Like many families, our family has now been touched by the Covid-19 pandemic and last week we lost my grandfather (Papa) to this horrible disease. It has been a tremendously difficult time not only due to the grief that comes when you lose a beloved family member but also through all the lockdown measures that make the grieving process more difficult - more than anything I just want to be with my mum and give her a hug. But, as with all things, we find a new way in this unprecedented and tumultuous time. 

One of the things that has been comforting has been finding a way to talk to the bairns about what has happened and why mummy is sad by reading the book Grandad's Island by Benji Davis. It tells the story of Syd who regularly visits his grandad and spends lots of time with him. One day he finds his grandad in the attic, where Syd has never been before, and underneath a sheet, Grandad reveals a big metal door. Suddenly Syd finds himself on board a very tall ship above the ocean of rooftops all around and they set off on a voyage together. On the horizon they discover an island which the explore high and low, convert an old shack and see new wonders at every turn. It is so wonderful that Syd wishes that they could stay forever. And that is when Grandad tells Syd that he does, in fact, intend on staying. And Syd sails the ship home alone. When Syd goes to Grandad's house the next day, he discovers the house is the same as it has always been but that Grandad is no longer there. But he has left a message for Syd.

The illustrations are bright and colourful and packed full of clues and connections that eager eyes will spot as you read. Grandad's Island is so magically brought to life that you can see why Syd, and Grandad, want to stay there forever. 

This is a truly tender and comforting book that shows how those who are special to us never really go away. That those who are dear to us remain near to us. And that it's ok to be sad, to feel lost, to find the journey difficult but to remember that our love for each other will never change no matter how far away our loved ones may seem. This is a heartbreakingly beautiful book and it's message is a gift to give to children, giving them comfort through loss.

Take care and stay safe.

Kim

I am a positive person so when things are difficult, like now, I try to appreciate the little things and see the light in the darkest places. So I find writing this really cathartic and uplifting and to be able to share the things that make us happy, brings me joy.

Here are the things that we have been loving at the moment.

Matching Sandals

You might remember that at the start of the year I wrote a blog post about my Most Anticipated Picture Books of 2020. And I've had the opportunity to read three of the original ten on the list. What I find interesting is that occasionally when I do those lists I am super excited to read the books and then I don't ever actually get a copy or when I do they disappoint. So I thought it would be interesting to look back on the ones that I got and see if they lived up to my expectations.

Let's start with Everybody Counts by Kristin Roskifte.

So often I spend my time reviewing new books. And new is great! We all know that shiny and new often receive the most attention and it's quite probably the main reason that my TBR (to be read) pile doesn't seem to be getting any smaller! Because I want to read all the new books.

However, my kids are less attracted to shiny and new (ok not entirely true but the shine seems to wear off very quickly, sometimes as soon as the book parcel is open and what's inside is revealed they are like "ok, it's another book") but prefer to return to the same favourites over and over again. Unfortunately it means that I've read the My Little Pony books approximately "too many" times and I can read our Spot box set back to front (don't get me wrong I actually love spot but he's been to the library and the supermarket and nursery every day twice a day for the last two weeks - maybe more as lockdown is messing with my time frame!). So I'll spare you those! But here are five books which are new-ish but not brand new that we have been enjoying (me too!) recently.

One of the recommendations that I have been asked to make recently is for good encyclopaedias. I'm assuming that lots of parents are looking for them in response to the lockdown and people needing to home school and home educate their children and encyclopaedias are a great way to get lots of information on multiple topics all in one place. I know as a child I loved the two encyclopaedias that we had and I can vividly remember their covers as well as revisiting the same favourite pages over and over. We don't have a huge number of encyclopaedias as yet because the bairns are only 5 and (almost - this week!) 3 so there aren't many that are age appropriate. However, BookBairn has recently become fascinated by the anthologies we have, which are both big hefty books like encyclopaedias but are all on one theme - nature or animals in these cases. She loves flicking through them and identifying the images as well as letting us read aloud some of the facts for her to absorb. I have been keeping some for BookBairn to 'grow into' in my book archive (storage boxes in our shed!) as couldn't justify the shelf space until she got a little older so think I dug those out and collated a list as well as restocked our bookshelves.

As I've mentioned my kids are only little so I don't have many encyclopaedias for older children, however I have done as extensive research as is possible without having access to a bookshop browse or library collection and created a list on my amazon shop which is tagged at the bottom of this post.

I've also done something I rarely do and pop an age recommendation on the end of each review but do remember that many books aimed at older readers are accessible to younger children in different ways - either with parents reading aloud or through exploring the illustrations which can be just as (and more) valuable as reading the text.

Today is Earth Day! So I thought I would celebrate by sharing three of my favourite books about this wonderful rock that we live on! Taking time to appreciate and celebrate our wonderful planet and all the flora and fauna that live on it is the first step in encouraging children to learn to love, protect and cherish the Earth. With each orbit round the sun we learn more and more about Earth and I hope that we realise more and more how much we need to work together making small and big changes to reduce our impact on all that live here. So here are my three favourites that remind us that Earth is much bigger than we are, and yet we are central to it's destruction and protection.

Sorry I missed last month's Kids Love to Read link-up but we had planned on being away on holiday and I was going to schedule the post but then at the last minute we cancelled (our flight was one of the last flights to land in the US before the embargo came into place so technically we could have gone but decided it wasn't sensible). And the world has changed quite dramatically since then! But one of the things that we are really enjoying and centring a lot of our home education through is children's books and play. You can see what we have been getting up to in my recent 'At the Moment' blog post.

But back to this month's link-up, 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 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 month came from fellow host Acorn Books who has written about What's Where on Earth: Atlas and as I'm about to do a feature on Encyclopedias and Anthologies but have done zippo about getting an Atlas for the bairns this was a great recommendation.

Laura's favourite came from Raisie Bay who wrote a great review of The Plastic Problem. This is a topic we are loving seeing more books about but I hadn't discovered this one yet!

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 The Puzzle Activity Book  - looks like a great one for keeping the kiddos busy and working on fine motor and problem-solving skills during lockdown.

*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK residents. The competition closes on the the 15th May 2020. 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. Please allow extra time for prize delivery due to current pandemic restrictions. Host reserves the right to substitute the prize for a suitable alternative in case of problems with supply. No cash alternative available.

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Wide Awake
Wiggles
Let's Play
Play Make Create
How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow
Books Always Everywhere
Rabbit's Nap
Blocks
Fort Building Time
Mr Tiger Goes Wild
Time to Eat
Colin and Lee, Carrot and Pea
Tidy
Bathtime for Little Rabbit
10 Little Rubber Ducks
Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Five More Minutes
Spot Says Goodnight