Exisle Publishing

When Sam gets his first pair of glasses, he feels like no one knows who he is anymore. His parents say he looks handsome in them and his grandpa thinks he must be a superhero, but Sam just wants to be himself. Even at school, everyone except his best friend George seems to have forgotten who he is. How will Sam make the world see him again?

Follow Sam as he tries to remind people who he is, abandons his glasses at every chance he gets, and even faces giant penguins and googly-eyed turtles in his journey back to his old self. Young readers will delight in the vibrant illustrations and Sam’s imaginative antics, from building pirate ships with George to fending off sharks as captain on the high seas. And the more he returns to his adventurous ways, and rediscovers his confidence and sense of humour, the more people see him not as some anonymous handsome superhero, but as Sam.

The Boy in the Big Blue Glasses is an action-packed story about overcoming your fears of other people’s perceptions and not shying away from being yourself. Any children dealing with new glasses or other changes in their appearance will find inspiration in Sam’s bravery. After all, how big or blue your glasses are doesn’t make any difference when you’re captain of a pirate ship!

Find out what happens when you learn to let down your guard, be yourself, and open up to friendship in this encouraging tale about a boy and a school full of ogres and dragons.

It's Edward's first day of knight school and he's scared of what's to come. He puts on his armor and prepares for battle. After all, it's sure to be terrifying with all those creatures about. Sure enough, he spends all day surrounded by scary ogres and fearsome dragons. Then, one of them offers him some of her lunch!

With this gesture of friendship, Edward is inspired to take a chance and remove his armor. He soon realizes that maybe things aren't as bad as they first seemed and in fact, his armor was holding him back. As he learns to let his guard down, magic and fun await and Edward finds that the dragons and ogres he feared are actually just like him.

The Battle is a story that every child can relate to and teaches kids that perception and attitude are vitally important. If we let down our guard, put our fears aside, and allow ourselves to live in the moment, magic just might happen. Now available in paperback, this is the perfect companion for any child worried about starting school.

When Sam gets his first pair of glasses, he feels like no one knows who he is anymore. His parents say he looks handsome in them and his grandpa thinks he must be a superhero, but Sam just wants to be himself. Even at school, everyone except his best friend George seems to have forgotten who he is. How will Sam make the world see him again?

Follow Sam as he tries to remind people who he is, abandons his glasses at every chance he gets, and even faces giant penguins and googly-eyed turtles in his journey back to his old self. Young readers will delight in the vibrant illustrations and Sam’s imaginative antics, from building pirate ships with George to fending off sharks as captain on the high seas. And the more he returns to his adventurous ways, and rediscovers his confidence and sense of humour, the more people see him not as some anonymous handsome superhero, but as Sam.

The Boy in the Big Blue Glasses is an action-packed story about overcoming your fears of other people’s perceptions and not shying away from being yourself. Any children dealing with new glasses or other changes in their appearance will find inspiration in Sam’s bravery. After all, how big or blue your glasses are doesn’t make any difference when you’re captain of a pirate ship!

For some kids, school is a place full of friends and fun. For others, though, it is a lonely place where bullies pick on them and it feels impossible to be brave. Meet Scott, Buttons and Duncan, otherwise known as A Boy, his Bear and a Bully.

A Boy, his Bear and a Bully addresses the global issue of bullying in a hopeful, gentle way that will resonate with children who have been on either side of a bullying incident. Seeing Scott learn to stand up for himself will help children who feel afraid of bullies face them in a constructive way. Scott’s bravery also inspires his friend Rosie to report Duncan’s bad behaviour to a teacher, giving children a positive model of assertive behaviour.

Scott’s situation is extremely common across the world. His story provides children with clear guidance on what to do if they are also being bullied, and on the role friends should play in such a scenario. It is a sensitive, inspiring conversation starter for children, carers, professionals, and anyone who wishes they could be brave.

The fourth book in the popular ‘Lessons of a LAC’ series, Grey-glasses-itis helps children to understand the link between how they see things and how they feel.

Loppy notices that he feels differently when he looks at the world around him through different-coloured glasses. When he’s using green glasses, he feels relaxed. When he’s using yellow glasses, he feels cheerful. But when he’s using grey glasses, he just feels sad. As his friend Curly explains, he has a case of ‘grey-glasses-itis’! Curly shows Loppy that to feel better he can change the colour of the glasses he’s seeing things through.

This is a simple but effective way to explain to children how thoughts, perceptions and feelings influence each other. They will grow up knowing that when they are feeling sad, worried or angry, it might be because they have a case of ‘grey-glasses-itis’. They’ll also know that with a shift in perception they can have some influence over their feelings, thereby helping to build their emotional resilience.

