BookBairn

"On Snaggletooth Lane in spooky Spooksville

was a dark creepy castle, perched high on a hill."

If that's not a fabulous beginning to a Halloween story I don't know what is! Christopher Pumpkin by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet and illustrated by Nick East is the story of a little pumpkin called Christopher. Except, well, the story doesn't start with Christopher. It starts with a wicked old witch who lives in a dark creepy castle who wants to throw a party and to help her get all the work done in time for the party. she brings to life a big pile of pumpkins (bought for a pie). One after the other she creates Gnarly and Grizzly and Grunty and Roar and Snaggletooth and Stink Face and then just one more...

Christopher!! A pumpkin who shines with warmth and kindness and loves glitter and sparkles and group hugs! Uh oh! Determined to fit in with his more gruesome colleague Christopher volunteers for decoration duty. But where the others hang cobwebs, Christopher hangs bunting. And instead of bat lanterns, he chooses balloons. He also falls short on his not-so-scary music choices and rather delicious looking menu. The witch threatens to turn him into soup! So he begs for one last chance and stays up all night plotting and planning the scariest party ever! And when the guests (vampires, Frankenstein, mummies, werewolves and ghouls) all turn up to the castle for the party they run off screaming! As does the witch and her ghastly pumpkins! Leaving Christopher a perfectly pink rainbow adorned, unicorn guarded castle all of his own!

Packed full of hilarious, spooky and adorable illustrations as well as a cast of ghastly characters, the illustrations in this book are so much fun! The contrast between the character of Christopher and the other pumpkins as you turn each page will delight little readers and the rhythmic rhyming text is such a joy to read aloud as a grown up. The surprise ending is also one that will cause fits of giggles! Ultimately it's a book about being true to yourself and that's a super message for all little pumpkins to read!

We enjoyed this one so much that we decided to bring to life some pumpkin friends of our own. Initially I had thought that we would carve some pumpkins and for three reasons I decided to do something simpler: firstly, pumpkin carvings is gross; second, I don't think I'm creative enough to create any more than one type of pumpkin face (my husband would be better at this than me!); but mostly, it's because my husband booked us a surprise holiday away so we didn't have time! (Sorry not sorry - hopefully I'm at a spa when you're reading this, or curled up in front of a log fire reading a book!)

So instead we used some less-than-happy looking apples from our apple trees and did some printing! We cut the apples in half (supervised by a grown up) and then created little orange pumpkin-shaped prints all over our page. Once the paint had dried we added some googly eyes and using a black marker pen created all sorts of gruesome and adorable faces! I even attempted Christopher!

And as it's 31st October, all that's left to say is Happy Halloween! I hope you have a glitter filled sparkly Halloween a la Christopher or a ghastly ghoulish night if that's what you like best!

Happy Halloween!

Kim and the Spook-bairns!

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Christopher Pumpkin free for review purposes by the publishers, as part of our joining the blog tour. Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to Amazon using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon, 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.

Every year I love to share our favourite Halloween books - I don't quite know what it is about Halloween stories but I just love getting them all out on display and curling up and reading them. Maybe it's the autumnal weather that just makes me want to curl up and read? Maybe it's the glorious black, purple and orange colour combinations? Maybe I like a spooky story? Whatever it is - our Halloween collection is one of my favourites. And I like to add to it every year! So here are some 'new to us' picture books - some of which you will probably have discovered far sooner than us - a bit late to the game with Room on the Broom but nevermind and some of which might be new to you. If you are looking for our previous recommendations you can find them all collated under the 'Spookbairn's Halloween Reads' label!

