Frost Book Review – A Winter Animal Story

Eva received a copy of the Frost book to review last week, reissued and redesigned with a dazzling new cover! Frost is written by bestselling author Holly Webb and award-winning illustrator Britta Teckentrup. A perfect, read aloud, heart-warming winter tale full of wondrous animal adventure.

Frost Book Review

Frost Book – Eva’s Thoughts

Eva really enjoyed the illustrations throughout the book. Frost, a cute fox gets Cassie to follow him. She transports back to the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames which sounds really exciting too. She finds out Frost is a big sister and helps feed them with sausage rolls. Eva thinks this is lovely of Cassie as Frost needs her help.

Frost & Cassie - A Winter animal story

Frost 

Cassie’s neighbours all complain about the foxes hanging around the flat she lives in, close to the river Thames. Cassie thinks the foxes are beautiful though and has a favourite fox! A small fox with a white tail-tip Cassie calls Frost is her favourite. 

One night Cassie spots Frost looking cold and thin so she decides to sneak him some food. Frost wants her to follow him and leads Cassie towards the river where she feels the world change around her! She finds herself back in the 17th century- at the time of the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames. Cassie is thrilled by the sights and sound of the famous fair, then she glimpses a fox with a white tail-tip! 

Frost wants Cassie to follow him again, can she find a way to return Frost to his countryside home? 

The Secrets Tree – The Hounds Of Penhallow Hall

The Secrets Tree is the fourth book from The Hounds of Penhallow Hall series. Written by Holly Webb, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft & published by Stripes/ Little Tiger, this mysterious series is aimed at 8-10-year-olds. Eva was kindly sent a copy to review. You can buy paperback copies from Amazon for £5.99.

The Secrets Tree

The Secrets Tree

The Secrets Tree series is perfect for dog-lovers and anyone who desires some mystery and magic! Set in the atmospheric Cornish coastal setting, rich in history an legend…

Polly & rex are in search of a new ghost dog whilst celebrations are in full swing at the stately home. They come across a dog’s head carved in a door down the old stable block. They also wake a terrier called patch, only for him to run away. Polly & rex find him hiding in a hollow tree and find themselves on the trail of an even greater mystery. Inside the tree is a coded message! Can Polly & Rex unravel the mystery of the dog’s young master and his brother?

Eva’s Thoughts

Eva enjoyed reading The Secrets Tree but found it a rather quick read as she has become quite a bookworm! She really loved the story being based around dogs. As Eva has moved on to books such as the Harry Potter series recently, she likes a little more mystery. She thinks children who love mysteries will really enjoy the  Secrets Tree and it will encourage them to love reading mystery series like The Hounds of Penhallow Hall. Having read several books by Holly Webb now, Eva thinks she is a fantastic author and loves discovering some of the 100+ books HollWebb has written.

If you have a mystery-loving reader who also loves dogs then this book is definitely perfect. They will be sure to love the Hounds of Penahllow Hall series. 

Have you heard of the Hounds of Penhallow Hall series before?

A Rainbow, Unicorn Birthday Gift Guide

A lot of young girls dream of rainbow, unicorn birthday theme, especially 8-year-olds like Eva! Luckily there are some amazing gifts around that fit this theme. I have the privilege of showing you some fab products we were sent for this gift guide. I’ve also added in a few items we’ve picked up that are awesome too, so if you’re stuck for a gift idea for someone like Eva then check these out!

Unicorn Birthday Gifts

Always Be A Unicorn Personalised Cushion From Funky Pigeon

Funky Pigeon has been a favourite since Eva’s first birthday, we ordered her first personalised birthday card from them. They have a wide range of gifts & cards for all occasions including this adorable, personalised ‘Always be a Unicorn’ cushion. It already looks fantastic on Eva’s bed and costs just £19.99. Funky Pigeon has a great selection of unicorn gifts to choose from but this is definitely a favourite for me!

Always Be A Unicorn Personalised Cushion from Funky Pigeon

 

 

Rainbow Jewellery

Halia Rose Necklace

As most girls do, Eva loves her colourful Jewellery and this Halia Rose Rainbow Necklace Is absolutely gorgeous! This fab necklace comes in white & grey for £12.99 These necklaces are safe, 100% Non-toxic, BPA free, washable & chewable makes a great sensory toy as well as a fashion item. These gorgeous necklaces are perfect for mums of teething babies too!

