Category / Review

by jo

The Sound of Music Live on DVD

It is no secret that The Sound of Music is my favourite film – it’s something I always enjoy, and am currently enjoying passing my love onto H. (who also loves it, thank goodness) Over Christmas, ITV got ambitious, following in the footsteps of several productions in the US, doing a proper version of it on tv – The Sound of Music Live – and now it’s available on DVD.

The Sound of Music Live

The Sound of Music Live is exactly that – but don’t expect the same version as the film – this time around it’s the stage play, with just one alteration from that, having ‘Something Good’ in place of ‘An Ordinary Couple’ (it was written for the film). Following Social Media when it was on tv, a lot of people didn’t realise this – and I think it is important that it’s different – and I think tells the Von Trapp story a bit clearer too. (which is still massively different from the musical, but that’s just pulling hairs)

The Sound of Music Live - Kara Tointon

Kara Tointon stars as Maria and did an excellent job, at times I felt she was singing in a similar way to Julie Andrews – this may well be her singing voice of course, though I’m not sure. When we saw the touring stage production last year, Danielle Hope did similar.

The Sound of Music Live - My Favourite Things

The Sound of Music Live – My Favourite Things

Julian Ovenden plays Captain von Trapp and also does an excellent job.

The Sound of Music Live - How Can Love Survive

The Sound of Music Live – How Can Love Survive

With The Sound of Music Live following the stage play, characters like Max and Elsa have a much higher profile role, and the songs ‘How Can Love Survive’ and ‘No Way to Stop It’ (both dropped from the film) make an appearance, tackling Austria and the oncoming Anschluss.  I’ve always felt this part of the film is important, as you get to see the reason the Captain and Elsa split, paving the way for him to marry Maria – and while this is a musical and isn’t an accurate representation of what happened in real life, it’s closer! Max is played by the fabulous Alexander Armstrong (this role is made for him!), while Elsa is played by Katherine Kelly – and both are again, excellent.

The Sound of Music Live - No Way to Stop It

The Sound of Music Live – No Way to Stop It

H’s personal highlight was the appearance of Mel Giedroyc as Frau Schmidt, the housekeeper, what with her love of Bake Off. Mel’s BAFTA nominated sister, Coky Giedroyc directed The Sound of Music Live alongside the Tony Award winning Martin Koch. Oh, and of course it goes without saying, the children were brilliant too!

The Sound of Music Live - Do Re Mi

The Sound of Music Live – Do Re Mi

So here’s what to expect – plenty of singing, Nuns, fun, Wedding, a competition and then there’s the extras. The following night on tv there was a ‘Making Of’ film which I missed – and is included on here so I’ll finally get to see it!

The Sound of Music Live - DVD menu

What you won’t get with The Sound of Music Live – a puppet show while they all yodel (The Lonely Goatherd is the song they sing with Maria when they’re scared of the thunderstorm), My Favourite Things is placed back at the Abbey when Maria leaves to go to the Von Trapp home. ‘I Have Confidence’ (written for the film) doesn’t appear. The songs are in a different order – but remember, this is the original song order, the film changed them around.

The Sound of Music Live - The Lonely Goatherd

The Sound of Music Live – The Lonely Goatherd

All in all, The Sound of Music Live is an enjoyable hour and a half and I’d recommend to anyone who hasn’t seen the stage play – and indeed, anyone who has!

The Sound of Music Live - So Long Farewell

The Sound of Music Live – So Long Farewell

The Sound of Music Live is out now and can be ordered from Amazon now!

We were sent a copy for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own. All images are my own personal screengrabs from the DVD. 

by jo

Human Body Factivity Box Set

As Parragon Book Buddies we are sent a different book every month for H to read. This month was a Human Body Factivity Box Set – and it’s excellent!

Human Body Factivity Box Set

The Human Body Factivity Box Set has a book inside – part of the Gold Stars range, ‘The Amazing Human Body’. With H only being six she hasn’t got a lot of knowledge about the human body, so she found this box and book fascinating – and here’s why.

Introducing Elvis the Pelvis (her name).

Human Body Factivity Box Set Skeleton Model

Inside the box you get 20 pieces of plastic bones to put together to form your own skeleton on a stand. H found it fascinating. “Do I really look like this?!” she queried, I asked her to stand and she felt all the various bones she was able to feel. It was a huge eye opener. As she’s starting to get older and to be more aware of herself, it was good to point out parts of her body and where they are on the model.