Moving somewhere new can be quite scary but it can also be an exciting adventure! In this debut picture book, The Mist Monster by Kirsti Beautyman, little girl Penny doesn't like her new house but she does like adventures. So when her dad suggests she goes exploring and dusts off her mum's* old explorer's hat because then she will be ready for anything. But Peanut the dog snatches her hat and dashes out to the garden. So perhaps not ready for anything, and of great surprise to Penny she meets Morris, the mist monster. And before she knows it she is whisked off on a true adventure as Morris and Penny chase Peanut over water, sand and land, up hills, down slope, up trees, through bushes... all to track down a very special hat. As they return towards the house, Dad shouts to Penny that he has recovered the hat (and Peanut) and Penny has to say goodbye to Morris. And the next day she is saddened to see the blazing sunshine has evaporated the mist, and Morris along with it. Now the one thing she loved most about the new house, her new friend, has gone. But perhaps there is another adventurer waiting to explore with her? A neighbour called Archie who wants to explore and play too. And of course on the next misty day the mist monster returns to join the duo!

The illustrations throughout this book are whimsical, magical and so incredibly evocative. The soft colour palette and whispy misty scenes are in contrast with the ginger hair of Penny and the ochre yellow eyes of Morris making their movements and emotions throughout their adventure stand out vividly. The landscapes also echo these colours making the illustrations all the more rich and vivid too. With the gold foil on the cover too, this is as beautiful a book in illustration as it is in it's depiction of a lost little girl.

*Penny's mum is absent and, though it's not made clear, my interpretation is that her mum has passed away. (Worth noting if this might be a trigger for your little reader or equally it might be something supportive for them too.) With Penny feeling emotionally lost, I love the metaphor of her being lost in the mist and finding a friend to help guide her through. Something I think many children would find comforting. And in her new friendships Penny finds joy, showing the powerful magic of friendship.

I'm delighted to welcome author and illustrator, Kirsti Beautyman, to our blog today as part of our stop on The Mist Monster blog tour. The Mist Monster is Kirsti's debut picture book and below she shares her process of character development as well as some of her initial sketches of the characters.

I was really lucky to be chosen to be on the [Picture Hooks] scheme and was partnered with Helen Stephens as my mentor. Over the following months throughout early 2017, she guided me and gave bits of advice, helping me to learn to draw children and get more natural movement into my characters. This was such a lengthy process because I didn't want to end up drawing something that didn't feel like my work, so it took a while to figure out how to adapt my style and learn to draw children and characters properly. As you can see there were A LOT of different stages. The bottom image are the final roughs from The Mist Monster before I began colour, where Penny and Morris took their final forms!

What a fascinating insight into the process of developing the main character for the story! And so interesting to know that you worked with one of our favourite author-illustrators Helen Stephens.

Thanks so much Kirsti for taking the time to share some of your process! To check out more of the blog tour you can find all the details in the banner below.

Thanks for reading,

Kim and the bairns x

Disclaimer: We were sent a review copy of The Mist Monster as part of agreement to be part of the blog tour. 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.

I am so looking forward to reading your posts this month! I love curling up in autumn to read and cam't wait for all the recommendations to pour in!

If you share or review children's books or are raising a reader whilst writing a blog then our co-hosted monthly linky with Laura's Lovely Blog and Acorn Books (who is currently taking some maternity leaves so it's just Laura and I this month) is perfect for you! Kids Love to Read is a link-up to share blog posts written by other bloggers that star wonderful children's books. It's a great way to find new blogs to read and new book recommendations too, as well as invite people to come and read your own blog. Also last month we had a few people linking up posts from Instagram sharing their reviews too which is wonderful!

So if you write about your favourite children's books I would love it if you link-up your post! And I'm looking forward to reading them all!

Last Month's Favourites

My favourite post last mont came from We(e) Read(s) review of the Runaway Pea. I also really enjoyed the format of her review and the separate sections for what she thought and what her wee reader thought, something I might consider doing with BookBairn now that she is a bit older.

Laura's favourite came from Book Nerd Cafe who shared reviews of some of the best new children's books. I was really keen to read her review of The Smeds and the Smoods (the new Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler collaboration) and also funny that one of the books she reviewed is our giveaway book this month! (See below).

