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Guest Book

Ivy’s Guest Book: Hannah Van Buskirk, Owner, HVB Marketing

Hanna Van BuskirkTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello, my name is Hannah. I’m a self confessed cappuccino  and Lotus biscuit addict, who could easily spend all day in a book shop if I wasn’t quite so distracted by my 3 and 5 year old!  I own HVB Marketing. We are a business supporting (mostly amazing mum-lead) businesses with their online marketing, which predominantly focuses on Search and Social advertising.  Having worked in the online marketing space for years, most clients will dip into other areas of marketing knowledge along the way. I live and work in the leafy Surrey suburbs.

What are your children’s favourite books?

My 3 year old daughter’s book of the moment is ‘Tiny Tantrum’’ by Caroline Crowe. It’s a story about a little girl who tantrums when she is asked to do something she doesn’t enjoy,  like cleaning her teeth or eating broccoli. A purple, hairy monster and his friends give the girl a fright but then they give her some good advice  like doing bottom wiggles, flushing your tantrum down the loo and never sharing hiccups, pants or snot. The kind of advice that makes my daughter laugh out loud! In the end, Tiny Tantrum finds herself giving the monsters some advice too. I think my daughter really connects with the tragedy of having to put your coat on, wash your hair all those things mean mums like me insist on!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Sarah Parrott, Owner, Write Sparks

Write SparksTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello! I’m Sarah- an exhausted mum of a lovely 13 month old boy. My husband and I are both South London born and bred, so we’re loving raising Joel in Forest Hill. Until I had Joel, I was a Primary Teacher and Head of English. I adored my job. However, our beautiful boy has had a difficult start, with lots of health issues.  It soon became clear that I wouldn’t be able to return to teaching in school, as he needs more care than most and we spend lots of time in various hospitals. During one of the seemingly endless night feeds, I realised there was a way that I could still teach and share my passion for Writing with children and teachers, but work around my son’s needs. Soon after, Write Sparks was born! As the owner of Write Sparks, I teach creative writing classes for children and work as a freelance Writing Consultant in schools.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Rachel Bridge, Child Psychologist & Writer

Rachel BridgeTell us a bit about yourself and your family…

My name is Rachel.  I am a mama from down under, living on the south coast of Australia.  I have three delightful children.  Corey, our 12 year old son who doesn’t share my DNA but quickly won my heart, Addison, our three year old daughter who oozes adventure, warmth and intrigue and Kaylee, our two year old daughter whose spirit is affectionately adorable and who shows those she trusts a mischievous sense of humour.

I am also a Psychologist who is passionately working with children and their families. I am on a journey to empower children and parents on building and strengthening connections through intentional parenting.   I am a wellbeing writer who has a blog and shares fused snippets of my personal and professional journey in the hope that I may offer a sense of reassurance or support to others.  And I am also an aspiring children’s author who is currently working on placing a piece of my heart into a carefully illustrated therapeutic children’s book.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Holly Dabbs, Founder, Foxglove Forest School

Holly DabbsTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name is Holly and live in South London with my husband, 11-month-old daughter and our two moody cats! I run creative workshops for children in museums, gardens and bookshops! I collect children’s picture books and finally have a child in the house who can enjoy them too although she is currently trying to eat most of them! I run Foxglove Forest School, a family forest school session for under5s in Forest Hill London. I love to use books and storytelling in my sessions.

What is your daughter’s favourite book?

At the moment my daughter loves ‘the Noisy Book’ by Soledad Bravi. Its great example of onomatopoeia and has bright, simple illustrations that she is hooked by. I am passionate about her enjoying books as much as I do! She also loves Spot books! We are lucky to live in Southwark which is part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It’s a free reading scheme for children under five, she sends you a new book for free each month. Thank you Dolly!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Ceci De Benedictis, Director, Toy Box Tots

Toy Box TotsTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name is Ceci, short for Cecilia and I am half of Toy Box Tots, renting out boxes of super fun toys to preschoolers across the UK. I have boy girl twins who will turn 3 in the summer and a wild and crazy kitten called Harry. We live in East Dulwich with my husband Marco, having relocated from the UAE 18 months ago.

What are your children’s favourite books?