Inside the Human Body Factivity Box Set is the book of course, which has loads of activities within. No topic (other than periods really) is skipped – farts get featured (always funny for six year olds), and I’m liking the section on ears which is good for showing H where she sometimes gets infections too.

You know when a book opens up someone’s eyes and they start to discover a brand new world? This is it – it’s definitely age-appropriate and is something H will continue to learn from as she progresses through the book. She’s definitely more of a reader than someone who does activities in books, but has already come out with several facts she has picked up.

Human Body Factivity Box Set Hiccups page

There are hundreds of facts in The Amazing Human Body too – so plenty!

It is also the first book we own which covers hiccups. Whenever H laughs too much she gets them, and hates it – she’s had this since she was a baby. It drives her mad – so reading what it all means was fascinating for her.

The Human Body Factivity Box Set is available now – including from Amazon (affiliate link) and comes highly recommended by us!

We were sent the book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

by jo

Introducing Three Pig Diaries by Emer Stamp

We’ve a new author and illustrator for us this week – and not one book but three – three Pig diaries by Emer Stamp, that is!

Emer Stamp is an author and illustrator, and has created the three diaries by Pig. We have been sent all three Pig books, as an introduction to Pig’s life, and indeed his diaries. The books are 2013’s The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig, 2014’s Pig – The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig and finally the brand new book, The Seriously Extra Ordinary Diary of Pig which is available from the 4th February 2016.

Pig Books Emer Stamp

So who is Pig? Pig is an ordinary pig on a farm. He lives with his best friend, Duck and in the first book, some Evil Chickens and he also keeps some diaries. Pig reckons he’s the farmer’s favourite as he gets fed all the best slops and received special back scratches that only a favourite would get. The Evil Chickens are making a special Tractor-Rocket in which to send Pig to Pluto, where there’s no food. Obviously Pig isn’t up for this. However, it then becomes apparent that the farmer is feeding Pig so well because he’s going to be eaten – after all, the farmer does call him Roast Pork… Duck tells him as much, so Pig realises that his only option is to take the Trocket and go to space… what will happen next?

Well, we know Pig has two more diaries so if we fast forward, Book two finds Pig at a Vegetarian Farm where he feels much safer! He has a new friend, Kitty who laughs at his jokes, so he loves her. Duck is still around too, and can see right through Kitty – a cunning, jealous, killing cat. Pig doesn’t believe Duck, and in fact only realises once he’s half way to the pie-making factory… will Pig make it back?

But of course he does – as Book three is almost set to be unleashed! Pig is now safely back on the farm, playing games with Duck and having plenty of fun. However, a game of hide and seek goes wrong, Pig tries to make it better and it gets even worse, as Cow gets kidnapped. Pig and Duck are the only ones who can save her! So that’s what they try to do.

The Seriously Extra Ordinary Diary of PigI like these Pig diaries – and it marks a different style of writing to that which H is used to. Lots of “I is Pig” and “I is doing this” type of language. We’ve read some of the books together, and H has read them mainly in her head. We talked about the way it is written, and in doing this somehow I’m reading Pig out loud in a West Country accent (it does work too).

The Emer Stamp books are funny – I’ve heard H laugh out loud on more than one occasion too (this may be due to mentions of poo and farting which she tells me happen a lot – and I’ve yet to meet a six year old who doesn’t find either funny). I like that the language is written from Pig’s perspective – you get a feel for the character and the silliness too. The books are funny and lovingly illustrated as well – and I love that they’re in a diary format, as H writes her own private one, so I’m hoping it will inspire her even more!

The Seriously Extra Ordinary Diary of Pig

H has asked Emer Stamp some questions, which should hopefully follow soon, she is getting into asking authors questions!

We were sent the three Emer Stamp Pig books for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own. You can buy all three books via Amazon, The Seriously Extraordinary Diary of Pig, The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig and The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig (all affiliate links) – with the newest book out this week! We’re taking part in a blog tour, so check out the other bloggers who are involved below :

Emer Stamp Pig Blog Tour Banner

Thank you to Scholastic and Faye Rogers for organising this!

by jo

Disney – The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

We’re Parragon Book Buddies and receive a book to review every month. December’s book was The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee.