Unicorn Book

 

The unicorn in a tutu

The Unicorn In a Tutu is written and illustrated by J. Y. Quinn is a fun rhyming story for £5.25. This cute story is about a Unicorn in a Tutu who helps others & gains friends. Eva loves stories like this that she can read to Izzy full of positive messages. Full of colourful illustrations and available in paperback or Kindle.

Unicorn Cake

Bakerdays Unicorn Emoji Letterbox birthday cake

A birthday isn’t a birthday without cake! Bakerdays sent us this lovely letterbox personalised Unicorn emoji cake. These fab cakes are delicious, Eva’s cake is the chocolate chip which we’ve tried before and know it’s amazing! These personalised letterbox cakes are just £14.99 and come well packaged in a special tin so they don’t break when posted. Bakerdays have a range of Unicorn Cakes to check out.

Colourful Gifts

3x3 Rubiks Cube From John Lewis

The Rubiks cube is the words number one puzzle and makes a perfect gift! Great for fidgeters & kids who love puzzles, I picked this up from John Lewis for £9.49 as Eva has asked for one, several times now. I know she will love playing with it and it will definitely keep her busy!

 

Crafty Gifts

Frenh Knitting Doll From John Lewis

Eva loves to make things, watching me crochet has led to her learning to finger knit but she is struggling to learn much more right now. Luckily I found this fab French Knitter which she can use to make a range of items. You can create all kinds of fun things like bracelets, necklaces & 3D appliques. These are simple but fun projects she can learn to do to create her own little projects or work with me on something. French Knitters are fantastic for rope bag handles, a fun project we can do together. I bought this one from John Lewis but you can also find them in most craft shops/ online stores.

 

 

Fab Lab Bath Bombs Kit From John Lewis

 

Along the same theme of making things, I found this Fab Lab Bath Bombs Kit at John Lewis too. Eva loves bath bombs & whilst she loved the ones from Sudzz at the English Festival, she also wanted to try making her own. When I spotted this cool kit I knew she would love it & it would give us a fun activity to do together. This fun little kit is just £11.99

Inspiring Gifts

She believed she could, so she did' Enamel pin

Inspiring Eva to always try and do her best isn’t always easy but this cute enamel pin from Old English Co is perfect! I can see her proudly wearing it and remembering to try her best. To help with that Old English Co also have the same quote on a gold keyring, perfect to hang from her school bag.

She believed she could, so she did gold keyring from Old English Co

Not quite the typical toy loaded gift guide but definitely one for 8-year-olds who would love a rainbow, unicorn birthday!

 

Fang-Tastic Friends – Vlad The Worlds Worst Vampire

Eva received Fang-Tastic Friends, the second in the Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire series this week. Written by Anna Wilson, Illustrated by Kathryn Durst and published by Little Tiger, Fang-Tastic Friends is a great sequel which Eva loved. This hilarious and charmingly illustrated paperback for kids is just £5.99.

Fang-Tastic Friends - Vlad The World's Worst Vampire

Fang-Tastic Friends

Vlad is back on another Fang-tastic journey full of hysterical yet relatable moments giving a comical twist to common issues children face. Vlad’s main focus is making friends and fitting in at human school. Vlad’s parents take a trip to Transylvania, leaving him with Grandpa Gory giving Vlad a chance to sneak off to human school. There’s a catch though, whilst Vlad stays with Grandpa Gory he has to complete, and master a list of vampire challenges to impress his parents with or there’ll be trouble!

Engrossed

Eva couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into this Fang-tastic sequel and join Vlad and his Fang-Tastic Friends. In fact, she was so excited she ended up reading the book in one sitting, sneakily staying awake until gone 9 pm! Having really enjoyed Vlad The Worlds Worst Vampire, which she regularly re-reads I wasn’t too surprised Eva had become so engrossed in the story. I was very much the same at her age.

