When I was a kid, I wanted more than anything to become a videogames programmer. Back in the heady days where I'd stick a cold pint of milk behind the wobbly RAM pack of my ZX81, noodling around with daft games where a Letter A shaped spaceship would fire exclamation marks at a bunch of incoming letter X shaped invaders, I really thought it could be possible to enter the world of videogames, make huge sums of money, drive a Ferrari and become infamous through my creations.

After 30 years of a career in IT which has involved precisly next-to-no games programming whatsoever, and certainly after reading "Blood, Sweat and Pixels" by Jason Schreier, I'm almost glad I never stuck to my guns with that career choice, because this book really does show you what it takes to enter the make-or-break world of games development, and also how often games that seem so brilliant and amazing quite often nearly destroyed the folk working on them.

Jason digs into his journalist props writing for games sites such as Kotaku (my own favourite outlet for games news, the US site I should point out) and comes up with a fascinating look under the hood of the industry, and at some of the games we've come to take for granted - as well as one or two that didn't make the cut.

From The Witcher 3's mind-blowingly expansive and amazing fantasy world, to Uncharted's astonishingly cinematic adventuring. From the simple enjoyment of creating and maintaining your own farm in the adorable Stardew Valley (a favourite of both of ours) to the sadly scuttled Star Wars 1313, there are highs and lows throughout this book, and of course copious mentions of the dreaded modern essential in any successful studio - game crunch (where developers end up working ridiculously long hours with very little reward just to get those games we love out the door).

I've been a fan of videogames since I first saw a white oblong bashing a white square around on a black TV screen at the old Picketts Lock sports centre in Edmonton, London (the very first videogame I can remember seeing) but of course the world has marched on and changed dramatically since the early 70s, to the point where games studios are made up of many talented individuals, almost to the point where end-game credits last longer than some of the games themselves.

We were both particularly charmed by the chapter on Stardew Valley though. The whole thing was done by just one person (whose other half deserves a medal for not stoving his head in with a computer keyboard for taking 5 years to make his dream game, while supporting him!) with one heck of a payday at the end of it.

All in all, it's really well written and annotated, and a really thoroughly enjoyable read if you're interested in videogame history.

"Blood, Sweat and Pixels" by Jason Schreier is out now, published by Harper Paperbacks (self purchased, not supplied for review).

Our second Book of the Week this week is the perfect compilation for parents who really want to introduce some of the most amazing classic pieces of children's fiction into their children's reading pile in a really cool and beautifully presented way.

"Favourite Stories of Courageous Girls" introduces some of the gutsiest, most resourceful and most intelligent young heroines ever to grace the pages of classic fiction. Put together as an anthology featuring short bios for the characters themselves, before providing scintillating excerpts from the books in question, it's an absolute work of genius.

From Jo March who sells her hair to raise money for her family, to George's single-minded commitment to protecting her island in The Famous Five to Bobbie's quick-thinking action that prevents a train crash in The Railway Children, these girls demonstrate courage beyond their years.

Once again Yuval Zommer returns to offer us a beautiful and bounteous slice of natural history, this time taking to the wing rather than diving under the sea.

In the truly fabulous "Big Book of Birds" Yuval takes us on a tour of the bird kingdom, and helps little ones answer a million and one questions they may have about our lovely feathered friends.

Why is a flamingo pink? Can a parrot talk? Is a bald eagle really bald?

This follow-up to the hugely successful The Big Book of Bugs, The Big Book of Beasts and The Big Book of the Blue answers these questions and many more. 

Don't eat too many shrimps unless you want to end up beautifully pink!

You don't have to visit tropical climes to see fascinating bird species. Some can be found in your own back garden or local parks!

 Utterly perfect stuff!

We can definitely confirm that parrots are chatty little characters having just come back from staying at a hotel pretty much ruled by one!

We love books that begin as an idea, a notion, perhaps a project - but spin up into something that could change the way you think and even perhaps (hopefully) one day change the world.

"Migrations: Open Hearts, Open Borders" is one such book, beginning with an idea from two teachers of illustration at Worcester University, emerging at a time when the refugee crisis began to intensify back in 2017.

Their idea was fairly simple, to put out a call to illustrators all around the world to ask them to send an original postcard illustration, to eventually form an amazing installation at the Bienalle of Illustration at Bratislavia in Slovakia.

No one quite expected the huge response that they would get, with hundreds of cards arriving by post and some of the most famous illustrators working in children's literature and beyond all contributing some amazing thought-provoking pictures and messages.


Since then, the installation has been put together and displayed in various places around the world, and will be installed in Amnesty International's London offices in the summer of 2019.

This book gathers together fifty of the postcards, mailed from 32 countries, and reproduces in actual size in this very special book which is available now.

All the works have been donated and the book's royalties will be shared between Amnesty International and IBBY (International Board on Books for Youth).

Leading children's book illustrators from the UK, including Christopher Corr, Neal Layton, Jackie Morris, Jane Ray and Chris Riddell, have contributed cards, along with illustrators from Argentina to Russia, South Africa to Iran, with an introduction written by world-renowned talented illustrator Shaun Tan.

