Bagel in Love by Natasha Wing - February Book of the Month

Sometimes a book comes along and it manages to put a smile on your face without you even delving into the many exciting pages that it so happens to hold. 

And that's just what my book of the month did for me. Bagel in Love by Natasha Wing is a brilliant example of a picture book that can actually capture the attention of both the young and old.

Poor Bagel! He dreams of entering the Cherry Jubilee dance contest, but no one wants to be his partner!

Can he find a sweet-tart who doesn't think his steps are half baked?

Read With Me 2019 #8

Hello you lovely readers and welcome to this weeks Read With Me linky, as always many thanks to those of you who linked up with your posts last week.

With it being half term last week I had big plans of trips to the library, more time to sit and simply enjoy books with the kids rather than being told to for school but I'll be honest the days got away from us, roll on Easter I say!

My Sunday Photo 2019 #8

Ellie and the Cat Book Review

It's been a while since I've had the privilege of reviewing a super, readable book from those lovely people at Barrington Stoke but this month I'm really pleased to share with a new release from author Malorie Blackman. She's back with Ellie and the Cat.

Ellie's bad behaviour is driving Grandma mad! It's time to teach her a lesson she'll never forget . . . by swapping Ellie's body with Jolly the Cat.

There's only one way for Ellie to break Grandma's curse, and time is running out. Can she change her ways and find some friends to lend a hand? Or will Ellie be trapped as a cat forever?

This book is aimed at children aged 8+ and is great transition into chapter books with it's short, entertaining chapters. Now although it says aged 8+, my 6 year old is an advanced reader so she chose to read this to me as our bed time reading. What we actually do is read together, alternating pages as we go.

Read With Me 2019 #7

Hello everyone and welcome to another Read With Me linky. A big thank you to new and regular linkers who have joined in so far this year.

I've been re-reading a couple of books this month, and it had me wondering, should this count towards my Goodreads challenge as I've already read them before?

My Sunday Photo 2019 #7

The Kiss Book Review

Something I have always tried to in-still in my children is to be kind to others, and the notion that it isn't just achieved by the things you do but by how you act and what you say too. Linda Sunderland's latest picture book, The Kiss goes to show just how far one small act of kindness can travel ...

When Edwyn blows Grandma a kiss, she catches it and puts it in her pocket. The kiss brings smiles, laughter and dancing!

But a rich man wants the kiss all to himself - and he'll do anything to get it!

Read With Me 2019 #6

Hello all you lovely readers, welcome to the most recent Read With Me linky. A big thank you to all of last weeks linkers.

Did you know it's international book giving day on the 14th of February? Do you have plans to do anything special?

My Sunday Photo 2019 #6

The Girls Book Review

Friendship - it's a tricky sort of relationship. One that changes as you get older and seems to become even more complicated. I'm always trying to teach my girls the importance of having friends, that doesn't mean being popular with everyone, but having someone close who you know you can always lean on when necessary.

Once there was a tree that grew little girls . . .

Four girls meet under an apple and sow the seeds of a bond that will last a lifetime. Follow their friendship as the years pass by and the girls become women.

Before I tell you what I think of this picture book, my eight year old has her own review that she'd like to share;

Read With Me 2019 #5

Hello everybody and welcome to the latest Read With Me linky. Thank you to everyone who linked up last week, always appreciated.

My reading efforts have slowed down somewhat over the past week. Not enough time to simply sit down and enjoy a good book.

Do you always try to make time to read?

My Sunday Photo 2019 #5

What I Read in January 2019

Last year I made a small, achievable promise to myself to slow down my pace of reading. To sit quietly and take in more of the words over each page that I was turning. And I followed through on this promise. Going from reading a huge 154 books in a year to a tiny 67 books. That might still seem a vast amount to some but for me, that was a meer fraction of the books that I could have been reading.

This year I've turned my back on that resolution. We have only just come to the end of the long, slow month that is January and I have already managed to make my way through 25 books in 2019. I've caught that addictive reading bug again and I get myself into an almost hypnotic state where I just can't put a novel down until I reach the end, I find myself with a desperate need to find out what happens next.

So I thought I'd go back and do something which I have done in previous years on my blog, and that is to post about which books I have read. Not reviews as this post would be far too long, just the stories and a few of their blurbs (which some of them I hope you'll already have heard of) to see if they might be worth adding to your own to be read lists for the year ahead.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood