A flu fuelled ramble & the Best of 2025!

Written By Sheila Jarvie

**PSA - If you want to miss the non-book related ramble scroll down and start at the images of books

I have the flu. I’m one week into having the flu and still feel awful.  (By the time I post this I’m a further 2 days in and still feel rubbish!) I have an autoimmune disease so get my flu jag every year. Would hate to think how ill I would’ve been had I not had it! But the whole family has been hit so haven’t really had the opportunity to rest either - at least not the rest I took for granted before children anyway. Sleeping, dozing, drinking enough fluids and watching box sets from the couch. Although I have started re-watching Grey’s Anatomy during snippets of downtime (or while washing the dishes) It’s kind of like comfort food. I watch it on my phone too...hide it away. I don’t want a shared tv experience. I just want to bask in its trash.  I go through phases of watching old shows.   Lockdown had me back to the O.C! The O.C!  Usually it’s the West Wing, Schitt’s Creek…on a scale, this is somewhere between them and the O.C.  Although I do have to watch it with medical dramas. Medical dramas and health anxiety I have found aren’t always good bedfellows…. But, I don’t think I’m going to get trapped in a vat of cement or have my hand on an unexploded bomb inside another human so reckon I’ll be fine.  I read that re-watching old shows is a coping mechanism for managing stress. Which sounds right. Finding me re-watching a 90s/early 00s tv show…or an 80s movie I know the script by heart of…is usually a good indicator of my high stress levels. It’s predictable. You know the plot lines. The characters. There are no surprises. So there’s no heavy cognitive load to worry about. Which is nice. Because Christmas time in a secondary school is as ridiculously busy a time as any other (don’t start me, there’s no downtime. It’s full on frantic until the bell goes to mark the end of term!  You’re never actually finished, they just close the school!) and Christmas time as a working-on-my-perfectionism type human (the not so benign wee side kick of OCD and anxiety) with a 7 and 2 year old is also not always a relaxing, beautiful time.  I love a lot a things about this time of year (reading the Christmas books being one of them!!) but I find many aspects of it stressful and don’t start me on that sad Christmas feeling…

Anyway. You won’t believe I actually came on here to do a bit of a “best of 2025” picture books. Always sidetracked by my rambling brain. I wasn’t sure how to come up with a best of 2025. As with most aspects of my life I feel like a complete fraud, an imposter. I’m not an expert. I’m not qualified. But then I thought well I’ve made it through a year with the bookshop (we turned 1 on the 21st of November! Horray!!) Has it been at all profitable? No. Do I still love it. Very much yes. Does anyone read this blog? Who knows. Do I still hope I can make this business work. Yes. So back from this further ramble…. I decided to let you know what books I bought this year for the shop and then immediately bought myself a copy. Either because I thought one of my kids would love it or because it reminded me of one of my kids or because the artwork made me happy or because I thought the message was important or because - and this is usually when I know I’ll buy a copy - I open them and then keep them out so I can show my husband them.  He reminds me picture books are my happy place and the times he sees me generally less stressed and more “me” is when I’m, unsurprisingly, rambling about picture books. So here are the books I bought my own copy of this year. Moonlight Rainbow Books Best of 2025 (in no particular order!):

The Gnome Book by Dutch author & illustrator Loes Riphagen translated by Michele Hutchison.  When I come across a book I want to have my own copy of, I try to buy it from one of my favourite bookshops.  The Gnome Book was one of them.  It's an essential guide / a search and find / a whimsical world of urban Gnomes narrated by Kick.  The art work is beautiful - combining full page spreads and small vignettes.  This isn't a glimpse into their life, this is Attenborough level insight.  Plus there are laugh out loud scenes - like of one poor gnome in particular, in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting urinated on by a dog.  It has everything. 

Next up is Hello, Bee! by Sharon King-Chai but to be fair it could be any from her Mirror Magic series.  Sun, Bunny, Fish and most recently Santa! (And coming in 2026, Unicorn, Train, T-Rex, Tiger and Pumpkin!)  As soon as I saw it, I loved it.  I was lucky I had a baby the right age as otherwise I would have needed to choose only one to buy for myself!  Read them in the garden, in the armchair, surrounded by fairy lights (looking at you Santa!), or next to a rainy window.  The mirrored pages mean constant visual changes, great for sensory time and tummy time.  The art work is bold and beautiful.  I really love these board books!

Cloud Boy by Gregg Stobbs made me well up.  It reminded me of my little girl. She doesn't have a diagnosis of anything but she is a sensory seeking, extremely easily distracted, head in the clouds wonderful little human with an imagination I wish I had had at art school!  But do I always deal with her in the best way, no.  I don't.  Some days are bloody hard.  I get frustrated.  And in Cloud Boy, I saw not only my wee girl but myself reflected in this tale of Bobby.  Bobby who wants so badly to be able to concentrate and focus but there's just too many amazing things in this world that have him floating into the sky.  The sky - with it's neon pink accents (If you've been here before you know my affinity for neon in a picture book!) - is full of interesting scents and sights and sounds.  Those that love Bobby try and help him come back down, to stay earth bound. They want to help him, but sometimes their methods - while full of good intentions - are not helpful.  Sometimes to help Bobby, the people that love him need to think a bit more like him.  We all could do with thinking a bit more like Bobby sometimes.  

