Can you believe that it’s been 30 years since the world first met Kipper the dog? To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with the lovely folks over at Hachette Children’s UK to give you the chance to win a gorgeous 30th anniversary edition of the very first Kipper book – The Blue Balloon by Mick Inkpen.
We have two copies available – one for Facebook followers and one for Instagram followers.
If you’re trying to teach your child about colours then the last thing you need is a black and white book, right? WRONG! This genius little board book, which was published in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, is the best colour book we have encountered so far.
Made up entirely of black and white pages, the book features clever cut outs which encourage kids to think differently. The first instruction is ‘Find Yellow’, accompanied by a cut out of a sun. You then need to find something yellow to either hold the book up to or place under the page to make the sun shine. This continues throughout the book, where you need to make a red cockerel, a green leaf, a blue cup, some purple grapes, a grey elephant, an orange, black sunglasses, pink worms, brown paw prints, a white moon and a multi-coloured rainbow.
There’s no getting around it, Sid Gibbons is a little bit naughty. Just this week he’s smashed a bird bath, thrown his dinner on the floor, trashed his bedroom and left his colouring pens on the floor for so long that they’ve all dried out. His poor mum doesn’t know what to do, because when she asks him about these misdemeanours he just lies and says that his imaginary friend Kevin did it all. Kevin is invisible and no one can see him except Sid, so he’s the perfect fall guy.
Then one day, when Sid has once again been sent to bed for being naughty, a hatch in the ceiling opens and a bright light appears. Sid climbs up to take a peek and finds himself faced with none other Kevin himself – he is real! Sid is super excited to see his (incredibly cute and fluffy!) friend and they have lots of fun playing together. However it soon becomes apparent that in Kevin’s world, it is Sid who is the invisible friend.
Spring is just around the corner and this lovely book from Nosy Crow and the National Trust is packed full of interesting little activities you can do with the kids to encourage a love of the great outdoors.
From building dens and spotting bugs to growing radishes and making compost, the simple instructions help you make the most of the garden. And if you don’t have any outside space, there are just as many projects to do indoors, like growing beans in a glass jar, making a tiny magic garden and creating a little window box.
Alongside the myriad activities there are garden-related words to learn, flowers, trees and vegetables to identify, and a handy section on how to stay safe whilst digging and planting.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
Hi! I’m Ruth and I am the owner/creator of The Little Black & White Book Project, monochrome animal illustrations for babies and toddlers in the form of books, flash cards, prints and accessories. After 6 years overseas in Singapore, we moved to Bristol in 2017 and I live with my husband and my little boy who is 2.
What is your son’s favourite book?
My son is a real little book worm! We’ve read to him since birth and it’s now his go-to activity every morning and of course at bedtime. His favourites change weekly but he usually comes back to the same few time and time again. So I’d probably say Paddington by Michael Bond would have to be right up there for him, but like most toddlers he’s also really into Room On The Broom and Zog at the moment too, I think he likes the lyricalness (if that’s a word?) of the stories.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
I’m Eloise, a mother, writer, and parent educator. I live in a house full of books in South London with my husband Sam, our daughter Frida who will be four in April, and our mischievous ginger cat Albie. We will be home educating Frida, and I’m inspired by a range of approaches including Montessori, Waldorf, Charlotte Mason, the Scandinavian model of education, the Forest School movement, and unschooling.
What is your daughter’s favourite book?
Oh that is so hard – it varies from day to day. Like me, she’s a real bookworm and will happily sit for hours whilst we read to her. Can I cheat and name a few? For non-fiction, she loves the brilliant Nature Storybooks series, Atlas of Dinosaur Adventures (this probably wins the award for the book I’ve been asked to read the most!), and Tiny by Nicola Davies has been a firm favourite for years now. In terms of fiction, it’s just too hard to say. We’ve just read Mister Cleghorn’s Seal by Judith Kerr which was brilliant.
This is a book about baby loss so if this topic is a trigger for you then please do not read any further———————————————-
I am breaking with tradition a little for this review. This is not a book which I have read with Ivy but it is one that I believe needs to be shared as it addresses an important topic – baby loss (during pregnancy and shortly after birth).
When a baby dies the focus is very much on the grieving parents, but often there are young siblings who will struggle to understand why the baby brother or sister they were expecting didn’t come home. This book seeks to address this, both gently and honestly, in language that is easy for a child to comprehend.
The soft rhyme acknowledges that often there is no reason for the loss and that no one is to blame. It helps children name and understand the emotions they might be experiencing and the beautiful illustrations show grief in its many forms.
What would you do if you found a dragon living in your basement?
When little Alex finds himself in this situation he is beside himself with excitement but he knows that he’s going to have to get some expert advice so that the dragon doesn’t burn down his house.
First he writes to the Fire Brigade, who send him back some excellent advice on keeping the dragon cool and moist. Next he contacts a local butcher to find out what the dragon might like to eat. The reply is a little concerning (the butcher is quite keen to find out what dragon meat tastes like!) but offers up some useful suggestions re dragon diets. Soon Alex and his dragon are having lots of fun!