Whilst January was a month that seemed to go on forever, February has just flown by! We have had a lovely month, having finally got over all the winter bugs, we have had a few lovely family days out and with the sunshine back we have enjoyed playing in the garden quite a few times already. But the best thing about this month is that The Wee Page Turner has started to communicate so much more with us. I know I shouldn't compare but I was beginning to worry about his lack of words, and also his lack of interest in communicating with us, but it seems he's just a quieter soul. And now he is showing us what he likes and dislikes, asking to play certain things or pointing out things that he can see on our walks. He also started going to swimming lessons, having been on a waiting list for a space for quite some time, and he loves being in the pool! And he started to do actions along with songs. It's a delight to finally be getting to know my little boy!

Without further ado here are our February Little Loves...

When we got the awesome Bear Moves by Ben Bailey Smith & Sav Akyuz the bairns wanted to have a dance party so I asked our Google Home to play some disco music and out from the speakers blasted 'We Are Family' by Sister Sledge and BookBairn was totally taken with the tune. So much so that we listen to it daily (and have had a car trip where we listened to it all the way to Edinburgh on repeat!

Next month, March, we are celebrating BookBairn's birthday followed by a family trip to Florida! It's very exciting and I can't wait for our first family holiday as well as a few days at Disney!  But it does mean I won't be taking my laptop or very many books with us so things will most likely be a little but quiet on here.

Happy holidays to us! And see you when we get back!

Mummy and the bairns xx

One of the most exciting things about World Book Day is that all children in the UK get given a £1 book token that they can use to spend on the book of their choice or they can use to buy on of the special edition 'Free Books' produced exclusively for World Book Day. With their £1 book token in hand children will be able to exchange it for one of these twelve wonders. There are books for all ages written by authors that you will already know and love and the picture books are illustrated by some of our very favourites.

When we stumbled across the books a couple of days early I picked up all three picture books aimed at the youngest readers, because they will be the ones we read and love! And we will save BookBairn's £1 token to put towards another book (though do make sure you spend it before the end of March when they expire!). So I thought I would review these little books for you to help you choose which one to spend your book token on!

You are probably quite familiar with this series already! We certainly have Ten Little Dinosaurs already and have borrowed others in the series numerous times - Ten Little Princesses being BookBairn's favourite. Until this one came along of course! In this new book, ten little bookworms set off on an amazing reading adventure. They wiggle through all different books and meet all sorts of characters along the way: dinosaurs, pirates, fairy tale characters. Starting with ten bookworms, and losing one on each page - the numbers count down as the story progresses. The illustrations are bright and cheerful and you might spot some familiar faces when you read. It's also written in rhyme and is wonderful to read aloud! And the theme of making friends with books is just a delight! And perfect for World Book Day. 

We already love this duo's version of The Hundred and One Dalmatians and BookBairn enjoys reading them every single night at the moment. It's a brilliant introduction to the story. And this new book takes one of our favourite characters, Cadpig, and one of our most-dreaded, Cruella De Vil. In this story, Cadpig is playing hide-and-seek in the park with her many many brothers and sisters when she runs a little too far and stumbles into the path of the evil Cruelle de Vil! Can she find her escape? With wit and humour, this is a fabulous little story! The illustrations are truly wonderful - bright and colourful - and there's a really tiny ladybird hidden on every page too just incase your little ones don't have enough to look at!! This one is getting packed in our flight bag - it may be dinky but it packs a whole lot of story into it's little format!

Claude is a character we have met once or twice. BookBairn has read the first story in one of the chapter books and really enjoyed it but it was still quite long for her. I think we will be almost ready to broach them again. And this book might well be the way back in. It's lengthier than the other two picture books and has less illustrations as it is aimed at children who are ready for a little more than a picture book but not quite a chapter book. Claude is a small, plump dog who likes wearing a beret and a lovely red jumper and his best friend is Sir Bobblysock. And every day when his owners go to work, Claude and Sir Bobblysock get ready to have an adventure. And in this book they are off to The Great Waggy Avenue Dog Show -a nd there are medals galore to be won! With lots of fun and humour and characters that will charm you this is marvellous. And if you have a reluctant reader this might be a good one as there is now a Disney Junior series starring this wonder-pup! 

