05/03/201505/03/2015 by jo

Blue Peter Book Awards 2015 Winners!

Today is a very exciting day for Blue Peter fans – the Blue Peter Book Awards 2015 winners have just been announced in a special Newsround early morning bulletin!

The Blue Peter Book Awards 2015 Winners are presented with their badges tonight on CBBC at 5.20pm – and H is extremely excited! She got ‘The Spy Who Loved School Dinners’ for Christmas after it grabbing her attention by being nominated late last year. In fact, she didn’t stop asking for it – the storyline appealed to her sense of humour.

Think of the Blue Peter Book Awards as being like the Richard and Judy Book Club – but for under tens with the much-sought after Blue Peter badge as a prize. A whole new world of reading opened up to H when she heard about the books, and the last few weeks on Blue Peter have led up to the big day- the results! So who has won?

Well we’re super excited, here’s the official press release with the winners announcement.

Two teachers, who have written funny and silly books, are top of their class as they win Best Book with Facts and Best Story in the Blue Peter Book Awards 2015, voted for by hundreds of schoolchildren.

Pamela Butchart, who teaches philosophy at secondary school, won Best Story with her latest title The Spy Who Loved School Dinners, which was illustrated by Thomas Flintham. (hurrah!!!)

Andy Seed, a former primary teacher and deputy head for 17 years, won Best Book with Facts with The Silly Book of Side-Splitting Stuff, illustrated by Scott Garrett.

Both were delighted to be crowned this year’s winners and viewers will be able to see them
receive their awards on Blue Peter tonight from Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2013-2015 Malorie Blackman, as the show celebrates its 15th anniversary of the prize.

Pamela, who did a book-signing for The Spy Who Loved School Dinners on her wedding day, exclaimed: ‘WOW! Is this real-life?! I’m shocked and utterly over-the-moon about winning this fantastic award! It means the world to me that children voted for my book! Thank you.’

Andy, who grew up watching Blue Peter, said: ‘To win a Blue Peter Book Award is a proper thrill not just because it revives all those happy childhood memories but because the show
today does a truly significant job in raising the profile of books and reading at a time when
this is needed more than ever. To win any award is a delight but to win the Blue Peter Book
Award sets my spine tingling like nothing else.’

The illustrators of the books also expressed their excitement about winning the prize. Thomas Flintham said: ‘Hooray! What fantastic news! It was exciting enough just to be nominated but to have won has forced me to do a little dance!’

Scott Garrett said: ‘I was so excited to hear that we’d won the Blue Peter Book Award! Blue
Peter was a big part of my early years. We’ve all grown up with it and to be part of it AND get an award is something very special to me – I can’t wait to get my badge! Illustrators don’t get inundated with awards, so I’m over the moon to have been awarded this one. Here’s to books!’

A panel of judges including Tom Gates author Liz Pichon, Rastamouse creator Michael de
Souza, The Bookseller journalist Anna James, and non-voting chair of judges, Blue Peter
editor Ewan Vinnicombe, selected the shortlist from publishers’ submissions.

These were then read and voted on by more than 200 children from ten schools across the UK to decide the winners in each category. The winners were announced on a special World Book Day morning bulletin of Newsround.

Pupils at Perry Wood Nursery and Primary School in Worcester said it was an ‘honour’ and
‘exciting as only ten schools in the whole of England can choose the winners of the Blue Peter Book Awards.’

The enormously popular Blue Peter Book Awards are managed by reading charity Booktrust, which works with schools to get more children reading for pleasure. The Awards celebrate the best authors, most creative illustrators and the greatest reads for children.

Ewan Vinnicombe, Editor, Blue Peter said: ‘It’s fantastic that in our 15th year of the Blue Peter Book Awards we have given 200 children across the UK the chance to vote for their favourite books. Pamela and Thomas, Andy and Scott should be really proud and Blue Peter will continue to promote children’s books and our viewers’ love of reading.’

So I had a little chat with H – and you can watch it too!

08/02/2015 by jo

Introducing Glitterbelle!

