Searching For A Roarer by Kate Claxton

We bought this book straight after it’s release from babipur a little while ago and managed to get a signed copy from Kate - Matthew was super happy about that! And from the minute we opened the book together, it’s become such a special book in this house!

Firstly Amber - the illustrations are just beautiful, so colourful, inviting and we love the sort of minimalist yet full pages you have drawn. For example there’s not full background of detail with the house, just a chair or a window, it’s like your reading a dream and only little bits pop up, but by doing that you can focus so much more on what’s actually going on. Like the mum and grandma and the drawings in Maleri’s book. It’s just truly wonderful! It goes without saying the “ Lion/roarer and northern lights are just stunning!

The story Kate has written it’s truly lovely, about a little girl going out to find the “A Roarer” her grandma and mum have been talking about, and she wants to catch it and bring it home for them, while she’s on her adventures she realised that it’s not “A roarer” she is looking for but actually “Aurora- the northern lights” she paints all the magical colours in her sketch book to show them. At the end of the story they all go out together to Catch the Aurora together. It’s so lovely!

It got us talking so much about our trips to Norway to visit family. We were lucky to visit them at the beginning of the year, after not being able to see them in 2 years because of covid. We were very lucky and got to see the northern lights when we were there.

We were chatting with Kate and we are visiting again, just after Christmas, and going to take the book with us. It’s got us talking every night about when we go to visit and how special it’s going to be!

Matthew wanted to try and recreate the “roarer” by using Abel blocks & grapat

*gifted by Babi Pur*

What a gorgeous book!

A story that shows all the magic that can be found and created when children are left to their own devices for their imagination to run wild.

This is such a fun read that my 3, 5, and 7 year old we’re all really enchanted by.

Maleri mishears Aurora in the most adorable way and concocts an exciting adventure for her and her dog. The perfect example of how children can create incredible things when they are allowed to be bored.

The art work is beautiful and the colours of the northern light look spectacular. This led to a really fun hour of looking at videos and learning about the aurora borealis for my boys and I.

It’s not firmly on the bucket list to visit and my boys are adamant they will be able to see lions in the shapes of the lights.

And from a parent’s perspective, it’s a nice reminder that it’s ok to have to leave them to entertain themselves when we have to work, or tackle a to do list. Instead of drowning in mum guilt, it’s great for them to make their own adventures and fun.

I adore this book!!! It’s a huge bucket list item for me to one day go see the northern lights and I’m always showing my son videos and pictures of them. This book was a great read and it was really fun explaining how the words sounded the same to my son who is Deaf. He thought that was really funny. Beautiful pictures and a lovely story. Can’t wait to read again!

My nearly 5 year old grandson loved this book & even the little 2 year old listened all the way through & enjoyed the ‘noises’ pointing things out in the brilliant colourful illustrations. There is just the right amount of suspense, waiting to find out what was causing each noise in the dark, without it being a scary book for little ones.
At the end I had to google pictures of the aurora borealis to show the 5 year old, he was really interested & would like to see it one day.
Beautifully written & illustrated, I’m sure this will quickly become one of their favourite books.

*Gifted by Babipur*

What a beautiful wonderful book!
This linked in perfectly with our family as we would love to see the Northern Lights and my eldest son is studying them for a project in school so this was perfect.

The colours and artwork are absolutely beautiful and my toddler enjoyed finding all the different colours.

We loved the play on words that is the premise of the story in that the character Maleri thinks the lights are a lion when she overhears adults talking, "A roarer" instead of "Aurora" and my children loved this idea.

Also the story felt relatable in that sometimes parents are too busy to stop and look at things but we should all try to slow down as the characters did at the end.

We also liked the fact that the mum had a disability although it wasn't a main point it was just part of the story, as a family with disabilities it's so important that children accept diversity and disability as just part of everyday life.

My older children loved the fact file at the end and we all learned something

All in all a lovely story and one we will return to again and again.