This is My Dad celebrates families of all shapes and sizes in a heartfelt, beautifully illustrated story that parents and carers will love sharing with their children.

Most of the time, Leo loves Show and Tell at school. But when his teacher announces that next up is Tell Us About Your Dad Day, his tummy ties into knots and he tries to disappear into the corner of the classroom. His classmates can't wait but all Leo can think is & how can I celebrate someone I've never met?'

Leo is an only child living with his mother, and has never known a father figure. His mother is his hero: as a children's author, she spends most of her time battling monsters and creating awesome new worlds! When Tell Us About Your Dad Day comes around, Leo worries that he won't have anything to present to his class. After fruitlessly searching high and low for clues about his father, he realises that he already knows someone cool, courageous and clever – someone who's not his dad, but is his everything.

This is My Dad  is a timely, important and heart-warming look at modern family dynamics. It highlights that families come in all shapes and sizes, and they are all worthy of celebration. With one in four children in the UK living with a single parent, and 90% of those parents being a woman, Leo's family situation will resonate with millions of children, and will provide a valuable insight for millions more.

This delightful picture book explores how even the fussiest eaters can be tempted to try new flavors. And, if you’re anything like Mike, you might find you develop quite a taste for international cuisine along the way! I Don’t Like Cheese was written by Hannah Chandler when she was just 11 years old, after her principal challenged her to write a book. She has big plans for Mike the mouse, so look out for even more adventures to come!

When your grandmother can't remember your name it should be sad, but maybe it is just an opportunity to tell her more often how much you love her.

Grandma Forgets is the heart-warming story of a family bound by love as they cope with their grandma's dementia. Over the years, the little girl has built up a treasure trove of memories of time spent with Grandma: sausages for Sunday lunch, driving in her sky-blue car to the beach, climbing her apple trees while she baked a delicious apple pie, and her comforting hugs during wild storms. But now, Grandma can't remember those memories. That's alright though, because she has her family to help her.

Depicted with gentle, whimsical illustrations, the little girl and her Grandma continue to share a loving relationship despite Grandma's dementia. They play the games they used to play, although Grandma sometimes forgets the rules, or makes up new games like hiding Dad's keys! Sometimes Dad is sad because he has to hold onto the memories for both him and Grandma now, but his daughter is only too happy to help him make new memories to share.

This is a warm, hopeful story about a family who sometimes needs to remind their grandmother a little more often than they used to about how much they care. She might not remember any of their names but she will always know how much she is loved, because they make sure to tell her every time they see her.

Even the most reluctant risers will find the fun in the morning routine with this lively role-reversal story about a mama who just doesn't want to get ready!

Getting Mama ready for the day can be a challenge you'd better watch out that she doesn't sneak back into bed, try to distract you with cuddles, get breakfast all over her top, or wait, is Mama watching TV?! Learn how to get Mama up and ready despite her mischievous delaying tactics with this essential guide to dealing with morning mayhem!

With gorgeous illustrations and playful writing, Get Ready, Mama! is the perfect way to introduce some fun into the morning routine. Little ones will delight in the cheeky role-reversal that sees a young girl doing everything she can to get her reluctant mother out of the house, while parents and carers will gain a strategy for motivating reluctant risers.

Getting ready in the morning is a mission for many families with young children, but this inventive, tongue-in-cheek story provides a fun way of speeding things along. Full of heart and humour, Get Ready, Mama! is for anyone who has heard enough of “5 more minutes”.

Bringing the mystery of metamorphosis to life, Grub is sure to delight insect-loving young readers with its realistic illustrations, gentle humour, and surprise ending.

On the floor of the rainforest, far below the tree canopy, a small grub has a big question. Sensing that his body is about to change, he wonders what he will become, so he turns to his friends for answers. The ladybird, the cicada, the dragonfly and the monarch butterfly all describe what they looked like before they changed – and none looked like the grub. Eventually, the grub begins to change – and his transformation is spectacular!

 With realistic illustrations, vivid detail and gentle humour, Grub brings the habitat and life cycle of the Hercules beetle, and other insects that undergo metamorphosis, to life. The final reveal is sure to send young readers on a journey of discovery to learn more about the amazing Hercules beetle – one of the world’s largest – with its giant pincers.

Birdie the penguin believes she is the chosen one who lights up the world every night with her song. Her zoo friends believe this too.

