Children's Book Review :: The Bee

Lara and Holly go to a school where bees are an important part of the school culture - from the very first term in reception, the children are taught about bee-keeping and get to see the school hives; bees and their lifecycle are a great prompt for writing, drawing, science and exploration which is why both Lara and Holly have absolutely loved reading and digesting this little book from the My First Discoveries range at Boolino books called The Bee.

The Bee is a captivating little hardback spiral-bound book with life-like illustrations that look so striking on their white backgrounds. Each page includes a series of facts or a question that prompts your child to think about what they see on the page. I love the fact that the illustrations are so detailed and that each page has a slightly different style; the mix of hard cardboard pages interlaced with clear cellophane pages to allow images to be overlayed is really very clever and makes this non-fiction book feel like something very special.

The Bee, by Moonlight Publishing, is suitable for infant school children from around 4-8 years old and would be the perfect inspiration for a school project. Lara enjoyed reading about the way in which bees make wax, and the different types of movement bees demonstrate under different circumstances.

Holly was most fascinated by the end of the book which looks at creatures similar to bees such as wasps and termites and how their homes differ. Holly can't quite read the text herself yet but it won't be long - the text is split into short paragraphs and bitesize facts which means they are easy to remember.

The Bee is part of a range of around 50 different non-fiction books which encourage detailed discovery of plants, animals, places, geographic phenomena and history; they are a great introduction to science and humanities.

Children's Book Review :: Little Bell and the Moon

Little Bell and the Moon is a touching, gentle picture book by Giles Paley-Phillips and illustrated Iris Deppe.  It is the type of book which brings a little lump to my throat every time I read it to my two girls, and yet, by the end of the book I am beaming with an enormous smile, looking into the eyes of Lara and Holly, knowing that they understand the magic of it too.

Little Bell is a little girl who has a strong bond with the Moon who shines down on her.  Over the years, Little Bell and moon share a lot together but eventually Little Bell isn't quite so little any more.  As she grows old and frail, the moon stays with her until she eventually passes away.  Little Bell's soul drifts up to the moon for one last adventure and she becomes a star, shining brightly in the sky.

The first time that I read Little Bell and the Moon to Lara and Holly, I was a bit taken aback by the topic of death - it just isn't something that often features in children's story books and I was worried that it would raise a lot of questions from the girls, just before bedtime!  However, the story tackles the topic of old age, frailty and death with such sensitivity that Lara really stopped to think about what happens to you towards the end of life.

The illustrations in the book are quite dark with layers of blues and blacks to add detail.  The moon, and Little Bell are bright and light additions to each page which really stand out.  On each page there are also one or two brightly coloured additions such as hot air balloon, boat sails, butterflies or leopard eyes and it gave the girls something to look out for on each page.

I think Little Bell and the Moon, by Fat Fox Books, is a delightful children's picture book and, with its gentle rhyme, is perfect for bedtimes.  I don't think it is a book that the girls would necessarily pick as their first choice for bedtime (big, bold and silly tends to be their thing) but it is a book I would choose to read to them and which I hope will leave them quietly smiling to themselves for years to come.

Children's Book Review :: Spot a Lot Animal Escape

As a Parragon Book Buddy I am LOVING finding out about their new picture books for children and this month's book is a cracker - Spot a Lot, Animal Escape by Steve Smallman and Nicola Slater.

Spot a Lot is, on the face of it, a counting book.  Each page details a number of animals who have escaped, starting at one and building up to 10 - for instance, 5 flamingos or 7 bats.  In this sense it reminded me just a little of One Mole Digging a Hole!

But Spot a Lot is so much more than just a count-to-ten book... it is also a puzzle book.  A spotting book.  A hunting book.  You could spend hours with your children looking through this book trying to find all the tiny creatures that each page prompts you to find.

On every page there are a series of challenges of things you have to spot in among the chaos of all the different animals.  Lara and Holly both LOVE this kind of book even though Lara has a more or less photographic memory and will return to the book a week later and know EXACTLY where to find all of the creatures on all of the page.

