Book Nook

from Amazon

When we visited the library this last time, I saw a book by Ian Whybrow that I'd not read before, and so I picked it up for the kids. We've read the Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs series by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds, so I figured this book would also be good.

 I was not disappointed. The children love Russell Ayto's illustrations and the various animal noises in the story. I personally found it obviously British in sentence structure, despite Americanised spellings, which made me miss England a bit.  We might have to pick up a copy of the book to own, since the children keep asking us to read it over and over again.  Pick it up - I don't think you'll be sorry.

Book Nook

My dad sent the kids another Julia Donaldson book: The Snail and the Whale.  The story follows a snail who wants to see the world, and gets to travel on the tail of the whale.  As I've come to expect with Axel Scheffler, the illustrations are beautiful.  I was a little surprised that I've not found a squirrel, though, since I think I've found a squirrel in the other books we have that he's illustrated.  Maybe not in The Tickle Book - I'll have to look.  The children immediately fell in love with this book, asking my husband and me to read it numerous times just on the first day they had it.  Julia Donaldson certainly has a knack for creating books that are sure to be favourites from the start.

Book Nook

Last week I started reading Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to the kids.  I'd read it to Kieran before when he was quite little, I think, and I'd read a little of it to Charlotte before this past week, but hadn't read much.  Both of them seemed to enjoy it this time.  We've only gotten through a few chapters thus far, but hopefully we can read the rest together soon.  Charlotte's been going around saying "down, down, down" in reference to Alice falling down the rabbit hole.  She's also convinced that rabbits say "woof woof".

I actually hadn't read all of Alice in Wonderland until having children.  The only part I'd read before was the poem "Jabberwocky".  I've enjoyed reading it with the children, though.

Book Nook

My aunt and uncle gave this book (What Makes a Rainbow, by Betty Schwartz, illustrated by Dona Turner) to Kieran when he was young and it quickly became one of his favourites.  Now it's one of Charlotte's favourites.  They love the colourful illustrations, and it's fun that a new colour is added to the growing rainbow with every page.

Book Nook

I absolutely loved Frank Muir's Super What-a-Mess growing up.  I took fairly good care of the book, and I made sure I had it on hand once Kieran was born.  I'm glad to say that my children enjoy it, too, even if it isn't their absolute favourite like it was mine.  Unfortunately, the book is wearing out due to the extra "love" it's receiving, but I can live with that.  It's a fun book, and I love the illustrations.  It's one I read over and over as a child, and can still read it over and over to my kids.

Book Nook

I had Buggly Bear's Hiccup Cure by True Kelley as a child, and my parents brought it to us when they last visited.  I sat down and read it to Charlotte during one of the few times she wasn't demanding a book written by Julia Donaldson and/or illustrated by Axel Scheffler.  I honestly wasn't sure she was enjoying the book at the time, but ever since reading it she'll randomly come up to us and say "Hic!" like Buggly Bear does.  I guess it made an impression on her.  Kieran won't let us try any of the hiccup cures on him, though.

Book Nook

Seeing as both children love trains, it should come as no surprise that they both love the book And the Train Goes by William Bee.  Kieran found this book at the library and he loved it so much that we went ahead and bought him a copy of it.  They love the rhythm of the book and onomatopoeia. Charlotte frequently asks for it by saying "twain. woo-woo!".  Kieran also loves finding the snail and teapot that are on most of the pages.  I admit I was a bit sceptical at first, but it really is a nice book.

Book Nook

My father recently sent us The Boy in the Garden, by Allen Say.  This is a beautiful book that starts with a Japanese folk tale and then incorporates that into the story of a little boy who is walking through a garden and falls asleep.  The illustrations are wonderful, and the story is poignant and well-written.  Both children enjoy looking through it, even if we're not reading it at the time.

Book Nook

I picked up this book at a Catholic retreat centre outside of St Alban's last year.  I thought it was cute, and both kids have liked it.  It's interactive, since the child is supposed to move the little lamb through the different pages.  Sometimes the lamb has gotten lost, but right now it's in its slot in the book cover, as it should be.  I'll be honest and say that I often find children's religious books to be overly cheesy and dumbed down, but this one isn't too bad in that regard.  Of course, my critique doesn't just apply to religious books for children, because there are a lot of children's books that I find too cheesy and/or dumbed down.  I don't believe in talking down to kids.  I'm also the mother who's read Shakespeare to my son, though.

Book Nook

Who doesn't love the old school Sesame Street?  Grover was always one of my favourites to watch and to read about in The Monster at the End of this Book, by Jon Stone.  Since Bart and I both grew up loving this book, we wanted to share it with our children.  My father has gotten some old school Sesame Street DVDs for the kids, so they're well acquainted with Grover.  Once I moved the bookcase downstairs, the kids rediscovered this book and have been asking for me to read it quite a bit.  Of course, you have to read this book with quite a bit of feeling, just as Grover would.  I admit I can't do his voice, but the kids don't seem to mind, since they keep asking me to read it.

Book Nook

Time for another classic today.  While we've had this book for ages, I hadn't read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to Charlotte until last week.  She quite enjoyed it.  In fact, when I got to the part about the wild rumpus, she started dancing on the book and roared.  Maybe she's the queen of the Wild Things.

