This funny little book gives some pretty solid advice on animals and public transport.
Want to take an elephant on a bus? Nope.
Put a camel in a sailboat? Nope.
Get a whale to ride a bike? Nope.
Leave a bear in charge of an ice cream van? Nope, nope, nope!
Great illustrations and guaranteed to make a toddler giggle.
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2hIeOX3
There is something hauntingly beautiful about The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield – and this is another one where Ivy feels compelled to stroke the pages when I’m reading it to her.
The story is about a little bear cub who finds an old piano in the woods. Fascinated by the sounds it makes, he visits every day until he is an accomplished pianist, but he still doesn’t really understand what the piano is.
His playing begins to draw a crowd and eventually Broadway comes calling. He would really, really like to play his piano for audiences around the world but he’s scared of leaving his home and family behind.
What will happen if he takes a leap of faith? And will his friends forget all about him once he’s gone?
This is a really powerful book about how following your dreams doesn’t have to mean losing your roots.
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2ip1J1O
This beautifully illustrated book by Lizzy Stewart is one of Ivy’s current favourites. She loves the pictures so much that she strokes the pages.
The story is about a little girl called Nora who is staying with her Grandma and announces that she is bored. Grandma sends her off in to the garden promising that if she looks hard enough she’ll see the tiger that lives there, along with dragonflies the size of birds, plants that will eat you up and a polar bear!
Nora is utterly unconvinced but then she sees a dragonfly and chases it deep in to the garden. Could there really be a tiger down there too? And what will happen if she finds him?
This won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize this year and I can totally see why. It’s fab!
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2jrOlxq
This evening we’ve got a super cute classic – Guess How Much I Love You.
Little Nutbrown Hare is about to go to bed but before he goes to sleep he wants to tell Big Nutbrown Hare just how much he loves him. He stretches his arms as far as they can go and he hops as high as he can but Big Nutbrown Hare can stretch and hop a little higher.
A gorgeous book about trying to vocalise the extent of your love (which I actually bought for Ivy’s Daddy long before she was born because I’m a soppy so and so)
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2hu4Rfy
George the Dog is every toddler. He really, really wants to be good and he promises he will be but sometimes being good is just so hard! The loveable dog gets himself into a number of scrapes, causing the reader to shout ‘Oh No, George!’ each time.
The illustrations are gorgeous and Ivy is always reduced to fits of giggles as she yells ‘Oh No!’ at the extremely cute puppy protagonist.
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2jhujWb
I think every parent I know will sympathise with Mrs. Large the Elephant. All she wants is five minutes’ peace to sit in the bath with her cup of tea and close her eyes. But before long the bathroom is the scene of a recorder recital, a book reading, a toy fest and a water fight as her three little elephants all find her and want her to play.
Sound familiar? Yup. Us too!
A really sweet and relatable story that’s now over 30 years old.
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2hqEd7x
As a shy person with more than a pinch of anxiety, this is the book I wish I had read as a child and I hope it inspires Ivy in the future.
The story is about a tiny little mouse who is often overlooked because of his quiet little voice. He looks up to the mighty lion who lives nearby and wishes he could be big and brave like him.
One day he realises that in order to be who he wants to be he needs to find his courage, so he sets off to find the lion so he can ask him to teach him to roar.
But the meeting doesn’t quite go to plan. Could it be possible that the mighty lion is scared of mice?
We adore this one, and I’m not ashamed to say that the first time I read it to Ivy I cried at the end. Beautiful!
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2zwAZUk
A very old friend of mine kindly gave us this book at the weekend and Ivy was instantly really taken with it.
It tells the story of a curious owl who decides to have a little night time and then stay up to see what life is like in the daytime. What he discovers is a whole world of bright colours which make him say ‘WOW’ (which incidentally is now Ivy’s favourite word!).
The illustrations are vivid and gorgeous and the story holds her attention right through to the end. Recommended!
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2jeIN9y
We love Sugarlump and the Unicorn by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks.
Sugarlump is a rocking horse who becomes discontented with his life when the children who own him grow up and go to school. Enter a magical unicorn who grants his wishes and lets him be who he wants to be. But after stints on a farm, at a race course and in a circus he’s still not happy and he misses the children.
Will he ever fulfil his potential and become the horse he was meant to be?
The illustrations in this one are fab and there are raised glittery sections on every page for your little one to find and touch.
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2j5Ao86
As Halloween approaches it only seems right to draw attention to this absolute classic from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
A friendly witch flies on her broomstick on a windy day but the wind keeps blowing away her witchy essentials, including her hat and her wand.
Each time she lands to hunt them down a clever animal helps her and then joins her on her broom. She’s soon travelling with a veritable menagerie but then the broom snaps in two and they all tumble to the ground and land in the path of a hungry dragon. How will they ever escape?
Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2z2Oayb