BookBairn: Mummy's Favourites

Showing posts with label Mummy's Favourites. Show all posts

📚 judge the reader 📚

Hello to all the newbies who have joined recently- go ahead and judge me by my books! And to all you “oldies” (hehe!) you should know well enough by now, but go ahead, judge - do your worst!

I grabbed these off my kitchen bookshelves, popped them in a washing basket and casually plopped them on the blanket on the kitchen floor (aside I may have found a better light spot for flatlays - hooray!)

And yes it took even longer to put them all away again!

Love,

Kim

okay so here's how this tag works:

✨assemble a random assortment of books (no curating an aesthetic - only cheated slightly by putting them on a blanket!)

✨let people make assumptions about you in the comments based on your bookish taste

What to do when your husband is planning a work trip to Paris that coincides with your birthday*?

I’m going to give him a list of books to buy in a French bookshop obviously and insist on my favourite French truffles.

Did you know I used to live in Paris? I studied French at University and spent my year abroad teaching in a school there and it’s been in my heart ever since.

AD: Sponsored Post

Often writing a book review poses a conundrum: how to do the most beautiful ones justice? And I have been anticipating this release for some time which always puts the fear that it won't live up to expectations. But this one really has surpassed all my book geek dreams!

The Comet by Joe Todd-Stanton really is a beautiful book. In both it’s glorious evocative artwork but also in it’s storytelling.

Nyla loves her home: she can count a hundred stars and even saw a comet once. But when she has to leave her home in the countryside to start a new life in the city, all she can think about is what she missed from before. Until one night she sees a comet fall to earth and a magical tree sprouts. Nyla finds an escape from her new life. But in doing so she finds a way to connect her old and her new.

This book is truly exquisite. With pared-back text, every single word counts but it also makes each visual spread more poignant. And those spreads really are wonder to behold. They literally took my breath away as I gasped with each page turn. The imagery of both the comet and the trees throughout evoke magic for young readers but also allow them to connect deeply with Nyla and her story.

And although this isn’t specifically about displaced persons, and is more about moving house and finding ‘home’ in new surroundings, it seems all the more poignant at the moment. And I hope that even in harsh circumstances, people can find a sense of belonging like Nyla.

Every inch of this book as been carefully thought out and considered from the textured cover with foil writing, to the endpapers and the spread of the city apartment block which features detailing the insides of all the apartments. I would love to live in the apartment on the top floor - pictured below. It’s truly a wonder.

Hope you enjoy the wonders of this book, and do remember to look up from it's pages in case you spot a comet! Happy reading,

Kim x

Disclaimer: This is a paid AD from Flying Eye Books and I was sent this book and print for review in collaboration. (Though I would have quite likely shared this one anyway because it's so gloriously beautiful isn't it?!)

If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.

Welcome to a new feature on the blog! Once every month I want to highlight a book which is absolutely spectacular! A short review with lots of photos so that you can appreciate it's beauty across the pages. So without further ado...

This is a spectacularly magical and exquisitely beautiful folk tale about love and freedom.

Starbird’s songs weave the richest dreams and delight to all who hear his song, so the Moon King wants to give Starbird as a gift to his newborn daughter. Capturing Starbird and trapping him in a cage, Starbird sings for the little princess but over time the magic and life in his voice begins to fade away. So the princess, much to the dismay and wrath of her father, sets the Starbird free. Starbird flees and tries to hide from the Moon King, gliding through different habitats around the world and hiding amongst some spectacular creatures. But he cannot evade the Moon King forever.

And what follows is perhaps one of the most profound lessons about captivity and freedom in picture book form. With a feeling of a timeless myth, this original fable is utterly beautiful. The exquisite use of silver foil throughout and intricate illustrations make it a true work of art. This is a beautiful book for adults and children alike. (And it’s going on to my, not the kids, picture book shelf!)

Disclaimer: This book was sent by the publisher for review. Words and opinions are my own. Please read our Review Policy if you want to know more. If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.

This week is Refugee Week, a week celebrating the contribution of refugees and promoting understanding of why people seek sanctuary. And one of the simple acts that they are encouraging you to do is to share a story.

“The experiences of refugees can feel very far away. But they are all around us, if we know where to look.” And for children a great place to look is a book!

So I wanted to share some wonderful stories about the experiences of refugees and about creating a welcoming nature in your children.