I love the detail in each page and the fact that every time you go back to the book you find something new.  I'd recommend this book for children of about 4 years upwards (but Holly does enjoy it too and she is 2.5)

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Childrens Book Review :: Animal Opposites by Petr Horáček

Animal Opposites by Petr Horáček is a beautiful new pop-up picture book which is perfect for both of my girls (now 1 and 4 years old) because it is fun, bright, educational and appealing to a wide age group.

My eldest daughter, Lara now totally 'gets' opposites and you can see that glint in her eye when she has worked out what the correct opposite term is on each page, even before I read it to her.  Lara is just about able to read so she has been trying to read the words in Animal Opposites too.

Holly, at 16 months old, gets great pleasure from listening to me and her older sister use our voices to alter the way we speak for each of the opposites - quiet, loud, fast, slow, etc.  She thinks it is funny to see and hear about tall giraffes and colourful peacocks.  It brings me great pleasure to see the recognition of the world around them that both the girls get when the begin to understand the concepts of opposites.

I love the beautiful style of the illustrations which are big and bold and really stand out on each page.  Colour is used throughout the book to highlight some of the opposites too.

As a pop-up book, Animal Opposites works pretty well.  There is only one pop-up page which makes you go "wow" but most of the pages do have an interactive pop-up element and they seem very sturdy, if not the most adventurous of pop-ups.

I'd recommend Animal Opposites as a fun, interactive Christmas gift or as a great book to talk about with your child.  Lara and Holly made me read this book to them 3 times in the space of 30 minutes when I opened it and both girls keep lifting it out and placing it in my lap... I think it's the way I read it that makes them want more!

Children's Book Review : Wonderful Wildlife

Charles Fuge's Wonderful Wildlife from Parragon is a perfect picture book for my two girls; when I read it to 16 month old Holly she hears me repeating the numbers from 1 to 10 and loves to look at the different animals and birds on each page.  But with 4 year old Lara the book is one that she can sit and attempt to read with me.  Counting, Animals, Reading... you can't get much more perfect right now!

Wonderful Wildlife starts with one lonely badger and ends with a whole host of owls!  Each page or double page features a number in big bold lettering which helps toddlers start to recognise the symbols for different numbers.  Lara has clearly established the link between the number of animals on each page and the symbol for the number at the top.

The text describes each group of creatures such as "hungry birds" or "worms wiggling" and it is written in short clear sentences and in bold round lettering so is suitable for first readers.  There are a few tricky words for Lara such as "sight" which is probably a bit much to expect of her right now but in general the combination of the words and pictures puts Lara in a great place to be able to start reading Wonderful Wildlife on her own.

I like the fact that the book features lots of different types of creatures - meerkats and badgers and worms all in the same book!  There is a gentle rhyme and a semblance of a story and all of these things make it a hit in our house.

One More Candle :: Childrens Book Review

One More Candle is a beautiful story by Merry Susiarjo and illustrated by Emmeline Pidgen.  Every time I read it to Lara at bedtime, the end of the story brings a lump to my throat as I think about her baby sister Holly sleeping in the room next to us... and then it brings a big smile to my face.

One More Candle tells the tale of Nora, a little girl who can't understand why every year she has one less candle on her birthday cake than her older sister.  Nora complains to her family but no-one will listen.  So Nora takes her quest elsewhere.  As Nora gets older her older sister Betty has some wise words to offer her and it turns out that Betty really does know her sister better than anyone.

The story is particularly appealing to Lara as she thinks about her own little sister; I think Holly will understand it well when she is a little older too.  The illustrations are all in gentle pastel colours with simple blocky colours and a very traditional feel.

I feel the story is a little slow to get going; the first third of the book is largely conversation between Nora, her mother, father and sister.  But then the story takes a magical, inspiring twist as Nora goes searching for someone who can help her light that one more candle.

And, as I said, I find the end of the book to be emotional and comforting - it is a beautiful ending to a very tenderly told story.  I would recommend this book for girls and boys from about age 3 upwards and would be particularly good for reading to siblings.

Rich Witch Poor Witch :: Children's Book Review

Rich Witch Poor Witch is a rhyming comedy picture story book by Peter Bentley and Jim Field, the comedy duo behind a family favourite, Farmer Clegg's Night Out

This fun rhyming story is the tale of two witches who practice a very different kind of witchiness.  When presented with a seemingly impossible challenge, whose style of 'magic' will do the business?

Lara is now 4 and she really enjoyed us reading her this book.  I think she recognised the style of both the text and images as being similar to Farmer Clegg (which is one of her favourites... an now also a nursery favourite since she took her copy in to share).  Lara liked the magical elements (and got a little bit scared by a baby dragon the first time we read it).

Somehow I find the rhyming rhythm less of a drain than I normally do - perhaps because it rhymes and scans so well, or perhaps because I was so eager to find out the result of the story.

We all love the illustrations which have small and tall, animal and human, dark and bright on every page.

Rich Witch Poor Witch is a very fun family read.

Children's Book Review - The Toucan Brothers by Tor Freeman

The Toucan Brothers turned up at our house rather out of the blue but as soon as I laid eyes on it, I absolutely knew that it was going to be a hit with Lara who always enjoys reviewing new books.  The illustrations throughout the book instantly reminded me of the busy world of Richard Scarry (who I believe was a very strong inspiration behind Tor Freeman's illustrative style) and as I quickly scanned through the story I could see that the rhymes were fun and in some cases cheeky!

I was right.  That night I read The Toucan Brothers to Lara and she immediately wanted me to read it again. In fact, for the last 10 days I think we must have read it to her at least twice every evening!  She is beginning to know the words off by heart.

The story is of two brothers who are honest and reliable plumbers (!) who get driven out of business by a new arrival in town - Flash Rover.  I guess it is a lesson about how cheaper doesn't necessarily mean better; and about how getting a job done properly and politely is always the better option.  I'm sure that there is a message in there about commercial pressures and competition but I think that may be a little lost on Lara right now.

I think that the attraction to Lara is the fun rhyme.  You may know how I feel about rhyming stories for kids... well, this one passed my test!  I found the rhyme easy to read throughout the whole book (there was only one line I felt was a bit unnatural) and most evenings I actually quite enjoy reading it to Lara.  I like to see Lara giggle when rabbit falls down the toilet and smile when the two Toucan brothers come to the rescue.

As Lara gets to know the story better she now spends more time exploring the pictures.  Each scene is so detailed and every time you look at a page you notice another amusing little detail.  The animal characters are all behaving like people and the style is recognisable from some of Tor Freeman's other books such as Showtime for Billie and Coco (which Lara loved, but I didn't enjoy anywhere near as much as The Toucan Brothers).

I think this book is great fun for children from about 3/4 right up to 11/12 year olds as there are different things that everyone can take away from it.

Zoe and Beans Hello Oscar Children's Book Review

Hello Oscar is the latest in the series of Zoe and Beans children's books by Chloe and Mick Inkpen published by Macmillan Children's Books.

Lara has loved the Zoe and Beans books we have read together so I couldn't wait to read her Hello Oscar. I read it to her by torchlight one bedtime when she was just about to drift off to sleep which was a little bit of a mistake because it actually made her laugh out loud. There was full on guffawing! I've never known Lara to laugh so much at a book before and it made me laugh at her laughing!

Zoe and her friend, Beans the dog start discovering animals in their garden. Then they hear the words "Hello Oscar" and things start getting very weird. The words of a very persistent parrot get Zoe quite frustrated. I had great fun saying "Hello Oscar" in my best parrot voice. Perhaps this is what triggered the hilarity?

Once again we love the simplicity of the images in the Zoe and Beans book and I find the story easy to read. It isn't formulaeic in any way. Lara loves the story and it is great to meet new animals and new characters.  I think Zoe has a bossy yet inquisitive attitude that reminds me quite a lot of Lara so we both identify with the story.

Children's Book Review - Learn with Neddy Teddy and his Phonics Friends

Learn with Neddy Teddy and his Phonics Friends is written by Gill Davis and illustrated by Barry Green. This is Lara's first official delve into the world of phonics and I was really pleased with how quickly she grasped the concept.

Learn with Neddy Teddy and his Phonics Friends is effectively a board book with a very basic story running through it. On each page there is a wheel that your child can turn to display different objects which feature the letter or letter-combination for that page.

