On Sudden Hill

I've become very quiet here I know. We've had a wonderful summer, jam packed full of good sticks and fires and mud and ice cream and Expeditions and mucking about and more particularly bears and whales and glaciers (which is another story). But truth to tell, awful to tell really, it wasn't that packed with books. Or perhaps more accurately that packed with books that we shared and got excited about together.Or perhaps MOST accurately books that I felt like blogging about after we'd shared them.

Bah. Enough introspection. I guess I've just been waiting for the right book to come along. Yesterday the right book did come along. A picture book that socked me in the gut with its proper punch of perfect emotional pitch. A picture book sparkly jewel of loveliness, that made me a bit snivelly and a bit warm inside. A picture book that made the nine year old (NINE year old) both prematurely nostalgic and  a bit jealous and aspirational and a tiny bit teary too.

'On Sudden Hill' by Linda Sarah, illustrated by Benji Davies is that book. A magical collaboration of text and pictures; there is real poetry in both. Birt and Etho take their cardboard boxes up Sudden Hill each day and find a box and a friend is all that is required for every possible adventure. When Shu arrives on the hill with his own box, two become three and everything is changed.
 Birt retreats and breaks his box. This is genuinely gut wrenching. The picture of Birt alone outside his house, the light through the windows dappling the grass is quite wonderfully sad.
Shu and Etho bring Birt back to the hill of course: The resolution of the book provides a blueprint for the best box-creation ever. And a blueprint in a simpler way for the negotiations and compromises of friendship. It's just lovely.

When Bill read it he was very still afterwards for a few minutes. Then he said 'I wish we lived by Sudden Hill'. Then he said 'That was brilliant'. Then he turned back to the beginning and read it again. There. That's all the review you need isn't it? If you love picture books this is one you need to own.

And pictures to remind Bill that he doesn't have it so bad when it comes to hills and junk constructions or indeed boxes-

'On Sudden Hill' by Linda Sarah, illustrated by Benji Davies, pub Simon and Schuster,

 isbn 978-1-4711-2325-2. Source- bought from a Real bookshop.

Dragon Loves Penguin, Max the Brave and I Heart Holidays

Three small summer treasures for you-

We stopped actively accepting review copies some time ago,  I have to say it's just as well. Other commitments have put this blog on a bit of a slow-burn and I would throb with guilt if I felt I was accepting lovely freebies under false pretences.
But now and again they still plop through my letterbox and I can't pretend that isn't a pleasure. Surprise book post is the best sort of mid-morning treat- demanding a cup of tea and biscuit break to savour.

One such surprise book this week was Debi Gliori's 'Dragon loves Penguin'. It was a particular treat because I almost certainly wouldn't have come to it any other way and it IS a lovely book. Thank you book delivering fairy from Bloomsbury.

Bib the baby penguin curls up with his/her (up to the reader to decide-good) mother for a bedtime story about their home of ice and snow and...dragons! Antarctica turns out to once have had a thriving colony of a small reddish-gold variety living in a volcano there. Who knew? But perhaps there were dragons everywhere once...
Anyway one particular dragon is left eggless when all the other dragons have laid their own-

'"Poor dragon," says Bib. "I know," says Bib's mummy, "but... sometimes things happen for a reason. Look." "Oh!" gasps Bib, "poor egg."

Given the many different ways parents and children may come to each other; whether through adoption, fostering, surrogacy or step-parenting it's wonderful to have a book that focuses on the only important thing you need to make a family; love. This book sings with love. Its message of acceptance and valuing difference is simply and softly told; reinforced by the easy fluidity of the pastel illustrations. It has heart without being saccharine- a particularly hard balance to strike.
A good story but also a useful story for libraries, nurseries and any homes which don't fit standard ideas of a nuclear family. So that'll be everywhere then.

The second book which fell into our lap unexpectedly this week thanks to my Big Win is Ed Vere's 'Max the Brave': A beautiful signed copy of 'Max the Brave' in fact. Lucky me. An exemplary picture book lesson in how less is often more, this is a familiar play around the jokes of mistaken identity rendered fresh through the kooky-eyed charm of its protagonist. Max is one no-messing charismatic kitten. His journey across deliciously uncluttered monochrome pages in search of a mouse to fight WILL make you smile. There's a good final joke too. Pretty. Clever.

