Reading Round Up 2021 #25

 Hey everyone.

I'm back. Ok I didn't really go anywhere but I had a couple of busy weeks where I didn't get to finish any books (shocking I know).

So this is a bit of a bumper edition to catch up on a lot of the books that I haven't yet mentioned on my blog.

Ready ...

Reading Round Up 2021 #23

 That's it, half term is over.

Who else enjoyed a bit of glorious sunshine?

I'll admit, I didn't do as much reading as I had planned to do, the sun made me rather relaxed and sleepy during the day (and hot and bothered at night).

I did however make a good dent in my Netgalley list, which of course means I want to request more books now.

But on to what I did read ...

Reading Round Up 2021 #13

 Hello lovely book nerds.

Welcome to another tantalising reading round up. I have a rather diverse selection of books to share with you this week. I hope you'll be adding some of them to your reading lists.

Reading Round Up 2021 #6

 Hello there fellow book worms.

Welcome to this weeks Reading Round Up, and the first in February for this year. Lets hope this month doesn't drag as much as the last!

I've come to realise that I read a lot quicker when holding a physical book, for some reason when I read books on my Kindle my reading speed seems to decrease significantly. Does anyone else find this too, or am I just rather strange?

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, her's what I read in the last week ...

LeapFrog LeapReader Review

Having recently reviewed the LeapReader Junior, a toy aimed to encourage reading amongst 1-3 year olds, I was extremely pleased when LeapFrog gave me the chance to review the original LeapReader which is aimed at 4-8 year olds.

LeapFrog say that this is a complete learn to read and write solution, cleverly sounding out words, allowing children to practice their letter strokes within the books and building up comprehension along the way.

30 Ways In 30 Days Guide

World book day is upon us. We all know how important books are, reading is such a big part of my children's lives however it might surprise you to know from research conducted on 1000 parents by LeapFrog that almost half of the parents in the UK lack both confidence and the knowledge to help their children continue the reading and literacy that they learn at school at home.

And it's because of this research and with LeapFrog reaching their 20th anniversary (big milestone!!) that they have created and launched a brilliant supportive booklet, the 30 ways in 30 days guide which is aimed to help parents learn ways in which to teach reading methods to their children and help instill a lifelong love of reading books!!

This guide offers both solutions and tools to tackle any reading problems and aims to get reading back into the family routine, even for the busiest of families. Including tips from educational expert and of The Good School Guide , Janette Wallis.

Tony Hicks, Chief International Officer at LeapFrog, comments: "LeapFrog was founded twenty years ago by a father who wanted to find a better way of teaching his son to read. Inspiring a love of reading and helping children achieve their full potential has been our passion ever since. We hope our new guide will be a great go-to resource for parents looking for different ways to help their children on their educational journey".

Reading With Biff, Chip and Kipper

Learning to read is a big part of all our lives. Whether you are the child learning or the parent/adult doing the teaching, it can sometimes prove to be a difficult task. I think what we all need to keep in mind is that reading is just an extension of our inaginations and it should be an activity that remains fun and engaging.

My 4 year old, Gracie, started primary school in September and like her sister's before her, she is learning to read using the Biff, Chip and Kipper books from Oxford Reading Tree. I have been reading these books with the kids for so many years now that many of them I know off by heart.

R is for ….. Reading

If you hadn't guessed already from my weekly linky #readwithme I love to read.

And I'm really happy to say that my kids have caught the reading bug too.

My children owned books before they were even born.

I've read to them most nights, even babies enjoy a good story.

So the letter R for the alphabet project this week stands for…… reading.

Book Tag - My Reading Habits

I was tagged by the lovely Fiona over at Little Cambridge Kitchen to tell you all about my reading habits. If you read my blog regularly to will know that I love a good book and I read whenever I get a free moment so this tag was perfect for me!!

Do you have a certain place at home for reading??

I don't have a specific place for reading, I am quite happy to plonk my bum down anywhere an start reading but there are two places that I find most comfy, my bed and the middle seat on our corner sofa. When on the sofa I liked to get curled up under my favourite blanket because I plan to be sat there for quite some time.

Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Neither. I've been given plenty of bookmarks in the past but I have to admit that I have never used any of them. If I am reading a good old fashioned book I tend to either turn the corner of the page over where I'm stopping or if I'm having a good day I will just remember where I got to.