Linky Rules:

– Write about reading with children, share your love and your children’s love of books, what do you love to read together, how do you encouraging reading and books with your little or not so little ones? Books you love or book reviews.

– This Linky is open every 3rd Monday of the month for one week.

– Grab the Kids Love to Read badge and pop it in your post. It's linked at the end of the post for you.

– Use the #KLTR hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

– Share the love – try and read & comment the host’s posts and on 2 other blogs listed on the Linky.

We look forward to reading your posts! And don't forget to enter the competition below!

Kim and the #KLTR team x

Giveaway

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of The Way Home for Wolf by Rachel Bright and Jim Field. Laura reviewed this one her blog recently and it's one we have adored for a while too so well worth a few click to enter.

*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK and Ireland residents. The competition closes on the the 10th November 2019. Winners will be announced on social media and contacted via email. If the winner does not respond to the email in two weeks, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

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Book Bairn

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I have finally found them! The books I have been looking for for ages but I didn't know what they looked like or who wrote them or published them or illustrated them - they existed only on my dream shelf. And after four years of searching I've found them!!

Oh my goodness I haven't written many posts since the last KLTR link-up! Where has the time gone? To be honest I've been really focussed on Instagram to get caught up on my reviews of books we were sent over the summer and to top that off we have received over 30 books in the last two weeks alone so I haven't even made a dent! But I'll get there and maybe I'll learn to prioritise what to review better. And I aim to find more time to write actual blog posts - that's my mission for September.

Last Month's Favourites

Last month Laura really enjoyed reading 'Picture Book Perfect 123's review of Sleep Well Siba Saba - a lovely book sharing the bond of two sisters and their Ugandan heritage along with some beautiful illustrations! My favourite post came from Peapod Picks selection of great books to gift for birthdays and special occasions which featured some books that we love and shared by Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry - truly stunning books!

Linky Rules:

– This Linky is open every 3rd Monday of the month for one week.

– Grab the Kids Love to Read badge and pop it in your post. It's linked at the end of the post for you.

– Use the #KLTR hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

– Share the love – try and read & comment the host’s posts and on 2 other blogs listed on the Linky.

We look forward to reading your posts! And don't forget to enter the competition below!

Kim and the #KLTR team x

Giveaway

Each month, to encourage reading with kids and to go along with our #KLTR Linky, we host a Book Giveaway.
We have a fabulous giveaway this month of I Love You Brighter than the Stars by Owen Hart & Sean Julian.

*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK and Ireland residents. The competition closes on the the 10th October 2019. Winners will be announced on social media and contacted via email. If the winner does not respond to the email in two weeks, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab the Button:

Book Bairn

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I realise that it has been a little time since I shared some reviews on here - the summer holidays have left me with more than a bit of a backlog of books to review but in actual fact it's a precariously balanced tower (ok two towers) which now requires structural support. In short, I have too many to review and not enough time but I am determined to do them justice. So I thought I would pop together a post of books which I have reviewed recently on social media that all fit loosely together under the theme of teaching us a little life lesson. Picture books are a great way to instil our values and share messages with our children showing them the world as we want to see it and helping them to build this sort of world by becoming like the characters that they admire. So without further waffling from me here are six new picture books that will help little ones learn to be super people and to create that better world.

Dare by Lorna Gutierrez & Polly Noakes

This is such a wonderful inspirational book packed full of messages of empowerment, encouragement and daring to be the best person you can be. The whole thing is such a beautiful poem with lines starting “dare to...” followed by a positive affirmation. I could quote the whole book as it's so good but that would be unfair to do here so just take my word for it that this poem will have you uplifted and feeling awesome by the end! The illustrations feature children of all different backgrounds, all different colours, as well as more subtle messages of inclusion like a boy in a tutu and a character with a noticeable blue hearing aid. And I say subtle because it’s so brilliant to see these children in the illustrations without it being the explicit message of the story (i.e.they aren’t just depicted because the story is about a child getting a hearing aid, or a boy choosing to do ballet.) They are just there. Just like they are just there in the real world too. This is the sort of messages of empowerment and inclusion that we need to see in books too. To tell children that we see them. And allow them to see themselves in a story. It’s such a wonderful message for children, young readers and adults alike! My plan is to pop this one out regularly with breakfast so that BookBairn and The Wee Page Turner hear it’s wonderful message before they pop off to nursery in the mornings!

