Children’s Hour: Our Favourite Books

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Children’s Hour is going to be a little different this week. Last week the toddlers were asked to bring in their favourite books for everyone to look at. These are some of the books we came up with (links lead to amazon):

The Tiger Who Came to Tea: We’ve discussed this one on Children’s Hour before.

Peppa Big and the Big Train: Everyone’s favourite pig, Peppa goes on the train. This was maybe a little long for a ‘first’ book but interesting enough for our toddlers.

Monkey: Let’s face it, the popular thing about tis book is the button that makes Monkey noises…I’m not even sure we got as far as reading the story, if we did it wasn’t memorable.

Dear Zoo: I’m really glad one of the kids brought this in because it’s a great book. A child writes to the zoo because he wants a pet, but they keep sending things that aren’t quite right, with each animal being revealed when a flap is lifted.

The Octonauts: The Octonauts love to explore the sea. I was fully expecting an Octonauts book to turn up as one of our kids adores the show. However he wasn’t the one who brought the book in!

White and Black: My Animals: This is a very simple book. Black and white cartoon pictures of different animals with single words saying which animal is shown.  However it has more that the animals which turn up in these books stereotypically, and the kids loved to name all the animals.

Children’s Hour: Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer  is another book  (like Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, and I am the Music Man) which is based on a well known song. The book is very popular in pre-school (3-5 year olds), and the kids enjoy reading it to themselves. What I like about this book though is the pictures, they tell a whole story in themselves. As the little men look at the earth they see all the destruction and neglect that it has gone through and don’t want to visit. It has a sort of environmental message that I like, although I’m not really sure how much the kids understand this.

Buy Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer:

Paperback (£5.39)

Paperback with CD (£7.99)

Big Book (£10.79)

Hardback (£3.99)

Children’s Hour: Well Done Little Bear

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Bit late for Children’s Hour this week. I’ve been rather busy.

Well Done, Little Bear is one in the Big Bear, Little Bear series by Martin Waddell (who also wrote Owl Babies). In Well Done, Little Bear Little Bear wants to go exploring and does lots of exciting thing, with Big Bear always there to help him. Little Bear’s adventures get more and more risky until he slips into the river, but Big Bear soon saves him and they get across the river together. This is a lovely book to talk about people who look after us. One boy in particular really loves Little Bear and Big Bear, although he’s rather confused as to where Little Bear’s Daddy is. It’s not one we read often because it’s a bit long for the younger toddlers, but it’s getting requested a lot by this particular child, and the other older children enjoy it too.

Buy Well Done, Little Bear:

Hardback (from £1.00)

Paperback (from £1.99)

Children’s Hour: The Cat and the Mouse

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The Cat and the Mouse  is he third book I received from the author Mike Lockett, and actually had probably been our least read. Not because we don’t like it but because we prefer Hickory Dickory Dock and Monkey and Rabbit Together, plus pre-school keep borrowing it!

The story follows a familiar pattern, and is based on an lesser known Mother Goose rhyme. It reminds me a lot of The Old Woman and her Pig which was just funny to us as kids because it was so absurd.

The Cat and the Mouse follows a similar line. The cat bites the mouse’s tail off and says she will only give it back if the mouse gets her some milk. Only the cow won’t give the mouse any milk unless he gets her some hay, and the story continues. It’s a little more logical than The Old Woman in her Pig, no talking to inanimate objects, but I liked that about the Old Woman and her Pig.

However the children do enjoy this version. Because it’s quite repetitive they can join in easily, and start to know what’s coming next with a few readings. They love to shout “No” at the mouse.

The Cat and the Mouse  is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:

Hardback (£9.76)

Children’s Hour: Hickory Dickory Dock

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from mikelockett.com

Hickory Dickory Dock  is one of the other books which I got sent along with Monkey and Rabbit Together. Personally it’s probably my least favourite of the three which the author sent to me but the children seem to like it the most (which is what’s important really). I think what they like about it is that it’s familiar but different. The story is a sort of extension of the rhyme Hickory-Dickory-Dock and repeats lines from the rhyme which make it easy for the children to follow and join in with. It also rhymes which give a nice sing song rhythm. However I feel sometimes clarity is sacrificed in favour of rhyme, for example it talks of playing games “like seek and hide” which is a bit of a odd way to say playing hide and seek- as someone has to hide before you can look for them!

Again I really like the pictures in this book. They almost look like they’re textured and you can imagine how is might feel to be in a clock with a mouse from them.

Hickory Dickory Dock is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:

Hardback (£12.03)

Children’s Hour: Monkey and Rabbit Together

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Monkey and Rabbit Together  is a bit different when it comes to my Children’s Hour books in that I was asked to review it (I usually just review what the children have been enjoying). The author sent me 3 of his children’s books and Monkey and Rabbit together is definitely my favourite. I was unsure of how the kids would react to it however as I thought it might be a bit long and grown-up for the toddlers. In some ways I was right, the younger toddlers did find it a little difficult to stay focused throughout the story- but the older toddlers enjoyed it quite a lot. I think the pictures initially attracted their attention, they are very bright and bold and the kids tend to like animal based stories. They also found the references to monkey scratching his bottom to be funny, and laughed and said “ewww” every time he did it. They liked me adding actions as well to show monkey and rabbit’s bad habits. They also liked it during the rest of the day when I said they were being like rabbit when they weren’t sitting still.

Monkey and Rabbit Together is based on a West African folktale, and the book is dual language in English and Chinese.

