Shortlisted for the CLIPPA 2025
Cover
Paperback
Size
275 x 240mm
Length
32 pages
Pub Date
Apr 9, 2026
ISBN
9781915659965
Age 2+
Big Red Dragon
Play-Rhymes Through the Year
By Jane Newberry
Illustrated by Carolina Rabei
Find hamsters and dogs, robins and unicorns, little cars and big diggers. Stomp like a dinosaur or fly like a big red dragon in this brilliant collection of 15 action rhymes for young children and babies
Rhymes celebrate festivals and special events, such as Easter, Halloween, Diwali, Christmas and Chinese New Year. With clear instructions to parents and carers, there are fun activities and lots of joining in for every rhyme, for babies, toddlers and older children too.
This book is a perfect companion to Jane Newberry’s very popular first collection, Big Green Crocodile, which was shortlisted for the CLiPPA award. At home, playgroup or nursery, the rhymes provide fun while also nurturing children’s responses to language, rhyme and images.
£9.99
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"Stomp like a dinosaur or fly like a big red dragon with this collection of poems for the very young that moves through the year, exploring festivals such as Christmas, Halloween, Diwali and Chinese New Year."
The Bookseller
"It promotes language development through interactive poems, beautiful bright illustrations and clear instructions for parents and carers... It is highly recommended for nursery and EYFS libraries and for reading at home to very young children."
School Reading List
"You would hope that every parent, every childminder and everyone who works in an early years setting would already have a vocabulary of rhymes and songs but, sadly, they don’t – our society seems to have dropped the ball on that one. Thank heavens then for Jane Newberry, a veteran teacher of nursery and early years, who has the energy and skill to fill the gap."
Just Imagine
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Jane Newberry
Author
Jane Newberry’s unique insight into very small children began as a puppeteer at children’s parties, where she discovered what makes them laugh. For over 25 years Jane taught Early Years Music to various groups. She wrote and illustrated three song books, A Sackful of Songs, A Sackful of Christmas and Hey, What’s in the Sack? before moving on to gather the many play-rhymes used in groups over the years. Jane lives in Cornwall.
Carolina Rabei
Illustrator
Carolina Rabei comes from Moldova and gained a distinction in illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Her style is a unique mix of traditional and digital techniques. She is also the illustrator of the forthcoming Tickle Beetle collection of play-rhymes for Otter-Barry Books. Carolina lives in Cambridge.
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