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is the first illustrated novel in the Zodiac Legacy series, and is also Disney related thanks to it being written by Marvel Comics former Chairman and all-round comics genius Stan Lee (and that’s really underplaying who he is). The stories revolve around an African-American teenager, Steven. He has to master strange powers and unlock the mysterious powers of the zodiac.

Characters (and their Zodiac signs) he’ll meet along the way include Steven the Tiger, Jasmine the Dragon, Kim the Rabbit, Duane the Pig, Liam the Ram, Roxanne the Rooster, Carlos, Maxwell the Dragon, Josie the Horse, Malik the Ox, Nicky the Dog, Vincent the Monkey, Celine the Snake and Thiago the Rat.

In The Zodiac Legacy Convergence, Steven’s school trip to China doesn’t go quite as expected when he stumbles upon ancient pools of liquid filled with powers connected to the Chinese Zodiac.

After receiving the powers of the Tiger, complete with super strength and killer reflexes, Steven joins a ragtag group bent on stopping the Vanguard: a corrupt organisation that will stop at nothing to use the Zodiac powers to get anything – and everything – they want. Steven may be a quick-thinking fourteen year old who can punch through walls, but the might of the Vanguard is unlike anything the world has ever seen. Or so the Vanguard would like to think….

Stan Lee, the author helped create the Marvel Universe, which explains why this is a Disney book – as Disney now own Marvel (see Big Hero 6 as a prime example).

I feel that The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is possibly a little bit too old for H (but she’ll definitely be ready for it in a year or so) as it is targeted at 8-12 year olds. I love the illustrations that accompany the story too – they make the book have a comic-book feel without it actually being one.The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is available now in hardback, paperback and audio CD formats at Amazon. Stan Lee’s website is here and there is also a Disney Zodiac Legacy website where you can find out your sign (I’m a dog)!

We were sent The Zodiac Legacy – Convergence for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

by jo

H Discovers Harry Potter

I’ve been looking forward to the day H would start to borrow my books, and while the majority of them won’t be borrowed for several years yet, my Harry Potter set has been sat waiting for the right opportunity to be read.

H reading Harry Potter

Last year at school on World Book Day, all of H’s teachers dressed as different Harry Potter characters which was awesome – I was laughing out loud at them as they looked fantastic. We had started to read the first Harry Potter book, ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ together, but if I’m to be honest, I didn’t enjoy reading it out loud – I never have enjoyed reading out loud. We got some of the way in, then I decided it might be easier to watch the film. We did, and left it until we knew H would ask to read more.

Bearing in mind she’s almost six and a half, so still quite young, I’m having to remember what happens in which books, although she has seen parts of the films (there’s nothing quite like spoilering films for your young child so they know which characters make it to the end by catching bits on television!). At the moment I want to stop around Book 3 and see how she has managed with the Dementors, which I think is around the time things start to get quite dark. We’ll wait a  little bit for Book 4, I think.

A week or two ago she picked up Harry Potter again – and read The Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets in record time (and has since asked for a Nimbus 2000 broom, and some Hogwarts robes) and is now settling into The Prisoner of Azkaban.  We bought the Box Set (affiliate link) of all the films on DVD over Christmas too.

Harry Potter DVD collection

For the Harry Potter films the same rules apply as Star Wars – The Force Awakens – she can’t unsee something bad, and the Harry Potter films jump from being PG’s to a 12A from the Goblet of Fire film onwards, so it’s a tricky ground to walk on to make sure she sees the film if it’s appropriate, without scaring her!

It has been quite interesting too, as I felt like the very first Harry Potter movie was identical to how I imagined it reading the book, whereas she sees it differently. I pointed out to H there is no right or wrong way to imagine things, as everyone has their own unique vision of how it is. I love it’s getting her imagination going!

We’re planning on going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour on my birthday in April this year, so this was another reason to encourage H to read the books, mainly so she didn’t ask too many questions – and I’m already seeing she’s become a cross between Hermione and Karen from Outnumbered, so I suspect she’ll be telling me what things are.

I showed H the inside front of my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as Shaun bought it for me as a wedding present, and wrote in the front – she’s loving that I got a book as a present, and I’m loving that she’s get as much enjoyment from them as I have.