Glitterbelle is a princess, and she has a set of books that Parragon have just made available. We’ve been sent two of them, and H took to them immediately.

Glitterbelle is a sparkly glittery princess, and H loved the books straight away – while Glitterbelle isn’t too girly and has some attitude, she does a lot of normal stuff. We were sent ‘Glitterbelle Me and You’ which for a five year old is possibly the best thing ever – it’s a diary with fields that need to be filled in. For H there are all kinds of things, wishes, dreams, what you want to be when you grow up, secrets, best friends, loves, favourites and more. Every night when we get in from school she sneaks into a corner with a pencil and fills in things in her Glitterbelle book – which is top secret! We’ve been told we may be allowed to see what she’s written, but it’s a diary and I’m being very good and respecting her privacy.

In turn, she’s been writing things down in each section. Okay, I had to have a little peep just to make sure she had, but also to see exactly what is asked in there. She loves that it’s ‘her’ little book of secrets where she can write what she wants, and I love how it’s adding to her creative side.

The other book we received was Glitterbelle Dazzling Dress Up, which is lots of stickers you can decorate and dress up Glitterbelle and her friends with – again, perfect for H when she wants to get creative. There are also 30 nail stickers included which are saved for half term.

Parragon has a Glitterbelle mini-site, as well as a free e-book you can download when you enter a code from the main story books. While I’m not a fan of girly princess things, this sits nicely in between – normal things that appeal to young girls without being too princessy.

The Glitterbelle books are targeted at 5-8 year olds. The mini site can be found here.

We received both copies for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

06/01/2015 by jo

Big City Explorer by Maggie Li

Occasionally we’re sent books which are absolutely perfect with H’s development and interests. Big City Explorer is one of those. Maggie Li who illustrates it is also the Art Director of one of our favourite magazines, Okido!

Big City Explorer is a different kind of book. A journey around the world, visiting 28 different cities.

Each double page is dedicated to a city around the world and is beautifully illustrated. Being the global traveller H is, she has an interest in the world, especially due to her dual nationality. She has found facts about cities we’ve stopped by and enjoyed learning about them (including that Singapore isn’t just a city, it’s actually a small country). There’s information like currency, language and population as well as lots of pictures, interesting buildings and places.

Facts are broken down into a readable style which makes learning interesting, plus the illustrations are lovely and clear. For Christmas we’ve bought H the wonderful Maps book by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski and this is a great accompaniment.

What makes this book really unique is the compass. It needs to be removed from the front cover, then on most pages you’re told which direction to point it in for the next page – for example, from Sydney to Tokyo ‘set your compass to north’ – simple enough directions to help a child learn directions. At the end of the book is a Super City Match Up game, where you can identify buildings that you’ll have come across throughout the book as well.

On the contents page of Big City Explorer everything is colour coded into continents as well which helps with learning where cities are in the world. Maggie Li’s illustrations capture the spirit of each city, and H has enjoyed learning about different places around the world.

If your child has an interest in cities of the world, this would make a fabulous present. If your child loves Okido magazine, you definitely need this book! Big City Explorer is published by Pavilion Books, and retails for £11.99.

We were sent Big City Explorer by Maggie Li for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own. The jpeg at the end links to Amazon via an affiliate link.

21/10/201419/10/2014 by jo

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon is out now – we received a copy to review. Last year we reviewed a lovely book by the author, ‘How to Lose a Lemur’ – which we enjoy reading a lot too, so knew we’d enjoy this one.

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon is a lovely story. H is currently on gold level at school as far as reading goes (she has just turned five), and we’ve been working on expression and punctuation which this book gives great examples of. I feel this book is ideal for space and expression.

It is a book of few words, but those that are there are engaging – and the pictures tell the story too. H read it on her own to start with, and I asked her questions about what happened. Her understanding of the book and the story was perfect, she was able to describe everything and even used a little bit of numeracy in there (there are ice creams and lollies bought, she worked out the total).

She could identify each dinosaur and found what they did funny – we read it together afterwards and she could barely read it for giggling! Her expression while reading (between giggles) was perfect too.

