Thursday, 14 April 2011
Cinderella
Re-telling classic fairy tales might be a bit cheeky if nothing new is brought to the story, but Marks and Spencer have been doing a range of classic stories in line with the National Literacy Strategy.
The first book we've seen in this series is classic tale Cinderella. Pretty much every adult will know the story off by heart but the M & S books are designed for children just beginning to start out with word recognition, reading and literacy. Each page tells a portion of the story, with repeated lines emboldened under the illustrations to help children begin to recognise passages, and eventually read them for themselves (obviously most bright kids are just going to learn the stories parrot-fashion anyway but repetition is the best way to learn anything in this respect, and these books are structurally very well thought out).
For the rest of the books in this series, visit this link.
Charlotte's best bit: The ugly sisters
Daddy's favourite bit: The book's early-reader-friendly structure
Rating: 4 out of 5
Doctor Ted
This week's contender for "book read most times during a single day" has to be Doctor Ted, the cute tale of a little bear who bangs his knee one morning getting out of bed, and decides that the world needs a tiny toddler-sized medic to tackle everyone's ills.
Doctor Ted continues his good work at school, and runs into a spot of bother in doing so.
What I loved about this more than anything else is the slightly tongue-in-cheek way this mini doctor fellow actually behaves a lot like the real thing (ie doesn't listen to what you're telling him, prescribes odd cures for something that's entirely unrelated to what you came in for). Kids will love the cute drawings and characters, adults will undoubtedly love the slightly anarchic humour.
Charlotte's best bit: Doctor Ted's remarkable cure for his head teacher's bad breath!
Daddy's favourite bit: The lovely wry digs at the adult characters in the story.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Meg goes to Bed
What's this what's this?!? A new Meg and Mog book appeared in the local library's stacks and though it was originally published in October last year, it's taken a while to filter through. Nevertheless it's fantastic to see Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski still producing these fantastic little books for a new generation of toddlers, books I remember loving to bits as a kid.
In "Meg goes to Bed" poor Meg has a disastrous attempt at producing a nice wholesome supper for Mog, Owl and herself. With wobbly stripey spaghetti worms crawling off all over the place, poor Meg goes to bed with a rumbling tummy and it's up to Owl and Mog to save the day.
Though the same slightly disjointed and jumbled page layouts remain, the book has timeless appeal and I almost feel bad for falling out of love a bit with these when they really are great for youngsters (of all ages :)
While you're tapping your foot impatiently waiting for the next Winnie Witch book, treat yourself to a new Meg and Mog book for a spell (pun intended) instead.
Charlotte's best bit: Animated spaghetti!
Daddy's favourite bit: Still find Meg oddly reminiscent of Ruth from "Victorian Farm"
Rating: 3 out of 5
How do Dinosaurs learn Colours and Numbers?
Labels:
HarperCollins Children's Books,
How do dinosaurs learn colours and numbers,
Jane Yolen,
Mark Teague
As I recently discovered on a trip with Charlotte and CanIWalkMummy to the Natural History Museum in London, just about everyone loves Dinosaurs. So it's easy to see the appeal of the thoroughly excellent "How Do Dinosaurs..." series of books by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. Placing Dinosaurs (complete with their kid-friendly proper names) in everyday situations is a stroke of genius, and certainly works beautifully in this numbers and colours book.
Teague's highly detailed dino characters (and their supporting human counterparts) take toddlers through numbers one to ten, and rhyming couplets teach them about colours too. A fantastic double header that works beautifully and hopefully allows each child to pick a favourite dino species into the bargain (for me, the Triceratops was always the champ when I was a kid - what's yours?)
Charlotte's best bit: Dino hiding things under the bed
Daddy's favourite bit: Lucky Number 7
Rating: 4 out of 5
Friday, 1 April 2011
Draw me a star
Labels:
Draw me a star,
Eric Carle,
Puffin Books
Eric ("The Hungry Caterpillar") Carle's books are books we've enjoyed over the course of me writing this book blog, and we've steadily hunted down most of the ones you see advertised in the back of Carle's most famous work.
"Draw me a star" had evaded us up till now but finally the library got a copy in, and it's quite a strange and surreal book.
With every turn of the page, Carle's trademark painted cutout artwork tells the story of an artist being asked to draw various objects. In turn the objects get grander and grander as the artists slowly becomes old and tired and haggard.
