Freya has discovered the rhyming joy of the queen of picture books Julia Donaldson & the beautiful illustrations of Axel Scheffler (who she got to hear at the Stratford Literary festival when she was only a few weeks old)

It started with the Gruffalo which she demanded be read to her on a daily basis, both at home & nursery. It was the only book she would let us read for about a month & her favourite character without a doubt was the Gruffalo. Bryn also loved this book when younger & was always ready with the line ‘don’t you know there no such thing as a Gruffalo’. It’s a book we’ve read countless times & I imagine more to come. A classic picture book with a clever little hero & a monster with the right balance of fearsome & cuddly.

Having a number of the Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler books we gradually weaned her off the Gruffalo & now her daily bedtime reads are Zog and Room on the Broom. She easily recognises the illustrative style & likes studying the pictures. Zog is not a favourite of mine, I have never found the story or the rhyming refrain particularly strong. Freya however is a big fan and the highlight seems to be when I bang the page as Zog crashes into a tree.

Room on the Broom is a spectacular hit & is a favourite of the rest of the family too. Having recently been to a few storytelling sessions I was inspired to add a few props to the story which has been a great success (although tracking down all the toys at bedtime can be a tad fraught). She loves making the toy puppy bound across the page & shouting out ‘mines’ when we get to the phrase ‘Buzz of that’s my witch’. This is a lovely simple tale of friendship with the opportunity to shout ‘whoosh’ every couple of pages.

Freya is very fond of picture books with photos or drawings with animals. She is less keen on meeting them in real life, but as her favourites include crocodile and lions that’s no bad thing.

An early favourite was a mini board book of animals illustrated by Eric Carle, the perfect size for her chubby little hands & resilient enough for the occasional chew. She used to like to find the page with the lion then wait expectantly for me to roar.

From about 14 months till now she has been fascinated by the Turn & Learn Baby Animals by Priddy Books she got from her grandparents, it has been a daily morning read. Its a bright colourful board book with charming photos and a wheel on each page to turn to match the animals. Although she has only been able to turn the wheels herself recently up until now she has enjoyed spotting the animals, making the noises & instructing me to turn the wheel.

Recently she’s been showing more of an interest in ‘My Book of Pets’ by Emma Gold Hawk & Illustrated by Carol Tratt. It’s a book I spotted in the public library and was so enamoured of the beautiful illustrations, the huge variety of animals, the textures & sliding tabs I had a buy a copy. I think this type of book with chunky sliders to push are really toddler friendly & allows Freya a chance to enjoy the interactive element of the book and control the movement as opposed to tearing the pages (the fate of a few lift the flap books). She is really enjoying spotting all the different animals and getting the crocodile to snap its jaws. The animals are drawn with a great sense of character & fun and I especially like the drawings at the edges of the pages of the dog wagging its tail, playing with a ball etc all adding to the movement in this book. This book is packed full of charm, character & animals which I suspect will mean it remains a favourite for a while to come.

For the last month Freya has been very keen to have Dragon on your Doorstep read to her it has even replaced ‘Little One’s Bedtime‘ as her bedtime story.

This book is published by Barefoot Books and was included in the BookStart pack Bryn received when he was 2. Both children have really enjoyed this book and it has the quality & diversity that we have come to expect from Barefoot books. (We have accumulated quiet a number over the years)

Freya loves the page where the spider makes its first appearance, we have a break in the story at this point for a rendition of ‘Incey Wincey Spider’ with actions of course. The more we read this book the more interest she shows in the other animals the children encounter providing the perfect excuse to ‘roar like a lion’ and ‘snap like a crocodile’. She is also noticing the children’s expression in the illustrations & enjoying miming to ‘shut the doors’ (slamming doors shut is another of her favourite pastimes). As I did when reading this to Bryn we have fun spotting the animals on the last page which of course leads to another round of ‘Incey Wincey Spider’.

I really like the bold colours & shapes in the books and the other highlight is having a non white character in a picture book.

Bryn has had the same bedtime story – ‘Oliver who would not sleep’ every evening from when he was 10 weeks till a few months go. We wanted Freya to also have her own bedtime story & after a months of searching we were pleased to discover this at the library. It ticked all the boxes, fun, imaginative & a treat to read aloud. I wonder how many years we will be reading this one.

Little one’s bedtime tells the story of a little girl & her teddy making their way to bed. The little girl is such a fabulous character full of mischief, spark & fun constantly looking for adventure being a pirate, knight or even a wizard. It beautifully depicts the girls wondrous imagination with thoughtful illustration tying together both real & imaginative worlds. When reading this with Bryn he enjoyed spotting the clues as to what the little girl will do next. Its full of energy which gently dissipates as she’s finally ready for sleep & kissed goodnight by the paitent comforting persistent voice putting her to bed.
While potentially providing plenty of inspiration on ways of stalling going to bed it’s too good a story not be indulged in.

I was also fortunate enough to win a copy of this book after entering a competition over at Library Mice – a fantastic blog full of great book reviews.

...with MONSTERY toes

As its December we have lots of Christmas books in the house & Freya has taken a real shine to Merry Christmas Maisy. It is a lift the flap book following Maisy in the run up to Christmas wrapping presents, decorating the tree etc. Maisy has always beens a favourite of Bryns & Freya seems to be following in his footsteps, I think the charm lies in simplistic naive looking illustrations.

It’s a real delight to see how interested Freya is in peering behind the flaps, smacking her lips when opening the oven door, drawing the curtains, finding the robin and when all else fails trying to eat the pages.

This is a great Christmas book with simple interactions, bold illustrations & a bit of sparkle.