Read With me #10

Welcome to this weeks Read With Me. Ok where to start, well last week I recommended a set of books to you that I had read a while ago because the books I wanted to review, I hadn't quite finished yet, I know I'm normally so speedy. Well I'm pleased to say that I managed to finish them so I wanted to share my thoughts with you all.

I recently purchased a whole series of books as they were on offer and came highly recommended.

The Emi Lost and Found series consists of the following books :

Not Today, But Someday (prequel)

Lost and Found (book one)

Time Stands Still (book two)

Never Look Back (book three)

plus two bonus short stories.

Now I am glad that I have had the chance to read the series together as a whole, rather than reading them separately because I don't think I would have coped having to wait for each new book to be released. Not Today, But Someday was actually written after the first book had been released but I found it nice to be able to read them in order as the prequel really helped set up the main story and let you get to know more about the characters.

Mr Men - The Christmas Tree Review

We all enjoy a good book in the Hazelden household so we were more than happy to review the Mr Men book, The Christmas Tree.

The book is another Mr Men classic written by the lovely Roger Hargreaves.

The story follows Mr Forgetful on his quest to get a Christmas tree because yep you've guessed it, Mr Forgetful forgot to get one.

At the beginning of the story all of the Christmas trees were sold out.

Mr Happy had tried his best to remind him but poor Mr Forgetful just couldn't remember .

Throughout the story we get to see lots of other classic Mr Men including Mr Happy, Mr Greedy and Mr Nonsense and we even get to see Father Christmas himself.

The book is in paperback form and measuring around 13cm x 14.5cm, it is the perfect size for small hands to hold on to.

Filled with plenty of the classic images we have come to know and love, the pictures help bring the story to life and really captivate your child.

With short sentences written on every other page, it is all very simple yet ever so magical.

My children were getting very worried as I was reading as to whether Mr Forgetful would get his Christmas tree, my three year old was kind enough to say that he could have ours if he wanted it, I myself was a bit more reluctant to give away my own Christmas tree!!!

The book itself is 31 pages long which quite long but with pictures on every other page it is actually the perfect length.

Whilst reading the story we spent time picking out things in each of the pictures, counting Christmas trees and remembering what each of the Mr Men were called.

Another classic Mr Men book and a great edition to our Christmas book collection, and priced at £2.90, it would make the perfect stocking filler too.

xxxx

Disclaimer : I was sent this book free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Love to Read

My girls all take after me when it comes to reading, we all love a good book. I think this may have something to do with the fact that they have always had books surrounding them.

I remember buying my eldest daughter her first set of books before she was even born.

This week Freya moved up another level in her reading at school, proud mummy moment. She has been waiting a while to be moved up because even though she found stage 4 really easy, she had to read all the books at that level before she could be moved up.

So today was the first book of stage 5 and guess what, she loved it, already looking forward to moving up to stage 6!!

Do your children like to read? What is their favourite book to read at the moment??

xxxx

Learning and Improving

Freya is now in Year one at school and that means the work load has started to increase, this includes regular reading and the introduction of spelling tests.

I had a proud mummy moment when she came home yesterday and told me that she had finally been moved up to stage 4 with her reading, we have been reading stage 4 and 5 at home for a while now so she was desparate to be moved up.

Today she had her first spelling test, these are the words that she has been learning for the past week :

Freya did tell me when she got the words that she didn't need to learn them because they were easy and she already knew them, I however informed her that she still needed to practice.

She did well and managed to get seven out of seven :)

xxxx

Chocolapps Review

I am always on the look out for new apps that the kids can play on the iPad but specifically ones where they can learn as they play.

Chocolapps are a company that produce and publish interactive children's apps and they have been doing so for over three years now.

Aimed at children aged between three and twelve years old, their catalog includes over 30 different applications that are then broken down into three categories :

The Kid-eBooks - which includes tales like The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio and Robin Hood.

The Kid-eLearns - children can learn about educational subjects such as the human body, space and much much more.

The Kid-eGames - this includes things like puzzles and hide & seek.

All of the applications are available in seven different languages : English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese, making them suitable to a big audience.

I was sent codes to download four different applications, two eBooks, an eLearn app and an eGame app.

The two books we downloaded were : The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, these choices went down well with my girls because they are huge princess fans!! The stories are read clearly and the words are highlighted as they read, this makes it a lot easier for your children to follow the story. What I loved the most was that there was an option to click on words when the story was paused and you are given a dictionary definition of what they mean, this was great for me as I sometimes struggle to know exactly how to word things when I am asked what the meaning of something is. There is also an option for younger children which is "show me" and instead of getting a worded explaination, you get a picture to show you what something is. This makes the app appropriate for all age groups, a nice learning tool no matter how old they are.

