Ivy's Library - Page 58 of 79 - Bite-Sized Book Reviews for Kids

Wed
08 ^th

Ella Queen of Jazz
by Helen Hancocks

Until a few years ago I wasn’t aware that Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe had been friends and that without each other they may never have reached their true potential or become the icons they are today. It’s a fantastic story and i’m so glad this book exists so that I can share it with Ivy.

The empowering tale starts with Ella Fitzgerald, a woman of colour with a truly amazing voice. She tours the country playing in small jazz clubs with her band but unfortunately there are many places where she isn’t welcome. Because of the colour of her skin, many venues refuse to let her play, including the largest and most well-known club of all.

But unbeknown to Ella, she has a fan who is soon to become a friend. An actress called Marilyn Monroe loves Ella’s music so she calls the club and says that if the owner books Ella to play for a week she will personally visit each night and sit in the front row, ensuring the paparazzi and press will be there. The owner agrees, Marilyn sticks to her word and Ella gets the opportunity to play to large audiences every night. She is a hit and becomes a huge star.

Mon
06 ^th

Cat Bateman, Owner, Little Folk Nursery Rhymes

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

I’m Cat Bateman, a mum of two very energetic & football-mad boys, 11 & 8. I met my husband 26 years ago (I know! I am that old!) and I have a business called Little Folk Nursery Rhymes. I hold weekly sessions singing nursery-rhymes to lovely little customers accompanied by my guitar. I completely love singing and sharing music and am passionate about spreading the word about Type 1 Diabetes as my eldest boy was diagnosed when he was 5 years old.

What were your sons’ favourite books when they were small?

I will answer all the questions from my memories of what they loved when they were your demographic of 0-5 years – I have totally enjoyed digging these books out and taking another look at them – haven’t been able to get rid of any of them in the constant battle to reclaim the house from the children’s stuff as they hold such gorgeous memories.

Sun
05 ^th

Blue Chameleon By Emily Gravett

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Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett is a really simple book but we have spent hours reading it and talking about all the questions which the beautiful illustrations present you with.

At the start of the story the little chameleon is feeling blue because he doesn’t have any friends. Each of the following pages shows him trying (and failing) to make friends with a different animal or object the only way he knows how – by changing colour!

He turns yellow to chat to a banana but the banana doesn’t want to talk. He rolls himself up and dons purple spots to speak to a spotty ball but the ball isn’t interested. The same goes for a brown boot, a green grasshopper, a goldfish and many many more. Will poor chameleon ever find a friend? (Spoiler alert – yes he does!)

Sat
04 ^th

Quick Quack Quentin By Kes Gray & Jim Field

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Quick Quack Quentin by Kes Gray and Jim Field always gives us the giggles!

Quentin is a duck with a very unusual problem. His quack has lost an A so he can only say quck. He goes to the doctor for help but the he can only offer him a D, O, C, T, O or R and those letters don’t help him at all.

Bemused, Quentin heads to a nearby farm to see he can borrow their A – but they’re not interested in becoming a frm and the farmer doesn’t want to be a frmer. He speaks to a dog, a hen, a pig and a bull who let him try out their vowels but a quock, a queck, a quick and a quuck just don’t sound right. What is poor Quentin going to do?

Fri
03 ^rd

The Magical Wood By Mark Lemon & Maia Walczak

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I’m breaking my own rules with this book as I confess it isn’t one which I have read with Ivy. It’s a tiny bit old for her just yet (the recommended age range is 3-8) but it’s an important book covering a difficult topic so I am sharing it in the hope it may be helpful to you, our followers.

The Magical Wood was written to help small children deal with the emotions they may feel around bereavement, particularly the death of a close family member.

The wood is a beautiful place which is home to a family of trees. It’s a happy place visited by lots of little animals who love to play and splash in the river. One night there is a terrible storm and when the tree family wake up they discover that the Strongest Tree (one of the oldest trees in the wood) has fallen in the night and is no longer alive. The trees know that their lives have now changed forever and many tears are shed. How can they continue without the Strongest Tree?