Welcome by Barroux

I have mentioned this one several times before as it's such a perfect way to introduce what can be a difficult topic for young children to understand. This one is so good for very small children as it revolves around a trio of polar bears whose ice cap has broken off and floated out to sea. They are in search of a new home, a refuge to make them safe. They are greeted by unwelcoming shouts of "you are too furry, too tall, too bear-ish", they are told there is no room, they are ignored until they find an empty island to make their own. And when some lost monkeys turn up looking for refuge - the bears welcome them with open arms and friendly generosity. A very simple way to share the plight of migrants. And with bright illustrations it really is wonderful for little kids.

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

The Suitcase is a story about what it’s like to fit all your belongings into one suitcase and then travel to a place unknown. Looking different and having a mysterious past, the stranger tries to explain what is inside his suitcase - a teacup, a chair, a whole home and hillside with trees. Of course, the animals believe he must be fibbing. And become so suspicious they break into your precious suitcase but what they find their floods them with empathy and compassion and an understanding of what the weary stranger has been through and they realise the importance of making them feel at home. The illustrations are heart-warming and vital to the storytelling of the stranger. Overall this books is about overcoming our fears and distrust, reaching out a hand to a stranger in need and realising that that stranger might just enlighten and enrich our own world. Beautiful and powerful.

The Day the War Came by Nicola Davies & Rebecca Cobb

War can be a difficult concept for our children to understand as so often our teaching of it is confined to the past. But for many children it is a day to day reality. When the little girl starts her normal day, and goes to school to learn about tadpoles turning into frogs, no one was expecting that war would come. As the little girl grapples in confusion with what has happened, what is happening, and separated from her family, she finds a safe place. But whilst she is safe, she is alone. Until the children make her welcome by finding her a chair in their classroom. The Day the War Came is a magnificent work of art, full of story and symbolism showing readers that war is not only in the events of a country far away which cause destruction and devastation but war is also doors shut, people turning away, not having enough chairs. This is such a poignant story I cannot express its importance and beauty.

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman

This is certainly a book to experience as well as read. It's a celebration as much as it is a story! Following a group of children in their school and throughout their day in school, this book shows a school where diversity it's at it's heart. Everyone is welcome no matter their race, religion or background. this story shares an uplifting celebration of cultural diversity and belonging where all children are welcome in the classroom. With children wearing hijabs, patkas, baseball caps and yarmulkes playing and learning side-by-side the illustrations in the book create a world where all the children belong. With scenes of the children pointing to their family's countries of origin, and the children gathered on the floor in a circle drawing illustrations of families of all sizes and colours and a playground full of happy children having fun together this is a really welcoming book! You will want to jump into the illustrations. The accompanying poem (it's definitely more a poem than a story) lets readers know that what they see in the illustrations is reinforced by the language of the school and community: everyone is welcome, they all have a place, they all have a space, no matter what. The school also has children of a variety of abilities including a blind child who carries a whitestick and a child in a wheelchair, reinforcing the lovely message of inclusion. That, for me, sums up what I want a school, and a wider community, to be and to cherish. This book is so wonderfully executed and really lives up to it's important message!

Everybody's Welcome by Patricia Hegarty & Greg Abbott

This story promotes the ideals of refuge, inclusivity and friendship at a level even the littlest readers will understand. Mouse is building a house in the middle of the wood. When Frog's pond dries up and he has no where to live, Mouse suggests that they build a home together:

"Everybody's welcome,

no matter who they are,

Wherever they may come from,

whether near or far."

Accompanied by beautiful illustrations that BookBairn loves to pore over, spotting all her favourite creatures, this magical book really teaches little ones about acceptance, generosity and to empathise with others.

And lastly I want to mention two books which I no longer have as I gave them to the school I worked in and the other to a friend's school, wanting as many children to read it as possible.

The Journey by Francesca Sanna is a beautiful and powerful depiction of a family’s flight to safety. In some places quite dark, this picture book is aimed at older children showing them the fear and terror of fleeing one's country in search of safety.

Me and My Fear also by Francesca Sanna is the story a young girl who has traveled to a new country and started a new school and her Fear tells her to be alone and afraid. She doesn't understand the language of the other children in her class, she feels isolated. And her Fear grows bigger and bigger. But one day she realises that she isn't alone in carrying around her Fear - the other children have them too! And when the children all play together the Fears become less intimidating and shrink to a manageable size.

And finally a book that I want to read is My Name is Not Refugee by Kate Milner which having read about over on Acorn Books blog I am really interested to read and add to our bookshelves.

Some mighty powerful picture books on a subject that is so important to share with or children so they can empathise and see beyond themselves and their own experiences to teach them to reach out their hands and open their hearts to others.

Kim and the bairns x

Disclaimer: We were sent all these books free for review purposes by the publishers (except Welcome by Barroux which I bought myself). Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.