Worried

Vlad is worried he won’t make any Fang-Tastic friends at human school but he soon makes friends with Minxie. Minxie quickly finds out Vlad is a vampire but she keeps his secret. Continuing to practice his vampire challenges, Vlad feels stressed that he can’t get the hang of mind-control.

 Mind-Control

Vlad feels like he can’t master mind-control, even trying to call Flit his pet bat, doesn’t work. That is, until Boz a school bully keeps bothering Vlad & Minxie. Wishing the class tadpoles would leap out of their tank and on to Boz the bullies head seems to work at least! Eva found this hilarious! She found it even funnier when Vlad pictures Boz tripping, flying into the bike shed & Boz being covered in spiders, works too. Vlad is worried though as his mind-control only seems to work on Boz!!

Fang-Tastic Friends Back Cover

What Happens Next

Eva says she can’t wait to see what happens next and is totally hooked on this series. She hopes it isn’t too long until Fang-tastic Friends is followed by a third book in the series. Fang-Tastic Friends is fantastic, even I got a bit engrossed flicking through the book. This is definitely a series full of humour and issues children and young vampires face. We can’t wait to read more about Vlad and his Fang-tastic Friends.

Do you love the sound of Fang-tastic Friends too? Have you read the first book yet?

 

 

 

Facts! One For Every Day Of The Year!

We received* a fab book of Facts! One for every day of the year, written by Tracey Turner and illustrated by Fatti Burke and published by Bloomsbury Children’s publishing. Available to buy from Amazon at £12.99 this book would make a great addition to any child’s bookshelf.

Facts! One for every day of the year

Facts! One for every day of the year

The Book comes with postcards, one for each month with a fun fact and illustration. From animal facts to how to say ‘Happy Christmas’ in 20 different languages! We love postcards and have started collecting them when we visit somewhere new so Eva loved adding these fun postcards to her collection.

Postcard Facts!

Postcards

Facts! One for every day of the year is a fantastic book for children is a beautifully illustrated fact book for children aged 4-8 years. This book would be a fantastic educational Birthday or Christmas gift to be treasured and read daily. Children enjoy learning fun facts and this book is absolutely bursting with them! Everyone can learn something with this book.

Introduction

Introduction

It’s amazing reading through the facts, they are so interesting and accompanied by such fun, colourful illustrations that will draw in any child! Eva (7) loved flicking through and finding facts for certain days such as our birthdays. Interestingly Izzy shares her birthday with Alexander Fleming who discovered Penicillin, which both girls & I are allergic to.

6th August - On this date

We’ve had lots of fun checking the daily facts and Eva has learnt plenty of interesting facts to go back to school and share with her friends & teachers. I can see this book being pulled out daily to read and show to visitors too. Children are knowledge hungry at this age and I love to feed that hunger with books like this.

 

Facts

This book contains amusing animal facts, amazing space stats, scientific discoveries, fantastic achievements, and so much more! There really is something for everyone is this fantastic book for children. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting and educational gift.

*This is a sponsored #Ad

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide by Emma Yarlett is another fabulous book published by Little Tiger. A fantastic book for children aged 3-6 years. Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide is a gorgeous hardback for £12.99. We received a copy from Little Tiger to review and I knew from the second I opened it we would thoroughly enjoy it! Who doesn’t love Monsters and Dinosaurs?? (We’re still a little unsure about the Dino Doo-Doo Nibbles though!)

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles the book monster managed to escape from his first book back in 2016 and now he’s back munching his way through The Dinosaur Guide! Fantastically written and illustrated by award winning author and illustrator Emma Yarlett this excellent book is full of excitement.

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles, a wild book monster finds his way into The Dinosaur Guide! A book munching, mischief making monster, Nibbles needs to be returned to his cage. The Dinosaur Guide is full of fantastic information about different species of dangerous dinosaurs.

Somehow Nibbles keeps escaping whilst causing havoc, munching his way through dangerous dinosaurs throughout the book. He just about manages to nibble his way away from the terrible Triceratops, Diplodocuses and Velociraptors! Nibbles then faces the most dangerous of all, the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex!!