And finally a book which entered the house through the entirely conventional route of being purchased in a well behaved manner from an Independent Bookshop. Except that I wasn't that well-behaved in practically snatching it out of the particular Independent Bookseller's hands when I saw it. And the fellow reviewers weren't that well-behaved in doing a big wrestle on the sofa for first rights to read it either.
It is Clara Vulliamy's third Martha and the Bunny Brothers book; 'I Heart Holidays' and it is as warm and happy-making as the first two. An exemplary picture book lesson in how more can be more too; every page packed with delicious beach holiday detail to ponder and discuss.
One page in particular needed a LOT of discussion in this house...

And if you feel you need to join this discussion I recommend the healthy lolly debate in progress on Clara's blog here.

OH WE DO WE DO WE DO!! (two more weeks to go...)

'Dragon loves Penguin' by Debi Gliori, pub Bloomsbury, isbn 978-1408839508 Source- review copy from publisher.
'Max the Brave' by Ed Vere, pub Puffin, isbn 978-0723286691 Source- Whoop whoop lucky competition win!
'Martha and the Bunny Brothers; I Heart Holidays' by Clara Vulliamy, pub Harper Collins, isbn 978-0007419210 Source- a real life made out of bricks shop which accepted money.

Whatever the source our decision to review is, as ever, our own.

Clever Bill

So, a very brilliant thing is Resonance FM's new monthly radio show; 'Down the Rabbit Hole'. Yesterday's programme was all about the (just awarded) Greenaway prize and featured illustrators Nadia Shireen, Ed Vere, Jon Klassen and (small drumroll obviously) Shirley Hughes having a natter. Should you unaccountably have MISSED this treat you can catch up here. I recommend. Except it should be longer and on more often.

I particularly recommend because I won a prize from yesterday's show. An invitation was put out on Twitter to nominate your favourite picture book and my nomination of 'Clever Bill' by William Nicholson was selected. Hurrah- LOVELY books are coming.

Clearly the notion of a favourite picture book, or a favourite any book is a bit of a nonsense. There are so many to love for so many different moods and reasons. But 'Clever Bill' I picked and I'll stick with for today at least.
I've never reviewed it properly here before because it is out of print and back in the days when I had some sort of utilitarian notions about this blog, that seemed wrong. Having long abandoned such muddle-headed notions now seems a good time to consider its charm.

That charm IS immense- but be warned it's also a harrowing read. It's perhaps 100 words long but Fellow Reviewer number one (who shares the eponymous hero's name of course and thus may identify a bit too much) has been unable to listen to those words since about the age of 3: "It's just too sad in the middle bit Mum." It may be ethically dubious of me to love a book that upsets my child but, y'know, feeling stuff is the essence of appreciating great literature innit? He gets it. That's the point.
And, unlike the new controversial Carnegie medal winner, 'Clever Bill' does have a happy ending if you can get to it without breaking down.

Written and illustrated by that William Nicholson- the famous painter one- and first published in the 1920s it concerns the age old dilemma of how and what to pack for a holiday. Mary has been invited to visit her aunt and has proper notions of the essentials that must fit in her case:
"O! I must take Apple Grey...and my gloves with the thumbs and dear Susan and my Trumpet and I might need my shoes and my blue teapot and my brush with my name on it and of course I can't leave clever Bill Davis and my purse..."
But essentials can be difficult to fit- "first she packed it this way and then that way" and "at last she was in such a hurry that she had to pack them anyway and!
and!!
and!!
and she forgot poor Bill Davis"
It's all those ands that are the GENIUS. Heart-wrenching amplification which makes you wait and wait for the cold statement of horror even though the illustrations have already let you in on the problem.
And the picture of Bill Davis sobbing... I don't blame my Bill really-it is gutting.

Bill Davis is of course Clever Bill and like all the best toys his despair quickly turns into determination to find his way back  to Mary. Toy Story 2 compressed into 22 pages. Let me show you some (perhaps quite a LOT) of them as a treat- I think I'm allowed to do a few given its out of print and venerable status aren't I?

we're not even going to mention that William Nicholson's other lovely children's book can be seen in the background here are we? Because then my brother who 'lent' it to me some time ago might notice and ask for it back.

possibly the hardest spread to bear looking at in ANY book EVER. Thank GOD for the hope of that 'but'...