Using the strong imagery and theme of a migrating bird, the book is both thought-provoking and utterly beautiful, with the strong message of acceptance and the dissolution of our preconceptions about nationality and borders emanating from every page.

This really is something stunning and well worth picking up.

"Migrations: Open Hearts, Open Borders" by various artists, is published by Otter-Barry Books (kindly supplied for review)

We do love a gloriously funny poetry collection and it's been an absolute delight to reacquaint ourselves with the fabulous work of Elli Woollard.

In "Perfectly Peculiar Pets" by Elli and Anja Boretzki, find poems on all manner of subjects from the scaly to the fuzzy, the stripy to the multi-coloured. From animals to birds, fish and some distinctly strange species indeed, Elli tickles our funny bones with a selection of perfect poems for little ones to enjoy.

Just about every animal and bird gets a look in from awesome armadillos, fidgety flamingos and umbrella birds to crazy quokkas and irritable iguanas.

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that make it worth living. Like finding a quiet spot (quite a quest in itself) to laze in a grassy field, listening to bird song and watching butterflies flitting between flowers.

Two new books are perfect for nature lovers who want to know more about these fascinating insects.

Starting with "The Butterfly House" by Katy Flint and Alice Pattulo, over 100 species of butterflies and moths are presented in exquisite detail, with tons and tons of interesting facts and nuggets of information about each species in turn.

Coupled with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations of each butterfly and moth, you'll soon get up to speed identifying some of our more common butterfly species, and perhaps even some of the rarer ones as you enjoy some time out in the summer sunshine.

Not just a book for country dwellers, you'll find that butterflies are everywhere, and moths have staked out a claim in many of our urban environments too.

Authoritative and detailed, this is a fantastic resource to dip into during the warmer months.


"The Butterfly House" by Katy Flint and Alice Pattulo is out now, published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books.

There's also "How to be a Butterfly" by Laura Knowles and Catell Ronca.

Should a butterfly be big or small? Should it be bright and bold, or perfectly pale? A joyous, imaginative, yet informative non-fiction picture book about what it takes to be a butterfly – body parts, behavior and life cycle – with the underlying message that diversity is a wonderful thing and that, in fact, there are 20,000 ways to be a butterfly!

Not only beautiful to behold, butterflies provide an opportunity to introduce a variety of environmental topics. Serving as key indicators of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, they face threats of extinction due to climate change and habitat destruction – all vital subjects for children today.

With stunning illustrations displaying a colourful array of different butterfly species, each labeled with its scientific name, and fascinating details about their anatomy and life cycle, there is plenty for young nature lovers to spot and explore time and again.

We absolutely love dragons - they're probably our favourite mythical creature.

But owning one isn't quite as straightforward as it seems. What do you do if your dragon has lost his spark?

Find out in the rip-roaringly hilarious "How to Light your Dragon" by Didier Levy and Fred Benaglia.

Meet a little boy with a rather unique problem pet. The boy's dragon is no longer able to breathe fire. 

May 13th to 19th 2019 is Mental Health Awareness week in the UK, and these two brilliantly timely books are absolutely essential for kids who may be coping with mental health issues themselves.

In "The Unworry Book" by Alice James and Stephen Moncrieff, children's worries and anxieties are tackled head-on with a series of awesome stress-busting tips, mind-calming activities and discussion exercises to help youngsters put their feelings into words and pictures themselves.

This is an absolutely brilliant idea, and one I wish we'd had when C was younger - as we spent a lot of time working out different ways to tackle her own anxiety issues - everything from a 'worry box' to worry beads and dolls.

Having a journal-style approach works beautifully though, as each of the topics discussed helps children to describe and draw out how certain things feel at times of stress or when they're feeling particularly anxious.

With a brilliant kid-friendly design, and lots of space for their own doodles, writing and ideas amongst the exercises, this is a book designed to help the healing process, for children and their parents to both work their way through in their own time and at their own pace.

"The Unworry Book" by Alice James and Stephen Moncrieff is out now, published by Usborne Books. 

For older children there's also "Looking After your Mental Health" by Alice James, Louie Stowell, Nancy Leschnikoff and Freya Harrison.

Again, designed for older children but actually invaluable for a wide range of ages, this book helps children to discuss and describe their feelings using friendly and practical advice, and written in a style that doesn't talk down to kids - but understands and addresses their mental health issues and needs in language they'll understand and not feel intimidated or patronised by. 

Spring has definitely arrived! The birds are chirping, and we've even had a few gorgeous sunny days to spend lazing under our favourite tree with a selection of brilliant books.

Child's Play are definitely producing some of the loveliest picture books at the moment and we've been lucky enough to catch up with a trio of tempting titles to tickle your little one's reading tastes with.

First is "Hide and Seek" by Polly Noakes, the sort of brilliant sunshiney book that you just can't resist at this time of year.

Join a group of best friends as they venture out into the meadow to play a game of hide-and-seek on a beautiful summer’s afternoon.