So there you have the three wonderful £1 books aimed at the youngest readers. Which one will you choose?

This year the World Book Day campaign is focussed on 'Share a Story' so make sure above all things this World Book Day that you share a story with your children today. One that you love and one that brings your family together.

Happy World Book Day!

Kim and BookBairn xx

Also, having consulted the World Book Day website, I learned that The £1 books are also available in braille, large print & audio via Guide Dogs and RNIB. For braille and audio call 0303 123 9999 and for large print call 0118 9838275. Isn't that great?!

I will not be linking to these on Amazon Affiliates as I usually do as you should take that gift token to your local bookshop and spend it there! It's a good time to show them your support!

We have seen an influx of books at the moment celebrating diversity and as you know this is something that we love to see on our bookshelves I wanted to share them in a quick review post so that you don't miss any of them!

Maisie has a scrapbook of the lovely moments in her family’s life. Her mama and dada come from different places - mama wears linen and plays viola and cooks risotto; dada wears kente cloth, plays the marimba and cooks jollof rice - but they love her and hug her in the same way. Through her dada’s tall tales she develops an imagination and an adventurous spirit but through her mama’s caution she learns to stay safe. Such a lovely story about family life, about raising children and about having a spirited child. With lovely layered illustrations alongside children’s drawings (or drawings in a child-like style) this story does have a scrapbook feel! A lovely story for sharing with children about a biracial family and a must-have for a diverse bookshelf! (Note this isn't released until 7th March).

When I read this book for the first time, my eyes welled with tears because it really captures my experience of friendship. It tells the beautiful story of four girls who "were are different as they were they same" and how they were best friends. It shows them developing their own personalities, interests, characters but how they also stuck together through thick and thin. How they celebrate each other's successes, and support each other when things go wrong. And as they grow older, this story follows them from childhood to adulthood, they change and grow but their friendship remains steadfast. The illustrations are so touching and they really show the spice and variety of life! Showing girls of different colours as well as celebrating in different ways and embracing themselves - including all four girls supporting their friend and marching in a Pride parade - this book really celebrates diversity as well as friendship.

When BookBairn and I achieve something together or she works well with others I always tell her “teamwork makes the dream work”. So much so that she tells her daddy that. So this wonderful poetic picture book about promoting collaboration, inclusion and unity is a wonderful addition to our shelves! (It’s probably rather timely given the political climate too!) We love the intricate collage artwork of Britta Teckentrup and adore the cut-outs which reveal more and more people on each page - starting from a pair and working up to a full page of a crowd! The accompanying text is lyrical in its celebration of togetherness. It’s a lovely one! And one of those books that I’m adding to my “books every classroom should have” list!

This book is 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.

Hope you like this 'quick review' format!

Kim

Disclaimer: We were sent all 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.

It won't surprise you that as a book lover we really love our library. I'd go absolutely broke buying all the books I want to read if it wasn't for the library (though I know we are very fortunate to get sent books from publishers thanks to our status as book blogger-influencer).  In fact last year over half the books I read were borrowed from the library. If you are looking to raise a reader, then the library is a great way to do that! We often borrow books that we otherwise might not have come across as well as test out books before we buy.

If you follow my Insta Stories you will know that I go to the library with the bairns on a weekly/fortnightly basis and we often check out a bundle of really great books. And when we do share I get so many questions about how we find such great books at the library and I have a few tricks up my sleeve to share.

1.  Put books on hold. As someone who is actively involved in the children's book world on social media I see a lot of great recommendations and I instantly want to read them. So whenever I see a book I would like to read (be it children's or adult's) I take a screenshot on my phone or save it on my Instagram tabs and when I have a little more time I pop over to our library's online catalogue (most libraries have this - ask your librarian next time you are in) and search on there and request them. Or you could just pop in with a list and ask the librarian's to do it for you! Sometimes it takes a few days and other times it takes a couple of weeks but we always get what we are looking for and they just send a text to say that the books are in. This is great if your children go a little wild in the library - you can still check out books without staying too long or having to scour the shelves as well as supervise those little monkeys! We are lucky that in our local authority it is still free to request books but if there is a small fee think of it as much cheaper than buying a book!