We Are Definitely Human by X Fang is one of those books that I would have bought based on the cover alone.  And I wouldn’t have been disappointed! It's neon, it’s absurd and it’s deadpan.  With an important message about the need for kindness.  For humans to be kind to others.  For humans to be kind to others despite differences.  That helping those who need help, no matter who they are, is what kind humans do.  And the World could be doing with all the kind humans it can get right now!  I think this one will be on the shelf for a long time.  

Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob by Huw Aaron is a firm favourite in our house. My husband loves it too (despite having to always point out that Calpol shouldn’t be used to treat a tickly cough, in neither a demon child or human!)  Narrated in rhyming verse by Mummy Blob, her hulking body is not quite opaque, giving a satisfyingly gelatinous quality to her. It can’t just be me wondering that if you say, bumped into her, would you immediately bounce off with a twang or become partially submerged in the giant green gloop?  Maybe just me in my fluey fever…. So, if you too like your (surprisingly relaxing) bedtime reads to feature Dark Lords and Sentient Meteors rather than your more traditional bedtime story fare, then this will likely be a firm favourite in your house too. 

Our Pebbles by Jarvis. I probably like a good stone a bit more than your average person and I also like pretty much everything Jarvis does so I think I was always going to love Our Pebbles. There’s a beach in Crail we visit and it has some of the best - Roome Bay. Could easily spend an afternoon there - they really are mesmerising. My daughter usually wants to bring several stones home (I’m guilty of that too!). Last time there was a very tearful farewell to one in particular - she was grief stricken that we wouldn’t be bringing “Rocky” in the car and he would in fact have to remain in Crail. (With all his friends and family! He was happy in Crail!) “Rocky” was more of a boulder than a pebble. Anyway. I digress. Again. Our Pebbles is the story of a boy and his Grandpa and their special ritual of painting stones and telling stories at their own pebble beach. But as Grandpa ages, he has to move away from this, their special place. This book celebrates the power of memories, family and love. The illustration is, as you would expect from Jarvis, tender and full of care - from the endpapers to the double page spread displaying all their painted stones, all their memories and love. A gorgeous book. 

Dawn: Watch the World Awaken by Marc Martin is a meditative experience if you allow it, a book to slow down with and just breathe in the beauty. The text is scarce but intentional, with only a word or two on most pages. It’s all dreamy and glowy and luminous. I studied Visual Communication at Art School. I love watching light changing. I love watching the light changing on these pages. This is one of the most beautiful picture books you can savour over and over again. 

If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone by Gideon Sterer  & Illustrated by Emily Hughes has snuck on the list quite late in the year. It is slightly preposterous and silly, but also wise. It is a complete fantasy but also about normal things, like making friends, making connections, listening. It also shows breastfeeding which made me love it even more. The subtle scene where the mum nearly drops the baby out of fright I also loved. And if you don’t read this story while using a banana phone as a prop, you’re missing out! 

A Lost Cause by Felicita Sala. I’ve talked about this one in a previous blog post because it’s another that reminds me of my daughter. The tale of an endearing little piglet who loses everything. EVERYTHING. Even his swimming shorts. While swimming! The gorgeous art work is filled with such (often amusing!) details. I like a book where you notice something new each time you read it. Plus it has that dash of whimsy I like in my picture books. Blurring the lines of reality and fantasy.  A Toy-Story-esque-animism type scenario. I can picture our own lost and found club. All the water bottles we lost that first year of primary for starters… must’ve been at least 10! Anyway, this is a beautiful tail celebrating the scatterbrains we love! 

The Little Ghost Quilt's Winter Surprise by Riel Nason & Byron Eggenschwiler. I’m a fan of the first book, The Little Ghost Who Was A Quilt (2020), so was keen to read this festive addition. The palette is limited, mainly greyscale with pops of red and green. Full disclosure, I generally dislike spot colour photography however here, this works. It’s really, really beautiful. I posted on Instagram a spread that I kept returning to. Of a tree lined path at night leading to a Christmas tree, it’s red lights shining brightly in the distance. The whole book has, for me anyway, both melancholy and joy.  Winter chill and winter cosiness.  Which just sums up Christmas doesn’t it? That split sadness and happiness that seem to come together at this time of year.  The little quilt also reminds the reader of what’s important at Christmas too.  Spending time with your loved ones - if you’re lucky enough to be able to. Sharing experiences with your loved ones. 

Mr Search and Mrs Find by CSIL. Each page is an exquisitely designed, neon (you know my love by now!) challenge. It’s just a cool book. So if you grew up loving Where’s Wally (or your child has!) this is the coffee table worthy relation! 

Porridge Please! by Laura Mucha & Marc Boutavant has a plot twist in it that had me genuinely asking “wait, what?!” And wondered what was going to happen next! Maybe I was particularly tired that day but it’s been a while since I’ve been so surprised by a character arc! This is one of several books illustrated by Marc Boutavant we own too. His bright, witty, mid-century-esque style is a winner. 

Some special mentions of other favourites from this year (there’s more but this can’t be a never ending post!) 

Sheila Jarvie
Next

A Book Gift Guide (possibly part 1…)