What We Are Reading Right Now #8:

Lazy Saturdays are for reading… and that’s what we are up to over hear…

Se7en + 1 Books We Are Reading:

Let’s begin with the Mother Person: I am loving Art Lab for kids, totally fun… I bought it because I kept seeing it recommended all over the web… and honestly folks weren’t wrong!!! It is filled with lots of projects (52 in fact!!!) and even more open ended ideas… packed!!! I am leaving it lying around and then find my kids have wondered over to the art box to do some arting on their own… certainly a stepping stone to many projects that have been explored in our house lately. So definitely an inspiring book!!! Now I will have to look at other books in this series because who can resist some really great arty inspiration!!!

And now for the kids:

Hood #1: Well Rick Riordan needs no introduction and this is the third in his Kane Chronicles Trilogy. If you want to learn all about Ancient Mythology then Rick Riordan is the author to read and in this series the Egyptian Gods have very much come to life.It is the task of Carter and Sadie Kane to battle against the force of chaos, in the form of the Apophis snake, only they are two teens from Brooklyn. Their only hope is to find an ancient spell that has been lost for millennia… the race is on and the world is at stake!!! The Kane Chronicles have there own website… full of great factoids and goodies. We were given this book by Penguin Books South Africa, to review.

Hood #2: When this book, Oblivion, arrived for review my son nearly leapt for joy. The final in an absolutely gripping series: The Power of Five. Five Teen GateKeepers are scattered around the world and their quest is to defeat the Old Ones… ending in a massive battle in Antarctica. Another supernatural/distopian teen read I thought, I take it back – I should have known better than to idly read the first chapter because I’m on page “300 and something” and will not sleep until I’ve conquered the book… I can vouch for that because I am reading and reading and reading… and I may not get this post out because of it!!! We were given this book by Pan MacMillan South Africa, to review.

Hood #3: The Top Ten of Everything 2013 is a coffee table book of note!!! This is a packed fact book, which feels like the Guiness World Records, only it recognises that first place isn’t the only place to be… It covers so many topics: the universe; the earth, culture, sport, life, entertainment, work, leisure… pages and pages of fascinating facts. We love it and I notice that it isn’t left lying around it is carefully placed on the shelf after each read… all my kids pop in… read a few facts… and pop out again. To be sure at the next meal there will be a “Did you know… ?” session!!! Hood #3 has vanished into this book for so many hours one wonders if she may ever emerge!!! We were given this book by Penguin Books South Africa, to review.

Hood #4: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again… Oh you won’t believe this, I never thought I would see a sequel to one of my childhood favourites!!! But here it is and it is fast, it is funny and it is fantastic!!! It is the story of a regular family, in their regular life… only when their mum brings home an ancient VolksWagen Van home for the father person to fix – because in his new found status of unemployed, he is driving the family nuts “fixing-up” their home!!! She thinks it is a task he will never complete, but he does and the adventure begins!!! We were given this book by Pan MacMillan South Africa, to review.

Hood #5: Was given Daisy and the Trouble with Maggots for his birthday and initially he was swayed by the bookmark – he wanted to read until there was a place to place it in the book. Well that was all he needed, a bit of encouragement and he was off!!! Loving it, regaling it at dinner time. Telling us if Daisy finally gets to go fishing or not… and honestly who can resist the stunning Nick Sharratt illustrations!!! Now Daisy has a devoted following and you can find her website over here. We received this book as a birthday gift from Granny!!!

Hood #6: I have looked forward to this book all year and finally it is here. It is delightful and as whimsical as I expected, not to mention that I think paper chain dolls are an essential bit of craftiness in every childhood. Spoiler alert, this book has an unexpected sadness that my kids totally missed… the dolls carry on as happily as before, from generation to generation in the loveliest way. The only person that the sadness continued for was me… yup a picture book, by Julia Donaldson, that left me slightly blue!!!We were given this book by Pan MacMillan South Africa, to review.

Hood #7: You all know what fans we are of Emily Gravett, so it should be no surprise that we totally LOVE her new book: Matilda’s Cat. This poor cat is dragged from pillar to post through the day and the picture that makes us burst out laughing each time is the one that says: “Cats love picnics” Happy little person thrilled with a plate full of the prettiest party delicacies… and the cat has an unpeeled banana in its dish… the expression in the cats face is well… non-plussed!!! We were given this book by Pan MacMillan South Africa, to review.

And the se7en + 1th Book:

Hood #8: I have said it before and I will say it again and again and again… their is just not enough Mick Inkpen in the world!!! Well Chloe and Mick Inkpen strike again in their Zoe and Beans Series with Hello Oscar. Zoe and Beans keep discovering really interesting pets at the bottom of the garden – a guinea pig, a tortoise, a wonderful chameleon, and a parrot. Then Beans goes missing and and the parrot will not talk to Zoe… and then from a gap in the fence… a little person emerges – it’s Oscar… turns out they swapped pets and he has Beans. Delightful as expected, funny as expected, dramatic and sweet as expected. Perfect bed-time, well anytime read!!! We were given this book by Pan MacMillan South Africa, to review.

We really want to thank: PanMacMillan South Africa and Penguin Books South Africa and granny of course(!!!),for providing us with books to review for this post. We would like to declare that we were not paid to do these reviews, just provided with books. All the opinions are entirely our own!!!