book review Archives

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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,

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

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

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.

Everybody Loves Butterflies

Everybody Loves Butterflies is a great book about a Little Caterpillar that doesn’t want to turn into a butterfly. Although his brothers and sisters had turned into butterflies, and he knew he would too, Little Caterpillar wanted to stay a caterpillar forever.

The Little Caterpillar’s friends try to explain to him that change is good. A dragonfly said butterflies are all the colours of the rainbow but the Little Caterpillar thought that would just make him dizzy.

A bee said the Little Caterpillar would be able to eat “deeeliciious” nectar from flowers but the caterpillar liked the satisfying crunch of leaves. An ant told him he’d see the world but the caterpillar said he was happy where he was.

A robin mentioned butterflies could fly high in the sky but the caterpillar said the sky seemed an awfully long way away. A spider added that everybody loves butterflies. When the spider asked who loves caterpillars, the Little Caterpillar replied “I do”.

The Little Caterpillar went to see the owl as he was the oldest and wisest animal he knew. He asked if he could stay a caterpillar for ever and ever. The wise owl explained the caterpillar would still be him just with wings. That night the Little Caterpillar snuggled down deep and had a long, long sleep.

When he woke, he had wings – glorious wings with red and purple spots! He ate nectar from the flowers, flew loop-the-loop and said “I want to be a butterfly for ever and ever” as he waved to his friends.

We absolutely adored Everyone Loves Butterflies. Not only is it a great story about the life cycle of the butterfly (or “butt-fly”), it’s a wonderful read and beautifully illustrated. Our three year old has enjoyed hearing about the Little Caterpillar but also likes to comment on the other creatures that feature in the book too.

Everybody Loves Butterflies has given her a better understanding of the process from caterpillar to butterfly. Rather handily there is a page explaining the life cycle of a butterfly at the end of the story. This has enabled us to talk through what’s involved in more detail. It’s especially poignant as we saw butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Wisley recently.

Everybody Loves Butterflies is written by Tanis Taylor and illustrated by Masumi Furukawa. It’s a fabulous book and available from Amazon (RRP £5.99).

Disclaimer: As a Parragon Book Buddy we received a copy of Everybody Loves Butterflies for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own.

What’s The Story | 2nd December 2013

Incredible to think we’re in December already, where did the time go!

Thank you to everyone that joined in with What’s The Story? last week. We especially liked Sights in Langkawi, Where did my baby go, Silent Sibling, Family Time, Paris, Our Beautiful Family, Little Father Christmas, Capturing Memories, The Passage of Time and Black Star Riders.

I’m not around until Monday afternoon this week so I might be a bit slower than usual reading your posts.

If you’re new to What’s The Story? and you’d like to join in, all you have to do is share a photograph and describe the story behind it. You can say as little or much as you like in your post and your photo can be taken at any time. It might be one you took recently or a real oldie. New posts are always best but you can also link up a previously published post if it’s relevant.

What’s The Story? is open from 6.30am every Monday until the following Sunday. Do take the time to comment on some of your fellow bloggers posts when you can. The What’s The Story? badge is below, I’m happy to share your post if it’s displayed in your post or sidebar.

Thanks again for joining in and have a wonderful week #whatsthestory

Little Learners Finger Puppet Books

Little Learners Five Little Monkeys and Old MacDonald Had a Farm are nursery rhyme board books with a finger puppet built into the story. We’re having so much fun with them!

POD demands Five Little Monkeys be read over and over, each time it ends following up with “again, again, again”. It’s the same for Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

Our toddler has such varied taste when it comes to stories, her range spanning from Julia Donaldson to Beatrix Potter and everything in-between. The finger puppets built into Five Little Monkeys and Old MacDonald Had a Farm have added a whole new dimension to story telling.

She loves it when Mummy wiggles her finger a lot so it looks like the monkey or cow are playing. Sometimes POD likes to try and capture them. As well as encouraging imaginative play, additional sound effects often feature too.

POD knows the words to Old MacDonald Had a Farm and she learnt Five Little Monkeys. She loves to ‘read’ both books to her dollies – something she’s started doing a lot more of recently. It’s great to see.

