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Maya the Bee is buzzing into cinemas

We first came across Maya the Bee on the Tiny Pop TV channel and it fast became one of POD’s favourite programmes. She was thrilled when we were invited to the €17m Maya the Bee preview and had a great time beforehand.

She got to spend (probably a little too much!) time with a life size Maya, eat Maya biscuits and make a Maya mask. She even enjoyed a spot of colouring and whizzing down a slide into a ball pit before the film began.

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Maya is a curious bee and continually on the lookout for adventure. She brings disorder to her well regimented hive by buzzing around everywhere, keeping her teacher Miss Cassandra on her toes. But one day there is uproar when the royal jelly – the Queen Bee’s elixir of life – is stolen from the hive.

Buzzlina, the royal advisor, accuses the hornets but Maya finds out by accident that the evil perpetrator is in fact Buzzlina herself! Before she can clear up the conspiracy, she is forced to leave the hive by the Queen’s domineering advisor.

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The fascinating yet unfamiliar corn poppy meadow becomes Maya’s home. Together with her lazy best friend Willy, who also doesn’t fit into the community, the bees embark on a dangerous journey to find the royal jelly. With the bees and hornets old rivals, the brave duo discover enjoy lots of exciting experiences and meet many new friends including hornet boy Sting.

Back in the beehive, as the Queen Bee becomes weaker, Buzzlina announces to everyone the royal jelly has been stolen and the hornets have to be the culprits. Miss Cassandra secretly looks for Maya and Willy in the meadow asking an ant general for help. Arnie and Barney are set to work looking for the two, accidentally destroying the hornet buildings to collapse in their search. The hornets quickly suspect the bees have destroyed their camp.

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With uproar on both sides, when Maya returns to the hive she quickly discovers the queen’s advisor wants to rule over the bee colony herself. She is locked up but is rescued by Willy, Sting and grasshopper Flip. They arrive back in the meadow just in time to stop the hostilities that had developed between the bees and the hornets. Buzzlina is identified as the real royal jelly thief and punished.

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With the jelly returned to the recovering Queen Bee, she appoints Maya ‘bee ambassador’. From that day forth she gets to spend all her time with her friends in the corn poppy meadow showing that friendship is certainly thicker than honey!

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We absolutely loved this film. Not only is it a wonderful story about friendship, it’s beautifully shot and the animation is just superb. At 88 minutes, it was also the perfect length to keep four-year-old POD suitably engaged. Maya the Bee buzzes into UK cinemas on 23rd October 2015, do go and see it – it’s just lovely.

Golf with Monarch

With a large proportion of family members already golfers, it stands to reason I’d have taken up the sport years ago. But for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. Instead I’ve cheerfully pursued ball sports I’m already familiar with, such as tennis. When Monarch asked if I’d like to participate in a golfing experience at N1 Golf in London, I was a little apprehensive. There was tapas and wine tasting on offer so I agreed on the basis a couple of drinks would certainly improve my game. Its worked when I’ve played pool in the past.

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Toyz World | BeBop Bouncy Castle review

As POD’s birthday is on Christmas Day, last Summer we had an ‘un-birthday’ party for her. We were treated to glorious sunshine and blue skies, perfect for a BBQ and lots of fun in the garden. Everyone had a great time and it meant POD could have a entire day that was just about her.

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Glitterbelle The Sparkliest Princess Ever!

We’ve read some fabulous books from Parragon. POD is still loving The Nutcracker from A Treasury of Christmas Stories and Songs. The tale and the imagery is truly wonderful though so who can blame her!

Glitterbelle The Sparkliest Princess Ever! tells the story of a Princess who lives with her parents, the King and Queen, in a palace at the top of a hill. Along with their dog Bob. Anything sparkly, shimmery or purple is favoured by Glitterbelle. She also loves animals, playing with her friends and climbing trees! She’s not your average kind of Princess.

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But she hates peas even though they owe their kingdom to the squishy green vegetable.

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King Alfie even has the famous pea that got Glitterbelle’s great-great-great-great grandpapa and great-great-great-great grandmamma together. She had had a terrible night’s sleep because she felt a tiny pea underneath her mattress. It proved she was a real Princess though so they married and lived happily ever after.