I think it is probably perfect. So there.

Oi Frog

I've been LOUSY about reviewing picture books recently. Well I've been lousy about reviewing anything much- but picture books in particular. In truth we're not consuming them at home in the same quantities we once did. This is a sadness and something I should work harder to rectify perhaps- filling my pull along shopping trolley at the library again more often. A pile of picture books always went down better than the back of the cornflakes box at breakfast for instance.

However there's Bill at breakfast with his nose in a Charlie Higson, Derek Landy or an Anthony Horowitz ("Bill-are you sure you should be reading that- it says '11+ Contains Zombies, Death, Gore and Graphic Violence' on the back?" "Yes. It's SUPER cool") and Eddie reading impenetrable non-fiction about transport systems, Human biology ("These are my testicles- see Mum?" "Yes I do, thanks for that"), wii games and superheroes and the picture books get neglected. Children will keep growing despite one's best efforts to slow them down and family rituals can be replaced or forgotten with terrifying speed.

I do have an occasional excuse to browse and buy though- and that's searching out new, at least semi-decodable but irresistible material for the kids I read with each week through Beanstalk. And so begins the first of a few (I hope) posts about some of the recent books that have hit the mark. Books that they choose repeatedly with a grin. Books that leave us both bouncy at the end of a session.

'Oi Frog' by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field has been one such. It's a book with one central joke running through but it's a good joke and there's a great pay off, so what else do you need?

A frog has grown tired of sitting on a log and seeks a new seat. This is not going to be allowed by a didactic cat (smug on her comfortable mat) who explains the rules of animal seating to him. Rhyme is everything. Of course it is; and as we meet gorillas perched on pillars and gibbons on ribbons we could feel that the frog has a reasonably good deal. 

There may be a final catch though.

There are really joyous combinations of nouns in this book, a pleasure in the silliness of phonetic rhyme that gets close to Seuss-like. The perfect antidote to the dry work of 'sounding out' in a literacy hour constricted classroom. Plus the opportunity to practice one's supercilious cat voice- always a pleasure.

Jim Field's witty illustrations in the most cheering, happy making sunny palette of colours (I do like a proper rich egg yolk YELLOW book) repay joy-filled poring over details: Fleas! On peas!

A book that makes me and one particular Yr 1 reader who often picks it giggle like giggling sticks.

We also like to discuss what the cat would make us sit on. I am all for avoiding hollies, caulis, brollies or follies please. Yes. Pollys' sit on lollies I think. Not ice ones obviously- that would induce piles; I'm thinking a very large traffic light one? Like a sticky red bar stool. 

How about you?

'Oi Frog' written by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field, Published by Hodder, isbn 978-1444910858

Shhh! Don't wake the Royal Baby

Yesterday morning I was woken early on the day of the full moon by thunder and torrential rain. The three weeks of glorious and settled summer stuff weather we've had was coming to its muggy, stormy end. I turned to my husband and told him in my best wise-woman-gnomic-utterance-ex-midwife voice that I expected the Royal Labour to commence any moment now. Then I turned on the radio and found myself like TOTALLY right and was insufferably smug for a little while.

I was right.

I was so totally right.

I am a baby predicting genius in fact.

(we'll ignore the fact that I said it was definitely a girl because she was so sick in the early weeks)

Now let's get out of the way the various things that need be said:

PoorpoorKateLuckyluckyKateIt'sonlyababyWhocaresaboutthebabyanywayDevotingthismuchspacetoababyisRidiculous2000babieswerebornintheUKyesterdayandalotofthemwillnotinheritanythroneOthernewshappenedtooyouknowThemonarchyisallveryexepensiveandsillyanywayTheycostustaxpayersinsaneamountsofmoneyWhathappenedtoalltherealtellylastnightIwantedtowatchLongLostFamiliesShouldntwejustallshutupgoawayandleavethemaloneEnoughnowreallyenoughyoucannotcarryonanymorerollingnewsaboutlookingatapieceofpaperonaneaselITSJUSTABABYFORCHRISSAKE

etc.

Okay. With that all in mind let's look at a book about the baby...

