A Bookish Few Weeks

BookBairn doing her best dinosaur roar with Emma Yarlett.

Wow! We have been super busy over the last few weeks and I've been struggling to find time to blog. Apologies for the infrequency! Over the last few weeks though we have been doing some very exciting and bookish things (not to mention, changing BookBairn's nursery days, starting Baby Massage, Baby Yoga and Baby Sensory classes with the Wee Page Turner and my best friend got married!) and I thought it would be nice to share some of the things that we have been up to.

August is always a great time to get in to bookish things where we live as it's festival time in Edinburgh which means the Edinburgh Book Festival comes to town - and so do fabulous authors and illustrators!

First, The Wee Page Turner and I (BookBairn was at nursery) met Rob Biddulph in one of our local bookshops in St Andrews and has a wonderful time. Rob was brilliant with all the children that were there and had them in the palm of his hand as he showed them how to draw Kevin, a character from his newest book. After the story and drawing time we got a chance to chat and get our books signed which was very special. BookBairn loves it now - she says 'Rob drew a penguin for me!' every time we read Blown Away (review here). And I got one of our other books - Odd Dog Out - signed for The Wee Page Turner even though he is too little to really appreciate it yet. But mostly Rob was lovely! He gave me a warm hug and thanked me for loving and sharing his books and was just delightful! I hope the family enjoyed their time in St Andrews and ate up some of the delicious ice cream from our favourite ice cream shop and cafe.

Later that week, The Wee Page Turner had his four month check (he's brilliant - big and ready for food!) and that means he got his Bookbug Bag! For those of you that don't know, in Scotland we have a brilliant scheme run by the Scottish Book Trust where children get four bags of books (usually three in each bag along with other goodies) by the time they are in Primary One. It's a fabulous programme and we have loved all the books that we got so far - BookBairn has had two bags as well. I think I'll write a full blog post on this at some point to review the books and goodies that we got most recently!

The following day I had an evening child-free at the Edinburgh Book Festival to go to a workshop about Writing for Children. It was mostly for people interested in writing chapter books for children but I still picked up a few good tips! It certainly gave me the inspiration and motivation to start putting some of my ideas on paper, which is what I needed. Writing a children's book is something that I dream of but, quite honestly, it's really hard and takes a lot of time and talent to come up with a good story and I'm scared that I'm not good enough. But I really enjoyed the class and we had to do a little on-the-spot writing. So last week, I took a little bit of time away from the blog (sorry) to start writing and rhyming a children's story - of course, I only got part way through before nap time ended and I was interrupted but hopefully I'll find another snippet of time soon.

But the best and most bookish thing that we did was last week when we went to see Dimbles's mummy at the Edinburgh Book Festival. For anyone who has followed us for a while (and if you're new - hello), you will already know that BookBairn is a huge fan of Emma Yarlett's Nibbles the Book Monster. So when I saw that Emma was coming to Edinburgh I knew that I just had to take BookBairn for her first festival event! And she adored it! (A bit overtired from skipping her nap and distracted by a green balloon but she loved it!) Emma was brilliant and read the story making it interactive by having hidden pages from the book in the tent and asking children to spot where Nibbles had gone next (the teacher in me could see this as a great lesson starter) and then shared how to draw Nibbles as well as reading her new book about Nibbles Dinosaur Guide (review to come soon) and then finally helping all the children to make Nibbles head-gear! She also recognised us and came over to say hello which made me feel really valued and special. Thanks Emma. We got our books signed at the end and BookBairn was delighted. It was just one of the most wonderful parenting experiences that I have had so far - sharing something I love with her and enjoying ti with her.

So, as I say, busy bookish weeks! We also squeezed in a trip to the library and over thirty new books in the post in that last fortnight too (many of which I am still to share as I've not had time yet - sorry I'm working on it). But that's why the blog has been quiet - because we have been busy! Thanks for reading along with us and enjoying bookish things as much as we do! Hopefully I'll fit in a bit more blogging in the next few weeks - I have lots of books I want to review and posts I want to write - it's just a case of finding the time (we also have two weddings and a holiday in September!).

Good news amongst all the bookish things - we got an extra copy of Nibbles signed for one of our lucky readers!

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Touch-And-Feel Fairytales

Anyone who is a parent and has enough of an interest in children's books (which I'm guess you probably do since you are reading this blog) will know of the very popular touch-and-feel series 'That's not my...'. Babies senses develop quickly and books that appeal to those senses, be it through sound or touch, are exactly what they need. And whilst we have some of this series in our library I don't intend to share them here because well, quite honestly, they are everywhere already and whilst they are great for little ones exploring textures they aren't exactly fun for parents to read over and over again. Great for encouraging independent playing with books and early reading skills but not really appealing for bedtime stories. Sure they serve a purpose but I can't get excited about reviewing them. You should get some, babies and toddlers love them, but they are boring to 'read'.


