THE BOOK FAMILY ROBINSON • New UK Picture Book • Jonathan Emmett

THE BOOK FAMILY ROBINSON • New UK Picture Book

It’s World Book Day today, so it’s fitting that my new picture book, published today, celebrates the brilliance of books!

The Book Family Robinson, illustrated by Sam Caldwell and published by Templar Books, tells the story of a book-loving family – the Robinsons – who get shipwrecked on a tropical island.

Fortunately, the family’s huge book collection gets washed up on the island with them and provides the Robinsons with all the information they need to survive and discover a huge hoard of treasure.

Unfortunately, the treasure belongs to Captain Bloodbucket and her crew of fearsome pirates who are far from happy with the Robinson’s discovery. Can the Robinsons read their way back into the pirate’s good books before they are forced to walk the plank?

The Book Family Robinson takes its name and inspiration from The Swiss Family Robinson, a novel about a Swiss family that get shipwrecked on an island, written by Swiss author Johann David Wyss and first published in 1812.

Illustrator Sam Caldwell has done a terrific job of bringing the Robinson’s book-crammed world to life. His illustrations of the Robinsons and the pirates have heaps of character. One of my favourite spreads is the one shown above, where the family and their book collection is caught up in the terrible storm that wrecks their ship.

Here are some excerpts from a couple of early reviews of the book:

“Bound to be a hit with younger children. The quirky details in every picture are a joy for children to seek out and spot. … This is great fun and highly recommended.”
PICTURE BOOK OF THE MONTH
Tom Tolkien, SCHOOL READING LIST

“Stories – and books of course – really do conquer all in this charming, madcap adventure which puts the pleasure of reading at the top of everybody’s wish list!”
Pam Norfolk, BOOK-MARKED

Here’s a trailer for the book:

You can download activity sheets for the book by clicking on the images below.