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Glitterbelle’s best friends, Dazzlina and Angel don’t understand why she doesn’t like peas. Dazzlina is a witch and likens the green to her favourite things – frogs, grasshoppers and Kat’s eyes. Ballerina Angel agrees they’re small, sweet and round just like the bun in her hair and green like her gecko, George.

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After turning the peas into popcorn, the threesome raced around the gardens on their scooters before climbing a nearby tree.

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Glitterbelle told her chums she wanted to be a vet and look after poorly animals. She was convinced she wasn’t a real Princess and even kissed a frog to prove it wouldn’t turn into a handsome prince.

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Queen Lizzie was so concerned, that evening she left a pea under Glitterbelle’s mattress in an effort to prove she really was a Princess. It worked. She barely slept a wink and woke up all achey.

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They had a party to celebrate. Dazzlina and Angel were invited, quickly spotting the not so secret ingredient – peas! To her surprise, Glitterbelle found the pea-green cake to be delicious.

Glitterbelle The Sparkliest Princess Ever! is written by Rachael Duckett and illustrated by Harriet Muncaster. It’s a great read and the story has a fantastic feel good feel to it. POD always enjoys the story and picking out what’s in each picture. She finds it highly entertaining too especially the pea cake – apparently you shouldn’t put peas in cakes! Definitely a must read. You can purchase it from Amazon here.

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Disclaimer: As a Parragon Book Buddy we received a copy of Glitterbelle the Sparkliest Princess Ever! for the purpose of this review. Opinions are our own. 

The Nutcracker

A Treasury of Christmas Stories and Songs by Parragon is a great way to bring the family together. With 18 traditional tales, classic rhymes, cherished songs and carols, the pages are beautifully illustrated and sprinkled with Christmas magic.

POD learnt Christmas carols for her pre-school nativity this year and we enjoy singing them together. There are a couple of stories in this book that really touched her though. One of these is The Nutcracker, retold by Rachel Elliot with illustrations by Valeria Docampo.

Clara was putting the finishing touches to their enormous tree while her brother Fritz was busy with his toy soldiers. It was Christmas Eve and a party was taking place that evening.

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One of the guests was Godfather Drosselmeyer, a famous toymaker, who came bearing gifts for the siblings. For Clara there was a wooden Nutcracker in the shape of a soldier and for Fritz a mechanical gobstopper machine.

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When the last dance was danced and the guests said their goodbyes, the family went to bed. As the clock struck midnight, Clara remembered she’d left her Nutcracker under the tree. She crept downstairs only to witness the tree growing. Or was she shrinking?

She was told not to be afraid but the Nutcracker who had come alive! At that point all the toys came to life, including Fritz’s soldiers, who fought the Mouse King. He was apprehended by Clara who threw her slipper and knocked his crown off his head.

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The Nutcracker was then transformed into a handsome prince and Clara became a princess. He took her on an adventure in a beautiful sleigh with two reindeer.

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Clara caught sight of a “magical land where lollipop trees shimmered on candyfloss hills”. They’d arrived at the Kingdom of Sweets. The sleigh stopped next to a “rose-coloured lake and changed into a sea-chariot pulled by dolphins”.

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The Mouse Queen’s spell had been broken and they were welcomed by the Sugarplum Fairy into a marzipan palace. There they watched the Sugar Plum Fairy dance while they feasted.

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When Clara woke on Christmas morning she was under the Christmas tree with the Nutcracker. She told her parents about her adventure but did she imagine it? We don’t think so! POD absolutely adores this story, it’s one of the few she just sits and listens to without asking lots of questions. The intrigue and excitement keep her four-year-old mind interested from start to finish. The illustrations are just wonderful and the story is so beautifully told.

The Nutcracker is one of the stories in this book, there are many others including The First Christmas, The Snow Queen (another favourite), The Night Before Christmas and A Letter to Santa not to mention many carols. You can purchase A Treasury of Christmas Stories and Songs from Amazon here.

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Disclaimer: As a Parragon Book Buddy, we received a copy of A Treasury of Christmas Stories and Songs for the purpose of this review. Opinions are our own.

Meze headphones: a treat for the ears

Meze Earphones: iPhone, Android, MP3, MP4 compatible.