Book Nook

We're obviously Julia Donaldson fans here, because we have another one of her books showcased today.  This time it's Charlie Cook's Favourite Book.  Kieran has loved this book, and we recently pulled it back out for Charlotte, who also enjoys it.  As with all her books, her rhymes are catchy and fun, while Axel Scheffler's illustrations are great.  I think he must have some special love for squirrels, though, since I think I've seen one in each book he's illustrated.  I'll have to check now to see if there's one in The Tickle Book, which is written by Ian Whybrow.  I've talked about that one before.  In this book, though, each person is reading a book that somehow features another book, so the next part will tell you about that book, and so on and so forth until it comes full circle.  It's very fun, and I highly recommend it.

As an added bonus this week, you get to see our "book nook".  Until recently, I had the bookcase upstairs in Kieran's room, but the books invariably ended up in the living room.  This weekend I was about to take a big pile of books back upstairs to put them on the shelf when I noticed that both kids were sitting by their doomoo seats thumbing through books.  At that point I decided to bring the bookcase downstairs and put their doomoo seats by it to create their own little book nook.  So far it's a hit.

Book Nook

Another favourite book around here is Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel.  It's one my husband and I remember from our childhoods, and my father got it for Kieran.  The only difficulty we've had is in convincing Kieran to let us stop after one or two chapters instead of reading the entire book in one sitting.  The chapters are fairly short, though, and the stories are well-written.  It's a book that we enjoy reading to the kids, with some puns that seem geared more towards the adults, too.  I can get annoyed with some children's books if they seem to dumb things down too much, but this book isn't guilty of that.  Reading should be an activity that is fun for the whole family, and with this book, it is.

Book Nook

In honour of today being the feast day of St George, I've chosen The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame.  I've not gotten around to reading Shakespeare's Henry V to them yet, thus why that one wasn't chosen for today.  

I grew up watching and loving the Disney short, but hadn't known it was based on a book until I had children.  We love Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, so I figured we'd get this book and see how it is.  Unfortunately the kids haven't let me read it to them all the way through yet, but both have liked what has been read.  Often with new books they walk away a few times at first, but then will read through it all the way.  The book does feature St George meeting the dragon, thus the connection to today.  So, happy feast of St George!

Book Nook

This book is both a book and a puppet.  You put your hand in the back, so you control Boris' mouth.  I first saw Calm Down, Boris! by Sam Lloyd, when I'd taken Kieran to a Stay & Play session at the local Children's Centre.  I thought it was so cute that I decided to get it for him for Christmas and went in search of it.  I'm glad I did, because he's loved this book.  For some of the pages, the child is asked to help Boris in some way, either by brushing his fur or feeding him his lunch; Boris responds by giving kisses.  Since he's fuzzy, it's quite tickly.  Kieran doesn't ask for this book quite as much now, but it was a favourite for quite a while.  I need to get it back out and see how Charlotte likes it.

Book Nook

This book combines the author for the Harry & the Dinosaurs books (Ian Whybrow) with the illustrator for The Gruffalo (Axel Scheffler), so you know it's a good book.  We got it for Kieran when he was 2, and it was an instant hit.  It has various pull-tabs and such, so it's a very interactive book.  We've had lots of fun with it.

Book Nook

This isn't a book my children have, but one I've gotten as a present for another child.  I've always loved Beowulf, and when Kieran was born I was determined to see if there was a version of Beowulf for children.  Personally, I think Prof Caldwell should write one, as I'm sure it would be wonderful.  My father found one and gave it to him, though he's not been too interested in it yet.  Hopefully he will be before long.  Recently, though, I was thinking of getting another copy for a girl I know who is very interested in dragons.  So on to Amazon I went, and while I did find a copy of that one, too, I also came across this one from Usborne.  I like coming across Usborne books, as all the ones I've seen have been really good, and many of them also have internet pages for further research, too, if wanted.

I should add that my children have had some exposure to the Beowulf story, thanks to Star Trek: Voyager. ;-)

Book Nook

Time for some Eric Carle today.  We've had The Very Hungry Caterpillar since Kieran was little, and Charlotte just received The Very Busy Spider for her birthday.  Being from Eric Carle, both books ar great, and the kids love them.  Kieran's especially fond of the tactile aspects of the books, be it the holes in the food in The Very Hungry Caterpillar or the embossed web in The Very Busy Spider.  Charlotte enjoys the various animals (and their noises).  Since both are board books, I don't have to worry about Charlotte ripping pages, either, which is always a bonus.

Book Nook

Kieran just got a new book: Mixed-Up Fairy Tales, by Hilary Robinson and Nick Sharratt.  The book divides a bunch of fairy tales into 4 sections, and then the child can mix up these sections to create crazy tales.  For example, they can read a story about Cinderella climbing a beanstalk to find a bowl of soup, or Puss in Boots being tormented by two step-sisters and finding a cave full of treasure that was stolen by a troll.  The pages are colour-coded, so you can find the proper story if you want.  The combinations are quite funny, though, and provide lots of entertainment.

Book Nook

This is one I've mentioned in another Book Nook, I think, but it bears having its own post.  Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler are a great team, and they don't disappoint in Zog.  The story follows a dragon called Zog through his years in school, as he tries to be the best in the class.  It's a very fun book.