In my opinion Sue Hendra is quite simply one of the best picture book authors there is. So many of her books (Keith The Cat with the Magic Hat, No-Bot, Doug The Bug That Went Boing!, Supertato to name but a few) have been huge hits in this house and I know that as soon as I open I new one the kids will jump on it straight away. I Need a Wee has to be a brilliant title for a book. It's a phrase that every child shouts regularly and when Little Miss C managed to read the title for herself she just laughed out loud. Like so many children, Alan needs a wee, but he's just too busy to go to the ... read more
Hooray! It’s a New Royal Baby! – Martha Mumford and Ada Grey
Before Prince George was born there was a flurry of children's books about the Royal Baby and in a way it was to be expected - the baby was going to be King or Queen one day and it was a bit bit of history. Part me though wasn't too sure about it all happening before the baby was born though. It just left me feeling a bit uneasy. Since then there have been several books featuring Prince George and I'm ok with that as it helps children learn a little bit about the little boy that will one day be king. There's going to be a new Royal Baby sometime next month though and I can see that the ... read more
This is My Rock – David Lucas
Sharing. One of the lessons that parents wish they could teach their children at a very early age, yet one that seems to take ages for them to really get to grips with. I find myself at playgroups with Master C regularly telling him to "share nicely" with other children and at home I'm constantly telling both children to share their toys. In This is My Rock a young goat stands at the top of a rock, telling anyone that dares to come near that this is his rock, and most definitely not their rock. A bear, an eagle, all the other goats and even a tiny bird are all sent away by the goat as he ... read more
The Good Little Bad Little Pig! – Margaret Wise Brown
We've reviewed a few Margaret Wise Brown books here on Being Mrs C over the last couple of years (The Diggers and Good Night Little One) and I still find myself amazed at just how many books she wrote. When I first discovered her classic Goodnight Moon it was only after searching on google in the middle of the night for books suitable for a baby as I was having one of those sleep deprived panics that I wasn't reading Little Miss C bedtime stories enough. How things have changed! The latest Margaret Wise Brown offering that has arrived to review from Parragon is The Good Little Bad ... read more
Roo The Roaring Dinosaur – David Bedford and Mandy Stanley
I know I've said this before, but it's such a valid statement that I need to say it again - when you need to talk to a child about something and make sure the message gets home to them, finding an appropriate book has to be the best way to do so. And I'm delighted to say that reading Roo the Roaring Dinosaur with Little Miss C has been the perfect way to start a discussion that we'd been struggling with for a while. Roo is a little dinosaur who is very, very attached to his moomie - his precious comfort blanket. They do absolutely everything together and are the best of friends. One day ... read more
Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim
I think it's fair to say that I was more than a little bit excited with a recent eBay auction win that I had - vintage Topsy and Tim books! The thing that possibly excited me the most though was the fact that I now am the proud owner of two different vintage versions of Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim. Whilst this might not sound like much to get excited about my Topsy and Tim collecting to date has shown me that there are often changes between different versions of the books and I'm always fascinated to see what they are and to try to work out why the changes have been made. I've ... read more
Introducing Glitterbelle
In so many ways Little Miss C is such a girly girl - a huge fan of princesses, pink and anything sparkly. It's funny in a way as I'm not sure I can remember having that sort of phase myself, but it's what really seems to make her happy right now. She was therefore delighted when the latest review book from Parragon turned up - Glitterbelle The Sparkliest Princess Ever! Glitterbelle lives in a palace at the top of a hill with her Mum, The Queen, and her Dad, The King. She's not exactly a fan of a typical fairy tale princess life though and Glitterbelle much prefers to whizz round on her ... read more
Calming down after Christmas with a bedtime story
I don't know about you, but after Christmas here it seemed like the kids went more than a little bit loopy. I'm not sure if it was all to do with life being really busy with lots of friends and family to see over the holiday, or going away, or the influx of new toys for them both, but this year it's really taken a while for life to get back to normal. I've often found that the only time of the day that's been more predictable was just before bed. That nice bit of time when all the stress of getting them upstairs for a bath is behind you, and all that is left is a good old bedtime story and ... read more
Dog on Stilts – James Thorp and Angus Mackinnon
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