Animals Archives - Page 8 of 17

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Animals

Wed
15 ^th

Mrs Mole, I’m Home! By Jarvis

Morris the Mole has had a tough day at work and all he wants to do is get home to his family – the problem is he can’t find his glasses anywhere! He burrows in what he believes to be the direction of home but he keeps getting it wrong, again and again and again.

Each time he pops up into a house he shouts ‘Mrs. Mole, I’m Home!’ but it’s never the right house. He visits a burrow full of rabbits, a tree full of owls and a swamp full of crocodiles. He even ends up in Antarctica!

Finally he smells a familiar smell – worm noodles! Surely this must be his house, and where on earth are those glasses?

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.

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.

Wed
25 ^th

A River
by Marc Martin

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I bought this book based solely on the beautiful cover and when it arrived I loved it – but if i’m honest I wasn’t sure if it would hold Ivy’s attention. I was very wrong!

The story is about a little girl, living in a city who likes to watch the river through her bedroom window. As she sits there she imagines the journey the river takes as it moves towards the ocean.

The illustrations are a joy and my initial assessment that it might be a bit old for Ivy was immediately proved wrong when we read the book together and she was completely memorised by the pictures. The river moves from the city to patchwork fields, then through rolling mountains, over a waterfall and in to a jungle rich with animal life. Finally we move through mangroves of crocodiles before reaching the ocean and gazing at the sea life beneath the little girl’s imaginary boat.

Sun
22 ^nd

The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson & Sara Ogilvie

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The Detective Dog seems to be one of Julia Donaldson‘s lesser known books but we think it’s fantastic and deserves a lot more attention. If you haven’t read this one yet then definitely keep an eye out for it!

The story is about a dog called Nell who is very good at finding things. She lives with a little boy called Peter who loses his toys all the time so she uses her exceptional nose to sniff them out and return them to him.

Every Monday Peter takes Nell to school with him and it’s her favourite day of the week. She loves all of the different smells and she is particularly fond of the books which the children read to her. However one Monday, when they get to the school, Nell realises she cannot smell the books. She and Peter rush in to the classroom to find all of the children and the teacher in tears. Someone has stolen all of the books. Every last one of them!

Thu
12 ^th

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae & Guy Parker-Rees

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I have been reading this wonderful book to Ivy since she was just a few months old and this is our second copy as the first was so well-thumbed that it had started to fall apart! It’s written by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees.

Gerald is a giraffe whose skills include standing still and eating leaves from tall trees. They don’t include running and they most definitely don’t include dancing, which is a shame as every year all of the animals get together for the Jungle Dance and everyone has to take part.

On the night of the big Dance, Gerald watches the warthogs, rhinos, lions, chimps and baboons take to the floor to roaring applause, but when his turn comes the reaction is very different. As soon as everyone sees him they start to laugh and call him names because they know he is so clumsy. Devastated, Gerald takes off in to the jungle where he meets a wise old Cricket who teaches him that everyone can dance – they just have to find their own song.

Sun
08 ^th

Wild Animals By Xavier Deneux

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Ivy is fascinated by this multi-sensory board book which shows wild animals and their habitats.

Each page features a different animal and they’re all beautifully drawn with really cute faces. The combination of raised and concave sections (which fit together so that the pages aren’t bulky in any way) give your child lots to explore. They can trace their fingers across the bumps and shapes whilst trying to identify the different creatures. Our favourite is the zebra page – Ivy loves the baby zebra hidden amongst the stripy trees!

The book also provides some inspiration for older toddlers by showing a small word cluster for each animal. The combination of nouns, adjectives and verbs will teach them new words and also give parents some great discussion points around the pictures.

Sat
07 ^th

Maisy Goes To London By Lucy Cousins

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Ivy has lived in London her whole life (and I have been here for almost 18 years) but we still love to take a tourist day and explore the city as if it’s all brand new. This Maisy book from Lucy Cousins is perfect for tiny tourists who are planning a trip to the city and it’s guaranteed to get them excited about all the sights they will see.

Maisy and her friends visit London for the day and they tour all of the major attractions including Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Nelson’s Column and Big Ben. The book provides small facts about each so that little ones know what to expect and it also addresses things which they may find difficult about the city at first – including the noise, the bright lights and the fact the underground can get pretty crowded.

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