"On Snaggletooth Lane in spooky Spooksville  was a dark creepy castle, perched high on a hill." If that's not a ...

Christopher Pumpkin Blog Tour

Thursday, October 31, 2019 BookBairn 1 Comments



"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.


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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 ...

Halloween Picture Books

Sunday, October 27, 2019 BookBairn 1 Comments


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!


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Moving somewhere new can be quite scary but it can also be an exciting adventure! In this debut picture book, The Mist Monster by Kirst...

The Mist Monster Blog Tour

Tuesday, October 22, 2019 BookBairn 1 Comments


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.


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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 recommendat...

Kids Love to Read #47 & Giveaway

Monday, October 21, 2019 BookBairn 2 Comments


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



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Giveaway


We have a fabulous giveaway this month oThe 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.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab the Button: 






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