We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

  
I liked this book because not only is it a great read aloud story with rhyming text & beautiful illustrations but it also has an important message about jealousy, fear and diversity. Freya loved this book because it features ‘Abracazebra’, a zebra doing magic tricks.
In a town called Yawnalot nothing much happens, and what passes as entertainment is visiting Goat on his boat. This all changes when Abracazebra arrives – a fabulous magician who brings colour, fun & stripes to the town. Jealous of the attention the new magician is getting, Goat decides ‘stripes are bad’, and it is only after Abracazebra has been driven away that Goat realises what they have lost and sets to work to get her back.
The rhyme helps the story be told at a good pace and there illustrations provide humour and warmth to create this great story.

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

When Woozy the Wizard needs to replace his broom he finds a ‘shiny new shop’ selling hoovers that zoom. However, when he gets home he finds its a flat pack hoover and looks to his friends for help and finds that sometimes shiny new things don’t always live up to their promise.

This is a great story to read out loud because of its funny rhyming verse. The silly story, fabulous rhymes & bright illustrations also make it perfect for new readers. Within minutes of reading the book aloud Bryn had sneaked off to read it himself. Freya found Woozy’s pet pig hilarious & enjoyed looking at the illustrations in the book.

This is a wonderfully bright & quirky book in tone, language & pictures. I really enjoyed the zany humour in both the text & pictures and we were all left wanting to hear more Woozy Wizard stories

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

Dr Molly’s Medicine Case is not only a fun read but also sparked an afternoon of imaginative play. Freya was really excited about this book with its beautiful illustrations, flaps,pockets & pull out pieces (which, after many readings, we still haven’t managed to loose). 

Freya loves pulling out the pieces from Molly’s bag & helping the animals feel better, whether its checking the polar bear’s temperature or putting cream on a sore crocs tail. As with Mary Poppins, whatever Molly needs to help her friends is somewhere in her bag, including a few spoonfuls honey (in this case). The book ends with some extra special treats from the bag for Molly & her friends.

This is a lovely book and the flaps & little play pieces are well judged. On the first reading, rather than being distracted by the flaps & rushing to open them Freya was absorbed in the story and waited to open the flaps at the relevant points in the narrative. It was also fun to see her rush off and invent ailments for us all so she could play doctors. 

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

This book aims to inspire children ‘to create favourite animals drawings & stories of their very own’ which is exactly what Bryn did.

This is a sumptuous book in which 14 picture book artists draw their favourite animals accompanied with some text. As soon as we finished reading the book Bryn was keen to draw one of his favourite animals, the Axolotl a fish that walks.

Bryn recognised a few of the illustrators from their pictures such as Lucy Cousins, Jon Klassen with the most recognisable being Eric Carle. His favourite however was a guest appearance from Bad Kitty in Nick Bruel’s illustrations.

I thought the book was a great showcase for some amazing picture book artists and we are looking forward to discovering their books. It also provided a simple activity for Bryn who found the it a great source of inspiration.

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

An exciting tale of a boy & girl outwitting the ‘ferocious, man-eating dragon’, Flamethrottle. Max is able to put his inventive plans into action by teaming up with Lizzie from the armourer’s workshop to create a formidable adversary. With two dragon obsessed children this book was an instant hit & they were both captivated by the tale.

It was good to have a story featuring a boy & girl working together – a positive role model for my two. The highlights of the book, however, were the illustrations brimming with humour, including dragon graffiti. The slow reveal of the titular clockwork dragon added great excitement to the story and like everyone else in the town, we too wanted a little clockwork dragon of our own.

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Review

Louise is an artist and consumed by her passion she strives to create her masterpiece. Brimming with enthusiasm and pride she covers the house with her art. Following in her footsteps is her little brother, keen to be just like his big sister. By the end of the book we understand why “Louise Loves Art”

This is a sweet & fun story. While Louise takes centre stage its her brothers antics unfolding behind her which raised lots of smiles. For Freya, however, it was the cat in the story which provided the most chuckles, especially when she spotted it joining in with drawing.

We enjoyed this book which celebrates a couple of our favourite things too, drawing & siblings.

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Reviews

This is a cosy Alfie story about the lead up to Christmas & the magical day itself, shared with family and friends. As always his little sister, Annie Rose, is there to add some mischief to the story.

In Alfies christmas we get to see Alfie’s family and friends following festive tradition such as decorating the tree, wrapping presents & baking biscuits. For me the charm of the story is that many of these scenes could come straight out of one of our family photo albums.

The children always enjoy Alfie stories, Freya’s favourite part is seeing Alfie with his friends from nursery school, I think, like me, she enjoys the familiarity of the scenes illustrated in the book. Bryn on the other hand was keen to note how Alfie’s toy got a christmas stocking filled with gifts & opportunistically decided all his teddies should have a christmas stocking.

A story full of warmth & christmassy sentiment, perfect for this time of year.

We wrote this for the Guardian Children’s Books Family Reviews

Two brothers start the day in utter excitement having been told by their Mum they’re having a surprise at dinner. They spend the day trying to guess what it could be working themselves into a frenzy and convincing themselves & others it is an exotic holiday to Hawaii.

When they discover what the surprise really is, the older brother is left embarrassed & disappointed. Luckily with the help of his family, especially his younger brother Leo, he is able to laugh about it. A wondrously funny & warm story that appealed to us all.

The children laughed at the ideas from the over excited brothers, like a swimming pool in the back yard they don’t have, and enjoyed the quirky & sometimes surreal illustrations, especially the two headed elephant. A keenly observed story with some close to home truths such as “grown-ups say things they don’t really mean” & holidays spent “watching TV and arguing” had me smiling and appreciating this delightful story.