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Wed
03 ^rd

In A Minute Mama Bear by Rachel Bright

Most parents will be familiar with the sense of trepidation you feel when starting a busy day with a small child in tow. You know it’s *possible* that everything could go to plan, but realistically you’re going to be late for everything (if you even manage to get out of the door at all).

Such is the plight of Mama Bear who has a very long list of things she needs to achieve before the end of the day, starting with dance class and a trip to the supermarket.

Little Bella Bear has other ideas though. She wants to bounce on her bed. She wants to wear the red outfit and not the blue outfit. She wants to count the stairs slowly on her way down. She wants an elaborate breakfast (which she inevitably wouldn’t eat!). She doesn’t want to brush her teeth. She might want to use the potty though – but not until it’s time to leave, and not without reading at least 3 books whilst she ‘tries’. Sound familiar?

Sun
31 ^st

Noah’s Shark by Clare Thompson & Richie T. Evans

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

It’s ‘Show and Tell’ time at school and little Noah is very excited. He’s brought in his new pet to show the class and he can’t wait to see their reaction. When his turn arrives all of the children shriek as Noah’s pet turns out to be a shark called Mark! Mark the shark is very friendly but he’s certainly not welcome in the classroom!

Noah soon discovers that having a pet shark is actually quite troublesome. It causes problems on the bus, in the garden, in the park and especially at the local swimming pool!

Thu
28 ^th

When I Was A Child
by Andy Stanton & David Litchfield

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

A little girl and her grandmother sit down together to look through a treasured book of memories. The grandmother explains what when she was a little girl everything was magical – colours were bright, grass was ten feet tall, there was music everywhere and life was a celebration. But sadly as she has got older, life has got greyer and she doesn’t think the magic exists anymore.

Upon hearing this, her granddaughter takes her hand and they lift up in to the sky. She takes her grandmother on a tour of the world as seen through her own eyes, and there is magic everywhere! They see faces in raindrops, listen to heartbeats in the mountains, dip their toes in to a river of seahorses and attend a birthday party for a flower.

Wed
27 ^th

The Bumblebear
by Nadia Shireen

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Norman the bear loves honey. In fact, he loves it so much that he wishes he was a bee. Why? Because bees have 24/7 access to honey!

One day, Norman hatches a cunning plan. He pops on a giant bee costume and enrols himself at bee school. Naturally they are confused by the fact he’s much bigger than a normal bee but when he explains that he comes from Giant Bee Land they let him in. He throws himself in to his classes and very soon he can buzz, find smelly flowers and do a waggly dance just like all the other bees.

All of the bees love Norman but there is one bee who is a tiny bit suspicious. Determined to catch him out, she takes him to the honey stores to see his reaction -and that’s when it all starts to go wrong. Faced with jars and jars of honey, Norman just can’t help himself. He throws off his bee suit and eats it all up!

Sat
23 ^rd

Freya’s Funny Feeling
by Samia Quddus & Rahima Begum

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

I spotted this one on Instagram a little while ago and was drawn in by the beautiful illustration of the little girl on the cover. Intrigued, I bought a copy and i’m so glad I did!

Little Freya is very excited about the fact she’s becoming a big girl, but she soon discovers that growing up means dealing with new emotions and feelings. Normally bouncy and confident, she starts to experience an odd wibble in her tummy which she doesn’t understand. She describes it as ‘tangly, twirly and topply’ and it makes her a little bit anxious. What on earth is it and how can she make it go away?

She stops eating twirly spaghetti in case that’s causing the problem. She tries spinning in circles and singing really loudly to try and chase the sensation away. Nothing works however so she decides to speak to her mum and dad. They explain that what she is experiencing is butterflies in tummy which flutter around when she is feeling nervous or worried. She is surprised to discover that her parents also get butterflies when they are faced with new things!

Fri
22 ^nd

Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

In the big city, the dogs move in highly visible tribes. The business dogs all wear suits and scurry busily along. The football dogs all wear matching kits. The scout dogs all wear khaki. Everywhere you look there are groups of dogs, all uniformly dressed.

But in the middle of the hustle and bustle is an odd dog out. Wearing a woolly hat and scarf and listening to music on his snazzy headphones, it’s apparent that this little guy does not fit in. No matter how hard he tries, he realises he’s just not like the other dogs in the city.

Saddened, he decides to leave his home town to try and find a place where the dogs are more like him. He travels far and wide until he stumbles upon Doggywood – a place where all the dogs wear woolly hats and scarves and listen to music on their headphones. He is so excited because he thinks he has found his place in the world!

Thu
21 ^st

One Button Benny by Alan Windram & Chloe Holwill-Hunter

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Benny the robot is a little bit different. All of his robot friends have lots of shiny buttons which do fun things, like flash lights, blow bubbles and play music. But poor Benny only has one button. It’s bright red and says ‘Only Press In An Emergency’.

The other robots make fun of him and call him ‘One Button Benny’ and this makes him sad. He doesn’t really know what an emergency is but he secretly hopes one will happen so that he gets to press his button and find out what it does.

One morning Benny wakes up, eats his breakfast and brushes his teeth, unaware that outside his house an actual emergency is unfolding. The evil Collectors have landed on his planet and they are planning to gather up all of the robots, crunch them up and turn them in to teapots! The Collectors are small hairy aliens with green bums and they mean business!

Sat
16 ^th

When Sadness Comes To Call by Eva Eland

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

When the little girl in this story hears a knock at her front door, she is surprised to find Sadness standing on her doorstep with a large suitcase. She lets hims in and he follows her around, sits too close to her on the sofa and refuses to go away.

Sadness consumes her to the extent that all she can feel is sad, even when those around her are playing happily.

Trying to hide Sadness away doesn’t work so she tries a different approach. She gives him a name and she asks him why he’s here. She listens to what he needs and they learn to work together. They sit in comfortable silence, they draw, they cuddle, they go for walks and they accept each other.

Fri
15 ^th

Find Colours by Tamara Shopsin & Jason Fulford

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If you’re trying to teach your child about colours then the last thing you need is a black and white book, right? WRONG! This genius little board book, which was published in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, is the best colour book we have encountered so far.

Made up entirely of black and white pages, the book features clever cut outs which encourage kids to think differently. The first instruction is ‘Find Yellow’, accompanied by a cut out of a sun. You then need to find something yellow to either hold the book up to or place under the page to make the sun shine. This continues throughout the book, where you need to make a red cockerel, a green leaf, a blue cup, some purple grapes, a grey elephant, an orange, black sunglasses, pink worms, brown paw prints, a white moon and a multi-coloured rainbow.

Wed
13 ^th

Kevin
by Rob Biddulph

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

There’s no getting around it, Sid Gibbons is a little bit naughty. Just this week he’s smashed a bird bath, thrown his dinner on the floor, trashed his bedroom and left his colouring pens on the floor for so long that they’ve all dried out. His poor mum doesn’t know what to do, because when she asks him about these misdemeanours he just lies and says that his imaginary friend Kevin did it all. Kevin is invisible and no one can see him except Sid, so he’s the perfect fall guy.

Then one day, when Sid has once again been sent to bed for being naughty, a hatch in the ceiling opens and a bright light appears. Sid climbs up to take a peek and finds himself faced with none other Kevin himself – he is real! Sid is super excited to see his (incredibly cute and fluffy!) friend and they have lots of fun playing together. However it soon becomes apparent that in Kevin’s world, it is Sid who is the invisible friend.

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