The Little Frog With The Bottle Top Hat: A New Home by Dean Vivarelli & Curtis Walker

If you want to teach your children about the environmental and wildlife issues we face today then this is definitely one to add to your list.

When a little boy called Beau spots a frog wearing a blue plastic bottle top as a hat he has no idea that both of their lives are about to change. They strike up a conversation and Beau learns that the frog’s home has been destroyed by pollution. The pond water is littered with plastic bags and bottles, and all of the plants have died.

Beau decides to take his new friend home and together they plant a lovely frangipani in the garden. The frog is so happy with his new home that he invites all of his friends around and soon Beau is surrounded by frogs of all shapes and sizes.

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Autism With Lola: Playing With Bourbon Badger by Jodie Isitt & Lucy Smith

Lola the rabbit loves her art lessons at school. The splashing and sploshing of paint completely consumes her, until the bell rings for playtime and her happiness comes crashing down.

Lola is autistic and has a demand avoidant profile. This means she does not like loud noises or being told to stop an activity without any warning. As the children crash and bang around Lola becomes increasingly distressed.

Outside in the playground her discomfort continues. She doesn’t know how to join in with the other children and is scared of being rejected if she does something wrong.

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Books With Goodbyes by Corrinne Averiss

We are really excited to be part of the blog tour for the fantastic ‘My Pet Star‘ by Corrinne Averiss and Rosalind Beardshaw. In this exclusive piece, Corrinne reflects on her favourite children’s books which feature goodbyes…

I wanted to write a bit about books with ‘goodbyes’ in. If you’ve read My Pet Star you’ll know that once the little girl nurses her star back to health, he’s well enough to return to his home in the night sky and so, the two friends must say ‘goodbye’ as he takes his final flight from her bedroom window.

A ‘goodbye’ is often a sad event, so as parents keen to see smiles on our children’s faces – it’s likely we won’t deliberately seek out a book which features separation and farewell. Or, we seek it out only at a time when it can help us talk about a very specific or serious loss experienced by the child.

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My Pet Star by Corrinne Averiss & Rosalind Beardshaw

As parents we naturally want to shield our children from sadness but it’s an important topic to touch on if we want to raise resilient future adults. There are now lots of titles on the market which feature loss or difficult goodbyes, but all too often we only seek them out in times of need. This beautiful book from Corrinne Averiss is an excellent addition to a child’s bookshelf as it gently weaves the subject in to a wonderful bedtime story.

A little girl finds a fallen star and gently nurses him back to health. She cleans him, feeds him and takes the time to learn all about her new friend. When he starts to get better she wants him to play but understands that he is a little different to her. He sleeps in the day and isn’t interested in toys but they soon find ways to just enjoy each others company.

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Album Review: Rolling Down The Road by David Gibb

I’m not going to lie – children’s music drives me bonkers. I totally understand that I am not the target audience but why does it have to be so annoying!

We listen to a lot of music at home and Ivy and I generally take it in turns to pick songs as our tastes are very different. This means poor Spotify regularly bounces between Peppa Pig and Fleetwood Mac, with some nursery rhymes thrown in for good measure.

However we recently received the newest album from family singer songwriter David GibbRolling Down The Road – and I think we have finally found some music we agree on. David has a great voice and the songs cover an eclectic mix of genres, from rock and folk through to jazz and country.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Danni Perkins, Founder, ZaZa’s Storybox

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi!  I’m Danni and I live in Hampshire with my husband and our two children.  Zara is a busy 2 year old and Ashton is just about to turn 4 months.  I’m sure the time goes even quicker the second time round!

I run ZaZa’s Storybox which provides a convenient, fun way for families to get more books into their homes and inspire their little ones to love reading, setting the foundations for their development.  I am passionate about getting more families to understand the importance of reading to their littles ones from day one.  Babies develop so quickly, from the moment they are born they are developing skills they will need to read and write.    

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A Twist In The Tail by Sandie Anderson

I am quite excited that we seem to have reached a point with Ivy where she’s ready for slightly longer books. We’re definitely nowhere near chapter book territory yet, but she is starting to show an interest in stories with more complicated plots than standard picture books. However, if i’m honest, I’ve struggled to find books which bridge this gap.

We have recently been reading this series of tales about a worm-like creature called Reggie Wriggle and I’ve found them really useful for this stage of reading. They are quite wordy (in a good way!) but also toddler-friendly as you can colour them in.

In this first Reggie Wriggle adventure, Reggie finds himself a little under the weather. He wakes up one morning and can’t stretch his tail and then he starts to develop some uncomfortable lumps and bumps. His best friend Bert soon arrives with a diagnosis. Reggie isn’t getting enough vitamins so he needs to eat more fruit! Together they set off in search of an apple tree, but before long they find themselves slap bang in the middle of an adventure. Can they rescue local farmer Mr Glossop from sinking in to a giant muddy puddle, and will poor Reggie ever get his fruit?

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Old Man Of The Sea by Stella Elia & Weberson Santiago

This evening we are extremely excited to be sharing our thoughts on a brand new book from Lantana Publishing as part of the official #oldmanofthesea bookstagram tour.

This beautifully illustrated story looks at the quiet relationship between a boy and his ailing grandfather. Every Sunday they sit together and talk or share a comfortable silence, until one day the Grandfather decides the time has come to share tales of his life with the boy. And what a life!

Grandpa was a sailor who circumnavigated the world and fell in love with each continent he discovered. He picnicked in olive groves with Europe, climbed sand dunes with Africa, explored temples with Asia and went diving with Oceania. The love he felt for these lands was strong, but not as strong as the lure of the sea. Eventually he always found himself back in his boat in search of a new adventure.

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What Do You Do If Your House Is A Zoo? by John Kelly & Steph Laberis

Picking the right pet can be hard. There are so many different animals out there so how are you supposed to choose? The little boy in this story thinks he has the perfect solution. When his mum and dad finally agree to let him have one he places an advert in the local paper asking for possible pets to get in touch.

He receives some promising replies from a pampered pussy cat, a forgetful goldfish and an extremely nibbly goat, but none of them seem quite right. But then the next day he is inundated with post. Gorillas, wolves, horses, emus, bulls and even ants have all written to him in the hope of finding a new home. Now he has so many options that he doesn’t know where to begin!

Things go from bad to worse when animals start turning up at his house. A mob of meerkats set up a security post and won’t let the family leave the house for their own safety and then some beavers arrive and start building a water feature in the garden!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Anna and Daphne Paley-Smith, Founders of Offshoot Studio

Hi Anna! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi, I’m Anna and I live in Clapham, London with my husband, Greg and our two children, Charlie who’s two years old and Sophia who’s two months old.

Alongside my mum, Daphne, I am a co-founder of Offshoot Studio, an art studio specialising in handmade limited edition archival giclée prints for children. Mum is the artist and I run the studio.

The natural world is a huge source of inspiration in the studio. It’s endlessly fascinating and appealing to mum, and we think to most children too. Our prints are illustrations to stories waiting to be told.  Things are happening up in the sky, deep in the jungle, out in the desert, and under the sea.  All it needs is a little imagination, and a child wanting to hear or tell their own special story. Our prints let you escape into their world together …

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