The eLearn app that I downloaded was, The Little Market. This game is aimed at learning mathematical skills. You have to pick items of fruit and veg from the market stalls and pop them in your basket, it then shows you how much your total spend comes to and you have to work out what change needs to be given to pay. This was good for my 5 year old as she is just learning this sort of thing and it was like a refresher for my 7 year old. Not as suitable for younger children however my three year old did enjoy putting the items in the basket.

The eGame app that I downloaded was, Hide and Seek. Simple yet effective, it was a game that all three of my children sat and done together. This game made them sit down and concentrate, you can easily zoom in to make it simpler to find certain objects and each level you complete then unlocks a new level, giving them a liitle more of an incentive to do it.

I loved these apps. I feel that they help your children learn and develop whilst remaining fun. A lot of the apps are free to download so you won't get a better excuse to try them out. The only real negative for me is that at the the moment they are only available on iPads and iPhones, for me personally that is great as I have both but it would be nice to see a smartphone version bought out so that others can enjoy the apps too. 

xxxx

Disclaimer : I was sent these apps free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bud and Roo's Spectacular Adventures Review

My girls are all little book worms and because of this we read an awful lot of books, meaning we are always on the look out for new stories to look at.

Together Jessica Valentine (writer) and Suzy Jones Biggar (illustrator) have created their first childrens book, Boo and Roo's Spectacular Adventures (The Beach). I was beyond grateful to receive not only a first edition copy, but a signed first edition copy, one to cherish.

Inspired by their own lives, their children, their friendship and their pets Buddy, the beagle and Rosie Boo, the border collier, this lovely story takes you on a lovely little adventure that keeps your child included along the way.

I was drawn in straight away by the illustrations. These images are hand drawn and done in my opinion almost like a child has drawn them, making them easy to relate to. Children can easily see what is happening on each page and pick out different objects etc. The colours aren't too bright, a lot of primary colours are used, these are easy for younger children to recognise and point out what they can see.

The book is aimed at children between the ages of 0-5 years old. Short and simple sentences make it a great book for learner readers and there are lots opportunities for both parent and child to ask questions about what is happening throughout the story. My 5 year old sat and read it to me with no problems recognising the words in front of her.

Also because of its length, I think it is perfect as a lovely bed time story for younger children. My 3 year old snuggled on Nannie's lap and happily sat listening to Nannie tell the tale to her.

It is available in both paperbook and digital versions, you can purchase a copy from their blog or other online retailers such as Amazon. 

I personally cannot wait to see what adventures Boo and Roo get up to next and would recommend anyone with younger children going out and buying this. The only thing I would love to see is a board book version for little hands to be able to hold without ruining the book.

Disclaimer : I was sent this book free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Parragon book Reviews

You read the title right reviews not review. I was contacted by the lovely people at Parragon to see if I would like to review one of their books, I was only expecting one book, so imagine my surprise when a package turned containing not one but four books in it, so I thought I would put all four reviews in one post.

I can't tell you how grateful I was to receive four books to review. It meant that there was one for each of my daughter's to have a look at, no arguing for once.

Parragon is a publishing company that started in the lated 1980's. Although now based in Bath UK,  they have regional offices all over the world. Their main publishing areas are cook books, adult non-fiction, children's books and licenced character books.

The four books we were sent were :

* Goodnight Little One by Margaret Wise Brown

* Peek-a-boo Rainbow which is part of their Little Learners collection

* Pinkabella's sticker activity book

* The Ladies Book of Baking which is part of their Love Food collection.

It was decided that Peek-a-boo rainbow would be Layla's, Goodnight Little One would be Freya's, Pinkabella's sticker activity book would be Gracie's and The Ladies Book of Baking would be Elise's, although they were also told that they had to share their books with their sister's, not that Layla really understood that part, the art of sharing is something she is yet to learn but you are never too young to start learning!!

Layla loved Peek-a-boo Rainbow immediately. It is a gorgeous little book that in my opinion is great for babies and toddlers.

For babies, it is colourful, full of fantastic little pictures, from ladybirds to caterpillars, it really is eye catching.

I especially love that at the top of the book there is what I would describe as a handle. This is very handy for small hands to be able to carry their book around with them.

It can be a great learning tool for toddlers too. Each page gives you a different colour of the rainbow, this means your little ones can slowly learn their colours.