But yes, at this point in time, maybe until she’s seven, we’ll start the fourth book, but talk about it. It will be read in the daytime rather than last thing at night, and we’ll see how we go. From September H has to wear a tie to her Junior school, so I’ve ordered her a Gryffindor one – I’ve told her if she can manage to work out how to tie it, then I’ll order her those Hogwarts Robes – there’s nothing like a bit of bribery to get her working a bit harder!

by jo

FactFeed – The Ultimate Book of Randomly Awesome Trivia

‘Love fun facts? Then you’ll love this book!’ says FactFeed – The Ultimate Book of Randomly Awesome Trivia. So we delved inside – because there’s trivia and there’s randomly awesome trivia. Which was this book to be?

FactFeed - The Ultimate Book of Randomly Awesome Trivia

FactFeed – The Ultimate Book of Randomly Awesome Trivia is by Penelope Arlon, Tory Gordon-Harris and Karen Hood, and claims to be packed full of randomly awesome trivia.

Oh, and I haven’t mentioned it yet, but it is also one of the books which has made it to the final of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2016 (the ‘Best book with facts’ category), which will be revealed this year. The BookTrust sent us a copy, and H has been poring over it ever since.

When you have a need for randomly awesome trivia, I would say this is the kind of book you need to go for. Well laid out pages with subjects grouped together – so for example, there are pages on extinction and several facts; from Extinct Animals and it’s ALL OUR FAULT, to Extinct Animals which made a BIG impression, to Amazing Animals on the brink of EXTINCTION (SAVE THEM!).

FactFeed is sorted into the categories of The Natural World, Science & Tech and Everyday life. Within everyday life you have topics like Superheroes, crisps, language, the human body, music, sports, states, movies.

I really like the Science & Tech numbers section – I’ve often had to try and go through the amount of zeroes for numbers (and truly, I did not know a centillion existed, nor that it was the biggest number which ends in -illion, so even I’m learning here).

See, there comes a point where your child starts to get a bit smarter than you – I don’t remember a lot of things I was taught at school, it was a long time ago. FactFeed is the kind of book where your child find even smarter facts, but you can have a sneaky read when they’ve gone to bed, so you don’t feel quite so daft.

You know in magazines where there’s always a section with random facts? Imagine that in a book – it’s really well laid out and while it isn’t the kind of book you’d sit and read like a story, it’s definitely one for trivia fans.

It’s perfect for a child of H’s age who is curious – and I’d highly recommend!

FactFeed – The Ultimate Book of Randomly Awesome Trivia is published by Scholastic and is available now. Watch Blue Peter on the 3rd March 2016 (World Book Day) to see if it wins!

by jo

DisneyLife Questions

Today I was sent an exciting package – a six month subscription to the new DisneyLife service. So I thought I’d start this off a bit differently – as I feel like I have a lot of DisneyLife questions to ask.

DisneyLife questions, DisneyLife six month subscription

DisneyLife launched in November 2015, so is still in its early days, but has a lot of potential. Think of it as a child-friendly Netflix – at least, that’s what I’m reading from reviews.

So I thought I’d do a post before we’ve started using it, asking all my DisneyLife questions – and in fact, if you’re reading, maybe you have some to ask as well? Feel free to add them here and we’ll do our best to work it out.

My first one – is it worth £9.99 a month? What do you get? Considering we’ll spend quite a lot on Disney and Pixar related DVDs, could this replace our buying habits?

Question two – how soon do films come onto DisneyLife after being released on DVD? For Christmas H got Inside Out, The Incredibles and Big Hero 6. They’ll all be getting repeated viewings, so are they all available? I’m curious to find out what the turnaround time is.

Question three – how is the quality of the films? And which of our devices is it compatible with? At the moment we have two iPads, one Samsung tablet and two Kindle Fire’s (one of which has a subscription to Amazon Kids), as well as a MacBook Pro and a WiiU (which we use for Amazon / Lovefilm video). Add to that a Chromecast, and it should be something fairly straightforward to use.

Question four – you know what you’re getting with Disney. We have a LOT of Disney DVDs. There are going to be favourites in there – and I’ve noticed films like Snow White haven’t been available on DVD for ages – will DisneyLife have it?