Monkey and Rabbit Together is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:

Hardback (£9.84)

 

Children’s Hour: That’s Not My…

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The That’s Not My… series are pretty good when it comes to baby books. No real plot or excitement but simple enough for babies and good for exploring textures. Each book is basically the same. They follow an object trying to find the right one, e.g. ‘That’s not my fairy her wand is too squashy’, with textures which match the words. The pictures are simple and bright too which makes them attractive to babies. There’s a whole series of books, from fairies, to monkeys, to tractors, and there are even Christmas and Easter specials, and colouring book versions.

 

Buy That’s not My…:

Board Book (from £3.46)

Children’s Hour: Eye Spy Shapes

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I was really surprised at how much the children liked I Spy Shapes. I tend to find that the books about things like shape and colour are a bit boring, and they all have a very similar formula; here’s a shape, look at the things which are this shape. Number books are better because there’s a bit more to do. However the kids seemed like this one. They liked naming the shapes, and were proud when they could, and some of the objects were quite obscure which made it more of a challenge to name them too. Sometimes the objects weren’t quite right though, they had buttons on the circle, square and triangle pages, and whilst you can get buttons in all these shapes it makes things a little confusing.

Buy I Spy shapes:

Paperback (£4.99)

Children’s Hour: The Gruffalo

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had introduced the toddlers to The Gruffalo (well I say introduced but a lot of the kids already know The Gruffalo, one even has the cutest Gruffalo hoodie which I mentioned in one of my Christmas gift posts). The Gruffalo is actually a pretty clever story. Mouse is smart. All the animal think he looks good to eat but mouse manages to trick them by making up a scary monster- The Gruffalo, who loves to eat other animals. But did mouse really make-up The Gruffalo, or is he real? And what will happen if mouse meets him?

The Gruffalo has the traditional rhyme and rhythm of a Julia Donaldson book but in some ways is a little more sophisticated. Partly because mouse is clever, and partly because of all the differences, the strange food which excite the imagination. It’s an enjoyable book to read to the kids, and they enjoy it too.

There is a sequel to The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, but I wasn’t very impressed by it. There is also a film.

Buy The Gruffalo:

Paperback (£4.00)

Board Book (£4.99)

Children’s Hour: Handa’s Surprise

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Handa’s Surprise is a simple story in which Handa takes a surprise present of fruits to her friend Akeyo. As Handa walks along the road different animals take the fruit from her basket, but eventually they are replaced, and Handa ends up with a surprise too!

What really makes this story is the pictures. It means that the children can more or less tell the story themselves. The words show the story as Handa sees it but from the pictures we can see that things are not going as Handa expects. It makes it a pretty good story for speaking and understanding as the children caan explain what it happening.

The pictures themselves are very bright and sort of African in colour and style.

The children are interested to name the animals, although they struggle a little to name beyond your standard zoo animals. In a way that’s a good thing because it means they can learn about other animals.

A lot of the fruits are ones which they wouldn’t normally encounter too, so it’s interesting to show them, and can lead to lots of activities if you’re in the education business.

Buy Handa’s Surprise:

Paperback (£4.49)

-with DVD (£5.99)

Big Book (£12.24)

Kindle (£4.11)

Children’s Hour: Monkey Puzzle

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

We have recently introduced Monkey Puzzle and The Gruffalo to our toddlers, and both have been rather popular. Monkey Puzzle follow a monkey and a butterfly as they look for the monkey’s mum. Butterfly tries her hardest but just keeps getting it wrong. The kids love pointing out what the different animals are and laugh when monkey dispares of butterfly, especially when it’s the elephant again.

No! No! No! That’s the elephant again!

As with all of Julia Donaldson’s books Monkey Puzzle has a rhyme and rhythm to it which makes it easy and interesting to follow, and of course it’s accompanied by those beautiful pictures by Axel Scheffler.

It’s probably a bit more simple in storyline terms than most of Donaldson’s other books but I think that makes it a good introduction to her work, it’s easier for younger children to follow.

Buy Monkey Puzzle:

Paperback (£4.00)

Board Book (£4.79)

Big Book (£10.87)

Children’s Hour: I Am the Music Man

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I am the Music Man comes from the same range as Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, books with holes. The hole idea works better in this book though as you can gradually look into more windows in the house. It follows the popular tune of I Am the Music Man, a song which reminds me of school discos. It’s fun for the kids with the actions and being able to join in with the songs. Plus they can see what the different instruments are and name them, but they aren’t all really common instruments so they can be learning the names too.

The pictures are very bright and bold and eye catching.

Buy I Am the Music Man:

Paperback (£4.49)

Board Book (£3.99)

Big Book (£10.79)

This is the ‘official’ version of I am the Music Man. The version in the book is different, but for illustrations sake!

 

 

Children’s Hour: The Animal Boogie

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The Animal Boogie has been our favourite book over the last two weeks. We already knew and sung a version of the song (yes this is a song book in the same vein as Walking Through the Jungle), and I’ve heard a couple of different versions too. This is probably actually my favourite. The one we sung before the book featured animals (and also the kids) doing the laundry! The version in the book actually shows the animals doing things that they might do, the elephant stomping, the monkey swinging, the snake slithering.

Down in the jungle where nobody sees,

What can you see swinging through the trees?

With a swingy swing here and a swingy swing there,

What’s that creature swinging through the trees?

The action comes before the children see the animal so they can guess what the animal could be first, however our kids pretty much know the song off by heart so they might not be working it out so much as remembering. Either way they love to shout out what animal it is.

IT”S A MONKEY

He goes swing, swing, boogie woogie, oogie…

Each verse has only a slight variety so the kids can join in quite easily especially with the actions and with the boogie, woogie, oogie bits.

The pictures are bright and attractive and compliment the song perfectly. There’s also a different child on each page and it’s obvious the illustrator has tried to be very inclusive as there are lots of different races represented and a child in a wheelchair.

If you don’t know the tune then the book comes with an audio CD, although I think my collegue sings it better!

Buy The Animal Boogie:

Paperback (£6.29)

Hardback (£9.40)

Children’s Hour: When I’m a Grown-Up

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

When I’m a Grown-Up is narrated by a young girl who is wondering what will happen when she grows-up

When I’m a grown-up who will I be?

A bird in the air?

Or a fish in the sea?

Some possibilities are a bit silly, while others are sensible. It ends with the girl deciding that she doesn’t mind what happens as long as she is still herself. It has quite similar themes to do with thinking about yourself as Me does but is a bit more sophisticated and more suitable for older children.

The children enjoy picking which they would want when they grow-up. It’s similar to the reasons that the kids enjoyed You Choose but there are less options which makes it easier for the toddlers to pick.

There are some beautiful pictures too (the animals in particular made some interesting pages to look at) and there’s that rhythm you often find in kid’s books which makes it more attention grabbing.

Buy it:

Hardback (£4.99)

Children’s Hour: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt has been around the nursery since before I started there. However we only recently actually got a hold of the book. This means that our kids know it like they know songs. They can pretty much read it to themselves- along with actions. The pictures are beautiful, and they help prompt the kids memories, but for us the book isn’t essential. Having said that it is a book which the children really enjoy, and if you don’t know it off-by-heart yourself then it’s pretty much an essential.

Buy We’re Going on a Bear Hunt:

Paperback (£5.24)

Board Book (£3.74)

Children’s Hour: Spot

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Spot is one of those books which is more of a constant friend than a great favourite in toddler room. We can go days and days without reading it once, but the kids always come back to it. We have a few of them at the nursery. Spot’s Show and Tell, Time for Bed Spot, Spot’s Tummy Ache, Spot’s New Game and Spot and his Grandma. At the moment Spot’s Show and Tell is the forerunner but they’ve all had their moments.

The pictures are simple and bright. The stories are quite easy for the kids to relate to which is I think why they are always popular, another book might be more exciting but Spot is comfortable.

Buy Spot books:

Time for Bed Spot (£3.73)

Spot’s Show and Tell (new and used from £0.01)

Spot’s Tummy Ache (new and used from £0.01)

Spot and his Grandma (new and used from £0.01)

Spot’s New Game (new and used from £0.01)

See more Spot books

Children’s Hour: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Here We Go the Mulberry Bush is a variation on the traditional song. It starts off with the traditional song then carries on by following a child’s day. The changes are simple e.g. This is the way we brush our teeth/go to school/eat our lunch on a cold and frosty morning/afternoon/evening, which makes it easier for the children to follow, and easy for them to learn so they can ‘read’ it to themselves. The accompanying pictures show each part of the day. They are beautiful and bright to really capture the children’s interest, and the older kids love spotting all the different things that the children in the pictures are doing. See if you’re kids can spot the similarities in the pictures shown by the holes too!

Buy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush:

Paperback (£5.39)

Board Book (£4.99)

Children’s Hour: Come Back Soon

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Come Back Soon is the story of Ollie. Ollie’s Mum and Dad need to go away, so they leave Ollie with his Grandma and promise to come back after just one sleep. It’s very obviously one of the type of books which is written to convey a message, in this case that Mummy and Daddy might go away, but they will soon come back. In that sense it is the perfect book to read in a nursery, but it’s not a particularly interesting story, the best bit is Grandma making up a song about how Mum and Dad would be coming back soon. The pictures are beautiful as well.

Buy Come Back Soon:

Paperback (£5.39)

Children’s Hour: Lulu’s Holiday

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

About a year ago one of our toddlers had an obsession with Lulu’s Holiday. We had to read it every single day, usually more than once. It’s a very simple book. It’s written as if the writer is speaking to Lulu, but you never hear Lulu’s voice, all you get is the writer saying things as if she is rephrasing what Lulu is saying, but it almost feels like she is talking to a baby, giving the answers for Lulu, and Lulu is not a baby. As something to read I didn’t really see its appeal. The story was very basic and not even written in a way that made it interesting- the most exciting thing which happened was that the baby ate some sand. However the pictures are  beautiful and bright, so I can see that as an attraction to look at the book, just not to read it.

Lulu’s Holiday is no longer being published, however you can buy copies from other sellers on amazon:

Paperback- used (from £9.52)

Hardback- used (from £2.87)

Children’s Hour: How Santa Really Works (Pop-Up)

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I’m glad that the first Children’s Hour of the year is technically still being posted during the Christmas season because it means I can spotlight How Santa Really Works. My niece (who is 3) has really been liking this book whilst she has been staying with us. The book tells us all about what happens in Santa’s workshop, and on his journey at Christmas. The word part of the story are quite simplistic, but still interesting. Really however the pop-up pictures are what make the book. Each page contains a very detailed images with almost endless things for the kids to find. One page even includes little letters to Santa which you can read.

Image from booktopia

The ideas behind how Santa works are pretty ingenious- but probably more interesting for the adult reader than for the children themselves, not that that matters, it’s good for the adult to be entertained too. It’s a really good discussion book for everything the kids can find. It would actually be nice to show the kids at work, but I doubt the pop-ups would last even a day! Certainly a book to share in your family, not with a big group of kids.

There is also a version of How Santa Works without pop-ups, the pictures do look like they would still be interesting, but not as good I think.

Buy How Santa Works:

Hardback (£8.96)

Children’s Hour: The Nutcracker

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

This week’s Children’s Hour is a bit different. I was sent The Nutcracker by the wonderful people at Random House for review. Unfortunately it was a bit too grown-up for any of the kids in the nursery, so I read it myself to review over Christmas. The Nutcracker is the classic story of mouse armies, and toy armies- all started when a ugly nutcracker arrives at Christmas. It’s best known as a ballet with music written by Tchaikovsky.

This particular edition is accompanied by the illustrations of Maurice Sendak- best known as author of Where the Wild Things Are. For me those pictures were what made the book. They were exciting, and sometimes a little scary- in the same sort of way as the wild things are in Where the Wild Things Are. Paired with the words they made things really easy to imagine, especially when the language was a little old fashioned.

There are a lot of words in this book, and it takes a little time for the real story to start, so I wouldn’t recommend it for any child under the age of at least 7.

There is currently a giveaway of this book being hosted right here on Lucybird’s Book Blog. Whynot stop over and enter?

Buy The Nutcraker:

Hardback (£9.59)

Children’s Hour: Christmas Giveaway!

It’s almost Christmas whooop whoop, and of course that is the perfect time for a giveaway.

Earlier this year Random House sent me 2 beautiful copies of The Nutcracker. The old story was re-written by E.T.A Hoffmann and is accompanied by illustrations by Maurice Sendak. One copy for me to review, and one for my lovely readers.

I accepted the books with Children’s Hour in mind, however it’s not really suitable for the children I work with so I am planning to read it myself over Christmas and use it for my Children’s Hour post on Boxing Day. You can see the amazon page for this book by clicking the image above.

However as I wanted to make it a Christmas Giveaway I’m opening for entries today.

Unfortunately as I have to send the book myself (and it’s a rather large hardback) this giveaway is only open to those in Europe however I will accept other entries provided you are happy to pay for your own postage, just let me know in comments.

To enter just fill in the Rafflecopter by clicking the link below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Children’s Hour: The Little Old Lady Who Cried Wolf

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The Little Old Lady Who Cried Wolf is a new twist on the old the boy who cried wolf story (you know he kept telling people there was a wolf after the sheep when there wasn’t, so people stopped believing him, then nobody believed him when there was really a wolf). It features an old lady who has everything a woman could ever want except friends. She is lonely so starts making calls to say there is a wolf in her house- just to get people to visit her. Of course she is soon found out and nobody can stick around.

The Little Old Lady Who Cried Wolf toddlers new favourite book, they find it absolutely hilarious for the most simple reasons. She says “Oh rats!” (and variations) several times and apparently this is so funny that the children have to roll around on the floor laughing. They also love the idea of an old woman being naughty.

The Little Old Lady Who Cried Wolf does not appear to be being published anymore but you can buy it second-hand on amazon:

Paperback (from £0.01 new or used)

Hardback- new (from £6.58)

Hardback- used (from £0.01)

Look out Later Today for a Children’s Hour Giveaway!

Children’s Hour: Time for Bed

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Time for Bed is rather similar to another book by Rebecca Elgar which I have featured in a past Children’s Hour post, Goodnight, Little Monster. In Time For Bed we visi lots of little animals who are enjoying their day. When their parent calls them to bed off they go and we all wish them a goodnight.

Time for bed is a little less popular than Goodnight, Little Monster. The kids still like the flaps, and enjoy joining in with the Time for Bed refrain, and enjoy naming the different animals but they tend to pick Goodnight Little Monster more- possibly because of the mirror at the back.

The pictures are beautiful and bold, and there is a nice sing-song rhyme which is common in Elgar’s books.

Unfortunately Time for Bed no longer seems to be in print, however you can buy it second-hand from amazon:

Board Book (used) (from £0.01)

Children’s Hour: Six Dinner Sid

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Six Dinner Sid is about a cat (called Sid, believe it or not!) who manages to convince every family in one street that he is their cat. Which means, of course, that he gets 6 dinners every night! This reminds me so much of my cat (who has frequently tried to trick us into giving him 2 breakfasts) that it just makes me laugh. It’s more one for the Pre-Schoolers than for the Toddlers really. They find it amusing, especially when Sid is taken to the vet by every single family. The pictures are rather beautiful and quite realistic. It’s quite enjoyable to read as an adult too which helps, especially as Sid is definitely a cat- his character is just perfect (or should I say purrr-fect haa haa!)

Buy Six Dinner Sid:

Paperback (£4.19)

Board Book (£5.39)

Children’s Hour: Some Dogs Do

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The kids love Some Dogs Do at the moment, I however fnd it really grates on me for some reason, maybe because it’s a little twee. It tells the story of a dog (Sid) who discovers he can fly, but nobody believes him because

You’re a dog,

And dogs don’t fly.

and soon Sid starts to doubt himself.

The whole book is written in a sing-song rhyme. It’s part of what I don’t like about the book, although generally rhyme in children’s books is a good thing. It has a pretty nice message about believing in yourself and not letting others put you down, but I think it may be too subtle for toddlers, it’s probably more the rhyme and the flying dogs they enjoy.

Buy Some Dogs Do:

Paperback (£4.49)

Book and DVD (£5.99)

Children’s Hour: Hurry Home Spider

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Hurry Home Spider is a book the toddlers have enjoyed for a long time now, but recently it seems to have become very popular for some reason. In the story we follow spider as he travels home through lots of different hazards. There are two voices in the story, one is the narrator who urges the spider home and warns him of hazards. The other voice, that of the spider, explains what he is going to do to get home. Each line from the spider has a direction in and the children can trace the line of the spider’s words to show them the direction. I think the idea is that children learn the words of direction from it, I’m not sure if it’s that effective in this sense, but the children do enjoy being able to interact with the story by following the lines with their fingers. As an adult I find it a little boring to read, but it doesn’t annoy me as some children’s books do (I was so glad when our In the Night Garden book got too ripped to read!)

