How To Be A Scientist Book Review

Science, when you think about this subject you will conjure images of lab coats and boring experiments involving test tubes. Steve Mould, TV science presenter and comedian wants to challenge this concept with his newly released book How To Be A Scientist.

This is a book filled with fun activities, amazing facts, plenty of questions and opportunities to figure things out. It's aimed at children aged between 7 and 11 as it covers core Key stage 2 topics which include : natural world, human body, chemistry, physics, earth and space.

Read With Me #22 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. It's a short post from me this week, lack of time, surprising how busy I've got lately!

My favourite post last week came from the lovely Shell Louise with her review of the book The Twins, I'd briefly heard of this book before but her post had me wanting to read it more.

My Sunday Photo 2017 #22

It's so nice to have the sun shining, the blue skies manage to make everything else look so much brighter don't they. Just makes you stop and look, appreciating what we have all around us.

Little Loves May

It's the end of May (seriously where is this year going?) and the end of another month can only mean one thing, it's time for another Little Loves post...

Read

Ok I'll admit I still haven't read all of these but my eldest daughter has and she wants to recommend them to everyone. The Disney Twisted Tales books by Liz Braswell are a fab set of books, brilliant for any Disney fans.

I also got a lovely book in the post, the second in the Pasta Kidz series from Bryony Supper, I reviewed the first one here.

Gel-a-Peel Sparkle Bead Station Review

Gel-a-Peel is a sort of squishy gel, it gets squeezed out of tubes almost like you would with icing. Once out of the tube it sets in solid state. This clever gear can be used on pretty much anything, and you can make a variety of different items including my daughters' favourite, jewellery and now along with the Sparkle Bead Station this has been made even easier to do. 

Read With Me #21 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. I hope you're all well. So my eldest is off on a school trip today, she'll be away with her class for 4 days. This won't leave me with any extra time to read as she's the only one of my four girls that you don't seem to know is around lol.

I have an ever growing pile of books on my desk but it never seems to decrease, I think for every 'real' book I read, I read about 5 ebooks. I've still got books that I bought last year that I haven't read, does anyone else have this problem?

My Sunday Photo 2017 #21

Last Sunday we went on a spare of the moment walk through the woods. Now we didn't find any bears but the girls did discover plenty of water to wade through, why is it that things like this call to them?

We walked, we ran, we even played hide and seek, with my 7 year old ending up the winner, how we didn't find her I'll never know.

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful By Eric Lindstrom May Book of the Month

There has been such a stigma around mental health in recent years, and it has only been very recently that people seem to have been able to talk about their experiences surrounding the subject more openly. A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is a novel that opens a persons eyes to the feelings that come along with such an illness.

How can you have a future if you can’t accept your past?

Mel Hannigan doesn’t have it easy. Mourning the death of her firework of a brother, trying to fit back into a school she’s been conspicuously absent from and struggling to deal with the loss of three friendships that used to mean everything. Struggling to deal with a condition that not even her closest friends know about.

So Mel tries to lock away her heart, to numb the highs and lows, to live quietly without hope – but also without pain. Until someone new shows her that it can be worth taking a risk, that opening up to life is what can make it glorious…

And that maybe, Mel can discover a tragic kind of wonderful of her very own.

The story begins with Mel talking about her brother Nolan, remembering a time of happiness, a time of normality before everything changed...

Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Electronic Music Mix Star Lord Toy Review

We are huge Guardians of the Galaxy fans, we don't often go to the cinema but we made sure to go and watch Vol 2 as soon as it was out and let me just say it if you haven't seen it yet then you must rectify that ASAP. Any way to coincide with the release of the film I was kindly sent the Electronic Music Mix Star Lord for the kids (and myself) to review.

With this toy Star Lord is ready to battle, blast and jam it out. Coming complete with two blasters, a mix tape and of course the instructions to help you make the most out of your toy. This is one of my favourite characters from the movie, yes it does help that he's played by Chris Pratt and I have to say this figure is pretty detailed.

Exciting New Gift Books and Stationery From Tokidoki

Tokidoki is a company founded by designer Simone Legno and his partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. Based in Los Angeles they have built up a unique line of apparel including handbags, cosmetics, accessories and so much more. Now their larger than life kawaii style characters have been bought to life on new gift books and stationery, some of which I have kindly been sent to review.

Here's what Simone had to say about the brand :

"tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy that everyone has inside, it gives us strength to face a new day and dream about something positive and the hope that something magical will happen to us"

Read With Me #20 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. How are you all this week? After my surge in reading recently, it came to a halt last week when it was back to doing lots of coursework so I've been reading a lot or work books and not a lot else.