This book is hilarious and so much fun to read! We loved the nibbles on the corners of the pages and holes through the pages. The book is full of fun flaps to lift too. This is such an interactive story which kept Izzy’s attention throughout. Nibbles destroys chunks of the pages but there are still plenty of dinosaur facts to learn too!

I would definitely recommend this book, it is such a cheeky, funny, colourful picture book. It is bound to capture the attention of any child. Even older children will enjoy it, Eva(7) loved it as there are several amusing jokes throughout the story.

 

 

Stomp School Book Review

We received a copy of Stomp School from Little Tiger Books written by Jeff Norton and pictures by Leo Antolini. The front cover is colourful and full of fun looking Monsters ready to stomp. Aimed at toddlers this fantastic book is all about creativity and destruction, 2 things toddlers LOVE!

Stomp School

Stomp School

Rikki, a little Kaiju (Japanese for a strange breast) is determined to build biggest, best city ever. He couldn’t wait to show his daddy but baby brother Torik wants to play too. Poor Rikki couldn’t stop Torik from stomping, crushing and smashing the city to pieces. Which of course Izzy found hilarious, what little monster wouldn’t?

Stomp, crush, smash

 

When Rikki gets upset and Stomps his dad decides it’s time for Stomp school, where little monsters go when your favourite monsters go to work. The first day at Stomp school starts and Rikki just wants to go home and build. Instead he stays and builds with Miss Bronte the whole class, ALL day!

They all work hard to build the biggest, best city ever… then of course everyone decides it’s to stomp, crush and smash it.

Smash

Poor Rikki is sad he still doesn’t get to show his daddy the biggest, best city ever and stomps himself. Miss Bronte tells Rikki it’s time to paint what they had built before stomping. Rikki paints his biggest, best city ever to show his daddy.

 

Rikki

Relieved to be able to show his daddy his hard work Rikki joins in having lots of fun, stomping, smashing and crushing the city to pieces. He proudly shows his daddy at the end of the day and heads home looking forward to returning the next day.

 

Our thoughts

We love Stomp School as it is such a fun book with a relatable story. Eva read with us and mentioned she feels like Rikki sometimes. Izzy is Torik as she smashes Eva’s creations down. She also saw the funny side and decided next time Izzy smashes down her tower she will join in and enjoy the stomping and smashing too! Izzy just loved the idea of stomping and smashing things.

With fun peek-through holes and flaps to lift this is a really fun story to read and stomp to together! Stomp school is available now from Little Tiger Press Books for £6.99. A great addition to any little ones bookshelf.

Looking for new books for your toddler? Check out our review of 10,9,8 Owls Up Late by Little Tiger Press too.

Our Favourite Books This Week – Week 4

We are back this week with our favourite books after missing out last week after an unexpected incident last weekend.

The girls have picked out their favourite books which are mostly Library books this week.

Eva chose What Happens to Broken Bones, an Inside my body book.

She loves learning about the body and said she loved all of this book because it was so interesting. We have quite a few body books at home but none specifically on bones so it’s no surprise she was glued to this book for a few days. She really enjoyed learning about what is inside bones & how they are made up.

our favourite books this week

The second book Eva as chosen this week is The Tiger Who Was Angry.

Eva’s favourite part of the story is when the Tiger cries as he realises losing his temper loses him friends and begins to be friendly. This book is a story about dealing with anger which is probably a good book for her to be reading this week as she has lost her temper quite quickly herself this week. She has been much calmer this weekend thank goodness!

Izzy has chosen I Love My Mummy as one of her favourite books this week.

She says she loves the first page because she loves her mummy very much and I’m soft & cuddly too like the mummy in the book. (Aww!) She giggled when the child had their feet their tickled and aww’d a lot when the book was read to her. She ‘read’ the book to me a few times too which was quite cute!

 

The other book Izzy chose this week is the Gruffalo!

This time the full but miniature version I bought them for taking out and about with us. Izzy finds the Gruffalo hilarious she loves how big he is and thinks it’s funny that the animals are scared of him. She finds it even funnier when the mouse pretends everyone is scared of him so the Gruffalo doesn’t eat him when really it’s the Gruffalo behind him they are scared of.

The girls haven’t chosen a book together this week and I’m not surprised as it has been a rather eventful week all round.