In this sensitively illustrated story, featuring a cast of zoo animals, Birdie the penguin has a special role to play. Until one day she gets sick and discovers that perhaps her role was not as important as she thought. She and her friends discover that the world can light itself up at night without Birdies song. Birdie begins to question what her purpose is. She tries to learn the jobs the other animals do, without success. She feels lost and confused — until her zoo friends help her realize her true purpose. The author has said that she wanted to deliver the message that we all have special, unique gifts and its our responsibility to share them with the world. If we have a song to sing, we should sing it, whether it fills a stadium or only brings joy to one person it all counts.

Parents, grandparents, librarians and teachers will all want to gift or recommend this book. Its for everyone, but especially for any child who has been told they are good at something and then feels the weight of responsibility to take lessons and compete, and to be the best. Birdie Lights Up the World will inspire them to do the things they love for the pure joy of it.

Despite being oceans apart,Tug and Ship are connected by strong bonds in Anchored, a tale of love and connection told through the relationship of a tugboat and a cargo ship.

Debra Tidball was inspired to write Anchored by the watercraft she observed on harbourvside walks, especially the tugboats that send huge ships out into the open ocean and welcome them back again after long, sometimes perilous journeys. ‘As a parent, it made me think about the sustaining power of love — how holding someone in your heart can make you more courageous, and make the world seem like a better, brighter place despite not being together.’

With her social work background and Masters Qualification in Children’s Literature, Debra understands the vital role attachment plays in child development. In a world where many parents are separated from their children for periods of time due to work and/or living arrangements, a sense of attachment can feel stretched. Anchored is a reassuring book reminding children that their attachment with their parents/caregivers can sustain time apart: they are firmly anchored in each other’s hearts.

Anchored honors the intrinsic value and worth of a child and the sustaining power of love. It’s an empowering story that will give children a sense of pride and strength to get through the ‘missing you’ days.

Ruby buys a pen that gives her the power to fix all of her problems, only to discover that power comes with its own problems.

Ruby and the Pen is the story of a 12-year-old, cartoon-drawing girl who buys a pen from a mysterious market stall. The pen has a magical power: whatever she draws, happens! Initially the pen protects Ruby from the meanest girls at her new school, but over time the pen’s power becomes dangerous. Soon Ruby faces a difficult choice — the pen or her best friend.

As Ruby struggles to wean herself off the pen, she’s faced with problems galore. Can she foil her headmaster’s evil plan, and save an endangered species of bird in the process, relying on her own talents and working as a team with her friends? Or will she succumb to the pen’s power?

Featuring hilarious illustrations, and with messages about bullying, teamwork and the environment, this is fast-paced, entertaining middle grade fiction that will resonate with kids everywhere. After all, who wouldn’t want to fix all of their problems with the stroke of a pen!

Warring brothers Max and Liam find themselves trapped in a time-travel game. Can they survive the dangers and solve the riddles without killing each other? 

Gaming-obsessed Max and his infuriating younger brother, Liam, are forced to work together when a new game on Miss McBoob’s mobile phone sucks them into a time-travelling vortex. The ‘Glitched’ app transports the brothers to earlier versions of their home town where they find themselves in the Stone Age, in Roman times, in the Middle Ages and in the age of the dinosaurs. To return to their own time they must solve riddles while dodging woolly mammoths, jousting knights and all manner of bodily fluids, both human and animal! 

Author and illustrator Emily Snape’s sons were both reluctant readers, which made her want to write books they could not resist reading! Reading should be a pleasure and it was Emily’s aim to write books that pull you in and hook you from the start. ‘Hopefully, then you can’t help being moved by the characters as they grow and develop. I love comedy in books, but funny books also have to have heart, believable characters, and a great plot that keeps you reading till the very end.’

With a clever mix of realism and fantasy and packed with historically accurate settings, crazy scenarios and gross facts, Game On: Glitched is perfect for reluctant readers, particularly boys. 

A sensitive, beautifully illustrated book that uses backyard chickens to give a closely observed child’s-eye view of early-onset dementia.

Mama didn’t want chickens, but she grows to love them as her dementia symptoms increase. Her young children see that she doesn’t always act like her old self anymore this upsets both them and the chickens, but Mama always finds ways to show them just how much they are wanted and loved.

Children will relate to the endearing personalities of the chickens, while the award-winning author draws on her own experience to create an entirely age-appropriate story about the impact of early-onset dementia. The result is a supportive, much-needed book about a reality that many families face.

Dementia doesn’t only affect the elderly. Like the parent in the story, people with early-onset dementia may have memory loss, difficulty thinking, trouble recognising people or confusion, or begin acting unlike themselves. Michelle Worthington has had personal experience of all of these symptoms since her diagnosis with Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia (a form of dementia), and hopes her book will help children understand what dementia can look like when their care-giver suffers from it.

Her wish is that the book will initiate open and honest communication and help parents all around the world recognise the symptoms while providing love and support for their children.

