One of Ivy’s classmates has a couple of pet snakes at home and this last term she brought the snakes into the classroom for the kids to see. The class spent a week talking and learning about snakes, and Ivy came home telling me all sorts of interesting facts. I was actually surprised by how interested she was on the topic of snakes!

So when I saw this new book, I (Don’t) Like Snakes  written by award winning zoologist Nicola Davies and illustrated by the talented Luciano Lozano, I knew I had to get it for her. It’s a really great book which combines a sweet narrative about a girl who hates snakes, with loads of interesting facts. A super clever and really appealing way to be both educational and fun!

A great book for kids in the 3-8 year range (though my 10-year-old enjoyed reading it too!). The book is just out and available from Amazon (UK and US).

Courtney x

Harry by the Sea has been a favourite book in our family since Easton was a baby. In fact I was surprised to see that I’ve never properly mentioned it before (apart from a round-up of my boys’ favourite books here).

Marlow has recently discovered it, and she too is loving the funny story about Harry the dog at the beach and how he gets himself covered in seaweed and disguised as a sea monster. A sweet summertime story in the Harry the Dirty Dog series which was originally written in the 1950s (hence the cool 1950’s illustrations).

Courtney x

p.s. Marlow’s overalls are from Muny and her bow hair clips are from Numi.

Marlow (2 1/12) has made a big switch lately in terms of the books she enjoys. Instead of the simple picture and word books she liked just a few months ago, she now prefers books with a story.  I suppose her attention span has improved a bit and she’s able to stay engaged until the end of the stories now, which is really so fun! I’m enjoying reading with her and observing as she discovers some of our favourite books (some of her current favourites are The Tiger Who Came to Tea , Sick Day for Amos Mcgee , and The Happy Lion ).

This new book, Where Bear? by Sophy Henn, is another one that she really loves. It’s a sweet story about a boy and his bear cub, and how the bear cub grows bigger and bigger and how the boy needs to find somewhere better for the bear to live. But… where bear? The zoo? The circus? The jungle? A cave? It’s a really simple story with the sweetest illustrations (and a cute ending).

“Where Bear?” is available from Amazon (UK and US).

Courtney x

It was a difficult choice to write about this book – you see my aim is to write about books that not only I love but ones my kids love too. My kids DO NOT love this book. You see this book tackles the scariest subject in all of our lives … death. There really is no way to make this topic ‘nice’ but I can’t think of a book which comes nearer.

You may remember Wolf Erlbruch for the wonderful tale of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of his Business. Whilst that book captured all of our hearts (especially kids who, let’s face it, love a mention of poo) this story of Duck, Death and the Tulip is, understandably harder for kids to love but I really, really love it.

Duck is going to die – we know that because Death has started to hang around – he is anxious and scared but as time goes on he gets used to Death. He wants to understand what will happen after he dies, he’s heard stories but wants to really know – Death can’t help but even so Duck starts to find him quite good company and when the time comes death is graceful, tender and gentle. Death is moved as he says his final Goodbye to Duck – but he straightens himself up, he is just doing his job – “that’s life” after all.

I really like this pragmatic approach – I, personally, found it comforting and it has been carefully interjected with spots of humour. I read the book with my children when there was no other theme of ‘death’ in our lives but I wonder if they might have felt differently about it if we’d read it together when someone we loved had died or was likely to die – maybe a relative or a pet? The book is available to buy from Amazon (UK and US).

-Mo x

As soon as you pick up this book you know you are not dealing with your average kids book.  Atak is a German folksy illustrator and this book is like turning pages of an art piece – each page thickly covered with colour and detail. This book , with no words, just uses pictures to play the typical kids game ‘Verkehrte Welt’ (direct translation – wrong way round the World). The mice chase the cat, the baby spoon-feeds the mama, cars fly and airplanes float, firemen have fire coming out of their hoses and the Punk gives the Banker money on the street. This absurd and fantastical World is not only funny but thought provoking – when we see things the wrong way round we can question if the ‘right-way’ is really right after all? This particularly strikes me on the front cover as the Circus Lion holds up a flaming hoop for the clown to jump through. Kids of all ages (and by that I mean grown-ups too!) will really enjoy staring into this book and looking at this Topsy Turvy World .

The book is available from Amazon (UK and US), and from Flying Eye Books.

-Mo x

Imagination is brilliant isn’t it? … except when its not. I have a boy who has a wild imagination and whilst that is great for games and play it can be horrible for him at night-time when his imagination starts spinning tales of robbers and monsters. With him I have to be careful what stories are read at bedtime – anything slightly scary can cause him all sorts of problems to calm down and let himself sleep. And we all know kids books, even some of the stories we learn as very young children can be quite scary. Take ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ for instance – phew! That wolf is not someone you want to come across in your dreams.

That’s why Nicola O’Byrne’s book, Use Your Imagination, is so great – a book that tells kids that it is THEIR imagination and they are in control of it.

Rabbit is bored and Wolf wants to help – maybe they can write story together? We can quickly see what sort of story Wolf would like to write – he tries his best to twist and turn Rabbit’s imagination into a story he’d like to eat hear but Rabbit is not so easily fooled – he realises that this story is up to him and he decides where it is going.

With wonderful pictures (that, with a simple white backdrop, also allow us to use our imaginations a little) and a fantastic lift-up crescendo to Rabbit’s tale (no pun intended). This is a book that will surely delight children and maybe empower kids to change the direction their imagination sometimes goes in. The book is available from Amazon (UK and US).

Mo x

I knew as I approached the stand this was going to be a dangerous meeting. I had ‘eyed’ up the Wide Eyed Editions stand at last year’s Babyccino ShopUp event from across the room, and eventually gave in to temptation. I already had the Atlas of Adventures book and as soon as I looked through their catalogue I knew this would be the stand where I’d spend my Christmas presents budget.

Otto (aged 3) found One Thousand Things by Anna Kövecses in his stocking. I love books that simply help encourage first words and conversation with young children. Here a little mouse takes us on a journey to learn 1000 words – split into 7 sections. The images look almost like cut-out images with flat and bold colours which are very beautiful.

I have also found this book great for helping to teach my older daughter to read her first words and I have ordered this book a couple of times for new babies – I always like to buy a book for newborns and the simple graphics in this book make it a lovely book to look at with very young children. The book is available from Amazon (US and UK).

-Mo  x