'Shhh! Don't Wake the Royal Baby' written by Martha Mumford and illustrated by Ada Grey is an unashamed surf on the wave of Royal Baby fever. There is no real need for this book to exist and it may offend you that it and plenty of other similar titles have been rushed out this summer. BUT-

It did make me snort out loud with laughter.

The Royal Baby just keeps crying and although various members of the Royal Household find inventive methods to soothe him other members WILL keep waking him up again. The story is bouncy and familiar enough for all to enjoy but the irreverent and playful illustrations might make even disapproving Republicans giggle.

We have the Queen parachuting in a royal onesie, Kate wearing a fascinator At All Times (as I type the news has turned to fevered speculative sightings of the Royal Hairdresser entering the Lindo wing...), Pippa in pink roller skates serving canapes and corgi chaos everywhere. I liked the golden dummy and crown shaped cot too.

I appreciate this book will not be for everyone but you know what: If you want to get a souvenir of what broadcasters seemed to be constantly referring to in breathy tones last night as, "A Moment in History" then what better than a picture book? It will give plenty more enjoyment than any of the dubious chinaware or tea towels we're about to be blinded by.

Lots of fun.

'Shhh! Don't Wake the Royal Baby' written by Martha Mumford, illustrated by Ada Grey, published by Bloomsbury, isbn 978-1-4088-4463-2

Disclosure- we received our copy by kindness of the publisher; our opinions are our own.

and just in case I wasn't clear enough-
I WAS LIKE SO COMPLETELY RIGHT.

Eddie and Dog

We're delighted this morning to be helping celebrate Little Tiger Press' Summer releases, on their 'Reading Rocks!' Blog Tour.

Everybody loves a book which features their very own name and the Fellow Reviewers are no exception. As their names are straightforward enough to be shared by both Royalty and the Archers' troublesome Grundy brothers I'm glad to say they've always had a few titles to choose from.

'Eddie and Dog' is the first book written and illustrated by Alison Brown and it's a cracking addition to our shelf of name books. Eddie ("He's like me! But with different hair," says my Eddie with pinpoint accuracy.) lives by an airport and dreams of adventure. Loitering by the baggage carousel one day he meets fellow free spirit, Dog and the two form an immediate bond. Eddie's mother is less certain that there is room for a dog in their lives and sets about trying to find him a more suitable home. But however far she takes him, dog is determined to return to Eddie. Can Eddie and dog find a way to be together forever?

There are shades of' 'Lassie' here  (if Lassie knew how to scuba dive and was a dab hand with a pair of topiary scissors). Eddie and dog are soulmates who Must Not Be Parted. The illustrations are warm and expressive, with just the right amount of inscrutability for the slightly mysterious dog. But this is more than a story about the value of pet ownership. It provides a gentle reminder to parents that our children are individuals who will make their own independent, and sometimes not altogether convenient, choices.

For all of us can expect 'dogs' brought into our lives when we have children and we all must learn the art of compromise to live with unexpected visitors. The author Alison Brown was good enough to respond to my musings on this theme:

"The working title for Eddie and Dog was "The Arrival", and it could apply to many kinds of new or unexpected happenings, both pets and babies being among them!
I'm a mum of two...we don't have a dog - yet - but I think that's likely to change quite soon!

The idea for Eddie and Dog really did come to me in an airport. My family live in Northern Ireland so I pass through airports quite often. On one trip, I was watching the people in the arrivals hall, and I thought it was funny how everyone stood so silently and expectantly focused on that little hatch where the luggage comes out. I wondered what it would be like if something truly exciting appeared.

We all naturally sit somewhere on the spectrum between adventurousness and practicality. I wouldn't call myself adventurous, but I'm quite optimistic, and believe that when something unexpected happens, things usually work out in the end!"

Some of the 'dogs' in our house have been things; the 20 or so muddy sticks for instance that must litter the ground floor at all times and will always find their way home no matter how often I try to  repatriate them outside. Or those Very Important Constructions made from cereal boxes and toilet rolls and a lot of sellotape that must be preserved unchanged for eternity. But my Eddie has mainly  put me on a very similar journey to Eddie-in-the-book's mum in trying to learn to embrace those of his enthusiasms I don't altogether share.