Hurry Home Spider is no longer being published but you can buy it new or second hand from amazon:

New (£3.49)

Used (from £2.40)

Children’s Hour: Cockatoos

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I shared Cockatoos with the kids at nursery at the same time as I introduced them to Mister Magnolia. I didn’t want to cover two Quentin Blake books too close to one another and as this was the less popular of the two I left it until now. I think the toddlers may have just been a little too young for Cockatoos. They didn’t really get the idea that the cockatoos had sneaked away from Professor Dupont. That isn’t to say they didn’t enjoy elements. One child in particular loved finding the Cockatoos in all the pictures, and was fantastic at it, sometimes I even had to stop her from finding them to give the others a chance! Storywise however they didn’t find it as interesting, I found that I had to keep refering to the pictures to keep their attention, it may have been a better choice for pre-school.

Buy Cockatoos:

Paperback (£4.49)

Children’s Hour: Come On, Daisy!

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Daisy is a cute little duck with her own series of picture books. In Come on, Daisy! Daisy is so eager to explore the pond that she forgets to keep an eye on Mummy, and things start to turn scary. The children rather enjoyed this book, especially when Daisy met a frog, and they were both making lots of noises, and when they were trying to see what was scaring Daisy. It’s also gives a good way to talk to the kids about the importance of sticking with your parents when you are out and about. I hadn’t realised at the time but it actually fir well with a problem a parent had had earlier when his child wanted to run off in the car park.

Come On, Daisy! was also a previous silver award winner for the Smarties Prize.

Unfortunately Come On, Daisy! Does not seem to be being published anymore however you can buy it used from Amazon:

Paperback (from £0.01)

Hardback (from £0.01)

Children’s Hour: You Choose

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

You Choose is not so much a story book as a picture book. The basic idea is that there are pages full of lovely little pictures and the child chooses which they would want when they are grown up (there are things like what house you will live in, what your job will be, who your friends will be.). The pictures are classic Nick Sharratt style, simple, bright and inviting. It’s a particularly big hit in pre-school, and they like to read it to themselves, which is a relief as it’s the most boring book to read to someone.

 

Buy You Choose:

Paperback (£3.89)

Children’s Hour: Me

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Me is a delightful little book which has in the past been a part of the Bookstart pack. It’s more of one for parents to read really I think, and maybe in a way more designed for parents but it is beautiful, and the kids enjoy the penguins. The book follows a young penguin looking at the world and seeing just how big it is, and maybe just a little bit scary.

“The world is big…and I am small”

Then penguin looks at Mummy/Daddy and knows that everything is safe.

“But you are big, and you are strong…”

Buy Me:

Paperback (£6.29)

Hardback (£3.74)

Children’s Hour: Goodnight, Little Monster

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Goodnight, Little Monster reminds me a lot of the Where’s Boo? books. They both have a similar rhythm,

“What’s made the piglets say squeak, squeak, squeak? Five little monsters Playing hide-and-seek.”

“Boo is busy on the farm today. He’s looking for the cows to feed them bales of hay.”

they both have a counting theme (Where’s Boo? counts up, Goodnight Little Monster counts down), the both have similar bright and simple pictures, they’re both lift the flap books, and they both have simple stories which are easy for the children to join in with. The children do seem to prefer Boo, but Goodnight, Little Monster has been rising in popularity recently.

Goodnight, Little Monster follows a group of children around the farm until it is bedtime, then it follows the children as they get ready for bed.

“What made the owl go hoot, hoot, hoot? This Little Monster playing toot, toot, toot”

Once the children are in bed it sends your own little monster (the naughtiest monster of all!) to bed too.

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Who is the naughtiest monster of all?”

The last page shows a mirror where the child can look at themselves (always a popular thing in a book I’ve found) and tells them they should be fast asleep.

Whether or not it works as a bedtime book I wouldn’t know, but the story does gently wind down and I can imagine a child snuggling into bed.

Unfortunately I can’t find it for sale completely new anywhere but you can buy it new or used from Amazon sellers.

Buy Goodnight, Little Monster:

Paperback (from £0.01, used only)

Hardback (from £10.98 new, or from £0.20 used)

Children’s Hour: Peace at Last

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Peace at Last is the story of Mr Bear. Mr Bear is very tired but the whole world seems to be disturbing his sleep. He moves from room to room in the house but everywhere is just far to noisy

“Oh no” says Mr Bear “I can’t stand this”

This is a great story for the children to join in with, and ‘read’ to themselves. The repeated refrain always comes at a fairly predictable time, and the kids love making all the different noises Mr Bear can hear too. It’s quite pleasant to read for the adult too. The story is simple, but entertaining, and the picture of a tired Mr Bear is rather funny.

Jill Murphy, the author of Peace at Last is well known for being writer of The Large Family books which are also very entertaining. I think I prefer Peace at Last however.

Buy Peace at Last:

Paperback (£4.68)

Board Book (£5.39)

Children’s Hour: The Bad-tempered Ladybird

Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.

You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The Bad-Tempered Ladybird is a book by Eric Carle who is best known as the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is a book popular with kids and adults alike. I wanted to introduce the kids to something else by him but it didn’t go down quite as well. I like the story a lot. The bad-tempered ladybird thinks he wants to fight everyone, but as soon as they agree he finds an excuse to run away. I don’t think the kids really got it though, and they found the repetition a little boring. Possibly if I had read it to the pre-school children rather than the toddlers they would have understood it more.