Dinosaur Beach tells a simple story with beautiful illustrations, is funny, has a font which is good for reading (NOT comic sans!) and is available now from all good booksellers.

Frann Preston-Gannon was the first UK winner of the Maurice Sendak Fellowship where she spent a month working with him.

We were sent a copy of this book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own. We also have Frann Preston-Gannon’s new book for review, ‘The Sloth Slept On’ coming very soon! This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

21/08/201426/03/2018 by jo

On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking

I’m very short on time daily. Since going back to work five days a week I’m missing my day off to get things done – one of those being baking. On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking is a new book I’ve been sent as part of the Parragon Book Buddies group I’m in – which suits me perfectly due to the aforementioned lack of time!

On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking has sixty super speedy recipes. H and I looked through the book with plenty of ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ and ‘mmmm!’ kind of noises until we agreed on what we’d like to bake. I changed my mind when I bought blueberries earlier today – our recipe of choice was to make blueberry scones.

I’d never thought about making them before – and we eat a lot of blueberries too and have enjoyed making scones in the past. I know they’re quite easy to make, so thought it’d be a good place to start. You need –
250g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
85g butter (chilled)
70g golden caster sugar
115g blueberries
1 egg
100ml buttermilk
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Grease a baking tray. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter and get the mixture to a breadcrumb like-consistency. Stir in the caster sugar and blueberries. Beat the egg and buttermilk and add that. Roll mixture into a ball (mine was pretty wet so I added more flour). Knead gently and shape into an 18cm round. Cut into eight slices and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Voila!

H enjoyed making these as it involved mess and she got to wear a pinny. I didn’t get to take photos as they involved mess. I like On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking because it tells me what to do and breaks it up into small sections so I don’t get distracted.

So how long did it take? I would say a little over 30 minutes – but mainly due to having H read the ingredients out to me, and help me count them on our scales. Once everything was measured it was pretty quick from there. I can see On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking being a book we’ll get a lot of use from – for the speed of the recipes and the variety in there. The recipes are broken into sections – Quick Cookies, Speedy Small Bakes, Fast Family Cakes and Bars, Presto Pastries and Desserts, plus lots of useful information at the back of the book, and plenty of delicious looking photos which inspire you to give it a try.

We’ve actually tried a few more recipes since I wrote this – all with great success!

I received my copy of On The Table in 30 Minutes – Baking for the purpose of review – all opinions are my own.

26/07/201431/07/2014 by jo

The Hueys in None the Number by Oliver Jeffers

Two things – we LOVE Oliver Jeffers books, and we LOVE The Hueys series too. H likes them as her grandad in Australia is nicknamed Huey, so while the story is nothing to do with him, it’s a memory, an association. The newest book The Hueys in None the Number is a slight change to the usual story.

The Hueys in None the Number is a Counting Adventure by Oliver Jeffers, the third in the Hueys series from Harper-Collins Kids.

‘the thing about the Hueys was that they loved numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3…. Wait! Is ‘none’ a number?’
Which is the basis for this story. See, we are all taught the numbers starting from 1, but when it comes to ‘none’, what exactly is it? It’s a counting conundrum, that’s what!

In true Oliver Jeffers fashion, The Hueys in None the Number is something you work out for yourself – and at the end of the book there’s a little bit on what ‘none’ actually is. In the meantime, throughout the book there’s plenty of examples of what numbers are – ‘but when you take them all away…. you get NONE.’ There is less story for this one, but it provokes a lot of thinking which I think is a good thing now H is reading fluently at school.

H enjoys reading this one – another she’ll happily take away and read in her head. I asked if I could read it to her, and she said she’d prefer if I read it in my head! Fair enough. I’ve caught her a few times reading it, and have now asked the question ‘is ‘none’ a number?’

She says no. I think we’ll be reading the book together again, and the discussion will probably continue into the night! It’s a good discussion point – especially as she’s doing a lot more thinking with numeracy as she heads into Year 1.

The Hueys in None the Number is available now from all good booksellers.

We were sent our copy for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own and honest. The link is an affiliate one.