Question five – Music. We have ‘Now That’s What I Call Disney’ on CD, and it’s wonderful, bringing back memories of my childhood. I’m looking forward to seeing which songs feature on the music part of the package.

Question six – what exactly is DisneyLife?
Movies, Music, Books, Kids TV Box Sets and Apps – in a monthly subscription of £9.99 which you can cancel at any time – I love things where you aren’t tied into annual contracts as I feel like the company has to work to keep you there rather than making it difficult for you to leave. This YouTube video tells you lots too…

Question seven – what are you looking forward to the most?

I can answer that – watching more DisneyPixar movies – we haven’t really watched the Cars/Planes series much, and have wanted to, so that’ll be one of the first ones!

So, lovely readers, do you have any DisneyLife questions you would like to ask?

DisneyLife’s website is here. We’ve been provided with a six month subscription for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

by jo

Bella Broomstick by Lou Kuenzler

Lou Kuenzler has a new book, Bella Broomstick, published Friday 7th January 2016. H is a big fan of her books, so when we were given the chance to review and feature Lou on Mum Friendly, she was super excited!

Bella Broomstick by Lou Kuenzler

Bella Broomstick is a witch, but a pretty hopeless one. Her nasty Aunt Hemlock sends her to live in Person World, and she isn’t allowed to do any magic ever again. However, Bella finds a kitten she names Rascal, who gets into a bit of bother – and somehow she finds herself helping the cat by using magic – oops….

The book has plenty of drawings accompanying the story, as well as being broken into chapters which are ideal for young readers moving into longer books.

H loves Lou Kuenzler’s books. She discovered Shrinking Violet Really Loves Ancient Egypt on a trip to the British Museum, and now has the whole set. She also has all four Princess Disgrace books – and loves them all. What I like the most about Lou’s books are the way they’re laid out – they were great at encouraging H to read expression aloud which I think is really important when a child learns to read – especially in longer books.

Bella Broomstick doesn’t have as many pages as the Shrinking Violet books – an ideal size for a bookworm like H to finish in ONE DAY! Like I said before, she’s a big fan. In fact, she’s on her fourth or fifth read of the book now – it’s safe to say it’s another favourite.

I met Lou in 2014 at Blogfest, and she kindly sent H a selection of Shrinking Violet goodies, where we also chatted about Princess Disgrace and how she has to go to school to learn how to be a princess, doing such things as training her unicorn and learn not to be clumsy. As a parent, I’ve found Lou Kuenzler’s books to have the right amount of humour for a child H’s age to understand – and I like how her characters get up to fun adventures – and most importantly, talk in a way she can relate – and they make her laugh. If you’re familiar with Lou’s previous books, then Bella Broomstick needs adding to your must-reads list!

H was really excited to get to ask Lou Kuenzler some questions too – and Lou herself tells us more about Bella Broomstick.

Lou Kuenzler

Questions for Lou Kuenzler from H Age 6
What is Bella Broomstick about? I’m excited to read this book!

Bella Broomstick is about a young witch who is so hopeless at doing magic she is expelled from the Magic Realm and sent to live in the Person World where is fostered by human beings instead. Luckily for Bella, her new foster parents are much kinder than her mean, old, witchy Aunt Hemlock (who always served frog’s spawn porridge for breakfast). Now Bella discovers ice cream and hot chocolate and finds a talking kitten too. There is just one rule: she must not do any magic, ever again. So, you guessed it! The first thing she does is … Whoops! MAGIC! And that is where the fun really starts …

Thank you for my Shrinking Violet poster and things, I love them! I am thirteen fish fingers tall! Do you have any more Shrinking Violet books planned?

I am so glad you like the fish finger poster. When I do school visits, children often come up with brilliant ideas of things they could measure themselves in. Chocolate biscuits is one of my favourites … but I don’t think I could be trusted not to eat a few while I was doing the counting! Ants are another good one, but it might take a while to train them all to stand in a nice neat line while you measured yourself against them. Perhaps they would have to balance on each other’s shoulders. If ants have shoulders …? Either way, it would take a lot of ant training! Maybe spaghetti would be easier. But should it be cooked or raw?

Oh dear, maybe fish fingers are best after all.