Buses for instance. Buses in fact very specifically at the moment. Eddie has been learning every bus route in London and also has ambitions to travel on them all. Any journey with him involves a complex negotiation of exactly how many different routes we can incorporate and exactly how far out of my way I am prepared to travel with him for the sheer JOY of it. The spectrum between 'adventurousness and practicality' has never been so charged as when faced with a pair of eyes pleading with you to go on 5 different buses from Cockfosters to  Elephant and Castle.

But just like Eddie-in-the-book's mum, I find if I can take the time and make the leap of faith and compromise, there are rewards to be had. This face of rapture mainly.

'Eddie and Dog' by Alison Brown, Published by Little Tiger Press, isbn 9781848956568; perfect for lovers of adventure AND their parents who may need reminding of its delights.

Please do stop by the other blog tour participants for other great Summer picture books.

Disclosure: We received our copy of 'Eddie and Dog' by kindness of the publisher. Our words and opinions are our own.

Time for Bed, Fred!

Apologies for the long delay ("Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you  miss me?" *leaps up and down like an excited puppy and licks readers all over their faces*). I was finishing writing my book again before the Summer holidays begin and my every waking moment becomes Full of Boys.

Anyways. Whilst I was writing, a few kind publishers have been sending me good things to read in pieces-of-cheese-from-the-fridge breaks and it's time I caught up and shoved a select few under your noses.

For someone writing a children's book blog, I'm not sure how picture book literate I actually am. I mean I LOVE picture books and will fight with swords for their importance and relevance and all that but if I'm honest, my head is probably more in a texty/wordy sort of space. I suppose I can recognise the cleverness of a nicely put together sentence and plot in a more considered way than I can analyse exactly  what works and what doesn't about an illustration.

The husband is a cartoonist and occasionally people 'edit' his cartoons or reposition them on a page and it drives him totally INSANE. Then I drive him even more insane by looking at the two versions and saying I can't really see the difference. I'm shamefully a bit sort of 'I know what I like' about it all.

Which is all a long preamble to say I REALLY like 'Time for Bed, Fred!' by new writer/illustrator Yasmeen Ismail. Even my visually untrained eye can see that this is something rather special. A simple picture book that flows with perfectly controlled colour, movement and energy. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Naughty dog Fred isn't ready for bed and is going to cause some chaos getting there. It's familiar stuff really but told in a light and funny way that will make toddlers giggle I'm sure. I took this book in for my Beanstalk year one kids to read and they loved it; an easy text that they could perform in a great 'teachery', exasperated, telling off  voice. Everyone loves to pretend to be an authority figure after all.

But it is the glorious energy of watercolour zinging off the page that really bring Fred to life. He gallops through the pages with wonderful  doggy expressions. You almost expect to get spattered with colour yourself when he shake his coat out. Beautifully observed.

'Time for Bed, Fred!' by Yasmeen Ismail, published by Bloomsbury, isbn 978-1-4088-3701-6

With thanks to the publishers for our copy, our opinions are unsolicited and our own.

Incidently to read reviews by someone who really can analyse how pictures make a story work, check out the always thought provoking and rigorous blog at www.didyoueverstoptothink.wordpress.com. This post is a lovely example.

Bubble and Squeak

Apologies for Blog neglect. We had a death in the family in the form of my old and trusty Hewlett Packard computer.

*please take a moment for remembrance*

*wipes away a tear*

I have been reflecting on the various conventions of animals in picture books this morning. There are those that are predictable: Cats are often devious, dogs trustworthy, bears gluttonous, hippos lugubrious and so on and so forth.There are also those that are rather less predictable or subvert expectations...

Amongst the latter must be counted the elephant's reputation for sartorial elegance. We have Babar of course, who teaches us how to team a crown with a green 3 piece suit. We have JP. Martin's extraordinary 'Uncle' (about to be republished I am glad to say thanks to a brilliantly successful Kickstarter); an elephant perfectly attired in a purple velvet smoking jacket. We even have their went-to-art-school-and-got-ideas-perhaps cousin in multicoloured patchwork 'Elmer' (I sense Babar and Uncle sucking in their tusks with slight disapproval).

And now raising a flag, or rather a flowery fascinator, for the females of the herd we have the enchanting Bubble; heroine of James Mayhew and Clara Vulliamy's wonderful new collaboration, 'Bubble and Squeak'.