Five Little Monkeys especially has been repeated everywhere, even Daddy has gone in on the act! We can often be heard chanting the words in the house:

Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and banged his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed!

The Little Learners Finger Puppet Books are a great size and even fit in a handbag. This works particularly well if you’re waiting to see a doctor for example. POD shouted “no more monkeys jumping on the bed” at the top of her voice although everyone at the surgery seemed amused!

As you may have established, the Little Learners Finger Puppet Books encourage interactive play and hand-eye co-ordination. For younger children (babies aged 6 months up) they will also help with language development.

The Little Learners Finger Puppet Books are available from Amazon. The range also includes Mary Had a Little Lamb, Incy Wincy Spider and This Little Piggy to name a few. With prices starting at less than £3, they’re great books to have around and will make perfect stocking fillers.

Disclosure: As a Parragon Book Buddy we were sent a copy of both books for the purpose of this review. Opinions are our own.

Wonderful Wildlife 123

POD has done brilliantly with learning to count. She’s cracked it to 11 and sometimes she’ll reach 20 albeit without all the numbers. She’s not learnt about values yet so if you ask her how many legs she has, she may still respond with “3 or 4”!

Wonderful Wildlife 123 is a fabulous book designed to teach children to count up to 20. Not only that, everyone in this fun-filled gem is making mischief! We’ve read it every night for two weeks, POD loves it.

It kicks off with “1 lonely badger”, “2 helpful whales” and “3 friendly seabirds singing songs and telling tales”. If you ask POD what the birds are doing, she’ll often finish the sentence for you. With a coy grin of course! We’re then presented with “4 froggy eyes” and “5 buzzy flies”.

The illustrations surrounding “6 little tadpoles watch their mummies with surprise” has taught POD about tadpoles and frogs. And that frogs catch flies with their tongues. She’s adopted an interesting impression of a frog catching a fly.

After we’ve seen “7 hungry birds” and “8 worms that wiggle”, “9 hyenas see a sight that makes them laugh and giggle” follows. POD finds this page entertaining given a bird is attempting to pull a worm out of the ground.

We then reach POD’s favourite section of the book “10 fearful fruitbats” and “11 worried rats” leads nicely into “12 lazy meerkats using rats and bats as mats”. We probably spend more time on the meerkat pages than we do any other. POD likes to identify what animal each meerkat is lying on – whether a bat or a rat.

The conversation goes like this “whatsatt?” bat, “whatsatt?” rat, “whatsatt?” bat, “whasatt?” rat, “whatsatt?” bat, “whatsatt?” rat, “whatsatt?” bat, “whatsatt?” rat, “whatsatt?” bat, “whatsatt?” rat, “whatsatt?” bat, “whatsatt?” rat”.

Following the hilarity of the meerkats, we reach “13 ants encourage 14 naughty moths”. When we read “15 holes in Mrs Panda’s tablecloth”, there is a gasp of horror as POD places her hand over her mouth. She’s not sure about “16 Bigfoot footprints” which is then followed by “17 Yeti tracks” and “18 cheeky chipmunks chucking snowballs at their backs”.

POD loves the “19 wise old owls” particularly those hiding in a tree and there’s much excitement when we reach “20 different dinosaurs”. POD believes at least 3 of them belong to her saying “my dine-saw” as she points to them. She also identifies the type of dinosaur – as in large, small, spikey or smiley.

Wonderful Wildlife 123 is such a great book, it reads really well and it’s beautifully illustrated. If you’re looking for a fun counting book, I’d recommend it as an essential for your toddler’s bookshelf.

Charles Fuge is an award-winning author and illustrator, best known for the Little Wombat series, Bush Vark’s Day Out and many more family favourites.

Wonderful Wildlife 123 is available from Amazon, currently priced £5.82 (RRP £5.99).

Disclaimer: As one of Parragon’s Book Buddies we were provided with a copy of Wonderful Wildlife 123 for the purpose of this review. Opinions are our own.

Goodnight Little One & Bunny Loves to Write

Given the opportunity POD would have me reading to her all night. It’s a usual occurrence to read one story only for her to rush over to the bookshelf and select another. I often find myself reading three books a night.

