After being sent a review copy of Jack and Boo's Snowy Day I joked with author Philip Bell on twitter that he now needed to send me some snow. Damn it, he's good as this is the scene we woke up to yesterday morning! Having read the book with Little Miss C just a couple of days before it meant that she was super excited about the unexpected snow and instantly wanted to go out into the garden and explore and that's exactly what this book is all about. Written by Isle of Wight resident Philip Bell, and illustrated by his wife Eleanor, Jack and Boo's adventures in the snow were inspired by a ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learning with Mother, Book 2
As part of this week's Ladybird Tuesday I want to share with you Learning with Mother, Book 2. This book is part of series 702 which appears to have been known as the "Under 5s" series. There were 5 titles in the Learning with Mother series, all written by Ethel Wingfield between 1970 and 1972, and illustrated by Ethel's husband Harry who was one of Ladybird's most popular artists. The Under Five series is "intended to help those parents who wish to make sure that their children have every opportunity to develop fully" and this book contain a series of simple ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Things to Make
It seems that the kick off of Ladybird Tuesday appealed to quite a few of you last week and I'm delighted that Lemon Layer Cake and Mrs Fox are also hoping to join in - check out LLC's post on Florence Nightingale from last week. This week's book is probably one of the most well known of the old Ladybird titles - The Ladybird Book of Things to Make. The cover of this has been reproduced on notebooks, mugs and even as a gift activity tin in the past few years. The orginal book was first published in 1963 and was the first title in ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: ‘People At Work’ In a Hotel
This post on People at Work In A Hotel has now moved to Penny Reads and can be read here. ... read more
Enid Blyton – the passage of time
As a child I LOVED Enid Blyton. I can remember my mum ordering me my first book (First Term at Malory Towers) from the school bookworm newsletter catalogue thing (at least I think that's what it was called) and as soon as I started reading about Darrell Rivers' adventures at boarding school I was hooked. I regret not keeping all my old books and since I was pregnant with Little Miss C I have been looking out in charity shops for her books, especially versions that I remember from childhood. It's amazing when you realise that in the 40 years that she was writing she managed to ... read more
Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever
I'm very quickly learning that with a newborn and a toddler in the house having a pile of books available so that all three of us can cuddle up on the sofa together at feeding time is a good thing. It's lucky therefore that Little Miss C and I have a backlog of books to review together at the moment. We've read quite a few Richard Scarry books together, but as soon as I saw a description of Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever I knew that we just had to review it. Little Miss C is really into numbers at the moment and is getting quite good at counting things and we try to encourage ... read more
New books
With baby's arrival a bit delay I've already managed to keep my promise to myself that I made last week and squeezed in a quick trip to the local bookshop and picked up a bit of reading material which is now helping me through the early morning pregnancy insomnia: The Little Village School by Gervase Phinn and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. I've read plenty of Gervase Phinn before, but this is the first of his novels that I've tried. When it comes to Jeanette Winterson I have of course heard of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit but ... read more
The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman
One guilty pleasure that I had in my days before children was wandering into a bookshop, browsing the tables of new releases that they all have just inside the door and then coming home with a selection of books that I didn't need, but that had inspired me to read them based purely on the back covers and any review comments that the bookshop themselves had displayed. With a toddler in tow that just doesn't happen any more - picking up what you need in a supermarket is hard enough, let alone being able to browse and daydream about the stories and characters that these books may ... read more
Jack’s Mega Machines: The Rocket Racing Car – Alison Ritchie & Mike Byrne
We love books in this household, absolutely adore them, and our bookcases are heaving as a result. As good as they all are they therefore have to be pretty special to stand out from all the rest around them especially when you're reading them through for the first time. That's where Jack's Mega Machines: The Rocket Racing Car has a fantastic unique selling point that instantly makes it stand out from all the other books on Little Miss C's bookcase - inside the back cover is this cardboard vehicle - exactly the same as the racing car in the story. When we put this together for LMC ... read more
Dear Zoo – 30th Anniversary
If you read any parenting blogs, or follow any bloggers on twitter, then you can't have missed all the recent celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Rod Campbell's excellent book Dear Zoo. Publishers Macmillan have hosted tea parties with author Rod Campbell, complete with interactive storytelling sessions and I was pretty gutted not to be able to attend - I figured that a trip into London when only two weeks off giving birth, and with a toddler in tow, might not be sensible! Dear Zoo is a fantastic book for sharing with a young child and the simple storyline behind it means that it really ... read more