With pictures on each page, you can ask your child what they are looking at, what colour a certain object is, how many of something can they see.

Then there is the added peek-a-boo hole. What can they spy through the hole? There are so many things to keep your little ones interested and best of all you can ask them different questions each time you read the book, keeping it fresh and exciting. Very simple but cleverly put together. This book works well for when your child wants to sit and do something by themselves but it also a lovely book that you can sit and enjoy together.

Gracie like many other children, is a huge fan of stickers. I find them stuck to random places around the house all of the time!!

So Pinkabella's sticker activity book was a perfect fit for her. With 250 stickers inside, this book kept her occupied for hours.

Being pink it was a lovely and girly. I was able to sit down with Gracie and help understand where she needed to place certain stickers. The stickers came in all shapes and sizes and were very easy get out.

I was pleased to see that this wasn't just a sticker book, there were other activities inside to keep Gracie entertained. There were puzzles and pictures to colour.

Her older sister's actually took the time to sit down with her and help her complete the activities, Freya even wrote Gracie's name at the beginning of the book so that everyone knew that it was hers.

Just like Peek-a-boo Rainbow, there was a little handle at the top of the book, Gracie took great pleasure in carrying her book to Nannie's house, gave her a little bit of independence looking after something. Once the book had been completed, there were still stickers left, so the fun didn't stop there. We got lots of paper out so that they could create some pictures of their own with the remaining stickers. Parragon have a lot of other sticker, colouring and activity books to choose from, I think these books would make great Christmas presents.

Freya picked Goodnight Little One by Margaret Wise Brown to be hers.

My little girl is apparently all grown up and since starting school last September, can read most words all by herself so she took herself off to read it by herself.

I finally managed to pry it from her so that I could have a look too!!

The book itself is a lovely size. I like slightly bigger books sometimes and as I see this being read at night time, I think you need it bigger to be able to fully appreciate what you are looking at.

The story isn't too long. The flowing words make it almost sound like a lullaby and the beautiful illustrations that go along with them really bring the book to life, they compliment each other.

I think this book is a perfect bed time story and it can be read to babies, toddlers and children, I feel it is a book that could soon turn into a classic.

The last book was The Ladies Book of Baking, this suited Elise to a T, more because she sound so posh, she is the complete opposite to her mummy, common as muck me.

This is a fab book for anyone that enjoys baking or even for people wanting to try their hand at baking.

With recipes for cakes, biscuits, pastries and much more, you will be able to make something different every week, although I can see my hips expanding with all the yummy things to be made.

Each recipe is presented clearly. You can see exactly what ingredients you need, how many it will serve, how long it will take to make and bake and the method of how to make them is broken down, so even a novice would be able to make these without going wrong some how.

What really makes this book stand out is that there isn't just recipes inside. It tells you how you can present your cakes at things like tea parties, how to make invitations to your party, how to wrap up your cakes and biscuits so that you can give them to people as presents. The girls are looking forward to making a few of the cakes and biscuits during the Summer holidays and I am now thinking about making a few and giving them to people as gifts at Christmas.

Each of these books that I have reviewed I would recommend to different people. Well written, beautifully presented, just all round quality. They have now all found a place on our bookcase!!

Disclaimer : I was sent these books free of charge for reviewing purposes, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Macmillan children's books Review

I am so lucky that my children are like their mummy because they enjoy reading books just as much as I do, so whenever I get the ooprtunity to review books, I always accept.

Recently I was sent two new books from Macmillan Children's Books, one was more for Gracie's age group and one was more for Layla and Gracie in my opinion.

First up was a new twist on the classic book,  Dear Zoo, one of my all time favourite books which has sold over 5 million copies!! Now it is time for Dear Zoo Spin and Say! to make it's mark.

This new board book features he favourite animal friends from the original book as well as some new wild animals and pets.

It draws you in immediately with it's bright colours, Rod Campbell has illustrated the book well, he seems to know just how to get children engaged with what they are looking at.

The book contains two spinners inside, so as well as being able to look at pictures and read the texts, your children can really get involved with what you are reading with them by spinning the wheel. I think it adds a little more excitement into the book because you can play a guessing game as to where you think the wheel will stop next.

Layla was keen to get her little hands on the spinning wheel and find out what it was all about.

On each page there is a different question which leads you to ask how many, what animal, what colour? What is nice is, the wheel obviously won't stop on the same answers each time, so it is like you are reading a new story every time you open up the book to look at it.

