I've held off writing a review of A Royal Fairytale for several weeks now as it just seemed a bit wrong to write about this before the royal baby had safely arrived. A Royal Fairytale is quite simply the story of Kate and William. A modern fairytale telling of how they met at university, how they fell in love, married and had a baby. The love story of a Prince and Princess and to Little Miss C that's exactly what the book was at first. To then go on and explain to her that the Prince and Princess were real did blow her mind slightly as to her stories are stories, not things ... read more
The Storm Whale – Benji Davies
If you're of a sensitive disposition I'd definitely recommend grabbing some tissues before you read The Storm Whale for the first time. Whilst this is a lovely little story, it's also rather sad. Noi lives in a small cottage by the sea, with his dad and six cats. His father is a fisherman and leaves the house early every morning and comes home after dark. Poor Noi is lonely. One morning after a great storm Noi heads down to the beach to see if anything interesting has been washed up. As he walks along the beach he spots something in the distance. When he gets ... read more
How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth – Michelle Robinson & Kate Hindley
Well, How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth has certainly raised some questions in our house! "Mummy, what's a woolly mammoth?" "Mummy, can we see a woolly mammoth at the zoo please?" "Why do we need to wash it mummy?" "How did it get dirty mummy?" They always say books are good for discussion and this one is no different. This book is basically exactly what the titles suggests - a step by step guide as to how to wash a wooly mammoth. I was left wondering why you'd want to wash one, but sometimes with children's books you just ... read more
The Little Lowry – Catherine de Duve
As we sat in my mum's dining room one day having Sunday lunch, Little Miss C suddenly pointed at a Lowry print on the wall and exclaimed "just like Grandma's shopping bag". That to me is what sums up Lowry's individual style so perfectly - the fact that a then two year old could recognise a piece of his work. As someone born and brought up in the North I find that I really love his industrial and mill scenes in particular and feel like I can really identify with them. A few years ago I was also lucky enough to visit The Lowry gallery in Salford and really enjoyed seeing such a large collection ... read more
Goodnight Little One – Margaret Wise Brown
We're very familiar in this C household with Margaret Wise Brown as Goodnight Moon was one of the first books that Little Miss C had read to her at bedtime, and right now it's in the pile of books that we read to Master C before he goes to bed. It was interesting therefore to see Goodnight Little One by her in the books that I was asked to review from Parragon Books when I met them at BritMums Live last month. Little donkey on the hill, Standing there so very still. Making faces at the skies, Little donkey close your eyes. In this book we go round various animals as it ... read more
Honk Honk! Baa Baa! & Time for Bed – Petr Horacek
It's nearly a couple of years now since I discovered Petr Horacek after happening across a copy of Silly Suzy Goose in a local charity shop. All three of us really enjoyed it and I've been keeping an eye out for more of his books ever since. I was delighted when we were sent a couple of new books in the Baby Walker series and I've been saving these to enjoy with Master C. It's really only been in the last couple of weeks that he's started to enjoy snuggling up together with a book and from what I can tell he's really enjoying it. After his bedtime milk he actively ... read more
My Dad – Steve Smallman & Sean Julian
Continuing with the Father's Day theme here on the blog, Little Miss C has been sent a couple of lovely books to review with her Daddy. Firstly, My Dad! by Steve Smallman and Sean Julian. In this absolutely adorable book we see a small cute bear cub with his Dad, and all the things they do together - from cheering each other up when they're sad or upset to building sandcastles and giving each other huge cuddles. It shows that not all dads can do everything perfectly, but all dads are amazing for the variety of things that they can do and everyone's dad is very special to ... read more
Lucy Ladybird – Sharon King-Chai
You just know a children's book has got it right when you ask Little Miss C what she thought of it (the morning after she read it as a bedtime story for the first time with Daddy) and she instantly says: It's really, really pretty mummy and I love it! I'm completely in love with Lucy Ladybird too. The art work is simply gorgeous. Cute, colourful and full of little things for children to look for. There's also a magical huge fold out for the last page of the book and Little Miss C was so excited when she found this for the first time. In terms of the story... Lucy is a ... read more
Princess Evie’s Ponies: Confetti the Magic Wedding Pony
Simon and Schuster have sent me several Princess Evie books to review in the past and I have to admit that as I've not really liked the look of them much before (too much pink for my liking) I've not sat down and read them properly with Little Miss C and not reviewed them on here. This week Confetti the Magic Wedding Pony arrived and Little Miss C pounced on it as soon as she saw it. It seems she's got a bit of a pony obsession that I hadn't even realised - sorry! In each of the books (eight in total now) Princess Evie goes off on an adventure with one of her magical ... read more
Ping and Pong Are Best Friends (mostly) – Tim Hopgood
Who can resist a couple of penguins called Ping and Pong? Not me that's for sure! Basically, Ping and Pong are friends, best friends, but whenever Ping tries his hand at something he finds that Pong can already do it, but a million times better. Haven't we all had a friend like that? The question though is whether or not it is worth losing friends over. I'm not going to spoil the ending, but I have to say that it's wonderful to see a children's book addressing both the good and bad things about friendships as it's something that is so important to children. Little Miss ... read more