 

Buy The Bad-tempered Ladybird

Paperback (£4.69)

Board Book (£5.24)

Children’s Hour: The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

I had my reservations about taking The Tiger Who came to Tea to work. It’s a book I loved as a child but it is a little old fashioned now and I wasn’t sure if your kids would really connect with it. Happily my fears were unfounded. I still can’t say it’s one of the kid’s new favourites, bit it is the first one I’ve taken in which any of them has requested again without seeing it first. I don’t think they really get the whole it can’t be the milkman (or the grocer’s boy) bit, but most of it still pretty much applies. Really the wonder of the book is the idea of a tiger turning up on your doorstep, and not eating you but eating all the food in your house! The kids get very excited when the tiger arrives. One even shouts everytime Mummy asks “Who could that be?” “It’s a tiger, it’s a tiger!” until we discover that, yes, it is a tiger. The pictures are beautiful, it’s quite amazing how a a tiger can look so friendly.

As an adult I find it funny how the tiger is so smiley, and seemingly very polite, but his actions of eating all the food and drinking all the drink in the house (even drinking all the water out the tap!) really are rather impolite.

When my sister read The Tiger Who Came to Tea to my niece she said she didn’t like it so much. She said it seemed a bit anti-feminist, because Mummy had no idea what to do when the tiger had eaten all the food, so she had nothing for Daddy’s supper, then of course Daddy saved the day by taking them out to a cafe. In a way I guess my sister is right, but I can’t help loving The Tiger Who Came to Tea anyway.

Buy The Tiger Who Came to Tea:

Paperback (£2.99)

Board Book (£4.09)

Kindle (£4.99)

Children’s Hour: Where the Wild Things Are

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Where the Wild Things Are is a monster book I have been wanting to introduce the toddlers to for a long time. I couldn’t find it at home until recently so had to make do with other monster books (our toddlers are crazy about monsters at the moment- and dragons and dinosaurs). Max really reminds me of some of our kids too, maybe I should start calling them wild things! Certainly Max is one of the most authentic children in children’s picture books whom I have encountered. The story goes that Max is being so wild one day that his mother sends him to bed with no supper. While he is in his room a forest grows up around him, and a sea with a boat just for him. He sails across the sea until he reaches the land where the wild things are. Max is so wild that he scares the monsters and they make him their king.

This is a great book for the children to use their imaginations to tell the story themselves. The ‘Wild Rumpus’ is shown only in pictures so the children can talk about what the monsters and Max are doing. Our toddlers did find this a little hard, but it was interesting to see what answers they did come out with, which were not always obvious. They also enjoyed pretending to be wild things themselves, “roaring their terrible roars”, “gnashing their terrible teeth”, “rolling their terrible eyes, and showing their terrible claws”. I’ve only read it to them once so far but I can see it becoming a favourite.

Buy Where The Wild Things Are:

Paperback (£3.46)

Hardback (£9.09)

 

I would actually love to read In the Night Kitchen to the kids, but I think it might get frowned on.

Children’s Hour: Augustus and His Smile

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Augustus wakes up one day and discovers that he has lost his smile. He searches everywhere for it. Up high mountains, in the depths of the sea, in the rain, until he sees his reflection in a puddle and finds that his smile has come back to him. All the things he has seen and done have made him happy again. Augustus and his Smile is a perfect teacher book. Lots of opportunities to talk about what might have made Augustus sad, and what makes the kids happy. The story is simple but illustrated with beautiful pictures of all the places Augustus goes, as his smile gradually reappears.

Buy Augustus and His Smile

Paperback (£5.07)

Children’s Hour: Mister Magnolia

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Mister Magnolia is a lucky man, he has 2 lovely sister (who play the flute), he has the biggest scooter ever which all his friends can fit on, he has a pet dinosaur, and make the biggest splash when he comes down the water chute…

“But Mister Magnolia,

Poor Mister Magnolia,

Mister Magnolia had only one boot”

This is another of the books I loved as a child and have now introduced to the kids at work (this very day in fact!). One child in particular loved the story, especially the pictures of Mister Magnolia on the water slide (seriously he actually said “Wow”) and his face gave a little look of excitement when he saw Mister Magnolia’s dinosaur (what an enormous brute). The other children especially liked it when Mister Magnolia was opening his present at the end. They were all eager to see what he got…or maybe that was just the way the story kept them waiting!

I’ve always loved Quentin Blake illustrations, and his rhymes pair perfectly. I like that he occasionally throws in words most children won’t know (like parakeet). The rhymes make the stories more interesting for the children too, and easy for them to join in with (although the only part the kids at work joined in with way “Hey! Look!”

Buy Mister Magnolia:

Paperback (£3.65)

Children’s Hour: Commotion in the Ocean

WATCH OUT LATER TODAY FOR A CHILDREN’S HOUR GIVEAWAY!

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Commotion in the Ocean is more of a series of poems than a story really. Each poem is about a different sea creature, or set of sea creatures, and they all rhyme. This book was a big hit about a year ago in Toddler Room, and our bathroom display based on the book (with pictures copied but decorated by the children) is still a bit hit. The rhymes are funny and have beautiful accompanying pictures. The rhymes make it easy for the children to remember the names of the different sea creatures, and they can sometimes quote them. The pictures are big and bright, and there’s lots of background for the children to investigate, including a starfish to find on every page.

Commotion in the Ocean is written by the same author as Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, I prefer the latter but both are big hits with the kids.

Buy Commotion in the Ocean:

Paperback (£3.95)

Board Book (£4.19)

Children’s Hour: Not Now Bernard

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Our Toddlers are really into monsters at the moment so I took Not Now Bernard (along with Two Monsters) into work with me. They didn’t really get Two Monsters, but they loved Not Now Bernard.

