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Thu
14 ^th

Book Box Review:
Cureadosity

Ivy and I love discovering new book subscriptions so we were very excited when this one landed on our doorstep on Christmas Eve.

Cureadosity is a brand new subscription service for 2-6 year olds and I have to say I am impressed. Our sample box contained lots of bookish fun – and Ivy dived straight in!

If you are as obsessed with picture books as we are then subscription boxes can sometimes be an issue. We buy a lot of books so i’m naturally wary of receiving duplicates. Cureadosity seem to be right on top of this though. They only include books which have been released within the last three months, thus drastically reducing the chance you might already have them in your collection – and sometimes they even include books before their official publication date so you get a sneaky advance look!

Wed
13 ^th

Love Makes A Family
by Sophie Beer

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Families come in all shapes and sizes and this gorgeous board book celebrates the ones which we often don’t see in mainstream books.

The brightly coloured pages show happy families enjoying life together whilst the words explore the different ways in which people can show their love.

We see two children waking up their dads in the morning by shaking maracas and banging a drum. We see a family with grandparent carers baking and sharing cakes. We see single mums finding lost objects and single dads jumping in puddles in the park. We see a group of children reading stories by the light of a torch with their two mums. I particularly like the inclusion of a dad wearing a baby carrier as i’m not sure i’ve seen this in any of our other picture books!

Wed
06 ^th

I Wish You More
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

What wishes do you have for your child’s future? I have far more than I could ever put into words, which is probably why I am drawn to this heartwarming picture book (and why it made me cry the first time I read it!).

A love letter from parent to child, the beautifully-illustrated pages outline a myriad of hopes and dreams. Unsurprisingly, the narrator wishes for health and happiness, joy and wonder but the clever word play injects an element of fun.

Ivy’s favourite wishes are “I wish you more bubbles than bath” and “I wish you more WOO-HOO than WHOA!”. Personally I am drawn to “I wish you more hugs than ughs” and “I wish you more stories than stars”.

Tue
05 ^th

While We Can’t Hug
by Eoin McLoughlin & Polly Dunbar

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

Well here we are again! It’s lockdown 3.0 and I am really feeling it this time around. Ivy hasn’t seen her grandparents since August so she’s really missing them, plus the dreary weather and general sense of uncertainty is adding an extra layer of gloom.

If your little ones are feeling the same then you might want to take a peek at this heartwarming story which talks about how it feels to be separated from your nearest and dearest.

Hedgehog and Tortoise are the best of friends. They love to spend time together but they’re sad because they’re not allowed to go near each other right now. How can they show each other they care if they can’t hug?

Sat
02 ^nd

ABCs of Kindness
by Samantha Berger & Ekaterina Trukhan

Posted by Shelley Edwards - No Comments

2020 will be remembered as the year we found ourselves separated from friends and family, but in many ways it brought people closer together. Our local community banded around to make sure everyone had food and shelter and there was a huge surge of support for our precious small businesses. Kindness was everywhere and I really hope that this continues into 2021 and beyond!

This gorgeous little ABC book is a great way to introduce the concept of kindness to small children. Each letter of the alphabet is illustrated with a tangible act which is easy for toddlers and pre-schoolers to understand. You can Brighten someone’s day with a smile. You can Stand up for someone else. You can Thank others and make them feel appreciated. You can Understand that everyone has their own way of doing things. Each suggestion is a small thing which costs you nothing but the positive impact it has is clear to see.

Fri
01 ^st

The World Made A Rainbow
by Michelle Robinson & Emily Hamilton

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Well that was quite the year! Whilst i’m extremely happy to see the back of 2020, the realist in me knows that the first few months of 2021 aren’t going to be much better. We live in a ‘high-risk’ area so Ivy won’t be returning to school next week as we had originally thought. She’s already missing her friends and is having to deal with so much change and uncertainty so i’m really sad for her.

As always, we turn to books in times of turmoil and this beauty by Michelle Robinson and Emily Hamilton is our current favourite. It follows a little girl in lockdown as she processes the fact she can’t see her friends and family.

The girl is feeling sad so her mum suggests they work on an art project together. They decide to create a rainbow to display in the window of their house, however the colours and materials trigger memories of the things that she misses. As her emotions threaten to overwhelm her, her parents pull together and turn the situation around.

Wed
16 ^th

The Rainbow Christmas
by Kate Heath & Susannah Gorman

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After the year we’ve had, Christmas 2020 was always going to be a bit different. So many of us have had to say goodbye to friends and family, thousands of jobs have been lost and we all have big decisions to make about whether we should risk seeing the people we love on Christmas Day.

Amongst all of the mayhem, this tiny self-published book is a little beacon of joy. It’s just 10 pages long (and more of a pamphlet than a book) but it sums up the current situation perfectly.

Wed
16 ^th

The Robin and the Reindeer
by Rosa Bailey & Carmen Saldaña

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Time for another chapter book review!

It’s Little Reindeer’s first winter and she’s astonished to see snow falling from the sky. Her whole world is soon covered in a thick white blanket, changing once familiar surroundings into something strange and new.

Her herd set off in search of shelter and the calf is given the great honour of walking alongside their Leader. As the flakes start to flurry and the snow gets deeper Little Reindeer pauses to look at the enormous moon – but when spots a shooting star and turns to tells her friends she realises that she has become separated from the group. All she can see are little white tails bobbing far off in the distance.

Cold, tired and alone she tries to get her bearings but it’s no use – Little Reindeer is lost. However a chance encounter with a kindly little Robin gives her hope. Together they navigate the wintry terrain with the help of a little bit of woodland magic.

Tue
15 ^th

Keep An Eye On Ivy
by Barroux

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I spotted a review of this one a few weeks ago and as soon as I saw the title I had to buy it. Ivy loves seeing her name in print so I knew it would be a popular choice but it also turned out to be an absolute corker of a story too!

When a little boy receives a plant for his birthday he decides to name it Ivy. It’s his favourite present and he spends lots of time tending to her to make sure she grows healthy and strong. As Ivy increases in size we soon discover that this choice of name was maybe a little incongruous. It doesn’t look like an evergreen climbing plant at all. In fact it looks distinctly carnivorous…

Over the next few days Ivy grows and grows and the boy asks different family members to keep an eye on her. The trouble is that those family members keep going missing! Where is the cat? and his sister? and his Grandpa? They are nowhere to be seen, but look closely and you might spot the sister’s saxophone and the Grandpa’s train set curled up in Ivy’s leaves.

Tue
15 ^th

The Night After Christmas
by Kes Gray & Claire Powell

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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!

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