Tag Archives: books

Penguin – 10th Anniversary edition – Written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Why have I never come across this little cutie before?? It’s adorbs!  I immediately recognised Dunbar’s illustrations of course (we have Down the Back of the Chair).  She’s a multi award-winning talent!  🙌

As you can see, Ben and Penguin are adorable book characters, perfectly epitomising that intense relationship between toddlers and their favourites, be it friend or pet or toy.  Nothing cuter than this type of fierce love.  Dunbar does such a cute job of expressing it too!  The twist at the end is 👌.  The pages in Penguin aren’t over-crowded with words and imagery, making this a perfect read for the little ones.  Having said that, Eleanor (at 7) still enjoyed this, and thought it was pretty funny!

Penguin -10th Anniversary edition is available now (if you don’t have it on your bookshelf already).

Review copy kindly provided by Walker Books Aus Continue reading →

There is nothing like snuggling up on the couch or in bed and reading a story with your child. Apart from being a lovely way to spend time together, there are lots of other benefits that regular reading time brings. Within books children discover wonderful worlds which encourages imaginative play. Regular reading has also been […] Read more…

The post Book Review – Waata the Weta by Josephine Carson Barr appeared first on The Baby View.

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Nanette’s Baguette – Mo Willems”Today is the day Nanette gets to get the baguette! Is she set? YOU BET!”Nanette’s Baguette is fun!  If you love trying out a bad French accent in the safety of your own home, with an audience whose ears are too… Continue reading →

Teaching our children to embrace social diversity and celebrate human differences is key to creating a peaceful integrated society. ‘The Barefoot Book of Children’ with hand-painted illustrations and straightforward text invites children to ask themselves: How do other children live? How are we different? And most importantly: How are we alike?  The Barefoot Book of Children is a playful, […] Read more…

The post Helping Children Embrace Diversity – The Barefoot Book of Children appeared first on The Baby View.

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Boo! – Ben Newman

Flying Eye Books is such a pretty imprint.  Another beautiful matte cover, quirky cool illustrations and cute story.  There’s a bit of a retro, timeless feel to Flying Eye books which we are lurving!  Boo! massively tickled Garland’s fancy.  He thought it was hilaire.  He’s five, mind you, which means that Newman has nailed the comedy-for-small-children bracket.  For my part I loved the bold, stylised illustrations.  Very cool.  The text is minimal so that’s another points win, for those preferring the shorter length bedtime tomes.  I can go either way on that one, but it’s always best to have a few short and sweets on the shelves, particularly if one child has requested a Magic Schoolbus book, amiright?!

Here’s the if you want to take a sneak peek!

Overall, we adore this book!  It’s been strictly on the favourites list since arrival, and it’s available now in bookstores, so check it out!

Review copy kindly provided by Walker Books Continue reading →

Rock Pool Secrets, Narelle OliverOliver’s linocuts steal the show in this little treasure.  It’s a lovely touch to see the flaps are cut along the edges of features within each illustration, making them a seamless part of the scene — one of my fa… Continue reading →

Maisy Goes to the Bookshop, Lucy Cousins
I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big Maisy fan.  I find the brights and bolds lend themselves well to a few subjects, but an anthropomorphic mouse and the style combined have never drawn me in.  But April’s promo box from Walker contained “A Maisy First Experiences Book.” I gave it a fair shot.  The girls thought it was nice, but they didn’t ask for it again…perhaps they detected my lack of enthusiasm.  I think a risk with modelling / representing a first experience is that the things that aren’t universal jump out at you so quickly…such as how Maisy’s bookshop visit features an in-shop café (something not possibly in any bookshop in our city).  Ivy is a fan of books with a narrative (rather than poems, lists, or rhymes for rhymes sake), so this ticks that box.  If you’re already a Maisy fan, you’ll be delighted by this series, I’m sure (out April 1), but if you, like me, have never felt called to them previously this probably won’t change your tune either.  Continue reading →

The Land of Nod – Robert Louis Stevenson & Robert Hunter

If you haven’t come across this pretty book, you’re in for a treat.  If you consider children’s books a treat, that is… I do… The illustrations are soooooo lovely!  The Land of Nod is printed on matte pages, with a simple colour palette that is spot on.  Largely blues and pinks, with a smattering of other soft hues.  Very dreamy indeed.  The discerning toddler will love spotting familiar items in the dream scenes, lifted from earlier pages in the book.

The text is short, but a great way to introduce/include a little poetry in your daily routine.  Slow reading is good for this one, further emphasising that dreamy tone (and hopefully priming the scene nicely for sleep).  You’ll want to spend a little time on each illustration anyway, so #perfect.

The Land of Nod is available now, RRP $27.99, so keep an eye out in for it.

