On Wednesday we read
Over Breakfast
The Story of Divaali, retold by Jatinder Verma & illustrated by Nilesh Mistry
During the Day
Noodle likes to eat by Marion Billet
Oscar & Arabella by Neal Layton
Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
Bedtime
The Three Wishes by David Melling
The Little Red Train: Great Big Train by Benedict Blathwayt
Snip Snap by Marat Bergman, illustrated by Nick Maland
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet & Allen Ahlberg
On Tuesday we read
Before Breakfast
Barry the fish with fingers & the hairy scary monster by Sue Hendra
Over Breakfast
Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Zog by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
During the Day
Creepy crawly by Petr Horacek
Monkey & Me by Emily Gravett
So Much by Trish Cooke
Bedtime
The Little Red Train: Great Big Train by Benedict Blathwayt
The Real Story of Cinderella & the Ugly Sisters by Liz Pichon
Snip Snap by Marat Bergman, illustrated by Nick Maland
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet & Allen Ahlberg
It’s Children’s book week so have decided to list the books we’ve read, on Monday we read
Over Breakfast
Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Zog by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
During the Day
Creepy crawly by Petr Horacek
Noodle loves to eat by Marion Billet
Bedtime
Freddie & the Fairy by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Karen George
Barry the fish with fingers & the hairy scary monster by Sue Hendra
The Real Story of Cinderella & the Ugly Sisters by Liz Pichon
Snip Snap by Marat Bergman, illustrated by Nick Maland
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet & Allen Ahlberg
I remember buying this nearly 4 years ago as one of the 3 for 2 Waterstones offers, Oliver Who Would Not Sleep was the second book (more of that another time) & I can’t remember the third.
We are big fans of Emily Gravetts work & this is a great book for young children. Monkey & Me is a story of a girls trip to the zoo with her stuffed monkey & the animals she encounters. I love the drawings of the little girl impersonating the animals, they provide a great sense of energy & fun, this high energy winds down as she returns home begins to rub her eyes & slowly nods off at the kitchen table.
As with her other book ‘Blue Chameleon‘ while simple in text & illustration this really delivers an engaging fun read aloud book. The rhyming refrain Monkey & Me is repeated helping build up tension as to what animal will be show overleaf & at the end of the story it is used with long pauses to slow down the pace, creating a sense of tiredness. I also like the contrast of lots of white space on the double pages with the drawings of the girl compared to the busy drawings of the animals taking up all the pages, it provides a real impact after the suspenseful build up. The colour palette is muted aside from the flashes of red stripes on the girls tights & her red jumper, which add to the mood of the book. My favourite page is the depiction of a very familiar sign of tiredness, the little girl rubbing her eyes, signalling the end to such an exciting day
When reading this to Freya it seems she enjoys the repetition of Monkey & Me followed by my impression of the animal (I’ve not mastered a great impersonation of a Bat as yet). I am looking forward to her growing with this book & in time being able to guess which animal is coming next with her own animal impressions as her brother did.
Monkey &ME
All illustrations © Emily Gravett
We recently decided to turn one of our rooms into a pirate school for the day, with a ship, crocodile infested waters and treasure (assemble all pirate related toys & mix with lots of imagination). I made sure we also included a book corner for more piratical adventures & here are our favourites
Thats Not My Pirate by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells
I have to confess on not being so keen on this whole series of books, but it was definately a favourite with Bryn when he was a little & he loved all the different textures, silky shirt, shiny cutlass etc. A nice gentle introduction to pirates
That's my pirate, her smile is so sweet
The Troll by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by David Roberts
Bryn got this book last Christmas it has been consistently read ever since and enjoyed by the whole family. It’s such a clever story, intertwining the tale of a troll who lives under bridges looking for a goat & pirates hunting for treasure. The quirky sophisticated illustrations complement the story perfectly while the split panels gives the story a comic book feel & adds some pace. This has been one of those books with many layers which Bryn has enjoyed discovering as he grows, a real gem of a book.
Captain Abdul’s Pirate School by Colin McNaughton
A rollicking read, with sullen protagonist, larger than life pirates, skulduggery, mutiny and plenty of ooh-arrgh. The story is told via the diary pages of Pickles & her days at Captain Abdul’s Pirate school. On stumbling upon a kidnap plot Pickles & fellow classmates show their true pirate colours & declare mutiny. I think Bryn enjoys the familiarity of a school setting especially as his current favourite game is playing nursery & taking the role of teacher. His favourite page is when the cast of teachers are introduced. Personally I feel I don’t do justice to the story when reading it aloud, with so many colourful characters they all deserve a special voice. Each double page spread illustration is also packed with humorous detail and plenty of action.