James Mayhew is normally found making the high culture of art or classical music accessible to the smallest in the form of his Katie and Ella books. Accompanying Eddie and his class on a trip to the National Gallery last month I can report just how good he is at this: The kids roamed the rooms with huge excitement shouting 'IT'S A KATIE ONE!!' every time they spotted a picture already familiar from the pages of his books. Central to the action of 'Bubble and Squeak' is the arguably more lowbrow culture of the circus but in Mayhew and Vulliamy's hands it becomes Pure Class.

The story revolves around the loneliness of Bubble's life on the road as the star balance act of the Pyramid of Peril. Shy mouse Squeak (dapper himself in navy and brass buttoned blazer) admires from afar. Both will need to be brave if they are to find each other and the value of friendship. If this precis has a slightly-breathy retro-movie feel to it that is only to complement the BEAUTIFUL homage to a more glamourous age that oozes from this book.

There is so much to enjoy in Clara Vulliamy's interpretation of the story; from YoYo and Noodle, odd-jobbing circus dachshunds, the glories of Bubble's powder puff and hatbox strewn dressing room and the detail of circus audience which includes satcheled guinea pigs, penguins in white tie and (oh my goodness only just spotted!) famous bear of the era, Mary Plain herself.

A new book, which already feels like a classic that has always been in your bookshelf, is not often encountered but this IS one. Elephants you see? Cutthroat cats and dogged dogs may come and go but it seems we're never going to tire of a well-turned out elephant.

Best Travelling Outfit Ever

'Bubble and Squeak' written by James Mayhew and illustrated by Clara Vulliamy, published by Orchard Books, isbn 978-1-40831-366-4

Disclosure: We received our copy by kindness of the publisher. Our opinions are our own.

Happy Birthday Dirty Bertie!

The 'Dirty Bertie' books by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts are celebrating their 10th birthday this week and we're delighted to be joining the blog tour party.

 I'll admit that my children's obsession with all things scatological is not my favourite part of being their parent. Don't even get me started on the stomach churning horror that is playing Bill at 'Plop Trumps'. But there is no doubt that they are obsessed and in this interest they Are Not Alone. Dirty Bertie is hardly the only literary boy with repulsive habits bidding for a place on mine or yours obsessed one's bookshelves, but as one of the first and one of the best, his is a birthday definitely worth celebrating.

I hadn't appreciated that DB (as we'll call him) started life as David Roberts' picture book creation before starring in his ever increasing range of early chapter book titles, now written by Alan MacDonald and still illustrated by David Roberts. The chapter books, with their punchy titles eg., 'Pants!' 'Germs!' 'Loo!' and new volume 'Toothy!' were among the first books Bill learn't to devour whole in one sitting as his reading took off. They were probably some of the first that he was moved to reserve at the library too; cue small figure appearing at desk and whispering "Excuse me, have you got 'Bogeys' please?" much to librarian's discomfort.

These books are actually rather gentler and less bodily function dominated affairs than their shouty covers might suggest. They follow the 'Horrid Henry' style format of having three stories per volume but parents and children who find Henry too horrid might well warm to the more diffident, accident prone Bertie. In 'Toothy' DB manages to confuse a dentist with a murderer, cause a major alarm on board an aeroplane and confront the difficulties of ice cream smuggling in school. But David Roberts' illustrations reveal Bertie as endearing round eyed, rosy cheeked ingenue rather than practised schemer and plotter and the trouble he invariably ends up in is not consequence free.

The two original picture books, 'Dirty Bertie' and 'Pooh, is that you Bertie?' are more straightforwardly gross-out and as such have been going down a storm with the Beanstalk kids I do reading help with this week. Who can resist a book that promises a different fart sound button on every page? Plus it turns out that many of the sounds associated with wind provide excellent phonic practice. Anyone entering the library where we read has been treated to the painstaking sounding out of essential vocabulary; t-r-u-m-p, p-oo-t and b-o-ff and (tricky word) ph-u-tt...

In honour of Dirty Bertie's birthday it seemed only fair to prepare a Dirty Bertie-style feast. The fellow reviewers weren't entirely convinced by the delights of my tenderly prepared Bogey Fondue with breadstick Finger dippers...

