April 2019

Month

Mon
29 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Daisy Seale-Barnes, Founder, Raise And Shine

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi, my name is Daisy. I am a South-East London girl and I live in Peckham Rye with my husband and three children (Flint aged 9, Jackson 7 and Honey 18 months).

I run Raise and Shine,which helps parents better manage the everyday challenges of parenthood through evidence-based parenting and mindfulness skills. As a previously self-confessed ‘parenting education’ sceptic (I thought parenting courses were just for the totally reckless!), I discovered the techniques I teach by chance, but they transformed our family life so much for the better that I went on to train as a parenting coach. Given that everyday parenting is such a hard job, I now believe all parents should be taught this stuff!

Fri
26 ^th

Allie All Along by Sarah Lynne Reul

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When little Allie breaks her crayon she flies into a rage. Depicted as an angry red monster, her frustration is very much apparent as she tears up paper, throws her other crayons on the floor, stomps on the box and rolls around on the floor screaming.

Her older brother steps forward and thoughtfully offers up a pillow for her to punch so that she can release her anger without hurting herself or breaking anything further. This helps so much that the monster sheds her red furry skin and we see an amber-coloured monster emerge.

This version of Allie is still very angry and she’s still not able to articulate what’s wrong so her brother encourages her to hold her favourite toy and squeeze it as hard as she can. Another layer is shed and the fur is now green. Allie is now at that stage where she’s still pretty mad but she’s not really sure why so she’s irritable. This is solved with some breathing exercises which turn the monster blue.

Wed
24 ^th

The Pawed Piper by Michelle Robinson & Chinlun Lee

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The little girl in this story really, really likes cats. She has lots of books about them but what she wants is a little fluffy cat of her very own – so she decides to lay a trail!

She gathers together an arsenal of cat toys, including balls of wool, skeins of ribbon and little jingly jangly balls. Then she visits her Grandmother and learns that they also enjoy playing with catnip, cardboard boxes and newspapers.

Soon her bedroom is full of exciting things designed to entice cats and she sits and waits for them to arrive. She waits all day but she has no luck so she heads to bed and sadly snuggles her cat book instead.

Mon
22 ^nd

Ivy’s Guest Book: Lynsey Pollard, Director, Little Box of Books

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Lynsey, I live with my partner Neil and our two sons Arlo, 5 and Kit, who was born in November. We live in London and run Little Box of Books which we set up in March 2018.

Before I started Little Box of Books I worked in humanitarian and charity communications, travelling to areas of war and disaster to raise awareness and funds for people who really need it.

We manage the business out of our flat, which we’re currently doing during baby nap times and on about 4 hours sleep a day.

What is your son’s favourite book?

I wanted it to be something really woke and in line with our ethos but it’s not. Arlo’s absolutely favourite book is ‘Not Now Bernard’, by David McKee. It’s the simplest, most ridiculous, brilliant children’s story.

Tue
16 ^th

Daddy Fartypants by Emer Stamp & Matt Hunt

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Daddy Fartypants has a problem – he farts ALL THE TIME! And what’s worse is that he never owns up. Every time he does a bottom burp he blames someone else, whether that’s a tiny baby, a snail or a bear on the telly. It’s all a bit too much for his poor son who is embarrassed by both the smell and the white lies.

But then one day Daddy Fartypants gets a taste of his own medicine when his son’s new teacher, Miss Lovelybear lets out a massive paaaaaaarp and blames it on him! Daddy Fartypants is mortified, but is it enough to make him to change his ways?

Mon
15 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Miranda Gregory, Founder, GPS Return

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Miranda Gregory, Mum to 2: Holly (6) and William (3) and wife to 1. Together with my husband Simon, we run GPS Return and we help people who have taken career breaks return to work. Simon works on the recruitment side of the business and I am the Career Mentor – working 1:1 with people to help them work out what it is they want to do and how they can get there. We live in beautiful Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

What are your children’s favourite books?

Holly is a superstar reader and is enthusiastic about everything she reads. We have recently finished the Faraway Tree books. I think these were great for her imagination – Enid Blyton is so vivid that it was so easy for Holly to picture the fantasy world and it did influence her activities for a while, such as drawing and role play.

Sat
13 ^th

Mix Up Muddle Bird by Laura Sydonie & Beverley Wilson

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The Mix Up Muddle Bird is a solitary creature who lives in a nest at the top of a very tall tree. She doesn’t come down because she is scared that the other animals will make fun of her unusual appearance. You see, the Mix Up Muddle Bird is a mix of lots of different jungle animals. She has the head of a crocodile, the body of a tiger, feet like a monkey and the long colourful wings of a parrot! Her only friend is Boris the Bee who lives in a nearby tree.

One day Boris overhears the jungle animals having a disagreement over who should be the ruler of the jungle. The crocodile thinks he should be king because of his snappy teeth. The tiger thinks he should be the boss because of his fantastic pounce. The monkey thinks his climbing ability should make him the ruler. And then the parrot swoops down and says she should get the job because of her beautiful wings. The problem is that no one can agree!

Fri
12 ^th

The Colour Of Happy
by Laura Baker & Angie Rozelaar

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This beautifully illustrated story is a lovely addition to our growing collection of books about emotions.

We follow a small boy as he experiences a range of emotions during a short walk with his dog. He starts off calm and then quickly becomes happy when he spots a dandelion stalk which would make a lovely present for his mum.

With a hop, skip and a jump he plucks it from the ground but then experiences sadness as the wind pulls it from his hand and it floats away. Anger ensues, followed by envy when he spots a little girl holding a stalk which he covets. His interaction with the girl teaches him about the importance of sharing before hope, pride and love carry him home with his gift.

Wed
10 ^th

Captain Sparklebeard by Timothy Knapman & Sam Lloyd

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At the moment, if you ask Ivy to go and pick a book then this is the one she inevitably comes back with. We read it every day and she’s even made me construct a sparkly beard out of an old headband so she can pretend to be the main character!

The story is about a girl called Peg who is utterly fed up of living with her wicked Step-Great-Grand Auntie. Her only refuge from all the chores she has to do is her beloved collection of adventure books.

One day she takes the cat for a walk and discovers that the pirates have come to town and are looking for new recruits to help them find treasure. Seeing a way out of her miserable life, she asks if she can join them but they rudely refuse. They tell her that she’s too nice, too small and, most importantly, she doesn’t have a beard therefore she can’t ever be a pirate!

Mon
08 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Marisa Levenson, Founder, Young Folkies

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name is Marisa and I’m a musician. I graduated university with BA degrees in Sociology and Spanish and an MSc in Development Studies. I’ve worked at various charities over the years, but switched gears career-wise after becoming a mum so I could work more flexibly. I am American (and now also British) and have been living in London for the last 11 years, now with my husband and our 3-year-old daughter. During this time, I have been in a London-based folk rock band called “The Common Earth” as singer/songwriter/guitarist and then singer in an acoustic duo called “Acoustically Tuned,” which played cover songs at events.

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