I would love to write another Shrinking Violet book. Perhaps one where she shrinks at school. It is definitely something I am thinking about but, at the moment, I am working on the next two books in the Bella Broomstick series.

I love Princess Grace. How many Princess DisGrace books are you going to write?

There are four Princess Disgrace books already. But, again, I would definitely like to write more when I have time. I think it would be wonderful to take Grace right through to the end of her studies at Tall Towers. That way, there could be a wonderful Princess Graduation ball and we could see Grace ready to face the royal world beyond the magical shores of Coronet Island …

How do you say your last name please?

Kuenzler is tricky, isn’t it? It is originally a Swiss name. Try saying Koons-la. But I tell you what … it’s probably easier if you just call me Lou.

Do you like writing books?

I love writing books. I get to sit at my big red desk (with my dog by my feet and my two cats peering over the top of the computer – they think they are very helpful). Then I just make stuff up all day long – it is like playing the best imaginary game ever … and I get to share it with readers and see my books for sale in the shops. I am hopeless at drawing, so other people always do brilliant illustrations for me. That is one of the most exciting bits … seeing how somebody else imagines the characters might look. Now, I can’t think of Violet or Grace or Bella looking any other way.

Shrinking Violet is Violetta Winzig in Germany. Do your characters have different names in other countries? What is Bella Broomstick?

My books have been translated into lots of other languages. It is always very exciting – and slightly strange – to know these are the same words I wrote but not be able to understand them. Shrinking Violet is known as Minik Violet in Turkish for instance. And Princess Disgrace is Princesse Catastrophe in French. As I have only just finished writing Bella Broomstick in English, it has not been translated into any other languages yet. But my husband, who is Swiss, says that she would be Bella Besenstiel in German, which I think sounds brilliant.

Will you be writing any more Bella Broomstick books?

I have almost finished the second book in the Bella Broomstick series – where we see her go off to school and make a new best friend. There is a bit of bother for Bella with some multiplication sums and a lot of magic rabbits! Once that one is done, I will start on Book Three which is going to be all about celebrating Halloween for the first time in her new human village. There is some magic trouble from Bella’s mean, witchy Aunt Hemlock. I am looking forward to that one, as writing horrid characters can be really fun.

Thank you so much for asking me these brilliant questions, H. I hope you find the answers helpful. You have really made me think!

Lou.

Let’s leave the final word for Bella Broomstick to H – “I liked when she went to the human world, it was funny and not scary. I liked she had to do magic even though she wasn’t meant to. If I saw the book in a bookshop I would DEFINITELY buy it! (but I would have to save my pocket money first or ask you, Mummy)”

This post is part of the Bella Broomstick blog tour – see the banner for other fab bloggers taking part. Bella Broomstick is published by Scholastic, and can be bought here. It has a rrp of £5.99. (affiliate link) Lou’s website can be found here and she’s on Twitter here. We received a copy of the book to review for this piece.  Also, huge thanks to Faye Rogers for organising this book tour!

Bella Broomstick blog tour banner, Bella Broomstick

by jo

Rain by Manya Stojic

We have been sent a copy of Rain by Manya Stojic, which is an enchanting and beautifully illustrated story set in the African Savannah.

Rain by Manya Stojic

Rain by Manya Stojic is a lovely bright colourful book. The story is set in the African Savannah.

“The porcupine smells rain in the air. The zebras see lightning. The baboons hear rumbling thunder. The rhino feels the first drops and the lion tastes the cool water...”

The book has you joining all the savannah animals, using your senses to help them track a coming storm.

However, the hot sun dries out the land again once the rain has stopped, and the animals have to wait for the next big rain.

“The sun shone over the plain. It was hot. Everything was drying out“

Rain by Manya Stojic

Rain by Manya Stojic has very fun, simple text which makes it an easy book to read, with lovely big text and bright colourful illustrations.

I like that the book has an embossed cover in the shape of raindrops – shiny ones – it makes the book stand out on the shelf.

Rain by Manya Stojic

I think this book is ideal for young readers – especially ones who are starting to get into expression, as well as teaching children about senses and the environment.

Rain by Manya Stojic is published by Pavilion Books and has a rrp of £6.99 and is available now! Click here to buy from Amazon. (affiliate link)

We were sent a copy of Rain by Manya Stojic for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.