Welcome to a new year for the Touring Picture Book, we took a short break over Christmas and it has taken us a couple of weeks to line up some truly awesome books to share with you. If you're new to the Touring Picture Book, here's a short recap: four of us, all parents, blogging predominantly about children's books, share one of the most interesting new releases that we have lovingly selected from a very long list. We all share our reviews of the book from our own perspectives - I love this part as we all see something a little different in the books, showing, to me, that one book can be many different stories to different people - and then we share a follow-up activity you can do with your children or a connection that we have made to the book that you might find helpful to think about.

And it has taken us a whole month to come up with the next couple of books as there have been so many interesting new releases already this year! But we are starting with an inspirational one!

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman is a must for every children's bookshelf, classroom and library. And I don't say that lightly! (We were accidentally sent a second copy from the publisher which I immediately donated to BookBairn's nursery as I want as many children as possible to have experienced this book!)

This is certainly a book to experience as well as read. It's a celebration as much as it is a story! Following a group of children in their school and throughout their day in school, this book shows a school where diversity it's at it's heart. Everyone is welcome no matter their race, religion or background. this story shares an uplifting celebration of cultural diversity and belonging where all children are welcome in the classroom. With children wearing hijabs, patkas, baseball caps and yarmulkes playing and learning side-by-side the illustrations in the book create a world where all the children belong. With scenes of the children pointing to their family's countries of origin, and the children gathered on the floor in a circle drawing illustrations of families of all sizes and colours and a playground full of happy children having fun together this is a really welcoming book! You will want to jump into the illustrations. The accompanying poem (it's definitely more a poem than a story) lets readers know that what they see in the illustrations is reinforced by the language of the school and community: everyone is welcome, they all have a place, they all have a space, no matter what. The school also has children of a variety of abilities including a blind child who carries a whitestick and a child in a wheelchair, reinforcing the lovely message of inclusion. I particularly like this quote from the lyrical text:

"We're part of a community.

Our strength is our diversity.

A shelter from adversity.

All are welcome here."

That, for me, sums up what I want a school, and a wider community, to be and to cherish. This book is so wonderfully executed and really lives up to it's important message! If you would like to watch a video of the story being read aloud I've linked that here. Such a wonderfully uplifting book!

Multicultural People Craft

BookBairn and I haven't done much craft since before Christmas so I thought it would be fun to make some people inspired by the characters - particularly using the cover illustration.

I picked up some coloured paper in a pack of different skin tones and cut out some people shapes for her to choose from. We then raided our craft box for coloured paper, felt, buttons, ribbon, googly eyes and a whole manner of bits and bobs and got cutting and sticking. Such an easy set-up and would be great to do in a classroom as the kids could work on it independently.

BookBairn had very clear ideas of the sorts of characters that she wanted to create - mostly girls (I had to persuade her to make a couple of boys! She is only three!) and she really enjoyed the freedom to create rather than replicate. I found this really interesting to watch. She required quite a lot of help with the cutting but she did have a go so this is going to be a sort of activity we revisit, under different guises, to encourage her to develop this skill further. But mostly it was lots of fun to do together!!

On a side note, if you are planning on using this book in the classroom, I have seen some great teachers at the start of the year getting each of the pupils in their class to create their own personalised pot of skin tone paint. A whole lesson dedicated to mixing just the right shade for your particular skin tone - showing that each tone is valued in itself and also creating a resource that the children can use all year. This is definitely something I would do with my class! Cassie Stephens has a great tutorial for this lesson here.

Check out the other activities happening across the Touring Picture Book Club and pop over to our Twitter to be in with a chance of winning a copy of All Are Welcome of your very own!

Acorn Books - Lego Braille Activity

Along Came Poppy - People Paper Chains Activity

Mamma Filz - Homemade Crafted Food

And look out for our next touring picture book which will be In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon by Frann Preston-Gannon.

And if you've popped over from one of the other fabulous blogs - hello! And our regular readers - hello to you too! We would love to hear if you have any signed books that you love!

Happy Reading!

Mummy, BookBairn and the Touring Picture Book Team!

Disclaimer: all four bloggers were sent copies of the book after we reached out to the publisher and requested them and we were provided with an additional copy for the giveaway. Words and opinions are each of our own.

If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. And by using our Audible links I receive what is called a 'bounty' but is also a type of commission. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.

You know that we love a book with a mighty girl at the centre and share lots of them as part of our Little Feminist Book Club posts so I was really excited to see a book starring lots and lots of mighty chicks and wanted to share it for our 'book of the week' feature on our social media. But I also wanted to share it here!

