This is a book which I can’t help but read with a big beaming smile. It’s only been in our possession a few days but is already one of my personal favourites.

It is a fabulously funny how to manual about washing a mammoth (although swap mammoth with a small child & it’s not to dissimilar to bath times in our house). A determined & very well prepared little girl provides an excellent step by step guide on how to accomplish the fiendishly difficult task of washing a mammoth providing an excellent dose of humour to bathtimes.

The perceptive & witty illustrations are wonderful, bringing warmth, humour & style to this great little story. The children especially liked the range of hairstyles a mammoth could model while the look on the mammoths face when soap gets in his eyes is the one I dread every kids’ bath time, providing me with that split second warming before the screams start.

We were lucky enough to be sent a couple of Zoe and Beans books to review.

The first was Zoe and Beans Look at me! – one of a new series of board books.

Zoe & her friend Oscar are playing dressing up. The book is full of completely adorable, gorgeous scenes of two children having fun dressing up, as pirates, robots & more. The last spread is a real delight bringing a huge grin to my face.

Freya loves looking at the illustrations while insisting that Zoe & Oscar are actually Bryn & Freya. I find Zoe a fantastically funny & feisty character, characteristics she shares with Freya.

The next book we looked at was Zoe and Beans Hello Oscar.

In this story Zoe finds a guinea pig at the bottom of her garden, then another, then a tortoise followed by a menagerie of animals till eventually she meets their owner, Oscar.
Bryn’s only complaint was he didn’t want the story to end & I could understand why, having been introduced to Oscar we were keen to find out more about him & his animals.

As with other Zoe and Beans books we loved the illustrations & the humour in the story, the chameleon camaflouging as Zoe’s dress made us smile. Zoe’s independent spirit and her willingness to look after all these animals made this an enjoyable read. We look forward to more adventures from Zoe and Beans. (and hopefully Oscar)

Disclaimer: I received these book from the publisher. I was not asked to write this post, nor was I given any money for doing so, and the review represents my own honest opinion.

I had read a number of excellent reviews of this book but was keen to hold a copy in my hand & once I did there was no way I was leaving it on the shelf. (It really is an irresistible book, perfect size, colours, illustration, feel,… the list goes on)

A truly awesome ‘how to guide’ with stylish illustration, humour, the right amount of advice & top tips to set you on your way to create an ‘Awesome Robot’

Bryn was instantly attracted to the book, he was even able to read some of the pages himself which was great to see. The book provided lots of inspiration & he was brimming with ideas of the type of robot he wanted to make.

One of my favourite pages of the book is the ‘workshop rules’ especially the advice ‘it is every engineer’s right to do things badly while working them out!’.

A perfect craft book, in not only providing steps to follow but also helping create the right space and atmosphere for some inspired robot building, as these photos prove.

A little boy with big plans, space ships, dung blasters, floating space cows, robots & tasty sounding ‘Choco-goo’ , this book has it all.

The King of Space tells the tale of Rex, ‘Rex might look little, but he has big plans that will take him to the furthest reaches of space.’ With his army of ‘warbots’ Rex is on a mission to become King of Space.

I love the cinematic nature of this book with its rich illustrations & a stunning four page spread. I also loved the character of Rex, his aspiration, determination & his awkwardness around Princess Kooki. The highlight however for me was Rex’s mum saving the day, as my boy is quickly growing up (starting to read & write by himself) it’s nice to have a reminder that Mum’s still here to help.

Bryn tells me he loves this book especially the pictures & his favourite page is when Rex has been given lines as a punishment at school, as usual Rex is not doing as he’s told. After only a few readings he has pretty much memorised the story & is enjoying retelling it to us with his sister taking on the role of a Moog. Now we just need to find some wall space for the glossy ‘warbot’ poster that comes with the book.

Disclosure: We received our copy of ‘King of Space’ from the publisher for review. Our opinions are our own.