The book starts with simple short vowel sounds such as "a" or "i" and progresses through to much tricker combinations from which I think Lara is a long way at just 3 years old.

So starting at the beginning, Lara quickly grasped the spinning wheel concept and I was amazed that after just one use of the book she understood that the pictures that the wheel displays must always contain the sound that she is working on. Sometimes an object is thrown in there to test them... something that looks like a boat on the page featuring "i" must therefore be "ship" and not "boat".

Each item on the wheel is accompanies by the text of the word and Lara is already feeling brave enough to try reading the words to understand a picture she doesn't recognise. Mr. B. nearly fell off his chair when Lara managed to identify a "blob" from its picture but quickly realised that she had combined the letters she could read with the fact that we were on the "o" page.

This book is a perfect book to help your child through their phonics journey and it can really help to push their learning while still being fun.

Learn with Neddy Teddy and his Phonics Friends is published by Top That Publishing and costs around £5.99.

Children's Book Review - The Tangle Fairy

Does your little girl wake up every morning with tangly hair? Mine does. Lara always looks like a scarecrow in the morning and convincing her to brush her hair before nursery is often a battle. I'm sure this is why she is particularly taken with the book The Tangle Fairy by Seema Barker.

Each morning the little girl in the story wakes with tangly hair and she can't work out why until she meets the Tangle Fairy who weaves a number of cheeky stories before she finally gets to the bottom of the hair tangling mystery.

I found the book to be beautifully timed because we have been having one or two issues with Lara weaving cheeky tales of her own and reading this story to her at bedtime has helped us explain that it is usually best if you just tell the truth in the first place.

The Tangle Fairy is written in verse and as such it rolls off the tongue. Often I am disappointed with children's books that try to rhyme and scan (not many people can pull it off well) but this book seemed to make the most of the verse and for the first few pages I was actually oblivious to the rhyme until I started hearing it in my own head. Like all rhyming books, I find that the verse tires towards the end (or perhaps it is me that tires) but I find it quite a good book for creating a nice peaceful mood before bed.

The Tangle Fairy by Seema Barker Top That Publishing and costs around £5.99 in paperback. I would say it was suitable for reading to toddlers up to school children who can read it for themselves.

Children's Book Review - When I Dream of ABC

Lara is doing pretty well at learning her alphabet. She is also taking the first steps in reading and can identify most letters and their sounds. When I Dream of ABC by Mr Henry Fisher is perfect for Lara because on each page there is a large captial letter and underneath, in clear writing, it tells you something that the letter starts with. In addition to this, there is a short piece of text that I can read to Lara to tell her more about each item.

When I Dream of ABC is beautifully illustrated. The images on each page are magical and, when Lara was sitting reading her book in the Doctor's surgery, two different people stopped her to ask for a look because they had noticed the striking pictures.

Picture the scene. Lara is sitting obediently next to me, engrossed in her book. She gets to "L is for..." which in our house traditionally stands for "L is for Lara". She reads each letter in turn, "L-e-p-r-e-c-h-a-u-n", and then she looks at me blankly. She looks at the picture of a cheerful chappy with a pot of gold and a rainbow. "L is for Goblin". Err... not quite.

Admittedly, Leprechaun is going to push the reading abilities of most 3 year olds!

Following this Lara proceeded to tell everyone in the doctor's surgery what every other letter of the alphabet stood for and was extremely proud of herself when she remembered that V is for Vampire. She couldn't wait to show the little old lady next to us the picture of N for Nurse and had to take her through the entire book looking for it.

We have had hours of entertainment from When I Dream of ABC already and as Lara gets older I expect her to be able to read much of it herself. I just hope she doesn't take all of the text too seriously or else she may actually start to believe that most queens eat too much chocolate and that Eskimos eat a lot of ice cream (she may be disappointed to find out that they mainly eat dried fish in real life).

When I Dream of ABC is published by Top That Publishing and costs around £6.99 in paperback.

