Tag Archives: library

Children’s Book Week – Day 1

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

You by Emma Dodd

20110915-104607.jpg

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.

20110915-105900.jpg

I love YOU with your cheeky smile

Summer reads

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

20110822-092659.jpg

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.

20110822-092757.jpg

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.

20110822-092857.jpg

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.

20110822-093035.jpg

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

20110705-083335.jpg

We have been reading this delightful rhyming story & I like to imagine Freya is enjoying the beautifully illustrated little babies in the book as much as I do.

We have a number of favourite books illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, such as Going on a Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen) & So Much (Trish Cooke). As with those, what I really appreciate is the charm & character to the drawings. In this book I was tickled by the baby with ‘sneezes & chills’ clutching a water bottle & I love the expressive faces of the babies. It’s also good to see a range of multicultural faces.

Personally for me the main charm of the book lies in remembering the joy of seeing tiny baby fingers & toes for the first time, as my many many photos prove. It has also been fun to read it at a time when Freya is just discovering her fingers & toes.

photo of freya

Ten little fingers & ten little toes

Supermarket Zoo by Caryl Hart & Ed Eaves

20110612-142018.jpg
Bryn enjoyed this story while Freya was entranced by the front cover. I think she liked the light reflecting of the shiny blue lettering.

Supermarket Zoo is the tale of a little boy shopping with his mother & surprised to be buying animals such as lions & giraffes. Near the end there is a surprise animal whose name was smudged on the shopping list.
The pictures in the book are bright & bold. It’s fun to see the animals on lined up on shelves & next to the familiar items you’d expect to see in a supermarket such as penguins & polar bears in the fridge next to the ice lollies.

Our next trip to the supermarkets was lots of fun as Bryn and I were spotting all sorts of animals. We tried to guess what type of animal would we find based on what aisle we were in, we spotted monkeys in the bananas & rabbits by the cauliflower. In the cold fridge aisle Bryn was sure he spotted an artic fox.

Personally while a fun read I think the idea of a supermarket of animals was more successful than the actual story

20110612-143136.jpg

Look what we picked up at the supermarket

Can You Moo Too/ Can You Choo Choo Too by David Wojtowycz

I recently rediscovered a Bookstart leaflet with some good book recommendations including the author David Wojtowycz. So when I spotted ‘Can You Moo Too’ at the library it seemed an opportunity.

It is a fun book to read aloud making the animal noises. This is a great introduction in making silly sounds which entertained Freya & from experience stands you in good stead when reading other books. Freya had lots of smiles when it came to the frogs, not sure if it was the bright colours, the noise or me making it look as if the book was hopping that she liked (most likely just to be wind)

The book has bright pictures with a different animal on each two page spread & when older I look forward to Freya copying the animal noises.

20110603-213038.jpg

We bought Bryn a copy of ‘Can You Choo Choo too’ when he was a few months old & it was a firm favourite for about a year. I think I prefer it too Can You Moo Too probably only because I am better at vehicle noises.

20110603-212827.jpg

I Love my Mummy by Giles Andreae & Emma Dodds

20110531-120531.jpg

I really liked the illustrations in this book which fill the page with light & vibrancy. Many of the pages are filled with the cute face of the little baby (and his purple penguin) who tells us about his mummy. It depicts a typical day highlighting many of the routine tasks that are shared by mummy & baby.

I enjoyed reading it aloud to Freya as the rhyming text helped provide a nice pace & plenty of time to pause & tickle her toes too.

I love my mummy & Freya's toes

 

I kissed the baby by Mary Murphy

BI kissed the baby by Mary Murphyoth Freya & I have enjoyed this book, Freya’s enjoyment is based on the smiles she gives when I read this.

 

The highlight of the book are the lovely black & white illustrations of different animals, they are strikingly fluid providing a sense of movement. The repetition of text gives a good pace when reading aloud and the book ends with an excuse to kiss your baby(not that any excuses are needed)

 

This was a great library book find, so good that I had to buy a copy

20110527-094639.jpg