hit of our October Books

Remember Sophie Dahl, the model and granddaughter of Roald Dahl, well she became an author, a well regarded author. And now she’s turned her hand to children’s books.

This lovely looking hardcover book is a cross-over between picture books and chapter books. Perfect for children just about to start school.

This style of book has arrived just in time, it is a picture book with chapters… I’m going to use this book as an introduction to chapters for my little girl.

I love the illustrations in this book, they make it the type of book we’ll keep forever and show to the kids when they’ve got little kids of their own.

The Plot

Mabel lives with her parents in The Mermaid Hotel. Mabel likes to keep an eye on the comings and goings of all the guests, like any inquisitive child.

One day a different type of guest arrives to stay, an interesting old lady. Mabel is convince that there is something suspicious about her, with her growly voice and her heavy trunks and her beady-eyed tortoise. It doesn’t help her no one knows her REAL name?

Mabel becomes convinced that this old lady must be a SUPERVILLAIN.

As the story develops so does a friendship between Mabel and this older lady. A fantastic, adventurous friendship where they do all sorts of things together.

Beast Feast

This is the brightest and loudest of our October books! In typical Emma Yarlett’s style, it’s bold and eye catching and extremely engaging. If you’ve never read one of Emma Yarlett’s books your kids are missing out!

Just a note, the concept of the book may be a little scary to kids under 4/5 years of age. This is a story about Beast who wants to eat Dinner. Dinner however happens to be a little boy…

For kids 4/5 and younger, I would suggest trying her other book Dragon Post first, it’s such a cute book!!

The Plot

Beast has found a tasty dinner. He’s written to all his friends to invite them to a feast. Unfortunately, Dinner is a child who very much does not want to be eaten.

Beast’s friends send him their instructions for cooking Dinner. Poor Dinner! You can open and read each of the hilarious letters.

You had better read the book to see if there is a way Dinner can convince Beast not to eat him.

More great books

You should check out some of these others that we have read and reviewed if you like the sound of our October books:

• What to do with an idea, my favourite book find of 2019.
• Thelma the Unicorn, our favourite book of 2018.
• Great australian kids books include Possum Magic and I’m Australian Too