Quill Soup by Alan Durant & Dale Blankenaar

You might be familiar with the story of Stone Soup: it’s a story that I love for it’s message of generosity and kindness and one I have used in my classrooms often. However, I’m going to have to change that because the African version of the story which has been beautifully put together in this new picture book is so much better! Noko the porcupine has travelled far and wide, he’s tired and very hungry and seeking support and refuge. But not one of the other creatures in the jungle village are willing to share their food. So Noko hatches a plan to help them to help him. He puts thrill quills from his porcupine back into a soup pot with some water and tells them the story of how he cooked this special quill soup for the king so that they want to taste it too. But if only he had some carrots, wait… rabbit has carrots, and mealies and beans and potatoes and spinach and then as if by magic… they have a pot of delicious soup. What a powerful message: if we all share our resources we can create something delicious, something wonderful and perhaps overcome our fears of strangers and become more understanding and make new friends too. The beauty of this story is through the vibrant and powerful illustrations. Where the animals say they have no food to spare, the illustrations show them hoarding, which little readers instantly notice and see the injustice in that. The colour palette is striking and the images are full of movement, energy and life!

Tiny Acts of Kindness by Thuy Ha

I think children are naturally kind. They are intrinsically programmed to show kindness to others. But it’s something that we need to foster, to encourage to model for them to continue to be kind and grow into kind adults. And this lovely new book does just that: it shows them simple acts of kindness can create moments of magic for people. And that kindness grows and spreads. The more kindness we share, the more kindness there will be in the world. From warm simple smiles to gentle words to a hug to larger acts of kindness whatever we do will take wings and fly and grow into more and more kindness in the world. This book also has a focus on being kind to yourself too - to take time along, to sing a song out loud - that self-kindness is important too. With some truly beautiful phrasing that will gently carry you through the pages, and illustrations that glow and illuminate, this is a wonderfully woven tale about the beauty of kindness.

Sneaky Beak by Tracey Corderoy & Tony Neal

This is one that has a great message for grown-up readers as well as children as you may find yourself relating to the main character more than you would like to believe you do! When Bear sees an advert for a brand new bed, he starts to doubt that his current bed is good enough. Is his bath bubbly enough? His cereal crunchy enough? Little by little Sneak Beak the sales bird provides all the gadgets, gizmos and thingummies to improve and upgrade Bear’s life. But do all these new purchases actually make Bear feel any happier? This is a laugh out loud caper about learning to be satisfied with what you have in our consumerist driven world. And no doubt children will see through Sneaky Beak quicker than the adults do! This hilarious book has come at just the right time to remind me to cut back on unnecessary spending (though I’m not generally worried about FOMO or driven to buy things we don’t need - unless it’s books and children’s toys which are apparently my big weakness, according to the accountant husband anyway) and a reminder to appreciate all that we already have and making each new purchase a considered rather than an impulse buy. This book is such a perfect reminder of that, but in a riotous and laugh-out-loud way, with illustrations that demonstrate all the sneakiness and ridiculousness of Sneaky Bird and his products. As well as the realisation on Bear’s face that things won’t make him happy as much as relationships and friendships do! A fun story for kids and grown ups alike!