It is a simple concept : spin, point and say.

I think it helps little ones in learning first words, numbers and colours and is a great activity for a parent and child to sit down and do together.

I was impressed at just how sturdy the book was, my children are known to be more than a little heavy handed shall we say, so to have a book that won't be easily torn or broken is a big bonus in this house.

This book has taken a well known classic and managed to expand on it and if you haven't read the original Dear Zoo before, I would definitely recommend buying that as well as Dear Zoo Spin and Say as I think both books work well together!!

Next up was a new book to the lovely Zoe and Beans series. I had heard of this series before but had never had the chance to read them so I think I was just as excited as Gracie to get stuck in and have a read.

The text flows nicely with rhyming words and the illustrations that accompany the words are adorable.

The pictures allowed me to ask Gracie questions about the book, asking her what colour a certain picture was, or where an item was on the page.

I think the book would work well for both toddlers and young children as you can start off by just imagining what is happening in the story by looking at the images and then as they grow, you can start helping them read the words with you.

Both my five and seven year olds took the time to read this story to their little sister's too, it was lovely to see them all sitting down quietly for a change.

And again, being a board book meant no ripped or bent pages,  it was Layla proof!! Zoe and Beans really had Gracie giggling away, I think I know what I will be buying when Christmas comes around.

The theme of the book was dressing up, which just happens to be Gracie's favourite thing to do and it seems I now need to buy her a pirate costume for her to dress up in.

You can see from the picture to the right, that both Layla and Gracie were really pleased with their books.

It gives you just a little peek as to what you will discover if you decide to buy these books.

I do think books are an important thing to introduce into any child's life, not onlly for teaching them to read but teaching them to use ther imagination and letting you spend time together as a family.

Both Dear Zoo Spin and Say and Zoe and Beans Look at me, would make great editions to start off any childs book collection.

Keep an eye out on my blog because I may just have a few more book reviews coming up this month!!

xxxx

Disclaimer : These books were sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Love2Read Book Review

Having so many people to buy gifts for throughout the year, I always struggle with what to buy!! I do love personalised presents, it is something about unique for the person receiving them.

My mother in laws birthday is fast approaching and again I was finding it hard to think what to get for her and as if by magic, love2read approached me and asked if I would like to review one of their personalised photo books, this was perfect because I haven't given an updated picture of my children to my mother in law for quite a while and it was something she could sit and read with the kids.

Love2Read was an idea created by the lovely Caroline when she was helping one of her children learn to read. Caroline is actually a qualified teacher and she studied how children learn to read at university. With this is mind, she had made a book using pictures of her family and she found it was a real hit, even with her two year old!!

When you order your book, you literally create everything, you choose the title, the pictures and the words. 

There are plenty of pre written titles to choose from, ranging from books for dads, mums, birthdays and so much more. If like me, you can't find the title that quite fits what you want the book to say, then you can choose your own title. The picture above shows what I chose the book to be called.

The book itself is made up of 12 pages, 10 of these pages you can place pictures of your choice on.  I love that on the inside cover you have written who the book belongs to and you can even write a little message too, the picture below shows you what it looks like.

The book is a lovely size measuring roughly 7 inches square, a perfect size for little hands helping to hold on to it. The small size also means you can also take it out with you too as it would fit easily in most bags.

Each page you create, you choose what picture you would like to use, what words you want to use and even what colour border goes around each photo. The process is extremely simple and the best thing is that you don't have to rush. There is an option to save the book that you are creating so that you can come back to it at a later date, great if there is photo you really want to get to place in the book.

When creating the book, you are asked to pick two key words which you would like printed, this encourages your child to read and as my children do love nannie, I thought these keywords were approriate to sit and learn with nannie.

The final page of the book is my favourite, it is a collage of all the pictures that you have put in the book. I think it is really lovely seeing them altogether!!

You can purchase one of these personalised books from love2read for the amazing price of £14.99. I can't recommend them enough. The process of making them is very simple and the printing and posting of the book is extremely fast. What I really love is how they stay in contact with you throughout the process, you get emails letting you know that your book is going into printing and when it is going out for delivery. And if like me, you choose to create your own title etc, they contact you to check on just how you want things worded and send you proofs of how your book will look. This is such a nice touch and makes the process more enjoyable.

You can keep up to date with love2read by following them on twitter or liking their facebook page.

xxxx

Disclaimer : This books was sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes but all thoughts and opinions are my own.