Interest age: 4-9
Reading age: 6+

The Seal Children

Author: Jackie Morris

Publisher: Otter-Barry Books

When the beautiful-voiced Ewan sings as he fishes, he draws the attention of a selkie - half woman, half seal - who falls in love with him and comes ashore to his coastal Welsh village to be his wife. Years later, however, after their children Ffion and Morlo are born, it becomes time for the selkie-mother to go back to the sea.

However, when the villagers need money to move away to the New World, Ffion and Morlo call their mother back; she breathes the salt breath of the sea into Morlo's mouth and takes him down beneath the waves to find all the sea treasure the villagers will ever need.

A tender and mythical exploration of the selkie myth in a family context, with a gentle and evocative use of watercolour, this breathtakingly beautiful book is one to treasure.

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The Ice Bear

Author: Jackie Morris

In icy northern lands, a great white bear gives birth to tiny cubs. But raven the trickster steals one cub away, dropping the creamy bundle of fur in a hunter’s path.