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Kes Gray

Tue
15 ^th

The Night After Christmas
by Kes Gray & Claire Powell

Everybody knows what Santa does on Christmas Eve, but have you ever wondered what happens when his work is complete? This fab rhyming story gives us a sneaky peak into what happens in the North Pole on Boxing Day, and it’s a lot more energetic than you’d think!

If I was Santa I’d probably spend Boxing Day recovering in bed, as I imagine that travelling around the world delivering so many presents to so many children would be pretty tiring work. Santa obviously has a lot more stamina than I do though as he chooses to spend the day partying!

First he sits down to a celebratory dinner with Mrs Claus and then the festivities begin. Hundreds of Elves gather in their festive jumpers and twinkling lights are strung on the trees. What follows is the most Christmassy of Christmas parties you could possibly imagine! There are owls, giant crackers and sweet treats galore. There is music, dancing and they even turn on the Northern Lights!

Fri
11 ^th

Oi Aardvark!
by Kes Gray & Jim Field

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

If you’ve been following us a while you’ll know we are huge fans of the Oi Frog & Friends series from genius duo Kes Gray and Jim Field. We have all the books in the series and Ivy literally jumped for joy when the latest was delivered to our door.

A quick recap in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years and haven’t encountered these joyful stories before… Frog, Cat and Dog are 3 friends with a penchant for rhyme and a slightly unhealthy preoccupation with seating arrangements. Cat started the trend in book 1 (Oi Frog!) when she insisted that frogs can only sit on logs then Frog took up the baton in book 2 (Oi Dog!) and has been a tiny bit obsessed ever since.

Mon
20 ^th

The Diddle That Dummed by Kes Gray & Fred Blunt

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I love picture books which encourage kids to embrace their unique qualities and this new story from Kes Gray and Fred Blunt is one of the best I’ve seen in a while.

Flinty Bo Diddle is a musician and he’s trying to write a a new piece of music to play on his fiddle. He lines up all the musical notes on the page and then starts to play. It’s all going very well until he gets half way through the tune and one little diddle goes dum.

The little diddle apologises for messing up the music but explains that that’s just how he is. He’s a diddle but sometimes he can’t help going dum.

Thu
03 ^rd

Oi Puppies! by Kes Gray & Jim Field

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We are massive fans of this zany series so when the newest book – Oi Puppies! – arrived, Ivy was bouncing off the ceiling.

Frog, Dog and Cat are back to discuss the important issue of where everyone should sit, but this time they have a slight problem. Dog is babysitting a zillion puppies and they just won’t behave. They clamber all over Dog, hang from Cat’s whiskers and even start chewing on poor Frog’s swimming trunks.

Something needs to be done, so Frog gets on the phone to the wonderfully named ‘Oi Animal Seating Supply Co.’ to try and arrange some suitable ‘chairs’.

Mon
11 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Lucie Gray, Owner, Paper Aeroplane Creative

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hullo, I’m Lucie. I live with my partner Mark and two children, Eloise 4 (& the all important 3/4) and Oliver 2. We live in Keynsham, a town squeezed between Bristol and Bath. I’m a packaging and branding designer.

What are your children’s favourite books?

Oliver’s favourite book is ‘Ten Little Pirates‘ by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty. Each pirate peril is met with an “Oh NO!” and we are guaranteed an arm swooshing “Arrrrr” at the end followed by “again Mummy!”

It’s really hard to pin Eloise down to just one favourite book, she won’t go to bed without at least an armful to read, but at a push it would be something written by Julia Donaldson. She knows them off by heart and can be regularly heard reading them to her favourite soft toy, Rosie.

Thu
07 ^th

Think Big! by Kes Gray & Nathan Reed

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When you think of Humpty Dumpty you can’t help but immediately picture him falling off a wall – but what if he could be so much more than that?

This brightly coloured book starts with Humpty sitting on his famous wall, talking about the future with his friends. One of them asks what he wants to be when he grows up and his response shocks them. He wants to be a boiled egg! Aghast, they suggest that he thinks outside of the box.

Wee Willie Winkie thinks Humpty should be a footballer, Little Bo Peep suggests he becomes a detective, whilst Mary Mary Quite Contrary thinks he would make a great musician. Soon everyone is sharing their career aspirations. Little Miss Muffet dreams of becoming a scientist, Goosey Gander plans to become a builder, and This Little Piggy wants to be a traffic warden!

Mon
04 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Jaclyn Townshend, Owner, Lingotot Gravesend

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello! My name is Jaclyn and after having my son in April 2016 I left my Facilities Manager role in London and I now run Lingotot Gravesend. I live in Hoo in Kent with my husband and our son Finn who is 2.5, and we love to travel to see my parents who live in rural Spain. I’m part of a book club who meet monthly and I love to read, sadly I don’t have as much time as I used to when I used to commute to London and had hours to read, but I now enjoy reading with my son who loves to sit down with a new book and read it over and over (and over…) again!

What is your son’s favourite book?

Finn’s current favourite is Oi Frog! By Kes Gray & Jim Field – it’s a hilarious rhyming story about a frog who discovers that all animals have their special places to sit. Finn loves saying the relevant rhyming word to the animal (i.e. cats sit on mats, foxes sit on boxes) and he’s learnt lots of new words as a result. There are lots of different animals in the series and I can’t wait to get more books for us to read.

Sat
05 ^th

Oi Dog! by Kes & Claire Gray and Jim Field

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Oi Dog! is the second title in the zany ‘Oi Frog and Friends’ series. There are currently four books and we love each and every one!

If you’ve read book one – Oi Frog! – you’ll know that these bonkers tales are about a peculiar set of rules which dictate where an animal can sit. In the first story we met Cat, Dog and Frog. Cat explained that animals are only allowed to park their bums on things which rhyme – so cats sit on mats, frogs sit on logs and (unfortunately for this particular frog) dogs sit on frogs. Squish!

As we move in to book two we see the feisty frog choosing to rebel. He disagrees wholeheartedly with the current rules so sets about making some of his own.

Mon
03 ^rd

Ivy’s Guest Book: Sakina Ballard, Founder, Tranquil Birth

Posted by Shelley Edwards - 2 Comments

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Sakina. Mum of 2 boys, 7 and 4 living in South London. I’m a Hypnobirthing teacher and Birth Trauma Resolution Practitioner which I became passionate about after becoming a mother. I have always loved reading in my life and sharing books with my kids has brought so much joy and connection to my days as a mother. In those early years at home sometimes at a loss of what to do, a good book and a cuddle on the sofa would transform our day and reconnect us.

Tue
18 ^th

Oi Frog! By Kes Gray & Jim Field

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This series of books by Kes Gray & Jim Field definitely wins the award for most random but we love them!

The book centres around a set of ‘rules’ which determine what different animals are allowed to sit on. The two main characters are a cat and a frog and the former is explaining the rules to the latter. The cat tells frog that he has to sit on a log – but he doesn’t want to! Logs aren’t comfortable and they give you splinters in your bottom -but unfortunately those are the rules!

The cat then explains all the other seat-based rules and they get more and more crazy. We see moles sitting on poles, lizards sitting on wizards, gophers sitting on sofas, gibbons sitting on ribbons and even fleas sitting on peas (Ivy’s favourite!).

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