Chicks Rule by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & Rene Kurilla is one of our favourite books at the moment! From Maker Chick to Baker Chick to Soccer Chick and Rocker Chick all the chicks in town are horrified by and standing up to the “No Chicks Allowed” rule! Nerdy Chick isn’t standing for this senseless rule and won’t let it stand in their way to achieving her dreams of launching a rocket into space! She turns to her fellow chicks for help. And together they lift each other and prove once and for all that chicks are truly out of this world!

I love that this is a book about a group of chicks working together to achieve their goal. There are lots of great books about mighty girls but those girls are often flying solo against the system and I think it's important to share a message that whilst we are mighty on our own in our own right, we are more powerful when we work together.

Written in the most wonderful rhyme and packed full of humour and fun, l love reading this one aloud! I love that this book has a huge cast of characters with all different passions and with all different interests as well as all different colours of feathers. The illustrator has very cleverly created a diverse coop of chickens!

The illustrations aren’t the kind that I’m usually drawn to but we love the bright colours and cartoon/comic style. I am totally won over by them! Showing you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. And you shouldn’t judge a Chick by her feathers! I cannot say how much love I have for this book! And BookBairn wants it read over and over again so I will happily oblige!

If you love a book about a mighty chick, or even better a team of mighty chicks that work together to achieve their goal then this is a must-have for you bookshelf!

Chicks Rule!

Happy Reading,

Kim and the bairns x

One of the magical things about picture books, and books in general, is when the characters take hold of us and become more than simple creations on a page but actually become real and enter our hearts. There are many wonderful characters and I think each of us will feel a special attachment to more than one (I've always loved Charlotte from Charlotte's Web so much so that BookBairn is named after her) but for children it's wonderful to watch them make a new friend in the pages of their favourite stories.

They are often the stories that we end up reading again and again. And there has to be a little bit of magic about that particular character if they are to stand out amongst the rest.

For us, that character is Nibbles the Book Monster, affectionately known as Dimbles as BookBairn has loved him since before she could quite grasp saying the word 'Nibbles'. We have written about Nibbles many times on the blog:

A Book Munching Buddy

BookBairn's Kindred Spirit

A Bookish Few Weeks - where we met Nibble's creator Emma Yarlett

My Top Five Picture Books - making this list is no mean feat I tell you!

Nibbles has a firm place in our hearts and BookBairn was lucky enough to be sent a Nibbles plush by the publisher who she now sleeps with every night. To say we love him selling it short!

Nibbles is a book nibbling terror who has now munched his way through countless fairytales and even a dinosaur anthology. He has an insatiable appetite for books and munches his may through BookBairn's bookshelves on a daily basis.

And now he is back nibbling his way through a book of numbers. Little ones can count along with Nibbles as he chomps his way from one to ten! From the first page flap, to all the delightful little finger-sized cut-out holes in each page (corresponding to the number of bites Nibbles has taken), there's so much for little ones to explore. With bright and inviting colours and tactile holes to count together this is a number book that provides more than simple number teaching. The rhyme scheme makes it enjoyable to read aloud and allows little ones to predict the next number in some pages. BookBairn alos enjoys that Nibbles, like in the previous books, has nibbled a hole in the back of the book and escaped! But even more than that she likes to read the book backwards, counting down the numbers and shutting Nibbles back into his crate on the final page. Such a versatile little book! And as it's a board book The Wee Page Turner is safe to explore the pages too!

Baby BookBairn enjoying Nibbles.

Conceptually clever and innovative, the Nibbles series works on multiple levels - little ones like The Wee Page Turner enjoy following the mischievous little character and feeling the cut outs and peeking through the pages. And older children like BookBairn will recognise the numbers, dinosaurs or fairytales (depending on the book) as well as adoring Nibbles's trouble-making as well as make fun nibbling sounds as you read!

The illustrations are sensational! Nibbles is mischievous and yet is still adorable. He will charm his way into your heart as he has ours.

And if you want a whole set of the Nibbles books, a beautiful tote bag (we use ours for swimming!) and a cuddly Nibbles of your own - check out our Instagram post going live at 8pm this evening! *EDIT Giveaway now closed***

Who is your favourite book character? We would love to know!

Happy book-nibbling! And watch out for a book monster on the loose!

Kim, BookBairn, The Wee Page Turner and Dimbles xx

Disclaimer: these are all our choices. Some were sent from publishers (others are books that I have bought myself) but they were not sent in connection with this post. Their inclusion here is my choice. Because I really do think they are great. Please read our Review Policy if you want to know more. If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.