It’s Friday… and the weekend is finally here. I have plans for a great weekend of reading and I thought I would post a collection of books my younger children are loving right now!!!
Se7en + 1 Fabulous Books For Children
A Classic
Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattock and Sophie Blackall: This book went straight onto my pile of favourite picture books ever… it is an absolute classic in it’s own time kind of a book. This story is inspired by the actual bear who inspired the most loved bear, Winnie the Pooh. It is one of those clever books with a story within a story… and begins with a mother telling her small son a story: Harry Coulbourn was veterinarian in Winnipeg, circumstances find him crossing the country to go and fight in the great war. Along his journey he rescues a bear and names it Winnipeg. This bear becomes the mascot of his regiment and has quite the personality… After all their training in faraway England they are finally called up to fight, and war was no place to take a bear, so the bear is left to stay in the London Zoo for a while… and there is a pause in the story and a little boy in England, who has a stuffed bear… visits the zoo and decides to name his bear Winnie the Pooh… And Harry returns from the war and discovers his bear happy and well looked after and leaves the bear where it is and returns home to Winnipeg… And the story within a story theme continues… when you discover that Harry had a son called Fred, who a daughter called Laureen, who had a daughter called Lindsay, who is reading her little boy a story. This is just magical… the end of a book has sweet treasure for the reader to discover, a photo album with pictures of Harry and pages from his diary, and most important photographs of a little bear called Winne. There is even a photograph taken in 1925 of a small Christopher Robin with Winnie, the bear from Winnipeg! This book can be read at many levels, a story about a bear, a biography, the story behind another bear… it is delightful and the illustrations are incredible. The album looks exactly as a photo album from a century ago would look… this book is a beautiful timeless classic and a must read for anyone of any age who loves bear stories. You can meet the author, Lindsay Mattock here, and the illustrator, Sophie Blackall here.
Actual Factual Books
Just the Right Size by Nicola Davies and Illustrated by Neal Layton: Everyone knows you cannot beat Nicola Davies for cool non-fiction books for kids, and we have been loving her Animal Science series. This one is all about the BTLT Rule, that’s “the big thing, little thing rule…: which states that as you double the length of something its surface tension goes ups four times and its volume trebles… which is why the only animals that can walk on your ceiling are little animals like geckos. This book also provides documented evidence as to why you cant get monstrous sized giants, let alone spiders, and that’s very good news for most of us. Read on, read on… this book is packed with factions and interesting annotations. You can meet Nicola Davies here.
Home by Carson Ellis: This is a delightful and timeless story for curious young readers… The book begins with a person sitting at the window of a house in the country… and then you go on a journey around the world… looking at houses and homes and the folk that live in them, houses from now and hoses from then, houses from stories and houses from tales… The illustrations are beautiful and there is a lot to look at and talk about throughout the book… but the magic is in the last pages when you visit the artists desk in her home and realise that the very first house in the country is the house that belongs to the artist. A story that goes full circle, that you can read around and around again… Perfect!!! You can meet the illustrator, Carson Ellis, at her website here.
Picture Books
The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie: This is a fun rhyming romp of a story, it is about a detective dog that works six days a week and then on her free day of the week she heads to school and listens to children reading. The dog, who is called Nell has a keen sense of smell… and is very good at solving mysteries… and finding missing items. One Monday she arrives at school and all the books are missing… leave it to Detective Dog Nell to solve the mystery. The illustrations are lovely, of the kind that you want to climb into and explore a little and the story is great for the “bedtime story gang”… light, very fun and a happy ending. What more could you ask for!!! You can meet Julia Donaldson here.
The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart and illustrated by Sidney Smith: This is a beautiful book, about a monk who lives with his cat Pangur. they both work late into the night… the monk and his cat. The monk pursues knowledge in his beautiful collection of illuminated books and the cat pursues mice. This book has a timeless feel, it is based on a poem written by an Irish Benedictine Monk more than a thousand years ago. The original poem can now be found in the monastery of St. Paul in Carinthia in Austria. This book looks like a simple story, but it will keep you pondering on it long after you have finished reading. the illustrator, Sydney Smith is the same illustrator of our recently reviewed book: Footpath Flowers and can be found here.
Colin and Lee Carrot and Pea by Morag Hood: Now this is a clever book… in the grown up world it is about how being different can be totally cool. In the little person’s world it is the story of a couple of cute vegetables, a pea called Lee, and all his friends are peas. Except of cause for his one and only carrot friend Colin. Now Colin is nothing like the peas, but he does make an excellent tower and slide and so on. An excellent “feel good about friends” book that doesn’t feel at all preachy. The illustrations are delightful, tissue paper collage. We loved this book. You can meet the author, Morag hood, over here.
Activity Books
Where’s Wally in Outer Space and Where’s Wally Across the Lands: Oh Where’s Wally for the win… honestly, can you beat Where’s Wally Activity books ever. These are fun for all ages and stages… because along with the activities there are heaps of Where’s Wally goodies to find on every single page. Crazy codes, exotic word searches, marvellous mazes and of course dozens of stunning stickers… in Outer Space there are planets and aliens galore… fun times and across lands is a round the world journey in history, a visit to the Aztecs, the Romans, the Egyptians and Castles of the Middle Ages… fun times all the way. The whole gang loves these. And Where’s Wally can be found on the web over here…
Thank you so much to PanMacmillan South Africa for the copies of these books for review purposes. This is not a sponsored post, we were not paid to create it and the opinions expressed are as usual, our own.
2 Replies to “What We Are Reading Right Now: For the Younger Set…”