Wed
01 ^st

Tabby McTat By Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

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We have been reading Tabby McTat to Ivy since she was about 6 months old and it’s still one of her all time favourites. When she was tiny she was just drawn to the illustrations of the cats (one of them looks a little like ours) but now she’s older she loves the story and knows the little song off by heart!

Tabby McTat is a scruffy little street cat who belongs to a busker. He loves his life wandering the streets of London with his owner, and he enjoys singing along when the busker performs. An unlucky chain of events result in the two friends being accidentally separated and McTat ends up living with a girl cat called Sock.

Sock and McTat become the best of friends and soon they end up with a small litter kittens. McTat loves his cosy new life but he never forgets the wonderful busker. One day he decides that he simply has to find out what happened to him so he kisses his little family goodbye and sets off in search of his old pal.

Tue
31 ^st

Ivy And The Lonely Raincloud
by Katie Harnett

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I definitely didn’t buy this one just because the little girl in it is called Ivy. Ok – maybe I did! But it turned out to be a good gamble as it’s a really lovely book with gorgeous illustrations.

The story starts with a little raincloud who is feeling lonely. The sun has come out so all his friends have gone away and he has no one to talk to. He sets off in search of a friend but no one seems to want him (and his raindrops) around.

He keeps searching until he spots a little girl who looks just as unhappy about the sunshine as he is. She’s grumpy in the market, grumpy on the tube and even grumpy when she gets home and tends to her garden. He starts to think that maybe the little girl is not really grumpy, just sad. He watches her in fascination as she looks after her plants, which seem to be struggling in the sun, and then he has an idea. If he rains on the plants and makes them grow, is it possible the little girl might smile again?

Mon
30 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Jo Love, Owner, Lobella Loves

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Jo, founder of Lobella Loves and mental health advocate. I live in East London with the hubby and my little girl who is three. I drink too much tea and wine, and not enough green things! I used to be a lawyer but decided I needed and wanted more to do more in my life. Suffering with postnatal depression (PND) after my little girl arrived, I knew I needed to help other women finding themselves alone and shamed.

What is your daughter’s favourite book?

She’s a real bookworm, so pinning it down to one is tricky. Right now, she’s loving, ‘You Can’t Take An Elephant On the Bus’ by Patricia Cleveland-Peck. It’s a fabulously silly tale about why various animals aren’t suited to different forms of transportation and without giving too much away, where they all end up is far more fun. It’s a delightfully energetic, beautifully illustrated, funny book and I love that it rhymes, making it a joy to read aloud.

Sun
29 ^th

The Dot
by Peter H. Reynolds

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We love this book by Peter H. Reynolds and i’m not ashamed to say it made me cry the first time we read it!

Vashti is a little girl who thinks she can’t draw. Whilst all of her friends paint and create in art class, she just sits and stares at the plain white paper, defeated. Her teacher challenges her to draw a dot in the middle of the page and then asks her to sign it. She jabs a dot with her pen, signs her name and then skulks out of the classroom.

The next week when she walks in to the art room she sees her dot (and signature!) on the wall, displayed in a lovely shiny frame. Inspired, she sets out to draw a better dot and then a better dot and then an even better dot than that. Soon she’s so good at drawing imaginative, colourful dots that the schools puts them on display at an art show.

Fri
27 ^th

Lunchtime By Rebecca Cobb

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This beautifully illustrated book by Rebecca Cobb is perfect for all of you parents out there who (like us!) struggle to get your child interested in sitting down and eating their meals.

The little girl in the story is very busy painting and playing with her toys, so when her mums calls her to tell her that lunch is ready she really doesn’t want to go and eat. She’s having far too much fun to stop for boring old food! Reluctantly she leaves what she’s doing and sits and stares at her lunch, looking grumpy, without eating a bite.

But then she spots a crocodile under the table. Then a bear. Then a wolf. The three fierce animals are VERY interested in her lunch, explaining that her soup, apple and sandwich are much more tasty than little children (who actually taste pretty disgusting). They gobble up her lunch and then thank her heartily for the lovely meal.

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