New children's books for November

The animals were in a funk. The poop was EVERYWHERE. It stuck to paw and claw and trunk, To tail and horn and hair. Dung beetles love to chew on other animals' tasty poo. But when the monkeys make fun of them for having such a stinky lunch, the beetles decide to munch elsewhere. What the monkeys didn't realise is that without the beetles, there's no one to clean up their business. And so, the pile of poo grew and grew and GREW. In this hilarious picture book, Peter Bently imagines what might happen if dung beetles stopped doing their job and shows children that every creature is important to our environment, even those that are small and smelly.

Joe Pidge, king of the neighborhood, and Pluto Rocket, an alien who's new in town, have become fast friends. But on Joe's tour of the neighbourhood (where he shows Pluto the best fire escape and the best garbage can in the world!), it becomes clear that Joe has never actually left his tiny slice of the planet.

Pablo and Splash go to visit Professor O'Brain in her lab, only to find that their friend has been left behind in the Ice Age by her misbehaving time machine. The brave penguin buddies set out on a rescue mission - destination 68,000 years ago! When a Neanderthal man accidentally wanders into their time machine, it's not just the professor who is stuck in the wrong time period. But luckily a scientific breakthrough for Pablo and Splash's endlessly upbeat approach to life's challenges helps save the day!

Blue, Barry, and Pancakes are best friends, but sometimes friends make mistakes. One day, when the gang goes to the beach, Barry and Pancakes lose Blue's beloved beach ball. So they come up with a plan to get it back, but things don't quite go to plan. Now, the three friends will have to go inside a giant whale's stomach, crash a pool party on an alien spaceship, and survive Duckzilla's volcanic birthday bash if they ever hope to see Blue's beach ball again!

Anzu has just moved to a new town during Obon, a time for families to remember and celebrate their ancestors. Ever since her grandmother Obaachan died, though, Obon has lost its magic for Anzu. She doesn't feel like celebrating. Escaping the festivities, Anzu chases after a stray dog. She slips and falls down a ridge - to find herself in the Shinto underworld known as Yomi, a place she's heard about in Obaachan's stories. The stray dog, she finds out, is actually the Gatekeeper of Yomi, and he warns her to return to the human realm before it's too late. Only, getting home is not simple. Faced with the nefarious Queen Izanami and a realm of creatures, Anzu is in a race against the clock. Can she break a curse, free the spirits of other lost children and reach the gate home before sunrise? Or will she be stuck in Yomi for ever?

Hilda and Twig would never let a bit of rain get in the way of an adventure, but it's different when your forest exploration is interrupted by a BIG storm. Sheltering in a mysterious mound in the earth, Twig quickly realises that trouble is afoot, and that his best blue-haired friend is in danger. Unfortunately, he's never really thought of himself as the brave one, but it looks like he's going to have to step up and save Hilda from a whole load of big, scaly trouble! Dive into this magical comic as we follow our lovable pair on a soggy adventure.

Meet the world's deadliest predators in this action-packed atlas! Navigate your way across the continents and discover killer facts, detailed maps and astonishing photos of sharks, crocodiles, snakes, scorpions, spiders, and more - with lift-the-flaps and life-size surprises that reveal all there is to know about our planet's fiercest hunters.

Congratulations! You have been selected to be one of the crew for the first ever human missions to Mars. If your mission is triumphant, you will be the first Earthling to set foot on Mars. But the journey will not be without decisions, danger and distress! It will be up to you to get your crew to Mars safely. Along the way you'll have to navigate the frontiers of space, carry out a challenging landing, decide how you'll explore the red planet, all as you race to uncover whether life on Mars might be possible. Each decision you make will lead you in a different direction, will you complete the mission and prove that Mars could support life? Get ready to blast off on an interactive voyage to Mars.

This spectacular reference book for children aged 7-9 explores the vast universe, beginning with the Big Bang and looking forward to the future of space travel. The Universe covers the planets of the Solar System, comets, nebulae, constellations, types of galaxies, space missions, and much more, showcasing amazing astrophotography that brings each topic to life.

You'll never guess how tiny robots are helping bees, where giant robots are stopping traffic, what kinds of intrepid robots are exploring outer space and how clever robots learn to beat chess champions. Discover all this and lots more things to know about what robots can do, how they are designed and programmed and the part they will play in our future.