The white packaging features an embossed logo and stylised imagery of the earphones on the front. The reverse copy highlights the handcrafted nature of the product inside, all of which gives a first impression of quality and raises expectation. Meze for most of us is a tasty Aegean treat. Could it now become synonymous with a crisp and natural audio experience as proclaimed on pack?

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On opening the Meze earphones box you will discover a leatherette pouch, also in white with a silver zip and silver logo emblazoned on the front. For me it has a nautical feel. I can imagine the pouch sitting ready for use on the table of a yacht – possibly next to a tall glass of something bubbly!

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Inside the pouch is a towelling lining (adding to my nautical theme). The lid has a mesh pocket which houses three very useful additional silicon earbuds and a metal clip which emphasises portability. The Meze earphones themselves are in a resealable transparent packet in the base.

The handcrafted wood body described on pack immediately catches the eye. The attention to detail is evident. The use of a luxury colour palette – bright white, silver and gold along with the featured wood grain scream craftsmanship. It’s obvious a great deal of thought has gone into creating these headphones. My expectation of their sound quality was high.

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The moment of truth was conducted on my iPhone. The earbuds fit comfortably in ear. My music tastes are varied so I was interested to hear how the sound quality measured up across the musical genres.

For me however the litmus test is with one of my favourite classical pieces, Adagio in G Minor – made more poignant by the finale of the war film Gallipoli, as these classical pieces often are. The haunting organ and melodic double base accompanied by the drifting violins filled my head (and usually brings a tear to my eye).

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This time was no different. The earphones delivered a deep and as promised crisp and natural sound. Moving on to a more contemporary song I chose John Newman’s Love Me Again. As one of the voices of recent years and with a pace which speeds up and slows down, incorporates drums, piano and the latest production techniques I thought this too would be a good benchmark. I wasn’t disappointed.

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Finally I turned to one of my favourite bands the Foo Fighters and their Live album Skin and Bones. (I’ve also seen them Live three times.) Their track My Hero is much played and another great combination of instruments, acoustic and electric guitar, thumping drums from Taylor Hawkins, piano and of course Dave Grohl’s distinctive vocal. With the introduction of the crowd I was keen to hear just how Meze earphones would tackle this challenge. Again my expectations were met.

Meze earphones are a stylish addition to my audio hardware which delivers a rich and natural sound experience – a real treat for my ears! For more information, head over to the Meze headphones website.

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Disclaimer: We received a pair of Meze headphones for the purposes of this review. Opinions are own own. 

Three Little Dinosaurs Egg Rescue!

We reviewed Wonderful Wildlife 123 by Charles Fuge last year. It’s a great book that teaches children to count in a fun way with the help of a few mischievous animals!

The latest publication from Parragon by the same award-winning author and illustrator is Three Little Dinosaurs Egg Rescue! POD absolutely loves it – so much so we’ve read it twice most evenings!

The story centres around a tyrannosaurus rex called Scratch who is excitedly waiting for his sibling to arrive. His mother asks Scratch and his friends look after the unhatched egg while she takes a shower.

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Although she’d warned them about mischievous mammals, the precious egg is snatched. Along with his friends, Lofty the brachiosaurus and Sniff the monoclonius, they set off in pursuit of the egg.

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But disaster strikes when they capture the mammal as the egg flies through the air and lands with a plop in the river. POD finds this page highly entertaining as she’s able to say ‘P-L-O-P’ really loudly. It’s always followed by a raucous giggle!

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With the mammal making fun of them, the unperturbed trio hit the water in a quest to rescue the egg.

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Using a log as a makeshift raft they paddle after the egg in an attempt to catch it.

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Having realised there was a waterfall ahead of them, a brave Scratch grabs the egg before they fall down and down.

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They land with a bump on his Mummy who is enjoying shower. The friends explain what happened

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but were dismayed to discover the egg had a crack in it. But it wasn’t a crack, the egg was hatching – Scratch’s new playmate arrived shortly afterwards.

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Charles Fuge has created a fabulous story that’s great to read (in all manner of voices if the mood takes us!) and it’s beautifully illustrated throughout. It’s definitely one of POD’s favourite books at the moment. You can purchase Three Little Dinosaurs Egg Rescue from Amazon (RRP £5.99).

Disclaimer: As Parragon Book Buddies we received a copy of Three Little Dinosaurs Egg Rescue for the purposes of this review. Opinions are our own. 