This changes on a monthly basis! At the moment it’s ‘Lottie Potter wants an Otter’ by Jeanne Willis and Leonie Lord . Every couple of weeks we go up to the local library and chose about 10 books to take home and there is always 1 that gets singled out and has to be read at least 10 times a day until we all know it from memory!  They always love books where someone or something is naughty or there is some drama or scandal that we can talk about.  It’s brilliant for me as I’m always looking for new books to base our toy boxes around so constantly having new books on the scene is great research.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Shannon Reed, Owner, Mockingbird Makes

Mocking Bird Makes

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name is Shannon Reed and I’m a mum to two boys (7 and 11) and wife to one husband. We have lived in East Dulwich in South London for around 15 years but I’m originally from New Zealand. I used to be an innovation consultant, helping organisations generate breakthrough ideas and turn them into reality. Now I run Mockingbird Makes for bespoke knitted, crocheted and embroidered handcrafts – and here I am still facilitating peoples creativity!

What are your sons’ favourite books?

One of my children’s favourite books was the Usborne Little Children’s Music book by Fiona Watt. It’s a sound book and despite the fact it’s been broken for 3 years from so much use, I can still hear the music in my head. It would be played over and over again for hours – best babysitter ever!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Julie Waite, Marketing Consultant

Julie Waite MarketingTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hi, I’m Julie and I’m mum to two gorgeous girls aged 6 and 4. We live in South Yorkshire in a village on the edge of the Pennines, from where I run my marketing and copywriting business.

Which book do you most like reading to them and why?

A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is a fantastic book to read to young children. It’s about a little old lady who grumbled that her house was too small, she then met a wise old man who tells her to take in an assortment of animals, culminating in total chaos, as you might imagine. At the end of the book he tells her to “Take them all out” and then she realises that her house was fine as it was.

I believe the story is based on an old folk tale or fable and it certainly carries a good message – be grateful for what you have, it is enough. However, it presents this message in a funny and subtle way, which my girls find very entertaining. They love to join in with key lines that are repeated throughout, often putting on a silly voice for the old lady “My house is a squash and a squeeze”.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Marcela Ferreira AKA S.E. Sussed

S.E. SussedTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

My name is Marcela, I am a mum of two (Izzy 8, and George 6) and wife of one.  I am an aspiring children’s writer and though I have nabbed a great agent, I am yet to have my stories published (here is hoping).

What is your son/daughter’s favourite book?

We read a lot at our house, so favourites change all the time.  I asked the kids what their favourites are right now, and this is what they said:

My daughter’s is Jake Atlas, by Rob Lloyd Jones: “because it’s adventurous”.  Jake Atlas is Indiana Jones for kids, inspired by the author’s own experiences as an Egyptologist.  His previous books, the ‘Wild Boy’ series are fantastic (and take place in Victorian London). I was lucky enough to meet Rob, and he is a brilliant story teller in person too – I highly recommend his books.

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Dave Bostock AKA @DaddyandJacob

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello, my name’s Dave. I’m a hard-working single dad from Nottingham. What do I do for a living? Well I’m a reptile & aquatic specialist for a pet company. Animals and nature are one of my biggest passions and I hope to pass this on to my children. Currently I only have one child, Jacob, who is 2 years old (3 in a few months). Honestly, he’s my world and really does complete me. We do everything together.

What is your son’s favourite book?

Jacob’s favourite book has always been “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. He’s always enjoyed animals, so it had to be an animal book! Learning about real caterpillars turning into beautiful butterflies with his daddy made him love the book even more. He even recently dressed up as the hungry caterpillar for world book day!

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Ivy’s Guest Book: Kate AKA The Muddled Mum

The Muddled MumTell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello! My name is Kate but I am also known as The Muddled Mum because, well, my mind is a bit of a muddle. I live in Dorset with my wonderful husband and 2.5-year-old daughter. My daughter is also called Ivy – a name I didn’t realise was so popular until I started going on Instagram!

What is your daughter’s favourite book?

Ivy has many favourites that get rotated around. Her current favourite is Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb. I bought it to see if I could encourage her to eat more and it worked! She knows most of the pages off by heart and likes repeating phrases like ‘a nice clean plate’, and ‘revolting!’ The illustrations have a certain innocence to them and Ivy often says that she is the little girl.

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