I do love discovering children's books from smaller publishers as often they have a freshness to them that makes them stand out from the crowd, and that seems to be the case with Dog on Stilts. Medium Dog is, well, ordinary. All the other dogs that he encounters seem much more interesting than he is, and that's making him a bit glum. Then, he comes up with a way to stand out from the crowd. Literally! The premise for the Dog on Stilts story is just bonkers - after all, as my four year old pointed out, dog's can't walk on stilts - but it made both my kids laugh like absolute drains when I ... read more
The Diggers – Margaret Wise Brown and Antoine Corbineau
One of Master C's favourite books over the last few months has been Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Or Night Night Moon as he prefers to call it. I therefore sat down with him to read a copy of The Diggers by her with great interest especially since he instantly became very excited by the picture of a digger on the front cover. Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of stories and poems for children and this particular one has been brought alive in this modern version by French illustrator Antoine Corbineau. Dig, dig, dig go various animals and machines as they dig underground to ... read more
Snow Day – Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb
I'm pretty sure that there's not a child out there that doesn't dream of waking up on a winter morning and finding the whole world under a thick blanket of white snow. That's exactly what the children of London found when they woke up on Thursday 5th December though. During the previous night it had snowed and snowed and snowed so hard that in the morning mobile phones buzzed and emails pinged with the news that there was no school today. But in Snow Day it seems that not everyone got the message as two people did turn up for school. Danny and Mr Trapper. Putting aside any practicalities ... read more
On Sudden Hill – Linda Sarah and Benji Davies
When reviewing children's books here on Being Mrs C I've written so many times about the important role I believe books have in helping to explain situations and behaviours to our children. Conversations about difficult subjects can be opened up by reading a related book and with Little Miss C starting school properly this year I've found so many different books helpful in encouraging our chat and play. Being in a class with some of her old pre-school year friends (but not all of them) along with some children who are new to the school means there's actually a fair bit of change in her ... read more
Fiddlesticks! – Sean Taylor & Sally Anne Garland
You can tell that a child likes a book when they insist on sleeping with it by their bed at night, open at the page of their favourite illustration. Just so they can look at it as soon as they wake up the next morning. That's exactly what Little Miss C was like with Fiddlesticks! Mouse loves his little house and is incredibly house proud about it. One day he noticed that one of his windows was a little crooked though. Oh Fiddlesticks! he exclaimed. Unable to fix the problem himself he enlisted his friend bear to help. Bear tried to straighten up the windows, but ended up pulling it clean ... read more
My Amazing Dad – Ross Collins
Father's Day is fast approaching (15th June this year here in the UK) and so it's the perfect time for children to find a book to share with their dad and to help them realise just what makes their Dad so special. My Amazing Dad is exactly that book. Snip the crocodile isn't too sure what his dad does all day. His best friend Max's dad swings through the jungle. Stripe the zebra's Dad is the best at hiding. Trunkle the elephant's dad can spray water higher than the tallest trees. Max, Stripe and Trunkle all want to be like their dads when they grow up. But what about Snip and his dad? Is he ... read more