Our latest purchase The Knight who said ‘No!’ written by Lucy Rowland and illustrated by Kate Hindley is a must-have for toddlers and preschoolers. It is about a young boy Ned who lives with his parents in a medieval village and has always been cheerful and willing to help with the chores. In fact, Ned is the only boy in that village; still he is always helpful to his parents, polite to the villagers and obedient when the knights’ instruct everyone to hide from the menacing dragon that swoops into the village at nights.

Everything changes one morning that Ned awakes and finds a new word that tickles his tongue and therefore starts using a lot, No!. He says ‘No!’ to his mother when asked to help at home, ‘No!’ to his father when asked to bring the arrow and bow, ‘No!’ to the butcher, ‘No!’ to the baker… Something strange has occurred and Ned feels hot inside and cross from top to toe. What will happen next time the dragon circles the village as Ned refuses to follow the knights’ instructions and hide inside?

A captivating and entertaining plot with the rhyme making it even more interesting for children. We liked that it is didactic since the author tries to show how anger is just a human emotion that sometimes springs from loneliness so she creates a story that the hero manages to overcome it. The illustrations by Kate Hindley are so detailed that fascinate every reader. We particularly enjoyed the fact that we can have a free audio reading of the book using the QR code it has inside. The publisher, Nosy Crow, offers an interesting preview here: https://issuu.com/nosycrow/docs/knightwhosaidno_issuu