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Sun
18 ^th

The Cook And The King By Julia Donaldson & David Roberts

At the start of this lovely book the King is sat at his royal table eating takeaway pizza from a box. He needs a new cook and he needs one now. There’s a problem though – he’s really, really fussy! He auditions lots of impressive chefs but none of the meals they create for him is quite right. Then in walks Wobbly Bob – a self-confessed wimp who really wants the job!

The King agrees to give Bob a trial and sets him to work making fish and chips, but Bob is scared of every single step of the process. He’s scared of catching fish. He’s scared of digging for potatoes. He’s scared of slicing up chips. And he’s very scared of using the frying pan on the cooker. Fortunately the brave King is there to help and every time Bob is nervous about a task he steps in and shows him it’s okay.

Sat
17 ^th

Hedgehogs Don’t Live In The City! By Lucy Reynolds & Jenna Herman

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

We loved ‘Parrots Don’t Live In The City’ by Lucy Reynolds & Jenna Herman so we were very excited to discover that they have a new book out – this time with a hedgehog in the starring role!

The story follows Grace and Archie, two children who are scooting through the city at dusk. Grace spots something in the leaves which she thinks looks like a hedgehog but Archie disagrees. He tells her that hedgehogs don’t live in the city so it must have been something else. Grace doubts herself but as they continue their journey she thinks she spots another. Could it really be a hedgehog on the busy city streets?

The lovely rhyme makes this a pleasure to read and the words bring the bustling city to life. You can feel the hum of the traffic and the leaves being swirled in the autumn wind. The words are elevated by the crisp and leafy illustrations which encourage you to seek out the hidden wildlife.

Sat
10 ^th

Oliver & Patch
by Claire Freedman & Kate Hindley

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Little Oliver is feeling sad. His family have moved from the countryside to the big city and everything feels strange. He misses the wide open spaces but most of all he misses his friends, and he hasn’t made any new ones since he arrived.

One day Oliver heads outside on his own to explore and in amongst the crowds he spots a dog called Patch who seems to be lost. Oliver befriends him and together they have lots of fun in Oliver’s new neighbourhood. For the first time he doesn’t feel lonely and the city doesn’t seem as scary after all.

But Oliver is old enough to understand that Patch is not his dog and that somebody out there must love and miss him very much. He sets about making some posters to help Patch find his way home, even though in his heart he wants him to stay.

Wed
07 ^th

Jumble Wood By Helena Covell

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

In a quirky little world called Jumble Wood there lives a multitude of cute little creatures. Each of them has a thing they carry around with them which makes them happy. There are creatures with flowers, creatures with balloons, creatures with sunglasses or hats and even creatures with scooters and skateboards!

But there is one little creature called Pod who doesn’t have a happy thing, and this makes her very sad. She decides that the thing that will make her happy must be hiding out there somewhere so she sets off on a journey to find it. Along the way Pod meets Peach and Worm who help her in her quest

Together they venture in to the deepest and darkest part of the wood in search of the hard-to-find thing which will finally make Pod happy. Will they find it? Or will Pod realise that a happy thing doesn’t have to be a thing at all?

Sun
04 ^th

The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight By Helen Docherty & Thomas Docherty

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

A few weeks ago a lovely lady called Helen dropped me a message to recommend us a book which her son had picked out at the library – The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight. It wasn’t one that i’d heard of so I want to give a big shout out to her to say thank you as we LOVE it! (It should be noted here that this is definitely a different Helen to the one who wrote the book!)

The story is about a little mouse called Leo who likes nothing more than to curl up with a good book. However Leo is a knight so, despite his protestations, his parents insist that he has to go out in to the world and fight dragons.

Leo packs a bag with some sandwiches (and lots of books of course!) and heads off on his horse to fight a dragon who has been terrorising a town a few hours ride away. En route he faces a fearsome griffin and an angry troll, but defeats them quickly and easily using not his sword but his collection of books. It turns out that nasty creatures can be quite vain and love to hear stories about themselves!

Thu
01 ^st

Who’s Hiding? By Satoru Onishi

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Ivy spotted this on the shelf of our local bookshop last week and was instantly fascinated. She sat on the floor looking at it for so long that I definitely had to buy it!

The simple format shows 18 animals per double page spread. Their size, shape and position on the page doesn’t change so Ivy quickly learned to identify what each one was and its rough location.

Each page then asks you a question and you have to find the correct animals in order to answer it. The questions are things like ‘Who’s hiding?’, ‘Who’s backwards?’ and ‘Who’s sleeping?’.

I particularly like the questions around emotions (Crying, Angry etc) as your child has to identify the emotion by looking at the expressions on the animal’s faces. Ivy likes to mimic the faces – particularly the angry bear!

Wed
31 ^st

Mrs Blackhat
by Chloë & Mick Inkpen

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Our favourite book this Halloween has been Mrs Blackhat by Chloe & Mick Inkpen. Ivy LOVES it and I’ve easily read it 2-3 times a day in the last week!

Mrs Blackhat is a witch whose life definitely has a colour scheme. Everything is black – her clothes, her broom, her cauldron, her house – except for one thing. She has a ginger cat!

She finds this splash of colour extremely irksome so she sets out to find a way to transform her cat so that he’s more in keeping with her witchy style. Being somewhat of an online shopping addict she hops on her laptop and orders some potions and spells from her favourite site. However when they arrive they don’t quite perform as they should.

Tue
30 ^th

Sweep By Louise Greig & Júlia Sardà

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

I’m a big fan of books which helps children recognise and understand their feelings and this one does a fantastic job of showing how moods can affect you and the people around you.

The main character in this story is called Ed and he is in a bad mood. He’s been in bad moods before but not like this one. It starts off as something tiny, but instead of addressing the way that he feels he just ignores it, stares at the ground and pushes on through until his mood becomes worse. His feelings take hold and little Ed is no longer in control of his emotions. The bad mood takes over and starts to affect the people around him. Eventually the bad mood is so big that it affects the whole town.

Can Ed regain control of his emotions, and if so will he learn how to stop this from happening again?

Sun
28 ^th

My Teacher Is A Monster!
by Peter Brown

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Two of my closest female friends are primary school teachers so when I spotted this I knew we had to buy it!

The story is about a little boy called Bobby who doesn’t like school because he is always getting told off by his teacher, Miss Kirby. He doesn’t like her and thinks she’s a monster!

Then one weekend he bumps in to her when he’s walking in his favourite park, and neither of them are quite sure what to do. They both feel a little awkward seeing each other outside of school. Just as it’s becoming super uncomfortable a gust of wind catches Miss Kirby’s favourite hat and blows it away.

Bobby manages to save the hat and in the process learns a little bit more about Miss Kirby and she learns a little bit more about him. Bobby comes to realise that she’s not a monster at all. She’s just a regular person – who is actually rather nice! – and just needs to be strict at school because it’s her job (and because he’s actually quite naughty).

Sat
27 ^th

Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas By Aaron Blabey

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Brian is a piranha who loves nothing more than to tuck in to some fruit and veg – but his piranha friends think he’s bonkers because their favourite pastime is nibbling on tasty humans.

Brian’s attempts at converting them fall on deaf ears and soon they’re fed up with him waving bananas and plums in front of their faces. He agrees to stop but on one condition – they need to actually taste one of his fruit and veg platters. Will he be able to convince them to swap knees for peas or will they continue with their carnivorous ways?

Ivy finds this book hilarious, especially as it features the word ‘bum’. Always a winner with toddlers!

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