It's succinctly different to Carle's other books but the repetition and the artwork helps it appeal to youngsters all the same.
Charlotte's favourite bit: "Draw me the moon"
Daddy's favourite bit: "EEK! Unexpected nudity!"
Rating: 3 out of 5
When we lived in Uncle's Hat
Labels:
Jutta Bauer,
Kate Connolly,
Nani Schumann,
Peter Stamm,
When we lived in uncle's hat,
Winged Chariot Press
What a curious hotch potch of tales. "When we lived in Uncle's hat" depicts various fantastical dwellings a small family live a nomadic existence in. Starting in an ordinary everyday house, the family move between a bus, a box and of course the titular titfer in the title.
The book's very wordy but nonetheless quite an interesting fantasy world for your youngsters to get engrossed in and the footnotes at the end of each little tale, detailing what happens to each family member, are often quite grown up and feel a little out of place in a children's book.
A very weird but very intriguing read.
Charlotte's best bit: "When we lived in Auntie's Viola"
Daddy's favourite bit: "When we lived on a bus" (which is a perfect description of what it must feel like every morning on a public transport commute!)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Harry by the Sea (revisited)
As you've probably noticed, we've already taken a look at Harry by the Sea (and the rest of the excellent Harry books) previously on this blog. From time to time, Charlotte inevitably picks out books she's had before from the library, and it would've taken a better will and a stronger grip to wrestle this one out of her hands while we were checking out our other books this week
This timeless tale of Harry the dog (which was first published back in the early 60s) sees the mischievous pup enjoying a day at the beach with his family. Harry being Harry, it's not long before he gets into trouble and causes uproar.
I loved these books as a kid, and it's easy to see why Charlotte also loves them. The bold illustrations bring out Harry's character perfectly, and the story jogs along at a nice pace. It's a bit of a shame that Red Fox only republish 3 of the Harry books (and not the absolutely hilarious "Harry and the lady next door") but hopefully these books will sell in sufficient numbers for Red Fox to secure publishing rights to the rest.
Charlotte's best bit: The whole thing but she particularly loves Harry the Seaweed Monster
Daddy's favourite bit: As before, Harry in the shade that a fat lady made...!
Rating: Still 5 out of 5, still awesome.
Fran's friend
Diamonds aren't a girl's best friend, dogs are! Fran's friend is a lovely little tale about a girl and her dog. Her poor pooch is feeling a little left out, as Fran becomes absorbed in a very important activity. Fran doesn't want to play ball, doesn't want to go for walkies and doesn't even seem to want to take her dog outside at all - but the story wraps up with a lovely little ending that should make pooch owners smile.
Short, sweet and nicely illustrated.
Charlotte's best bit: Cutting out and sticking down
Daddy's favourite bit: The dog's various comments on Fran's busy activities
Rating: 3 out of 5
Can't you sleep, little bear?
The Big Bear / Little Bear books are sweet and cute, and in this tale, little bear is a fidgety little bear who doesn't want to go to sleep (I think just about every parent will identify with that particular scenario).
Little bear is afraid of the dark, so big bear brings in as many lights and lanterns as he can carry. But little bear is not happy until...
...well you'll find out in the book. Suffice to say that it's a very neat little tale that has exactly the desired effect on your toddlers when read at bed-time (in fact you'll struggle to stay awake too, not because it's boring but because it's so atmospheric and full of fuzzy and deliciously drawn artwork that makes you want to snuggle under the duvet and catch 40 winks).
Charlotte's best bit: Little bear jumping on the bed (just like she does)
Daddy's favourite bit: The artwork
Rating: 3 out of 5
Fig's giant
Updating the classic tale of Gulliver's Travels for a younger audience is tricky to say the least, but Geraldine McCaughrean has managed to put the focus on a little girl's relationship with the gentle giant, creating a story that takes all the best elements of the original and updates them quite nicely.
Fig discovers the giant while out playing with her dog on the beach, and from then events rapidly take a turn for the worse once her fellow Lilliputians realise what a valuable asset they have in their continuing war with the Brobdinagians.
Jonathan Swift's original story is treated with a fair amount of respect, and though it's a trifle 'grown up' for a 3 year old, they'll still enjoy the anticipation of 'what happens next' with every turn of the page.
Charlotte's best bit: The contents of the giant's pockets.
Daddy's favourite bit: Seeing the giant sailing off in a rather too tiny boat
Rating: 3 out of 5
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