SCREEN TIME

THE DAY THE JUNGLE-NET BROKE (Marleen Lammers, Ian Smith)

The Day The Jungle-Net Broke (New Frontier, 2025) is a light, funny story that gently nudges children towards healthier screen time habits. At first when the jungle-net breaks, Miles the Monkey panics. His world revolves around his i-tree and his app, including his banana deliveries. Without his i-tree, how will he tree-time his family? Miles discovers there's more to life than he realised.

The strength of the story is how the lesson unfolds in action, rather than as a heavy moral. The tone is playful and accessible. There’s lots of colour and humour in the visuals to keep children engaged. But the message is clear - whilst screens are fun, they’re not everything.

A useful book for children who may resist screen limits.

THERE’S A TIGER ON THE TRAIN (Mariesa Dulak, Rebecca Cobb)

You'll never guess what happened
On our trip down to the sea . . .
A tiger in a top hat
Came and sat right next to me!

There’s a Tiger on The Train (Faber, 2024) features a boy and his dad aboard a train to the seaside. But Dad is stuck to his phone and misses a whole menagerie of noisy, colourful, playful passengers! It’s an extraordinary journey with a family of hippos, a band of crocs, a mum with piglets in tow, pugs and more.

This energetic, vibrant story is bursting with fun characters, with a dynamic rhythm to match. The journey ends with a satisfying but surprising twist, in which the tiger helps Dad to pay attention to what is right in front of his nose. A delightful rhyming tale with a subtle nod to phubbing - choosing a device over a loved one