However, Pudding!(now there's a Dirty Bertie title I'm looking for) of Worms and Soil was a storming success.

"Any more worms Mum?"

Dirty Bertie books are written by Alan MacDonald and illustrated by David Roberts, published by Stripes and Little Tiger Press. Happy Birthday Bertie!

Disclosure: We were sent a few titles for the benefit of this post by kindness of the publishers. Our opinions are our own.

Nativity

This is not a religious household.
Aged around 5 Bill asked to go to church because he wanted to 'see what it was like'. I took him with me to the one across the road to their Festival of Nine lessons and Carols. About 10 minutes in he lean't across to me and whispered to me in a serious tone 'I wondered what it was like and now I know'. I asked him if he wanted to leave quietly but he said no. He was very pleased to get given a candle in an orange for his perseverance. We both enjoyed the experience but he has never asked to repeat it.

I was brought up more churchy with weekly trips to Sunday School to colour in pictures of Jesus and baskets of fish. Although I never chose to be confirmed it remains a part of my cultural heritage and in that spirit it is important to me that my children grow up with some sort of understanding of the stories of the Bible and the spiritual calendar of the year. They'll make their own choices in due course.

Apart from anything else they ARE pretty good stories, with a satisfying and unusual amount of violence and absolutism for small boy tastes. I remember Bill coming across the story of Adam and Eve for the first time and just boggling and boggling- "They were really never allowed back Mum?  what NEVER??"

In the same spirit the story of the Nativity is mainly fascinating to them because of King Herod; a bad guy to trump any of their Marvel or DC villains. We've got a few different nativity books around.
The first; 'The Very First Christmas' by Louie Stowell, illustrated by Elena Temporin is a tender and sweet (and Herod-free) retelling of Baby Jesus' arrival and his parade of visitors with unusual gifts. I like the simplicity of the text and the warmth and love that radiates from the illustrations.

Jan Pienkowski's 'The First Christmas' is a complete contrast. It's a small and tactile hardback of delicious beauty, exoticism and darkness. He illustrates the text from the St James bible with woodcuts of muscular angels, cavalcades of elephants, twining grapevines, climbing monkeys and creepy bats. There is detail, movement, joy and danger in every spread. There is also a lot of Herod. A book to savour and shiver with in equal measure.

But the boys most popular way to get their daily Nativity update would be our partworks-style Advent calendar with 24 installments in teeny tiny books. It's an irresistable treat each morning to read the latest news from Bethlehem: Eddie likes to intone it with Proper Gravity in between mouthfuls of minibix. This is its second year outing for us and it has already acquired Tradition Status. If it appeals to you, I highly recommend forking out for it, it is a nice thing.

'The Very First Christmas' by Louie Stowell, illustrated by Elena Temporin, pub. Usborne
 isbn 978074607705-4
'The First Christmas' illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, pub Puffin
isbn 978-0-141-50097-3
'The Story of Christmas: Story Book set and advent calendar' story retold by Mary Packard, illus. Carolyn Croll pub Workman isbn 978-0-7611-5250-7

CHRISTMAS!!!

It's Christmas time! It's Christmas time! It's (almost nearly) Christmas time!!

I really like Christmas. Can you tell?

Would you like some Christmassy books then? Oh go'arn. You know you do really.

Bill and Eddie (and me to be honest- my stocking still gets filled) are all firm believers in the Man in the Red Suit. Insomniac Eddie is now officially on detail to see him arrive in the flesh following a triumphant sighting of the tooth fairy this weekend. For Bill, the messages he's received from the rather brilliant Personal North Pole are the clincher- if it's been on the computer it Must Be True (I fear for his future Wikipedia derived essays).

In future posts this month I'll pick out some of my old faithful Christmas stories. We're not efficient enough to wrap a book a day for Advent as others have suggested but we still have our supplies. Advent opening is complicated enough between our broad church selection of calendars representing Wheres Wally, Doctor Who, The Beano and Baby Jesus.

Today I am picking out a couple of new titles I've been sent.

'Dear Santa'  by Kathryn White and Polona Lovsin is a storybook complete with letter writing kit for sending off your own requests to Father Christmas old style if you're finding it difficult to Facetime/Skype with him.