Children's Book Review - Matlida's Cat and Farmer Clegg's Night Out

Over the coming months I am hoping to make the children's book reviews a more common feature on Mellow Mummy.  Lara loves books so much and is very slowly starting to learn some of the words herself.  At bedtimes Lara insists on at least 5 stories (sometimes she asks for 21) and her room is slowly resembling a library (we have many, many library books on loan at any one time).  Today I think I will get the ball rolling with two reviews of books that we were sent to review this summer.  They are both suitable for reading to preschoolers or for older children to read for themselves.

Matilda's Cat

I'm going to be a bit brutal with this review so prepare yourself!  Matilda's Cat is a short book about the relationship between an enthusiastic child and her slightly bewildered cat.  While Matilda loves doing all manner of activity with her cat, the cat on the other hand is not so enthusiastic.  Matilda comes up with lots of different activities that the cat might enjoy.

While I loved the illustrations and could totally associate with the story, I thought it was a difficult book to read and one which I don't think many children could read themselves easily.  The book is written as if it is hand-scrawled in pencil; this makes the lettering harder to read than normal.  The most difficult part though is the fact that for each activity Matilda tries with her cat, she then rules it out... literally.  I have NO IDEA how you are supposed to read out a crossed out phrase to a preschooler.  I tried many different approaches when  was trying to read it as a bed-time story and in the end instead of "Matlida's cat likes playing with boxes" I would have to say "Matilda's cat does not like playing with boxes", which rather defeats the point of the words in the first place.

It's a shame because, as an adult reading the story to myself it made me smile a lot and I think it would work well for older children who are competent readers.  In the end Matlida does find something the cat likes and it is a warm and snuggly end to the story, perfect for bedtimes.

Matilda's Cat is written and illustrated by Emily Gravett and published by Macmillan Children's Books. It is available in both hardback and paperback.

Farmer Clegg's Night Out

Farmer Clegg's Night Out is a really fun book suitable for children from toddlers upwards.  Farmer Clegg is a sleepwalker and finds himself competing in a late-night farmyard talent contest.  My husband and I both enjoyed reading this book because it rhymes and scans well and has a few silly giggles.

Once the talent show gets started, each page features a new act and our 3 year old now knows them all and likes to mimic the rhyme.  Her favourite is Dubbin' Dobbin the break-dancing horse!  We love the illustrations too because the more you look at each page, the more little details you see.  Each page is packed full of animals having fun in bright and busy illustrations.

Farmer Clegg's Night Out is now one of our most requested bedtime stories and the other day over dinner Lara even got down from the dinner table to do a little dance - when I asked her what on earth was going on, she said... "don't you like my tarantella?" - this book has a lot to answer for!  After a little while the rhyming verse gets a bit monotonous and hard work (I think the book could be a few pages shorter and not lose any of it's pull) but all in all we think it is a fabulous book that we expect to last us several years - we think Lara will enjoy reading it herself once she is old enough.

Farmer Clegg's Night Out is written by Peter Bently and illustrated by Jim Field.  It is published by Macmillan Children's Books and is available in both hardback and paperback.

Croc and Bird Picture Book Review

Croc and Bird by Alexis Deacon is a beautifully illustrated picture book with a simple story of two creatures, a crocodile and a bird, who, despite their differences, grow up as brothers.

Most preschool children will understand the story is about the differences between the Croc and the Bird but as an adult, when I read the story, I notice a surprising depth of thought when it comes to the observations the tale makes about the differences between the two creatures. I think some of this subtlety is lost of Lara at her age but as she grows older and reads and re-reads this book she will see more and more of the sensitivity with which it is written.



The pictures are softly illustrated and are quite dark. Not the type of image that I would usually expect my nearly-three-year old to engage well with but there is something about the fascination of the story that makes her sit and look deep into the pictures and ask me what the Croc and the Bird are doing on each page.

When I read Croc and Bird to Lara she tends to be a lot quieter than when I read other stories. I am pretty sure this has something to do with the serenity and peacefulness that comes over me when I read it. There is little excitement in my voice, just a calmness with a level of intrigue!

Towards the end of the story, Croc and Bird have to deal with the difficult subjects of isolation, rejection and loneliness. Thankfully, there is a happy ending that makes Lara smile.