Xander buys a pen that gives him the power to improve his familys fortunes, only to discover that power comes with its own problems.

Xander and the Pen is the story of a boy who loves to draw superheroes, and the pen he buys from a mysterious market stall. He soon learns that the pen has a magical power: whatever he draws, happens! At first the pen helps Xander improve his familys fortunes, but there are many unintended consequences and soon everybody is angry at him.

Xander sees that the power of the pen has changed him into somebody his sister and his friends despise. But how else to deal with the bullying Bruise Brothers and solve the mystery of the poisoned llamas? Can Xander win back the respect of his sister and friends without using the pen? Or will he succumb to the temptation of an easy fix?

Featuring hilarious illustrations, and with messages about bullying, family dynamics, disability and the environment, this is fast-paced, entertaining middle grade fiction that will resonate with kids everywhere. After all, who wouldnt want to fix all their problems with the stroke of a pen!

This funny, engaging eco story invites young readers to follow the adventures of Harriet’s ravenous compost worms as they munch their way through their wide and wonderful weekly menu.

Harriet’s nine-hundred-and-eighty-three hungry worms live in a shady corner of her backyard in a big, green box. They spend their days munching on anything from Aunt Tilda’s herbal teabags to the sports pages of Uncle Sam’s paper. Harriet watches and waits, eventually deciding the worms are ‘so BORING.’ Until one day, the worms leave Harriet a big surprise … worm wee!

Packed with worm facts, Harriet’s Hungry Worms is the ideal companion for worm warriors and curious composters keen to roll their sleeves up and put their kitchen food scraps to good use.

Continuing the sustainability message, inventive illustrations incorporating recycled materials bloom from each page, breathing beautiful life into this fun-filled story.

Gaming-obsessed Max and his infuriating younger brother, Liam, are forced to work together to survive epic adventures on a miniscule scale. When rebellious Liam starts playing Shrinkle on his babysitter's phone, he has no idea what hes letting himself in for. The app shrinks the brothers to the size of a minifigure! Their safe home has suddenly become a treacherous landscape. Can they scale sofa mountain, escape Miss McBoob's snoring mouth and outsmart the now-enormous pet cat? And will they stay tiny forever?

Author and illustrator Emily Snapes sons were both reluctant readers, which made her want to write books that they wouldnt be able to resist reading! Reading should be a pleasure and it was Emilys aim to write books that pull you in and hook you from the start. Hopefully, then you cant help being moved by the characters as they grow and develop. I love comedy in books, but funny books also have to have heart, believable characters, and a great plot that keeps you reading till the very end. With a clever mix of realism and fantasy and packed with exciting gaming strategies, crazy scenarios and gross facts, Game On: Shrinkle is perfect for reluctant readers, particularly boys.

A fun, engaging story, perfect for children learning how to do something for the first time.

Easy Peasy follows Ruby, who has just received her first pair of roller skates as a present from her dad. She’s convinced it will be easy peasy to learn how to roller skate and dismisses her dad when he offers to help her. But after a few tumbles, Ruby realises it isn’t as easy as she thinks and she might need her dad’s help after all.

Author Ky Garvey was initially inspired by her son, who as a little boy loved his skateboard so much that he took it to bed with him every night like a teddy bear. But as she began to write, she remembered the joy of roller skating with her dad at the local rink every Saturday morning. As Ky puts it, ‘It was treasured time together and I wanted to reflect that relationship in my book.’

Easy Peasy will delight skating-mad girls and patient parents while providing a lesson in independence and perseverance. And the hilarious, relatable illustrations by Amy Calautti add an extra dash of shiny, sparkly fun!

Novas Missing Masterpiece uses a girls bond with her dog to address the themes of anger, self-regulation, problem solving, resilience and persistence.

When Nova realizes the artwork that she created for her dads birthday present is missing her tummy flip flops and her heart ker-thumps. She and her dog, Harley turn the house upside down but the missing masterpiece is nowhere to be found. Inevitably, Nova loses her temper. But Harley remains calm. Together, they continue searching for the missing masterpiece and eventually Nova starts to pay attention to Harley and his calming strategies. Just when it seems the artwork will never be found Nova tries one last strategy, which leads her directly to her missing masterpiece!

Learning to self-regulate, persist, problem solve, and be resilient are essential skills that need to be taught and modelled to children to support their social and emotional growth. Novas Missing Masterpiece gives children useful coping strategies to deal with anger and frustration, making the book an invaluable tool for parents, educators, health professionals and counsellors.

With vibrant, well-observed illustrations, this is the perfect story to show children how anger and frustration affect their brains and bodies, and how simple techniques can help them self-regulate and reset.