21/07/2014 by jo

Elmer is 25 Years Old

Did you know the patchwork elephant Elmer is 25 years old? We didn’t realise – in fact, truth be told I didn’t realise the Elmer books were available in longer form! Fortunately Andersen Press sent us a copy of Elmer and Elmer and the Monster, a new title in the series.

Elmer is 25 – and a firm favourite in our house – we have a lot of the books (and a toy) but in the hardback baby editions – so I was pleased to find the books are available for older readers too – especially when they do the reading themselves. (We already own David McKee’s ‘Not Now Bernard‘ – a favourite of ours) So when two books arrive in the post they’re promptly whisked away and read by my four and three quarter year old, who then refuses to tell me what they’re about afterwards, just saying “they’re good”!

So I asked her what the books were about. We know the original Elmer story, where he gets tired of being different and disguises himself as a grey elephant – until he realises he can’t change himself. The book has a lovely story behind it – about not changing how we are and accepting the way we are – and this version is a book H reads a lot. On her own. Without me. (which is so different to our baby books!)

Elmer and the Monster is a brand new Elmer story. When Elmer and his friends hear a loud roar in the jungle they are convinced it’s a monster. Elmer is the only one brave enough to see what it could be. So what is it then? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Again, H took the book away, giggling in the corner as she read to herself, which was lovely. Both books are regularly read now – there’s a good mixture of pictures and words which are great for her reading level (Turquoise) – and as she heads into Year 1 at school I know these books will remain favourites – with David McKee’s illustrations so bright and colourful they’re visually appealing.

Elmer (in paperback) currently retails for £6.99
Elmer and the Monster (in hardback) currently retails for £11.99

So Elmer is 25 and to celebrate the anniversary, there are activities all through the summer – Andersen Press are making available a limited signed version of the first Elmer book. There will be new Elmer products available at UK retail. Greenwich Park has an Elmer bench as part of National Literacy Trusts ‘Books About Town’ project. Look out for more at Andersen Press’s website.

Both books were sent to us for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

08/05/2014 by jo

Little Miss Hug

Little Miss Hug is the latest book in the popular series of books from Roger Hargreaves and launches today, May 8th 2014!

Little Miss Hug is the 35th book in the Little Miss series, coming from the Hargreaves family. Adam Hargreaves continues to keep the series going, and this is the latest addition. I grew up with the Mr Men books, and I love that H enjoys reading them too.

The story is a nice simple one. Little Miss Hug likes giving perfect hugs out to her friends. No hug is too difficult, especially when you’ve a wide variety of friends – she can hug them all. One friend isn’t the easiest person to hug, however, so you’re left to read how Little Miss Hug tackles it… I won’t spoil it!

It’s a pleasant story with a nice message. For H as a competent reader it’s perfect for her reading skills – she read the book without any struggles, and there are no tricky words.

Adam Hargreaves said: “I grew up with the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters and I love creating new characters that children will love and identify with, just like I did when I was a boy.”

He continues: “I really enjoyed creating Little Miss Hug; she brings an important and fun character trait with her to the family of Mr Men and Little Miss and I think she’s going to fit right in.”

For the first time ever, to coincide with the launch of a Mr. Men and Little Miss character, an AR app for Little Miss Hug will be available for free download from Android and IOS from the 8^th May. The app will interact with both the Little Miss Hug book cover, as well as pages in the Mr Men and Little Miss magazine. It will see Little Miss Hug brought to life in 3D form and the app will also allow users to take pictures of themselves hugging Little Miss Hug. The app will also feature a fun video story and interactive game.

The book is available now from Egmont Books, and costs just £2.99.

We were sent a copy of the book for the purpose of review, all opinins are our own. The link is an affiliate one.

07/05/2014 by jo

DC Super Friends Books

We were sent four of the new DC Super Friends books from Random House for H to try. There are several titles that have been published at the end of March, from some First Reader titles to some great Activity Books targeted at 5-8 year olds. Read on to find out what we thought!