If you want a touch-and-feel book that as a parent you might actually enjoy reading, you should check out the classic fairytales series from Ladybird Books. There are a few things about these books that I truly love and one of them is that they have real 'growth-value'. What I mean is that they are appropriate at lots of different levels or abilities of reading.

They have touch-and-feel elements to every page meaning that even the tiniest hands are entertained throughout the story. From fluffy bear tummies, to gingham cloth baskets and houses made of straw there are plenty of different textures to explore. There are lots of things you can point to and talk about while you are sharing any of the books from this series. And like many touch and feel books, you can help your little one learn new words about touch like 'soft', 'shiny', 'smooth' and 'bumpy'. I think the Three Little Pigs book has the best texture elements with straw, wooden and brick houses to feel and I love that these are key parts of the story. In some of the others the textures are a bit less connected to the story but still lots of fun to explore.

At the next stage of reading, where children become more interested in the stories themselves rather than just the book as a 'toy' to explore, this series is such a fabulous introduction to classic fairytales that we know and love. They are child-appropriate (though the gingerbreadman does get eaten!) and capture the key elements over shortened versions.

But for those who are a little older there is a simplified version of each bit of text at the bottom of the page written in child-friendly language that they will be able to read themselves, once they are becoming independent readers.

Perfect for reading with the whole family! For babies, toddlers and early-stage readers (and parents who like a shorter bedtime story - sometimes you just need them to be in bed, right?). And the illustrations are bright and colourful and I discovered when writing this post, hidden in the small print on the back, that they are by one of our favourite illustrators - Emma Dodd!

As I say touch-and-feel books are great! I love them! But I also like a good story too so these ones are exactly what I want: both elements neatly packaged in a durable board book that I can read to BookBairn, or let The Wee Page Turner play with by himself and I look forward to the day BookBairn can read these aloud to us at bedtime.



*For anyone wondering the little characters are from the UK discount shop Wilkos and were brilliant value!

Town and Country + Giveaway

BookBairn is really enjoying playing I-spy at the moment using what she knows about colours to guess. Her favourite is "I spy with my little eye something the colour orange?" Anyone able to guess what it is? So when I saw that 'Town and Country' by Craig Shuttlewood had won Best Book for Children (5+) at the Junior Design Awards, it triggered my memory to dig it out and play it with her. (She was just a bit little when it first arrived in our book post and I often stash books away for a little while until she's ready for them. It's no reflection on the book, just BookBairn's readiness to appreciate it.) And now she loves it and want to play the "spotting book" all the time.

One of the magical things about this book is that it's more of a game than a story, making it a great way to interact with your little one. Better than traditional seek-and-find books that we have read, each page features a glossary on illustrations and words for little ones to find hidden in the pictures. BookBairn is too young to read the words herself but I suspect this is a great feature for emerging readers. Instead we play it as an "I spy" type game, which she loves!

And one of the other delightful elements of this book is that it is a 'turnaround book'. Now this isn't something that I had heard of before but now that I know what it is I'm on the lookout for more. Basically it's a book of two halves! You hold the book horizontally and flip the pages upwards the lower page features a countryside scene and the upper page, when you turn it around, shows the town page. You can see in our photographs that it means two children can play in tandem (or a child and her orange bestie lion!). Great for siblings or playmates to play together. You could even do speed challenges to see who can find all their things the fastest.

One of the things I like most about this book is that it is totally appropriate for our lives as we live in a small town on the edge of the wonderful Scottish countryside. We have tractors drive passed our window but also diggers, fire engines and 'town' traffic. We have ducks on the pond at the park as well as cows and sheep in the fields. We can go to the beach to fly our kites or to watch the watersports. This book really compare the two lifestyles but for us it blends them all together and we can relate to both halves!

The illustrations are brilliant and it's no wonder it's been recognised for it's artwork as well as the conceptual design of the 'turnaround'. All the animals have quirky expressions and would make great characters in stories of their own rights and everything is easily recognisable but also appealing to children. The final pages feature a book-long glossary as well as a few extra things to find! And the endpapers were featured in my #EndpapersWednesday feature on our social media as they are pack full of interesting things - and they are bright yellow so delightfully coloured!

So if you like to play "I spy" this is definitely a great book for you and we are delighted to be working with the publisher to giveaway three copies! Details on how to enter are below.

