Toddlers just love this time of year when everything is magic don't they? They love the lights and the music and they are just beginning to understand the idea of gift giving and receiving. So I love to give books as these little ones just can't get enough of them. In the past I have done a combined gift guide for toddlers and preschoolers but now that I have a two and four year old I see quite how different their reading tastes are at this age and whilst they do overlap I felt it was unjust to lump them together. So this year I have done two separate guides. This one is aimed at toddlers aged 18 months to about 3 though many of the books are great for four and five year olds too (BookBairn loves them). Before I share, I just want to say that there are many many great books out there for little readers but these are some of our favourites that we have discovered this year. It would be impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list so this is more of a highlights guide. If you want to see our gift guide from last year, or any of our other gift guides from this year you can find them all linked here. I've tried to include a variety of books so that there is something for everyone.

My bairns are aged 4 and 2 so I tend to focus on books for toddlers and preschoolers on the blog and on social media, but occasionally I come across books for BookBairn to grow in to or books to save for later. So every year I compile these into a list of books for 'older readers'. The age range of these varies so I recommend you double-check the recommended ages over on the publisher website or on amazon because you know your young readers best as to what is appropriate for their reading. Some of the book listed here are equally as good for reading aloud as well as independent readers so it's worth bearing that in mind too. If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! You can find them all here: GIFT GUIDES

I think one of the best gifts you can give a baby is books! Because they can grow with them! Books which have high contrast colours and cloth books are best for newborns but as they get older it's great to have a good selection of books. And by a good selection I partly mean ones that you can tolerate reading over and over and over. Because you will have to read them over and over and over! If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! In fact some of the recommendations on this list are new releases from series that we have loves in the past too! You can find all our previous lists here: GIFT GUIDES

I always worry about doing Christmas gift guides or sharing Christmas books in November as it just seems too early. But truth be told, I have already done most of my Christmas shopping already so I am probably late to the game for some people. But it's never too late to add and extra gift to that bundle! Especially if it's a book! Now if you came here looking for festive reads, I should say they will be up next week, because I personally don't usually give a Christmas book as a Christmas gift. My feeling is that by Christmas day it's too late! So I wanted to recommend books that you can enjoy all year round. I also try to pick new (or at least new-to-us) books to recommend as these are more likely to be books that you won't already have. If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! You can find them all here: GIFT GUIDES

Every month I feel like I start my posts by saying how quickly time is flying! But really. After I finish this post I'm getting on with writing Christmas gift guide recommendations. How?! Already!? This will be our last link-up of the year, as we will be taking December off and next time I draft one of these posts it will be 2020!

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.

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!

My favourite post last mont came Book Nerd Cafe who shared a review of a lovely story - The Lion Who Wanted to Love but mostly I loved reading her post about how much her little girl loves the library!

Laura's favourite came from Lily and the Fae who shared a review of some fantastic non-fiction. In fact we have these books and the mechanisms are just fabulous and provide a unique way for children to learn. We love them too!

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

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of  A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston and it's one that I love so much I keep on my own bookshelf so worth entering for yourself as much as your little readers! 

*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK and Ireland residents. The competition closes on the the 10th December 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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I'm delighted to welcome author and illustrator, Matt Carr, to our blog today as part of our stop on Lollies Blog Tour. Matt has kindly taken the time to answer some our questions about how he made the book and where is ideas came from.

What a fascinating insight into the process of developing the story! Thanks so much Matt for taking the time to share some of your process! 

Thanks for reading,

Kim and the bairns x

Disclaimer: We were asked to join the Lollies Blog Tour and I immediately put my support behind Spyder by Matt Carr  as it's a book we already have and love. We acquired our copy from my lovely friend BookLoverJo who sent it because she knew we would love it!  Please read our Review Policy  if you want to know more. 

With Halloween behind us, you would think that the spooking was over! But some monsters aren't just for Halloween - they are for every bedtime! 

"Do you lie awake at night worrying about monsters?" Probably not - but you might be up and down several hundred times a night settling a little one who is! This is the Ultimate Survival Guide to Monsters Under the Bed by Mitch Frost & Daron Parton and it's perfect for anyone (big or small) who's ever been afraid of what might be lurking under the bed.

At the Goodnight Laboratory they take the Monsters Under the Bed problem very seriously. They have bubbling test tubes, blinking machines and a team of master scientists to prove it! And with all that science brainpower and technology they have written a book - this book! But does it work? Well, it's up to you to test it out.

With ten easy-to-follow steps including tidying your room, brushing you teeth and telling hilarious(!) jokes, you can rid yourself of under the bed (and cupboard) monsters for good! Some of the advice is ingenious as it really just having a good bedtime routine - tidying your toys away (because clean rooms don't have monsters) and brushing your teeth (because monsters are disgusted by minty-fresh breath), which will no doubt delight the grown-ups reading this story. Anything that helps keep rooms tidy and teeth-brushed has got to be a good thing! But it also speaks to children too with it's advice to invite all your toys for a sleepover (because monsters hate big crowds) and to tell them a funny joke (because they will immediately run off to tell their monster pals leaving your room free and clear). And if all else fails, little readers can simply close the book to activate the SAFE5000 anti-monster force field around your home (no batteries required).

Packed full of gentle humour and illustrations of not-so-scary monsters, this book really could be the antidote to the monster under the bed problem. I particularly love the illustrations of sleeping children tucked in with their own copies of The Ultimate Survival Guide to Monsters Under the Bed. How 'meta' to have included the book cover within the story! It's a humorous, colourful and a completely unique way to comfort children at bedtime. Let's hope it delivers the antidote to make all bedrooms monster-free too!

And the lovely team from Buster Books have got a great giveaway over on their social media to win a copy but they are so kind that they have given us two copies and exclusive posters to giveaway on our site too! I'll be sharing that giveaway this evening over on our social media (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook - you can find the links at the top of our blog page under the masthead but also it's easy to find us by just searching for 'BookBairn'). So don't miss that!!

To check out more reviews check out the blog banner below to see all the beds that these monsters have been creeping under!

Thanks for reading,

Kim and the bairns x

"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!