There's only a week to go until Mother's Day here in the UK and I thinking about it this year is actually the first year that I've thought about the day in terms of me being the mother that the day is all about. I've always focussed on my mum (especialy since her birthday always falls within a week of Mother's Day too) and until now Little Miss C hasn't really be old enough to take in what it's all about. This year I know that they have been talking about what their mums do for them at nursery and also making gifts for us - she just couldn't contain her ... read more
Monkey Nut – Simon Rickerty
Sending a book called Monkey Nut to a household where someone has a peanut allergy probably isn't the best way to get a good review of something, but then Simon and Schuster weren't to know that. Unfortunately though this book just didn't quite work for us, even putting all allergies to one side. In this book these two "thing" fight over a single monkey nut before an elephant comes along, breaks it in two, eats then nut and gives them half a shell each to play with. Now the first problem we had was the two "things", one red and one blue. I had absolutely no idea ... read more
Octonauts and the Undersea Eruption
Another CBeebies tie-in today, but rather than reading about Knights we've now moved to under the sea and the Octonauts. A slight difference here is that the Octonauts originated as characters in books before moving to the small screen. Following their TV success they're now ready to go on some new adventures in books. In The Octonauts and the Undersea Eruption the Octonauts have to deal with an emergency caused by a volcano at the bottom of the ocean that is erupting. Will they be able to get everyone out in time? In particular the three floating blobfish, Bob, Bob and ... ... read more
Mike the Knight and the Real Sword
Mike the Knight is someone we've only recently got to know. For those of you that are not familiar with him - he's a Knight in Training who lives in CBeebies-land here in the UK. A wiki search tells me he might actually be Canadian, but I somehow had it in my head that all knights were English, so that's what I'm choosing to believe for now. To tie in with a new series having started on CBeebies this year two new Mike the Knight books have been released by Simon and Schuster and we were sent a copy of Mike the Knight and the Real Sword to review. In the story, Mike is due to ... read more
Snug as a Bug – Tamsyn Murray and Judi Abbot
Someone at Simon and Schuster must be totally in tune with when my kids are either under the weather or being awkward as it always ties in beautifully with when review books arrive from them. That's exactly what happened last week when Master C was full of cold and demanding almost constant feeding. Luckily the postman delivered a copy of Snug as a Bug and I was able to snuggle up on the sofa with them both to read it straight away. Any book that has a main character named after Master C is a sure fire hit in this house and that's exactly what we had here. The book starts ... read more
Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day – Philip Bell & Eleanor Bell
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