Then there was my eldest who was sitting her SATS last week so I've been doing a bit of revision with her, not going to lie I'm glad they are out the way for her.

My Sunday Photo 2017 #20

Having four girls I guess it was inevitable that eventually one of them would try to cut their own hair and that's exactly what happened last weekend, my 4 year old obviously thought she needed a new hair style and took matters into her own hands.

                             

May Madness Offers at Thorpe Park + Family Pass Giveaway

Today my family and I are making our first visit of the year to Thorpe Park so I thought whilst we were there I'd share with you some fantastic offers that they have running this month and keep reading to see how you can bag yourself a family pass to Thorpe Park too.

So first here’s what’s happening:

Fifty Shades of Pink

As a young girl I was never typically girly, I didn't love all things pink, especially when it came to what I wore. This might of had something to do with having brothers and getting their hand me downs but pink was definitely a colour that I avoided.

Fast forward to 2017 and my wardrobe seems to tell a different tale. Over the past few months various shades of pink have made their way into the clothes that I wear, from tops and skirts down to shoes and bags. My husband has never been afraid to wear pink to I guess it couldn't hurt to embrace it myself.

The Mysterious Librarian Book Review

Last year my eldest daughter had the pleasure of reading The New Teacher, a fantastically entertaining book written by Dominique Demers and illustrated by the talented Tony Ross. Now I can share with you her review of the sequel, The Mysterious Librarian.

When the mysterious and eccentric Miss Charlotte arrives in the village of Saint-Anatole to take over the tiny library, the locals are surprised to find out that she does things differently. Wearing a long blue dress and a giant hat, she takes books out for a walk in a wheelbarrow and shows the children that reading can be fun and useful. Sometimes she is so caught up in the magic of the stories she shares with her audience that she forgets all sense of reality - so much so that one day she loses consciousness and the children must find a way to bring her back.

Read With Me #19 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. How are you all? After finding myself in a sort of reading funk last month I seem to have got my mojo back, my main problem now is deciding what to read next as I've gained quite the collection of both ebooks and physical books to get through.

I'm actually waiting on two pre orders this month as well, the last in Tijan's Fallen Crest series and the next instalment in Cassandra Clare's shadowhunters series, the second in The Dark Artifices trilogy.

My Sunday Photo 2017 #19

I haven't taken a lot of photographs in the past couple of weeks but I thought this one might put a smile on peoples faces. 

What I read in April

It's time to tell you all about what I read last month. April I have to say was a disappointing month of reading, my own fault. With the Easter holidays to contend with and my sudden addiction to watching Pretty Little Liars, reading books sort of went on the back burner but I do have a few books to share with you.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret.

He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try and tame the past that is fast catching up with him.

The only thing Tom mustn't do is fall in love.

I was gifted this book via Netgalley and chose it as my book of the month in March, you can read my full review here but in short an absolute must read.

The Second Sister by Claire Kendal

The Magic of My Name Book Review

If you're a regular reader of my blog then you'll know that I am a sucker for a personalised gift and even more so when that gift happens to be a book. The Magic of My Name book definitely fits this description. It is a book that is filled with a unique story, one that discovers the magic behind the letters of a special someones' name.

So what's it all about. This is a book that invites the recipient of the book to become the protagonist.When you head to the site you will have the option to choose a boy or a girl to feature in the tale, you can edit their physical characteristics to suit the recipient  along with the name that you would like featured.

Five Children and It Book Review

There are certain books that I remember reading as a child and one of those books is the classic Five Children and It by the wonderful author E. Nesbit. I think one of the reasons that this story sticks in my mind is because of the TV programme and then the film in 2004 with Eddie Izzard voicing the psammead.

Now Alma books have released a newer version of the tale that many have come to know and love and I'm so pleased that I get to share a piece of my childhood with my kids.

When Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother start exploring a gravel pit not far from their new countryside home, they make an unexpected and very curious discovery. The gravel pit is home to a Psammead, a sand fairy. This ugly creature has eyes like a snail, ears like a bat and a body of a spider, and is very grumpy indeed. He grants the children one wish, every day, and though they are excited to have all their desires fulfilled, they soon realize that having one's wishes come true can have unexpected consequences...

Read With Me #18 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. I'm keeping this one short and sweet as it's a bank holiday and I'm going to enjoy the day with my family.

I've found myself reading more physical books rather than on my Kindle of late, I ordered a series of books a couple of weeks ago, Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series, have any of you read it? I'm now engrossed!