Make Mine an Indie: Nosy Crow

Welcome back to Make Mine an Indie. Each week I feature a different independent publisher in preparation for 2016 being my year of buying independent. I thought it was about time I got around to featuring a children's publisher and where better to start than with Nosy Crow?

Founded in 2011 Nosy Crow are now the 16th biggest publisher of children's books in the UK. Quite an achievement really. They aim to publish books and apps that get children to read for pleasure, and "don't want reading to be the most boring thing children can do on a touchscreen" which is admirable sentiment! If you haven't seen their books you really should check them out. They work hard on the look of their books, focusing on the type and weight of paper they use as well as covers and it shows. 

As many of you may know, reading to my children is one of the highlights of my life. Benji recently told me that bedtime stories are his favourite part of the day and it made my heart hurt in the best way. I am an absolute sucker for beautiful picture books and have been adding to their wishlist furiously all this year, as I've banned myself from buying books for them as well as for myself (besides the occasional present obviously). I don't think this week will help me to control the number of books going onto that list, but what can you do? If people will keep publishing brilliant books I'm going to have to keep buying them!

With that in mind, here are a few that will definitely go straight there!

A Lullaby for Little One by Dawn Casey & Charles Fudge 
From the Nosy Crow Website :

At the end of a lovely day full of laughter and fun, there’s time for just one last game for little Bunny and Big Daddy Rabbit. All their woodland friends join in, too – woo-hoo! – but when little Bunny gets tired of all the hullaballoo, Big Daddy Rabbit knows that a special lullaby for little one is exactly what’s needed.




I am a big fan of books that calm down and end up with bedtime. I really find they help the whole sleeping process in our house and this sounds really cute. 

Toot Goes to Dinosaurland by Catherine and Laurence Anholt
From the Nosy Crow Website:


Toot’s little car has a most unusual feature – it has a magical sat nav system! So, when Toot presses the special button, off he zooms on an adventure with his trusty toy puppy for company. But where will he go first? To Dinosaurland, of course! He meets dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes but, watch out Toot, there are some VERY big dinosaurs about!

We have some other Catherine and Laurence Anholt books and the boys adore the colourful illustrations and engrossing stories so I have high hopes for this one! Also Ben loves dinosaurs at the moment so there's that. 

The Last Book Before Bedtime by Nicola O'Byrne
From the Nosy Crow Website:

Everyone knows that the very last story before bed is best of all. But the problem is, EVERYONE wants to be in that very last story!

 A familiar fairy tale is turned topsy-turvy when Cinderella hijacks the story of The Three Little Pigs, insisting that romantic princess stories are best. Then Little Red Riding Hood jumps in, adamant that her story is better because it’s full of DANGER. But disaster strikes when all the arguing tears a page in the book. Uh-oh! What will they do? The characters make up their own story, of course, and one with enough funniness, romance, danger AND CAKE (obviously) to keep everyone happy.

I don't think I need to say anything else about this. Fairytales and cake? I'm in. 

Snow Bunny's Christmas Gift by Rebecca Harry

From the Nosy Crow Website:

From the creator of the highly-acclaimed Snow Bunny’s Christmas Wish, comes this brand new tale about the little bunny with the big heart, and the true gift of friendship. Little Snow Bunny loves nothing better than playing with her friends in the wintry forest. Every day holds the promise of adventure for Snow Bunny, Fox, Bear and Mouse. But one particularly cold day, no-one wants to play and Snow Bunny is left all alone. Whatever will she do? With a little luck and a lot of imagination, she makes cosy winter gifts for all her friends, just in time for Christmas Eve.

Christmas and using your imagination to make your own Christmas gifts? This is like me in a book!

As usual I could have gone on forever, and I didn't even get to their awesome looking apps yet! Find them on their website, twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

Catch up with the rest of the Make Mine an Indie series here and check back next week for more indie awesomeness!