Together We Can by Caryl Hart & Ali Pye

There are lots of things that I want for my children as they grow older. But I think one of the things I want above all the others is that they have good friends and that they are good friends to others. I don’t know where I would be without the love and support of my wonderful networks of friends over the years and I want my children to have that too! So when I first read this wonderful picture book about friendship, about being a good friend, about valuing others and ourselves I just knew it would go straight onto BookBairn’s bedtime bookshelf! Written in the perfect rhyming prose it’s a joy to read aloud and the illustrations are utterly joyous also! Packed full of bright and bold colours and characters it shows children forming friendships, displaying kindness and enjoying togetherness. Such a happy book! And it would make a great gift for anyone about to start a new school or nursery who is nervous about making friends as not only does it show you ways to be a good friend it also shows that others want to make friends with you too. Another wonderful book from this fabulous author and illustrator pairing!

A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel

“A stone sat still

with the water, grass, and dirt

and it was as it was

where it was in the world.

Sometimes a stone is more than a simple stone. This incredibly powerful new picture book tells the story of a humble and seemingly ordinary stone. But a stone can be more than a stone: it can be a pebble to some and a mountain to others, a resting place, a safe haven, a kitchen. It just depends on perspective. With beautiful illustrations accompanying the soothing rhythms, this a glorious exploration of perception as well as a timely discussion about the passing of time and changing environments. A poignant and moving story. About a simple stone.

I hope that you are intrigued by the messages that these books are sharing! For other great books sharing little life lessons check out my previous reccomnendations here.

Happy little life lessons!

Kim and the bairns x

Disclaimer: We were sent some of these books free for review purposes by the publishers. 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.

What a busy month August is for us with back to nursery and trying to pack as much into the last couple of weeks of holidays as we can as well as August being the month of the Edinburgh Book Festival! But I wouldn't miss the chance to link-up with you all and read all the fabulous posts shared for #KidsLoveToRead

If you share or review children's books or are raising a reader whilst writing a blog then our co-hosted monthly linky with Laura's Lovely Blog and Acorn Books (who is currently taking some maternity leaves so it's just Laura and I think month) is perfect for you! Kids Love to Read is a link-up to share blog posts written by other bloggers that star wonderful children's books. It's a great way to find new blogs to read and new book recommendations too, as well as invite people to come and read your own blog. Also last month we had a few people linking up posts from Instagram sharing their reviews too which is wonderful!

So if you write about your favourite children's books I would love it if you link-up your post! And I'm looking forward to reading them all!

Last Month's Favourites

Last month my favourite post came from Rosie's Library over on Instagram who shared a lovely photo and review of one of our favourite books - The Day the Crayons Quit.

View this post on Instagram

This book is amazing! It actually made me laugh out loud, which isn’t the best for a bed time book but I just couldn’t help it. It’s about crayons that have had enough and have decided that they’re not going to take only being used once in a while, any more! Each colour writes a letter to their owner Duncan. Every letter is so funny and witty. One of my favourite things is the way each crayon signs off, and the final few pages. The illustrations are lovely and perfect for every age, they would even encourage little ones to be more creative with their own drawings, so make sure your little one uses all of their crayons or they might end up with a pile of very angry letters in their pencil case! It’s a good size book, we ended up having to read it over two nights. . . Rosie’s review - She fell asleep both nights. . .

A post shared by @ rosieslibrary on Feb 19, 2019 at 11:52am PST

Laura's favourite came from the always fabulous Jenni from over at The Bear and the Fox who shared a superb Kids Book Bingo Summer Challenge to keep kids busy and reading over the summer holidays.

Linky Rules:

– This Linky is open every 3rd Monday of the month for one week.

– Grab the Kids Love to Read badge and pop it in your post. It's linked at the end of the post for you.

– Use the #KLTR hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

– Share the love – try and read & comment the host’s posts and on 2 other blogs listed on the Linky.

We look forward to reading your posts! And don't forget to enter the competition below!

Kim and the #KLTR team x

Giveaway

Each month, to encourage reading with kids and to go along with our #KLTR Linky, we host a Book Giveaway.
We have a fabulous giveaway this month of The 13 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.

*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK and Ireland residents. The competition closes on the the 10th September 2019. Winners will be announced on social media and contacted via email. If the winner does not respond to the email in two weeks, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab the Button:

Book Bairn

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