DC Super Friends need no introduction – the title first came about thanks to the tv series which featured the characters from DC Comics – Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman Spiderman and Aquaman. Wonder Woman does seem to have been written out of the DC Super Friends history, unfortunately, but the others remain.

We’ve been working on expression a lot with H’s reading as she’s progressing well in reception. Generally she can tackle tricky words and work them out, but still reads with one tone. To help her along I’ve been looking for books which have a bit more of a POW! going on where she’ll learn to recognise how to read it differently. These books are ideal!

We were sent Hero Havoc, where Bizarro just wants to be like Superman, but doesn’t quite get it right. He just wants to be a hero too, and doing it the opposite way to Superman does seem to create havoc. Really, it’s all about finding a superhero task for Bizarro which suits him – and as a parent I was glad to see a happy ending.

The other book was Crime Wave where Black Manta steals the worlds biggest pearl, so Batman, Superman and Aquaman all try to get it back while avoiding the Black Manta’s giant octopus. Both books have short sentences and are ideal for children who want to read a story independently. There are great illustrations and plenty to talk about (and read) on each page.

The other two books we’ve received are a fantastic Wipe-Clean Activity Book which has been used the most – H’s superhero name (which you fill in at the start) is Super Robin, and I love the pen can be stored safely and has a little rubber on the lid to remove the pen marks from the page. She has really enjoyed doing the activities, and there’s a good variety of puzzles. The type of things covered are writing, counting, drawing, spot the difference, mazes, colouring – all simple stuff but the kind of thing she enjoys doing.

Finally, The Super Friends Sticker Book has over 50 Super Hero stickers and loads more activities within, from decorating to completing puzzles. Given H loves stickers, this is right up her street.

In summary, I think these books are great. I do feel sad at the lack of female superheroes, mainly as I grew up with them in the seventies and eighties – these days most superheroes seem to be male (but that’s my issue rather than H’s), but I found all these books to be suitable for H and her age and reading ability.

The DC Super Friends books are available now, published by Bantam Books, part of Random House Children’s Books.

We were sent the books for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own. Book pictures link to Affiliate links.

16/03/201426/03/2018 by jo

Super Chicken! – The Best Chicken Recipes

Super Chicken is the latest book we received as a Parragon Book buddy. This would be another review where Shaun (chicken lover) steps up and tells us his thoughts but he claims he can’t review things very well, so instead I’ll do it and he can dictate.

Super Chicken! isn’t a superhero, it is in fact a collection of dishes which have one thing in common – they include chicken. Having been vegetarian for over 30 years, this isn’t my kind of cookbook. However, that isn’t to say dishes can’t be adapted.

Shaun and H had a good scan through the book to find a dish for our evening meal tonight, and opted for Chicken Satay Skewers. I had the same dish but with Spicy Quorn pieces to replace the meat.

With a prep time of 15 minutes and a cook time of 10 minutes (plus soaking the skewers time), this was an ideal dish for our Sunday evening – we don’t really do traditional Sunday dinners in this house.

Shaun found the instructions easy to follow, and the final results looked like the pictures. I found the satay sauce to be pretty good too – easily one of the best ones I’ve tried (aren’t home made ones always the best anyway?). It’s something we will definitely make again.

If you’re in a vegetarian and meat eating house, this book has some good ideas. I checked and all the sauces seemed suitable for vegetarians, and are prepared separately anyway.

Super Quorn Satay

Back when I first met Shaun and we went back to Australia, his mum brought out some writing he’d done from around the age of ten. He declared a big dislike for girls (ha), but big big love for chicken, so I know Super Chicken is a book he’ll be using a lot more as unlike the former, his opinion hasn’t changed.

Shaun did say he’d like to do a few more recipes from the book before I posted a review, so I’d say that was another good sign, chicken-lovers.

Super Chicken! contains several recipes broken into sections – Starters, Snacks and Sides, Lovely Lunches, Chicken Dinners and Food for Friends, with several choices in each section.

Super Chicken! is available now from all good bookstores, rrp £6.00 The Parragon page for it is here.

(contains an affiliate link)

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

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