On the odd occasion, say if POD is bouncing on my tummy shouting “wibble wobble” while I read, storytelling can be a bit hectic. Overall she genuinely enjoys her bedtime routine though. We started reading to her when she was really small and it’s definitely had an impact. She loves books.

As a Parragon book buddie, we recently received two stories – Goodnight Little One and Bunny Loves to Write. POD thoroughly enjoys both of these books and it’s refreshing that she sits incredibly still for them. Goodnight Little One in particular creates a real calmness in her – I’m sure if it was longer she might go to sleep when she’s supposed to.

Goodnight Little One

Goodnight Little One is by the best-selling author Margaret Wise Brown who also created the likes of Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. It’s relaxing paperback about a menagerie as they close their eyes to sleep. The book has a relaxing and rhythmic flow to it and the beautiful illustrations by Rebecca Elliott almost give it a magical feel. POD loves animals so she enjoyed naming them and commenting when each was asleep. It’s a perfect story for bedtime.

Bunny Loves to Write

Bunny Loves to Write is written by the award-winning author Peter Bently who has written 30 children’s stories. It tells the tale of Buster who loves to read but isn’t convinced he can write his own stories. Armed with his notebook he sets off on the hunt for ideas. Before long his friends provide him with the inspiration to start penning an adventure. Buster then reads his story to his friends who all took turns writing an ending for him. Beautifully illustrated by Emma Foster/Deborah Melmon, Bunny Loves to Write is a wonderful story of friendship encouraging imagination.

Disclaimer: We received Goodnight Little One and Bunny Loves to Write for the purpose of this review.

Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories is a regular feature on the PODcast ‘grappling with a box of frogs’ blog that focuses on POD’s favourite story.

It’s no surprise that the first book to feature in Bedtime Stories is an absolute gem from the superbly talented duo Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

The Snail and the Whale is thought to be Julia Donaldson’s favourite of all the books she’s written for Axel Scheffler to illustrate. Potentially because Julia felt she captured something of the soulful whimsy of the Edward Lear poems she enjoyed as a child.

It’s easy to understand why with a book that starts ‘this is the tale of a tiny snail and a great big, grey-blue humpback whale. This is a rock as black as soot, and this is the snail with the itchy foot’.

The Snail and the Whale tells the story of a sea snail that longs to sail much to the disapproval of the flock. Having left a silvery trail with the words ‘ lift wanted around the world’, the snail is offered the tail of a humpback whale with the promise of ‘shimmering ice and coral caves and shooting stars and enormous waves’.

The whale carries the snail on his tail on an amazing journey to far-off lands, fiery mountains and golden sands. Until the whale loses his way and swims too close to the shore and beaches himself.

Proving size is no obstacle, the snail with the itchy foot saves the whale by leaving a ‘save the whale’ trail on a blackboard in a local school. The whale is rescued by the villagers and firemen who spray him to keep him cool and before long the whale and the snail swim safely away.

Back at the dock the whale and the snail tell their wonderful tail. And how the snail saved the life of the humpback whale. The whale then holds out his tail and on crawls snail after snail after snail.

So the great big, grey-blue humpback helped a tiny snail that longed to sail. The tiny snail saved the whale when its was lying beached in the bay. So don’t follow the flock, explore your dreams and regardless of the size of the task in hand, there’s always a way to help a friend in need.

The Snail and the Whale is truly wonderful. The words flow beautifully and the illustrations mirror the words perfectly. It’s also an incredibly calming tale and POD’s favourite book this week by a country mile.

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Published by Macmillan Children’s Books

ISBN: 978-0-333-98224-2

Available to buy on Amazon (RRP £6.99)

book review

Three Little Dinosaurs Egg Rescue!

Bunny Loves to Play

Everybody Loves Butterflies

What’s The Story | 2nd December 2013

Little Learners Finger Puppet Books

Wonderful Wildlife 123

Goodnight Little One & Bunny Loves to Write

Bedtime Stories

Adventures

Visiting Mayfield Lavender Field, Banstead

A wander at Frensham Little Pond, Surrey

7 reasons to love Barracudas camps