About the Author

Colette Hiller is a writer, arts producer and mother of twins. Her arts projects have reached hundreds of thousands of participants - she is the woman who put pianos and ping-pong tables in countless locations across the UK, and is also the mind behind the hit Talking Statues project. Her children's rhymes have been featured on BBC Words and Pictures and her children's LP, Applehead, has been a hit with kids across the world, selling over 50,000 copies. An advocate of early learning, Colette believes that even very young children are receptive to the joy of wordplay. She taught her own twins to read by the time they were three.

Tor Freeman is a London-based illustrator. In 2012 she was awarded the Sendak Fellowship. In 2017 she won the Guardian Graphic Short Story Prize. Her books include the Digby Dog and Olive series.

Reviews

'This collection of 60 poems to help three to seven-year-olds learn to read and spell is a hoot. [...] Each poem teaches a specific lesson, whether it's mastering letter sounds or explaining that words like "write" and "right" sound the same but are spelled differently.' -- The Independent
'The B on your thumb is clever, engaging, educational and fun. I wish I had thought of it. I can't wait to read it to my daughter.' -- Craig Smith * Author/Songwriter of The Wonky Donkey *
'I remember the misery I had as a child trying to pronounce and spell words. I wish this book had been around back then, it would have saved me and the teachers a lot of grief. The illustrations are fun, every page is as colourful as a jar of smarties and every rhyme is accessible. Also, its usefulness as an educational tool can't be underestimated.' -- Brian Patten * Poet and author *
'A charming, gentle way to get children thinking about and playing with spellings, language and words. Proof that spelling can be a whole lot of fun.' -- Jospeh Coelho * Poet and author *
'What a wonderful book! I can think of no better way to introduce children to the delights and idiosyncrasies of the English language, helping them learn to read and spell. I'm sure these joyful rhymes are destined to become beloved by teachers, parents, and most importantly, children.' -- James Clements * Education writer *
'A lovely, loony look at language!' -- Michelle Robinson * Children's Author *
'With a range of material that spans the entirety of the primary school age range, this is a book to inspire an interest in, and love for, the English language but could also simply be a shared, joyful, bedtime reading experience.' -- BookTrust
'The B on your thumb is an absolute masterpiece. [...] it introduces children to the fun nature of poems and because of how amazingly funny they are, it undoubtedly will instill a love of reading in all children.' -- Reading Zone
'A charming, gentle play with words with delicious illustrations. This book lets go all the rules with phonetics and order and how things are and instead focuses on the bliss of rhyme, the inherent fun of language and that there is always fun to be made of words and sounds. Hurrah for this book, every child who is learning to read should have it to hand.' -- Angels & Urchins
'This is a magical combination of spelling, sounds and poetry.' -- Irish Examiner
'A collection of short, jaunting rhymes that cleverly explore how letters come together.' -- The Daily Telegraph
A clever, useful book. * The School Librarian *
'this book is a must for every young family's bookshelf' -- SLOAN! Magazine