Babar the Elephant is one of those characters from children's fiction who I think everyone knows of, but how many of us have actually read the first book that introduced him to us? I know I certainly hadn't until very recently. The Story of Babar was the first story of the orphaned elephant and tells of how he escaped hunters in the jungle and went to the city for the first time. It's amazing to think that it's over 80 years since this title was first published in French and then a couple of years later translated into English.  This version of the book is ... read more

It's only the first Monday in November, but it seems that now that Halloween is out of the way everyone's attentions have now turned to Christmas. A certain supermarket chain even had a tree up just inside their entrance when I visited this morning! I personally love Christmas and it's exciting to see how Little Miss C is going to react to it all this year, now that she's that bit older and also now that she's got the whole build up to it at pre-school. I was intrigued to be asked if I wanted to receive a review copy of Christmas by Dick Bruna as it is a book ... read more

Little Miss C's school recently celebrated literacy week with a week which involved the local fire brigade fetching a large egg down off the school roof! Watching a whole school's worth of pupils watching this unfold in the playground taught me so much about what an important role books play in our children's education. Stories can take them to new places and teach them so much about the world around them, as well as being great fun to read too. This week it was time for our next monthly review book to arrive from Parragon and LMC and I excitedly unwrapped a copy of Wakey ... read more

One thing that I really like about reviewing children's books on here with Little Miss C is that we've now been doing it for long enough that I'm starting to see second, or even third, books by the same author and therefore starting to get a feel for them and their work. It almost seems strange that up until only three years ago my only experience of children's books was what I remembered from my own childhood, and even then it's something of a hazy memory, especially when it comes to picture books. We were recently sent a copy of Sparkly Shoes and Picnic ... read more