Jiggly Giraffe by Little Learners

Last year we reviewed the Little Learners Sleepy Puppy Pack which came with a puppy blankie. POD loved it and although she’s three now she can often be seen hunting for it in her toy bag.

She was thrilled when Jiggly Giraffe arrived, also from the Little Learners range, and she really took to the giraffe rattle. Jiggly (or Jiggy as he’s sometimes called!) is a great size for little hands so he’s been on many an adventure with us.

The board book is beautifully illustrated and the rhyming approach (Giraffe likes to shake, Giraffe likes to giggle) makes for an easy read. Jiggly is a great accompaniment although he does give POD the occasional armpit tickle too!

POD likes to learn stories now so she can re-tell them to her dollies, it’s wonderful to hear her reading through the monitor. I may burst when she can read for herself!

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The Little Learners Jiggly Giraffe set is suitable for babies and toddlers, currently priced £6.69 from Amazon.

Disclaimer: We received the Jiggly Giraffe book and soft toy for the purposes of this review. All opinions are our own. 

Around the World We Go

What we love about being a Parragon Book Buddy is the variety of books. We recently reviewed Everybody Loves Butterflies and Bunny Loves to Play, this time we’ve been singing, dancing and playing with children of other cultures.

POD got to experience being abroad when we visited Bruges in December. In a restaurant she said “Bonjour” to the people next to us several times over – thankfully they found it endearing! This experience was a great point of reference for the book.

Written by Margaret Wise Brown, best known for classics such as Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny, and illustrated by Christine Tappin, Around the World We Go focuses on learning what we don’t know about other cultures.

It first looks at different continents such as North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. This provides a great opportunity to talk about where we live and the countries Mummy and Daddy visited before POD arrived.

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POD knows how to shake hands so it’s been good to show her how people introduce themselves. For the time being she’s happy just saying hello and greeting everyone she meets with a huge smile. She’s only three though so she has plenty of time!

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POD doesn’t remember the last aeroplane she was on but we do spot them regularly. She was on a train recently though. These experiences have been good when discussing how people travel to other countries – whether by boat, train or plane.

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We’ve also chatted about the differences between countries and their sights such as camels, pyramids and mountains.

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In the jungle, it’s about the different animals you find and how elephants wash themselves. This will often include an obligatory elephant impression. We briefly talked about Mummy and Daddy’s trip to the Venezuelan jungle too!

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POD enjoys the part of the book where you can learn to say hello and how are you in different languages. She’s been doing very well too and always asks what each word says.

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Around the World We Go is great for teaching how children from different cultures sing and have fun together; whether flying a kite, having a go on a swing or cycling.

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POD thoroughly enjoys this book and its a brilliant way to teach children about other cultures. It’s easy to read with its rhyming sentences and beautifully illustrated with lots to talk about on each page. Around The World We Go is available from Amazon currently priced £4.99.

Disclaimer: As a Parragon Book Buddy, we were sent a copy of Around the World We Go! for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own. 

 

Bunny Loves to Play

What’s great about being a Parragon Book Buddy is we get to read stories we’d not always choose ourselves. POD adored Everybody Loves Butterflies last month – a wonderful story about the life cycle of a butterfly.

This month we’re reviewing Bunny Loves to Play, a finger puppet book similar to the Five Little Monkeys and Old MacDonald books we reviewed last year.

Bunny Loves to Play is a storyboard book with a soft finger puppet toy built into the story. Wiggling the puppet encourages interactive play, which usually involves POD trying to grab my fingers, and hand-eye co-ordination.

The book focuses on what Bunny likes to do, whether it be dressing up to the castle,

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playing hide-and-seek or splashing in the stream.

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Bunny also loves to play in the park as well as playing follow-the-leader.

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Bunny Loves to Play is perfect for POD’s bedtime when she needs to quieten down a bit after her bath. She’s also memorised the words of the story so she can share it with her dollies. She’s only three but she takes this role very seriously! It does mean we may read the book several times over in one sitting but the length makes that very easy.

The Bunny Loves to Play Finger Puppet Book is a great size for POD and for carrying round in your handbag. It’s available from Amazon priced £3.99 (RRP).

Disclaimer: As Parragon Book Buddies we received a copy of Bunny Loves to Play for the purposes of this review. Opinions are our own.