2.  Find your library's sweet spot. Don't be fooled by the great hauls of books we often pick up - our library can be hit or miss just like everyone elses, especially when it comes to board books. But we have learned how to find our library's sweet spot! I know that it's never a good idea to go to get a great haul of books from our library on a Wednesday or a Thursday because they host their Bookbug session on a Wednesday morning so it's usually well and truly wiped out as other people have been in early (unless of course you are going specifically for the Bookbug session in which case I'd make sure you arrive fifteen minutes before the session starts and get your books checked out and in the buggy before anyone else gets their hands on on them!). I also know that the deliveries come from the central library as well as transfers from other libraries on a Monday and a Thursday so the shelves are restocked on those days and being in bright and early on a Tuesday and a Friday are the best days to get the best hauls. And that's also the day my holds are likely to be in too!

3.  Ask the librarian. Your librarians are there to help you! They want to help you. They want your children to be readers too. So ask for their help! They will be able to tell you every single dinosaur book that the library has in stock and find them much quicker than you. They will be able to find you a princess book that doesn't make your feminist-self weep as she is rescued by the prince and then succumbs to his charms. They know more about your library than anyone else. Let them help you!

4.  Let you kids choose themselves. Whilst my children are colouring (thank goodness our library has colouring) I tend to quickly peruse the shelves and pick out a bundle of books for them to choose from. We usually test a couple to make sure that we like them but ultimately I let them choose which ones to take home (and I add a couple if I really want to read them too). Even if it's a book that I don't like (and I won't name names but there have been a few), you can always hide behind the fact that it's due back at the library so it's only in your life for a couple of weeks. And you have taught your child that you value their opinion. That their interests are valid! I know a lot of people also set a number of books on how many their children can borrow - I don't - but I believe that one book for every year of their age works well as a rule.

5. Try a different library. In our local authority once you join the library you have access to every library in the area. That means you can request books from other libraries and they will get delivered to your local one which means we have access to lots of books. But it also means that we can go on a library adventure to a different library and see all the wonders that they have to behold - some have much larger children's sections than ours and different bookish toys for the kids to play with so they get all excited. And it's a completely free day out. And the best thing - we can return any books we borrow to the library on our street rather than trekking back to the farther away one we borrowed from. Perhaps your local area is the same? Just ask your librarian!

I hope that helps you to find a wide variety of quality books for your kids and for yourself!

Happy Reading,

Kim and the bairns xx

January felt like a really long month didn't it? It just seemed to drag on. And having been poorly with a tooth infection followed by a throat infection for most of it I just wanted to get back on an even keel. I find it really hard to concentrate on reading or blogging when I'm poorly so I didn't get nearly as many blog posts written as I had planned in my planner although I did still manage to read quite a lot and I did enjoy watching lots of TV. The kids have been good at settling back into their nursery routines and I find things much easier when we have more of a routine. They have also been great at looking after me when I was unwell. The Wee Page Turner has come on in leaps and bounds this month with being able to match colours, and complete puzzles as well as use his shape sorter easily and has added a few more words too. It's lovely starting to get to know him better as we have spent so long guessing but now it's great to be able to see what he enjoys (and doesn't enjoy). It's also far easier to keep him entertained. And he can really tell us what books he likes...

We have discovered a new TV show - Sofia the First. You'll not be surprised that it is princess themed given BookBairn's particular interest in that at the moment! But we have listened to the one minute long theme tune over and over and over. I'm hoping she will get over it soon as I'm starting to hear it in my sleep!

I've introduced a new feature on our social media, primarily on Instagram, sharing our Book of the Week on a Monday in my Instagram stories so that you can see inside the book and here a bit of detail about why I picked it and then again in our main feed on a Friday. So if you want a weekly favourite book and not just a monthly little love, you might want to check that out!

Hope you all have had a lovely start to the new year!

Mummy and the bairns xx