My name is Captain Bryn the Chatty, I'm a teacher so they say, of pirate stories & sword play
Pirate Pete by Nick Sharratt
This is a ‘change your own story’ with cardboard cut outs of a range of objects which can be inserted into this short simple tale. A year on & I am still amazed that we still have all the cut outs in one piece & still in the book. Originally Bryn was happy just adding the pieces in like a puzzle, he is now appreciating be the creator of funny sentences such as “She had a cake on her head” . Am looking forward to the next stage when Bryn wants to make up his own suggestions for the text & truly begin to create funny stories.
We’ve been reading this book daily this past week. You is a story about the many reasons a little monkey is loved. It’s a short sweet rhyming tale thats fun to read aloud & shows lots of love, a perfect book to cuddle up for. They illustrations are beautiful depicting a mainly smiley monkey playing in the jungle, I especially liked the last page as the little monkey & parent have their tail entwined into a heart shape. They are also enhanced with flashes of shiny gold which definately caught Freya’s attention, well who can resist some sparkle.
The copy we have also has a soft cover & tough study pages which is ideal with Freya keen to turn pages, grab the book & steer towards her mouth.
I love YOU with your cheeky smile
I remember these from when I was young so am pleased to see Bryn enjoying them. Scarry creates a wonderfully bizarre yet familiar world with fascinating detail & humour. I enjoy the illustrations more than the text but Bryn seems happy with both, based on the numerous re-readings. It is one I avoid it at bedtime as it’s easy to spend a lot of time exploring all the fun pictures & spotting what the characters are up to.
Things That Go
This is by far the book which Freya interacts with the most, endlessly chewing away on the tails. It’s a colourful cloth book with plenty of different textures to explore, a delight for inquisitive little fingers. The long thin green shiny tail of the eel was a favourite of Bryn & Freya now too.
A few days on holiday at home means stories at breakfast, lunch, dinner & bedtime, luckily we currently have a good stash from the library which we are really enjoying
Zoe and Beans, The Magic Hoop by Chloe & Mick – this is the first story we’ve read featuring Zoe & Beans and we love it. A fun tale of a girl, her dog & a magic hula hoop which when she finally persuades her dog to jump through transforms him into different animals. The dog ends up as an elephant who get stuck so is put on a diet, reminding me of a Winnie the pooh story. Bryn liked hearing the list of things not allowed to be eaten & pretending to eat them all, probably as so many contain chocolate. While I liked the typography in the book with the emphasis on some words either in size or in bold
Egg by Alex T. Smith – a stylish book and a tale with a twist at the end. A fox entertains an egg for an evening with plans to eat it for breakfast but is in for a nasty shock. Bryn loves the climax of the story probably as one of his favourite games for the last few months is pretending to crack out of an egg to be a range of animals including ferocious dragons, sweet kitten etc. I chose the book owing to the front page as I was intrigued to meet ‘Foxy DuBois’. I enjoyed the illustration with humour filled little touches such as the pattern on the wallpaper, pictures on the wall, ornate bed stand etc.
I Am The King written & illustrated by Leo Timmers– this is a story of a group of animals who on finding a crown wear it & proclaim themselves king. Each animal puts on the crown to explain why they would make the perfect king until it is finally returned to the original King of the Animals, who unlike the others is silent. The story has an eclectic mix of animals which includes a goat & flamingo each with their very own voice & character. The illustrations are bold in colour and are solely of the animals, every double spread has a different background colour. It provides a really intense colour hit, with the consistency of the shining gold crown on each page.
Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie on the Road by Joel Stewart – a delightful adventure of a boy and his beastie who rescue a princess, meet up with a dragon, become a band of wandering minstrels while tooting their horns. The illustrations are charming & subtle, perfectly suiting this modern fairy tale. We’ve visited a few castles this summer hence tales including dragons & knights have been very popular. I was therefore particulary thankful to read this non typical knights tale where friendships are made as well as lot & lots of tooting.
Freya is currently enjoying me making different animal noises so this book gives me the opportunity for plenty of buzzing, as we count backwards & single bees buzz off. She is also now exploring more things with her hands and this is a great book for touching the plastic moulded bees or sticking fingers through the die cut holes. It’s also the time that once explored goes straight in her mouth, luckily I have some cloth books & mini board books for that.
I found this book a gentle introduction to the characters in Winnie the Pooh, which I hope we will see more of as she grows older. Bryn has recently started to enjoy listening to the audio book of Winne-the-Pooh stories in the car & getting to the point of retelling them. He is enjoying the simple fun adventures of Pooh & his friends & it’s a chance for me to discover them too as I seemed to have avoided most stories that involved talking animals when younger.
This book also has illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard, the original Pooh drawings, which are really delightful & I especially like the small pencil drawings. They feel subtle & quirky in comparison to the Disney version.
One busy bee has so much to do That of he buzzes,...