Review copy kindly provided by Walker Books Aus Continue reading →

Under the Almond Tree, Laura McVeighUnder the Almond Tree tells the story of one refugee family fleeing conflict and war in Afghanistan in the 1990s as they travel towards freedom and safety.  Published by Hachette’s Two Roads imprint.  Two… Continue reading →

Barefoot on the Wind, Zoë Marriott
This lists as Book 2 in a series, but the pair run in tandem to each other (same world – yes, same story or characters – no) and this reads perfectly as a stand-alone companion (not sequel).  Barefoot is set in pastoral Japan, Marriott’s retelling of the Beauty and the Beast is reminiscent of Uprooted (but is not so dark or heavy).  Also:

• One thing it does very well is create an immediate sense of immersion in the world.
• It’s compelling and the plotting is tight.  If anything, it may be a little too neat, but I think it works for this sub-genre.
• The scene imagery is enchanting.  The story is still fairly dark but this is lightened by the presence of hope and idealism.  The Japanese setting is present in more than a token way (in dress, food and abode descriptions, as well as some familial cultural tendencies) but does not saturate the pages in a way that would at all slow down, challenge or overwhelm a younger reader.
• The main character is likable.  The characters generally are well-constructed and different from each other.
• No humour that I can recall, predominantly a dramatic narrative.
• No sex or swearing, and not really even steaminess .  Some violence and scary ideas. 
• One neg: It felt overdone on emotions and thematic elements; the main characters mental incantations and thought processes stated the obvious and verged on melodramatic, as a result.  I thought it might just be a patch of it, but it continued throughout the book and it was something I came to sort of shake my head at and keep reading.  Feelings and responses to things were frequently stated and restated instead of shown, as though an effort to generate atmosphere had won out over all other devices and become transparent and louder than it should be.
• The ethical reasoning (stated explicitly) for the community and historical characters sometimes felt like a stretch but I don’t think it diminished the story.

Overall:  I think Marriott’s tasteful retelling injects some much-needed diversity into the YA mainstream.  It didn’t wow me, but it was enjoyable to read and certainly didn’t offend me or have me filing it as “Not for my girls.”  I’d be happy for them to read this at around 14 years of age (with the disclaimer it’s scary).

Review copy received from Walker. Continue reading →

Today I am sharing: KIDS BOOKS 




BABY & TODDLER

As a Mum and Teacher, I know how important it is to read to and with your children. When my daughter was younger, we had A LOT of books, probably 3 times more than the photo above, many of which were not read because she had her favourites, as they do. So when we moved out of our home (she was 7), we culled her books, only keeping the ones she absolutely loved and donated the rest. Fast forward a few years and those books are now in her little brother’s collection. 

When we moved into our new home, the previous owners left a buffet table unit with shelves and slider cupboard doors – which has become a fantastic storage unit for kids toys and books. I put baby toys, books and puzzles in one side of the unit. 

I organise the books by colour, as this makes it a lot easier when it is time to tidy up and after a while our toddler was able to return books on his own – and plus, who doesn’t love looking at a rainbow of books. 

Our son is turning 3 in March, so I figured it was time to make changes to this cupboard. As you can see in the picture below, it’s overflowing with items that are no longer suitable for our son. It’s also a good time to go through the books and remove any ‘baby’ books. 

BEFORE:

We also have a front facing library shelf in the playroom, where I rotate a collection of his books.

Following Kondo’s rules, I took all of the books out of the cupboard and put them on the lounge floor. I also grabbed a small collection of Little Golden Books that were in his room, and added them to the pile. 

I had my little helper, helping me decide which books ‘spark joy’ and which books don’t. I didn’t think he would say no to any, but he did. He found a few new favourites too.

DONATE PILE

As you can see our donate pile is fairly small, that being said – it is made up of baby books, duplicates and books we don’t read, so we are passing them on. I think we had two books that needed to be discarded because they were badly ripped. 

AFTER:

I decided to organise the books by colour again because it is a system that works for our family and it is helping our son with colour recognition, so it’s a win win. I have also taken away a lot of the ‘baby’ toys and puzzles and replaced them with puzzles and activities that are age appropriate. I donated the puzzles and discovery bottles to his home-based carer who has two under 2’s. 

TWEEN

As I mentioned above, when my daughter was younger, she had A LOT of books. By the time we moved in with my partner, Miss B was 7 and she was starting to read chapter books more. So we donated majority of her picture books to a local op-shop – only keeping her/our favourites.

Fast forward a few years, her book collection has grown – not by much though because she got into the habit of loaning her books from the school library or public library (which is a great idea), and all of her picture books were passed on to Master M.

We corralled her books together and she started to pick out her favourites and donated the ones she no longer wanted. I forgot to take a photo, but there were about 5 or 6 that went into the donate bin.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Miss B has her books stored on an 8-shelf unit in her wardrobe. She still loans books from the library, and asks for a book every Christmas and Birthday (which is just around the corner), so for now her collection is small, however she loves each of these books and will happily read them over and over again. 

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