*UPDATE* This competition is now closed and the winner has been notified!
***We have a been sent three copies of this brilliant book to giveaway. If you would like to win a copy of Town and Country please comment below with you guess of what orange thing BookBairn was referring to in our game of I-Spy. (Additional entries will be available so keep an eye out by following us on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.) UK residents only please. Competition closes 27.8.17.***

Book Craft & Beyond: So Many Feet

You know how much we love to read our books! But do you know that we also like to do activities based on the stories and books we love too? If you follow our social media you will see that as BookBairn has got older I have started doing more and more art, craft and play activities with her. It's fascinating to watch her skills develop and to really observe how much language she is using and developing through these activities.

So I thought I would start a new little series of blog posts to share with you some of the ideas for activities that we do based on books. If you follow our social media you will see these straight away, as we do them, but I'll aim to include more information and photos here as well as a summary of the book. So let's look beyond the book!


If you follow our blog you will know that we loved 'So Many Feet' by Nichole Mara and Alexander Vidal and it's one of a select few books that BookBairn has memorised (you can see her reading it and our review in our 'What Can Your Feet Do?' blog post). When I saw what @play.pack did on Instagram recently I knew I just had to try it with this book.

It was quite simply really. We used Playdoh and our Duplo animals to create footprints. BookBairn and I collected a whole bundle of the Duplo creatures that we have and she pressed their little feet into the dough. It was fascinating to sit back and watch her play and create lots of moments for language learning and discussion. First I noticed that she liked using the penguin on the white dough: "it's like the ice"; and that the ducks were only allowed to make prints on the blue dough because it was like the water in the duck pond. Then we compared the footprints of the big polar bear and the baby polar bear and used lots of language for comparison. She was also interested in the fact that our two rabbits didn't leave the same imprint.

Then I got the book out and we worked our way through the animals that we have like goats, ducks, tortoises, tigers, polar bears but unfortunately Duplo don't make a blue footed booby. Ever the problem-solver BookBairn quickly got the blue dragon toy that we have because he "has blue feet like the booby". This made me laugh out loud.

I can highly recommend this activity - it was fun, relatively mess-free and created lots of discussion and comparison. I think I might try it again with paint! But only on a day we can deal with the mess.

Factastic Non-Fiction for Tots

Stepping stones for learning.

Girls Who Dream They Can Fly

Do you ever experience when things all seem to pull together? BookBairn's latest interest seems to be flying at us from left, right and centre. It started when she became fascinated by hearing and spotting aeroplanes in the sky - gliders and military planes (we live relatively close to a former airforce base and they still practise lots of maneuvers) as well as commercial planes at the airport when we drive to her granparents' house. Then I picked up an engineering kit where she can remove the screws from a toy plane with a little electric drill. And in the last few weeks alone she's insisted I make paper aeroplanes, run around the garden with her arms out to the side making jet engine noises and we had our first pyjama movie morning watching Disney's Planes.

And we got some book post that compliments all these interests! So I thought I'd share some great books about little girls (which seems to be a theme of books at the moment) that can fly!

Little People Big Dreams: Amelia Earhart by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Mariadiamantes

Amelia Earhart is probably the most famous female pilot in history setting world records for her flying skills and then mysteriously disappearing during her last flight in an attempt to fly around the world. But it all started when she was young when, like BookBairn, she stretched her wings and imagined she could fly. This biography is a great story for younger readers, introducing them to a mighty girl we can all admire. And the illustrations are adorable! I reviewed this one some time ago but you can find the link here.

Emma Jane's Aeroplane by Katie Haworth and Daniel Rieley

Pilot Jane and the Runaway Plane by Caroline Baxter and Izabela Ciesinska

Bessie, Queen of the Sky by Andrea Doshi and Jimena Duran with illustrations by Chiara Fabbri

And a special mention also goes to Amelia the Flying Cat by Nikki Floreno which isn't available for purchase yet and is being launched using Kickstarter but we've had a sneak preview and it's adorable! Amelia is an irresistible little kitten who wants to fly like her bird parents and family but she can't because she's a cat! She even tries to fly a plane but cats just can't fly. Don't worry it has a happy ending but I don't want to give it away! This is an adorable story about picking yourself up when you fall, perseverance and the love and support of family and friends. And Amelia and her birdy friends are just too sweet. Keep an eye out for this one or look up the Kickstarter page here.

I really hope BookBairn will dream she can fly. Though maybe not literally if that's not her thing! I just hope she will chase her dreams and be whatever she want to be!

KidLit Picks July Round Up - Little Kids Big Emotions