Not Now Bernard is the story of a boy, and a monster. Bernard tries to tell his parents that there is a monster in the garden but a series of household disasters mean that they don’t really listen. Consequently Bernard gets eaten by the monster…and the monster ends up ‘becoming’ Bernard.

I used to love this book when I was a kid and I’m glad the kids still enjoy it. They were excited to read a book about a monster even before we started. Once the monster appears they love telling him off (“ooomm, we don’t bite people”, “He broke Bernard’s toy. Bernard’s going to be sad now” “We don’t climb on the TV at nursery”.), and the like spotting the various accidents (“Look he hurt his thumb” “She spilt the water” “He’s sad because the monster bit him”). As an adult it’s quite an amusing read and (as with quite a few David McKee books, especially I Hate my Teddy Bear) there’s a bit more to the story, shown in the pictures, than I had realised as a child. I always noticed that the Dad had banged his hand with the hammer, but I never noticed the Mum spilling the water, or dripping paint on the floor before and it sort of explains why they were a bit busy to talk to Bernard.

David McKee is probably best known for the Elmer books, but while I like Elmer I prefer his monster books!

Buy Not Now Bernard:

Paperback (£3.54)

Children’s Hour: Take Turns Max and Millie

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

In terms of teaching type books Take Turns Max and Millie is rather good. It’s one of a series of Max and Millie books, the only one I’ve read, and it seems the whole series is about teaching children different things which parents may struggle with. Take Turns Max and Millie is of course about sharing. Max and Millie find that there is a new, exciting toy at nursery- a car. They both want to play bit Max gets there first and won’t let Millie have a turn. The teachers shows Max and Millie how they can play with the car together and they soon learn that this is much more fun. The children enjoy all the noises included in the book (the sounds Max and Millie make when they are driving the car, and when they are fighting). They can recognise that Max should share with Millie (but of course if you ask them they always share at nursery!). It’s a good way to get the message across. The pictures are bright and quite simple which make them attractive to the children. It’s not the most exciting story in the world but the children still enjoy it.

Buy Take Turns Max and Millie:

Board book (£5.13)

Children’s Hour: Meg’s Eggs

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

My sister send me a text over weekend saying that her family (my niece, is 3, my nephew is almost 4 months) were really enjoying reading Kipper that week, and also Meg’s Eggs, and could she nominate them for Children’s Hour? Well how can I say no to featuring a book my niece loves? Especially as I insist on buying her books at any given opportunity. I remember vaguely Kipper from my childhood but I think I always preferred Meg and Mog anyway- and I have read Meg’s Eggs to the kids at work, so it’s fresher in my mind. Meg’s Eggs is one in a series of books about a witch (Meg) and her cat (Mog). In this particular book Meg decides to use a spell to cook some eggs, but something goes wrong and the eggs start to hatch letting out dinosaurs. I love the pictures in the Meg and Mog books, very simple, but bright and noticeable. The book is funny as one, then two, then three dinosaurs appear…what is Meg going to do about it? Meg’s spells are great too, and the typography of the story follows the pictures so they are almost a part of the illustrations. Although the speech bubbles do make it a little difficult to be sure what order to read the words in. I should really read this to the kids in toddlers- they love dinosaurs.

Buy Meg’s Eggs:

Paperback (£4.79)

Children’s Hour: Splat the Cat

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

I will do anything in my power to avoid reading Splat the Cat. Maybe it is just because I hate all the tongue twisters in it, or maybe it’s because Splat is just so whinny! In this book (which is the first in a whole series of Splat the Cat books) it’s Splat’s first day at school, and he is dreading it. Fortunately for Splat he ends up liking school, and you could argue that this is good for children who are looking to go to looking to go to school, but actually Splat changes school completely before he loves it. There is a bit of comedy in the form of Splat’s pet mouse, simply because of the fact that usually cats chase mice.

Maybe the kids are being mean by constantly picking it!

Buy Splat the Cat:

Paperback (£4.36)

Library Binding (£11.40)

Kindle (£6.49)

Children’s Hour: Where’s Boo?

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

Image from AmazonThe image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

The Where’s Boo? books are a series of books based on the children’s television show Boo! The idea is pretty simple, but good fun for the kids. Each book takes place in a different place (we have the jungle and the farm at nursery) where you lift the flaps to find Boo. On each page there is a picture of a different thing you can find in that place along with a rhyme about that thing which involves counttng them, and always ends with the line “But where’s Boo?”. The children can lift the flap to find a different one of Boo’s friends along with their own rhyme (Laughing Duck, Growling Tiger, Sleepy Bear) until they find Boo himself. The kid’s love finding all the friends, and taking turns to count. At one point all you needed to say to the toddlers was “Quiet. Like Sleepy Bear.” to get them to whisper! The colours are bright and the pictures are simple.

Unfortunately the books are no longer being printed but you can buy some of them second-hand from Amazon.

Buy Where’s Boo?:

In the Jungle

In the Antarctic

At the Theatre

In the Cave

At the Funfair

Children’s Hour: A Squash and a Squeeze

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

A Squash and a Squeeze was a favourite book in toddler room when I started being based there, but is disappeared, this week it has reappeared so we’re introducing the story to a whole new group of toddlers. A Squash and a Squeeze it the story of an old woman who thinks her house is just to small. She goes to a wise old man for help and he tells her to “Take in your hen”…so she does and returns to the wise old man who tells her to take in increasingly large animals until she has a hen, a goat, a pig and a cow in her house…and it really is A Squash and a Squeeze . Then he tells her to take the animals out again, of course in comparison her house is enormous! Really the message behind this story is to be grateful for what you’ve got.  The woman’s house may not be bigger but at least she has a house, and it’s all hers. Of course the children don’t really get this message but they still enjoy the story. They find the idea of having all those animals in your house funny- especially when the cow is dancing on the table. They like the rhymes too, and the repetition which makes it easy for them to ‘read’ it themselves.