What books have been read in your home this week? Do you have a personal favourite?

Our Favourite Books This Week – Week 1 

I love reading a fun book to the girls. Although we don’t read every night before bed we read most days. Eva now reads independantly quite a lot of the time but still likes to read out loud to anyone willing to listen. Izzy loves to be read to and is able to ‘read’ a book to us looking at the pictures.

The girls having such a passion for reading is something I’m extremely proud of to be honest. I think it’s brilliant for children to fall in love with reading and get lost in the magic of a good book. I try to keep their bookshelf filled with a variety of books and try to take the girls to the library too when I’m feeling up to it so we decided to start sharing some of our favourite books each week starting with this post!

So here are Eva’s favourite books this week:

Eva chose 2 books from ber bookshelf this week. She really enjoyed reading Disney’s The Aristocats and Bambi Grows up.

Eva says she loves the end of The Aristocats when Duchess & O’Malley get to live together, she really likes the pictures throughout the book too especially all the cute kittens! What’s your favourite part of The Aristocats?

 

Bambi being born was Eva’s favourite part of Bambi Grows up. She thinks he looks cute all curled up when all the animals come to see him.

Izzy’s Favourite books this week:

Izzy chose 2 books she borrowed from the Library. Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom – Magic School and Mr Men & Little Miss – Shapes

Izzy loves the Jelly flood in Magic school and giggles her head off! She asked Eva to read it several times this week. The girls have loved sitting up at the table reading this together and it’s lovely to watch and listen to.

 

Her absolute favourite was the Shapes book though as she learnt all the names of the Mr Men & Little Miss aswell as learning to recognise shapes well enough to ‘read’ the book to someone herself. She also gets up at the end to dance and sings the ‘I am a shape’ song from Mister Maker haha!

Our favourite book overall to read together this week:

Tinga Tinga Tales Why Monkeys Swing in The Trees is a bo0ok .y girls absolutely love! The Tinga Tinga Tales books are always fun and colourful and both girls love to read along shouting excitedly when the crocodile goes ‘SNAP!’. I will definitely be looking for more in the series to read to the girls as we all enjoy them.

Reading can be so much fun for kids with such a huge variety of books available. What are your kids favourite books to read? Do you like any of the books the girls have chosen this week?

Spreading The Joy Of Reading This Christmas

I have always loved to read and reading was my favourite thing to do as a child so I love the idea of spreading the joy of reading this Christmas by giving 3 amazing Penguin Random House Children’s Books (teamed up with Britmums) I received to Izzy as Christmas presents.

Izzy is really enjoying reading books with all of us and as we did with Eva, we intend to encourage her love of reading. We sometimes go to baby rhyme time at the local library and always come back with a stack of books which we read over and over at home. The girls have an ever growing book shelf too & these books will make a lovely addition!

Max & Bird

Max & bird looks like quite a funny book about a kitty who wants to be friends with Bird. He also wants to chase and him as a tasty snack . But that’s not what friendship is all about… is it? I can’t wait to read this to Izzy, I know she will love the illustrations as she loves cats!

 

The Little Elephant Who Wants To Fall Asleep

 

The Little Elephant who want to fall asleep is a the latest book from the author of The Rabbit who wants to fall asleep which is a global best seller! It’s aimed at helping children fall asleep.  Following Ellen the elephant on a journey through a magical forest that leads to sleep! This sounds like a brilliant book and I’ll definitely be trying it out on those nights the girls just can’t sleep.

 

The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas

 

I can’t wait to read the dinosaur that pooped Christmas! We’ve read the dinosaur that pooped the world which the girls absolutely loved. This time Danny’s new dinosaur eats Christmas!! I wonder what happens next!?

 

 

They all sound like brilliant books, I can’t wait to read them to Izzy!

I loved books growing up and The Secret Garden was always my favourite as a young child! I have saved a copy for the girls to read. Hopefully one day it becomes a favourite for them, getting lost in the beautiful secret garden and storyline.

What was your favourite book as a child? Do you read it or plan to read it to your child/ren?

Are you giving books as gifts this year? Which ones?

*I’ve been sent these books by Britmums and Penguin Random House as part of their children’s books Christmas present challenge.