June 2018

Month

Thu
14 ^th

Billy And The Beast By Nadia Shireen

This one was only published a few weeks ago but I have read it so many times since it arrived that it feels like we’ve had it forever.

Billy and Fatcat are taking a walk through the woods when they stumble across a nasty beast who has hatched an evil plan. He has captured a fox, a hedgehog, 2 mice and 3 super cute bunnies and he plans to boil them up in to soup.

Quick-thinking Billy soon has the Beast in a tizz but, armed with only the items she has stashed in her amazing afro, can she save the animals from the soup before it is too late?

We love this book. It has all the right ingredients for a great children’s story – a feisty female protagonist, a feline sidekick, a scary monster and a whole host of adorable woodland animals!

Tue
12 ^th

Mopoke By Philip Bunting

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Until we bought this book I had no idea what a Mopoke was, but a quick google search informed me it’s a type of owl which is native to Australia!

The little Mopoke in the story just wants to sit on his branch and relax – but the author has other ideas. Each page features a different play on the word Mopoke, with a funny visual to match. Our favourites are the Mo’poke who sports a natty moustache and the ‘Fropoke who has an amazing afro.

The illustrations are fantastic and make both myself and Ivy laugh. If you watch the poor little Mopoke’s eyes you can see him slowly getting more and more frustrated until he finally loses his cool.

It’s such a simple book but we seem to find a new and amusing detail every time we read it. Recommended!

Buy it now: https://amzn.to/2l5xaiQ

Mon
11 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Emma Fulton, Owner, Emma Fulton Coaching

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I am Emma Fulton and I am a career coach living in South East London. I support women with children to make sense of their careers after they’ve become parents so that they can find work they love or love what they do again. I have 3 boys who are 9, 2 and 1.

What are your children’s favourite books?

I have read a bedtime story to my eldest since he was tiny, including reading all 4,224 pages of the 7 Harry Potter books to him. I feel really lucky that he still lets me read to him now. It’s been such a bonding experience for us.

The standout favourite by a mile from his toddler years was “Aliens Love Underpants” by Claire Freedman. I would read it to him every night. It’s a rip-roaring adventure where the naughty aliens land on earth and make mischief with all manner of different pants until they manage to create something that will sling them back into space. Daft but fun.

Sun
10 ^th

You’re Safe With Me By Chitra Soundar & Poonam Mistry

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When night falls in the Indian forest it is time for the baby animals to go to sleep. However on this particular evening a storm is brewing and the noises make the little ones afraid. Suddenly the forest is full of unfamiliar noises and their imaginations run wild. The trees are swooshing, the wind is howling, lightening is flashing and thunder rolls in the sky.

Fortunately Mama Elephant is there to calm their fears. Each time they are woken by a noise she gives a lovely description of what is happening and why. For example the wind huffs and puffs because it is tired from all the hard work it has been doing gathering seeds from faraway lands and bringing them to the forest. She finishes each little story with a soft whisper of “You’re safe with me”.

Sat
09 ^th

Tyrannosaurus Drip By Julia Donaldson & David Roberts

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Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson & David Roberts is one of our favourite dinosaur books. It tells the story of a gentle little duckbill dinosaur who accidentally ends up hatching in a Tyrannosaurus nest. He tries his hardest to fit in with the family he believes to be his but he is just too different. His sisters are big and strong with sharp teeth and a love of hunting whereas poor little Drip is gentle and kind and just wants to eat some veg.

When his family start to pick on him for being different he decides to run away and he finds himself swimming with some Duckbill Dinosaurs in the river, unaware that they are his real family. Drip finally feels like he belongs and plays happily with his new friends. When he spots his reflection he is shocked to discover that he was never a Tyrannosaurus at all!

But then a storm comes and knocks over a tree, giving the nasty T-Rex family direct access to the Duckbill’s home. Quick-thinking Drip comes up with a plan but will it be enough to save his new family?

Thu
07 ^th

Praxx And the Ringing Robot By Paul Ian Cross & Andy Green

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Praxx is a little alien who lives on a planet called Ekkadora with his mum and his best friend Zobott the robot. Praxx has lots of chores to do but he’s not a big fan of doing them himself so he sometimes enlists Zobott’s help.

One morning Praxx is rudely awoken by Zobott who is making lots of strange, really loud noises – RING! BLEEP! CROAK! It transpires that Praxx had asked him to help out with tidying up – but he has put everything in the wrong place. The alarm clock, phone and the family pet are all inside Zobott’s tummy storage box, there’s a worm in mum’s handbag and their rocket has been parked in the house!

Praxx learns an important lesson – always do your chores yourself else they might end up taking three times as long to fix!

Tue
05 ^th

In My Heart
by Jo Witek & Christine Roussey

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A few weeks ago we interviewed the lovely Rachel Bridge (who is a a child psychologist), and she mentioned that she has used this book as part of her therapy sessions. Intrigued, we ordered ourselves a copy and we’re very glad we did!

‘In Your Heart’ is an in-depth but age-appropriate look at the wide array of emotions which we experience as humans. Each page takes a specific feeling, spells out what it might feel like in your heart and then names it. This not only helps your child understand what they may be going through but also gives them the language they need to articulate that feeling back to a grown-up.

The book covers happiness, courage, anger, calm, heartbreak, sadness, hope, fear, silliness and shyness and it explains really nicely that all of these feelings live in our heart and we all have experience them in different ways at different times. The underlying message is that it’s good to talk about your feelings and to ask others how they are feeling too.

Mon
04 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Gemma Hall, Owner, LittleGemGem

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Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Gemma and I live in a small village in County Durham with my Husband and two children. I have a 2-year-old son and an 8-month-old daughter. I’m a full-time mum and also run a handmade party decoration business from home, so life is crazy busy!

What is your son’s favourite book?

Pirates in the Supermarket by Timothy Knapman. My son loves this book! It’s a story about rogue pirates who run amok in a supermarket causing chaos and mess. It has definitely made shopping more fun as he now thinks that’s where pirates live and insists on looking for them when we go shopping together.

Sun
03 ^rd

Prince & Knight By Daniel Haack & Stevie Lewis

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I think representation is SO important in children’s books so when I spotted this LGBT-friendly book I knew we had to add it to our library.

Prince & Knight is a beautiful fairy tale set in a magical world of castles and dragons which has a wonderfully diverse twist. The prince of the realm has come of age so his parents set about trying to help him find a bride. He meets many, many ladies but none of them catch his eye. He’s looking for something different but he just doesn’t know what that is.

Whilst they are on their travels, the kingdom is attacked by a mighty dragon and it seems like all may be lost. The brave Prince rides off on his horse and soon come face to face with the fire-breathing monster – but it seems that he will not have to fight this battle alone. A magnificent Knight appears and they work together to bring the evil dragon down.

Sat
02 ^nd

What The Ladybird Heard By Julia Donaldson & Lydia Monks

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‘What The Ladybird Heard’ is one of our favourite books by Julia Donaldson and we’ve been reading it since Ivy was just a few months old.

The story is about a tiny ladybird who lives on a farm. All of the animals around her are very noisy but she just quietly goes about her business, not saying a word. Then one night everything changes. She overhears a conversation between two burglars (the wonderfully named Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len) and discovers their evil plot to steal the farmer’s fine prize cow.

She goes to the other animals and for once she speaks up, telling them about her fantastic plan to thwart the burglary. The animals listen carefully and they all agree to play their part, which involves impersonating each other in order to confuse the thieves.

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