I like to imagine that the old woman is gradually getting more cheesed off with the wise old man as he keeps giving her what seem to be stupid solutions (she just wanted him to come and build an extension really), and he wise old man laughing as she seems to blindly follow them.

Buy A Squash and a Squeeze:

Paperback (£3.89)

Boardbook (£5.39)

Braille (£5.99)

Children’s Hour: Painter Bear

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Painter Bear is another previous bookstart book for toddlers. It’s an extremely simple story (and that’s probably why it’s no longer being published). Painter Bear loves painting, he gets all his clothes messy and has to change them…but of course he gets dirty again. The toddlers love to hear one of my colleagues telling this story because she always tells painter bear off, and the kids love to see it- and to tell him off themselves. It’s good for talking about colour too. The colours of Painter Bear’s clothes and, of course his paints.

Unfortunately Painter Bear is no longer being published, but you can buy it second hand on amazon

Buy Painter Bear:

Paperback (from £0.01)

Children’s Hour: Walking Through the Jungle

Children’s Hour is a feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday, where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

Walking through the Jungle was a favourite book with the toddlers when I first started working in toddler room. In fact it was so loved that it ended up falling apart it had been read that many times. I first encountered it as a song, not as a book. It’s pretty basic in form, walking through the jungle what do you see….I think I see a….chasing after me…. The book does change the song a little by having different environments e.g. iceberg, desert, which is quite good for teaching children a little about the world, and the pictures are bright and colourful with lots of different animals to name. I like the rhythm of the poetry as well, it makes it easy for the children to join in with and has a march like beat to it. I must admit, however, that I like the song better than the book. It leaves more scope for imagination as children can suggest which animals they can find in the jungle.

Buy Walking Through the Jungle:

Paperback (£3.74)

Book and CD (£5.24)

Children’s Hour: The Hungry Hen

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

I first encountered Hungry Hen when I was based in pre-school. Somehow the book has managed to survive the whole 3 years I have been working at the nursery with very little damage! Possibly simply because toddlers don’t really understand about being careful with books while most of the pre-schoolers do. The best we get from the toddlers is them saying “It’s ripped, it’s ripped! We have to be kind to our books”. Anyway I pretty much loved Hungry Hen straight away. It’s funny. As far as storylines go it’s pretty basic. The Hen is very greedy, she eats and eats and grows and grows until she is so big that she can’t fit out of the door of her coup. While the hen is busy eating the fox is bidding his time. He really wants to eat the hen but knows that if he waits just one more day she will become even bigger. As the story unfolds the tension grows until the fox is running yo get the hen…and then the tension is broken with a humourous twist [highlight for spoiler]the hen eats the fox! I’ve read this story to both toddlers and pre-schoolers, and both groups enjoy it, just for different reasons. The toddlers get excited as the fox is running but don’t entirely get that the fox wants to eat the hen, whereas the pre-schoolers do understand that the fox will eat the hen, and that adds a different slat to the story for them.

Buy Hungry Hen:

Paperback (£3.89)

Children’s Hour: I Want my Mum

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

Image from Amazon

The Little Princess is rather famous. She has a whole series of books, and a TV show. Probably her best known book is I Want My Potty. But this Children’s Hour isn’t about I Want my Potty, it’s about I Want my Mum. I Want My Mum is a bit of a favourite with our toddlers at the moment, God knows why! Personally it really grates at me. While there is the bit of a lesson that all Little Princess books hold (that it’s ok to be separated from your Mum- it will be okay) most of the time the Little Princess seems a bit spoilt. At any provocation she will scream “I WANT MY MUM”, and nobody else will be good enough (even though at one point she has three other people pandering to her desires. And Mum always comes. In fact even when she doesn’t scream at the end it’s only because she has crisps and a video to occupy her. I suppose it’s another instance of giving the kids a chance to shout, or maybe it’s that they can shout about Mummy who they may well miss themselves.

I do generally like The Little Princess. She’s not the perfect, girly princess you usually see, and I like that. I would rather the kids aspired to be normal like her than like the perfect disney princess type figure.

Buy I Want my Mum:

Paperback (£3.63)

Children’s Hour: One Mole Digging a Hole.

Children’s Hour is a new feature here at Lucybird’s Book Blog every Thursday where I’m looking at children’s picture books. As I work in a nursery I get plenty of opportunities to look at picture books, and to see what the kids think of them so it really makes sense to use those experiences.

I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.

The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.

One Mole Digging a Hole is basically a counting book. We find mole and all his friends getting the garden ready for summer. Each page features a different animal doing a different gardening job, and each page rhymes. One mole digging a hole. Two snakes with garden rakes. Three bears picking pears. The children really love the way the book rhymes and enjoy counting the animals. Some of the animals are ones they don’t usually encounter (e.g. storks) which is nice because it’s a way to expose them to animals you don’t find in tradition animal toys. The rhyming helps the children to join in, it makes it easy to remember what the words are so kids can even ‘read’ it to themselves after some time without much trouble. The pictures are lovely and bright, with lots of things going on for the kids to study. One of our kids loved the 3 bears picking pears so much that every time he heard the word bears he would add picking pears at the end. (Actually I say picking pears but he had an issue with the letter p…he would replace it with an f…I’ll let you imagine how that sounded!).

This book was actually in the bookstart set last year and I think it was a pretty good choice.

Buy One Mole Digging a Hole:

Paperback (£3.47)

Board Book (£4.49)