Now I have to admit this is not my favourite- not being that keen on the anthropomorphised animals and the slightly cutesie illustrative style. This comes down to personal taste though- the boy's grandparents often choose them books with this kind of cosy aesthetic; I'm just an edgier kind girl. Also it commits the Cardinal Sin of having penguins at the North Pole which makes me suck breath in through my teeth in a tutting sort of way.

BUT

Eddie picked it up straight away, read it and then IMMEDIATELY RAIDED THE LETTER WRITING SET AND WROTE HIS OWN LETTER TO F.C.

Now that may not seem worth all the shouty capitals to you but if you knew Eddie's pen phobia then you would know that that is a very big deal indeed.

and Bill (not worth capitals but still) did the same too. It seems my sons are as much a sucker for a little stationery set with stickers as the next girl. Who'd a thunk it? Sometimes it seems all you want is a bear and rabbit in woolly hats off on an adventure.

Father Christmas may need some legibility help with Eddie's letter(he wants Jabba the Hutt Lego) but I'm sure the elves are good at that sort of thing.

Penguins notwithstanding I have to say thanks 'Dear Santa'.

More up my street to read aloud is 'On a Starry Night' a collection of Christmassy animal tales by authors including Michael Broad, Holly Webb and Penny Dolan. For those of us who haven't been efficient with the individual 24 wrapped calendar books this provides a handy get out in providing 10 days worth of Advent suitable reading matter in one volume.

The stories range from the domestic to the myth based and include narwhals and monkeys as well as the more wintry Arctic fox and reindeers and whilst there is a definite bias towards female protagonists this book does not feel too gender niched. There's a satisfying amount of snow and weather within them- and there's nothing nicer to read aloud when you are curled up warm by the fire at home. Personally I love nothing better than falling asleep to a really good Radio 5 phone in about poorly gritted roads and snow chaos.

As to the tooth fairy sighting? Eddie states that she was the size of a small apple, with short black sticky out hair, green fairy clothes, a grey wand and a sack full of coins. He provided a witness statement the next day. Keep your eyes peeled; we're worried she may have an untreated thyroid condition in urgent need of medical attention.

'Dear Santa' by Kathryn White and Polona Lovsin, pub. Little Tiger Press,isbn 978-1-84895-461-8
'On a Starry Night' pub. by Stripes isbn 978-1-84715-258-9

With thanks to the publishers for providing review copies. Our opinions are our own.

Happy Halloween with Tamara Small

Hot on the heels of our SCOOP interview with the Fearsome Beastie back here. I am delighted to welcome the latest biographical subject of Giles Paley-Phillips and Gabriele Antonini to the Little Wooden Horse on this- Officially Spookiest of Days; Tamara Small.

'Tamara Small and the Monsters' Ball' is a reassuring read for anyone who defies my predictions and is actually terrified of the vampires, ghosts and ghoulies that will be thronging in our streets this evening. Tamara, our heroine, receives a hairy monstrous visitor who scoops her and her gallant Ted from her bed in the dead of night. Luckily, his intention this time is not to eat her but simply to take her to the Halloween party to end all parties; the Monsters' Ball where everything that normally just goes bump in the night congregates to bump 'n grind this night away.

Tamara's dancing proves such a monster hit that she even receives a special sweet surprise to reward her before she is returned home (more of which to follow...)

Welcome Tamara and your gallant Ted and Happy Halloween! You're a brave pair: After your Monsters' Ball trip does anything scare you now and what tips can you give the rest of us on how to be brave?

Going up stairs at night time; you never know what might be just behind you! I recommend running as fast as you can...

Excellent advice. I may try it on Eddie who is always strangely slow on that final stair trip up to bed.

How are your new Monster Chums? Is it true that Werewolf is being hired for the next series of 'Strictly'? Can you give us a hint as to who his partner might be?

They are okay actually; although one of the vampires woke up too early the other day and got sunburnt. Yes, Wolfie will be on 'Strictly' and will be partnering Mandy Dingle! (shh don't tell anyone else though)

I think we all look forward to seeing Mandy and Wolfie's body popping reinvented rhumba.

Do you hang out with The Fearsome Beastie at all? How do you avoid being eaten?

We have met but with all the attention he's been getting he's a bit arrogant now. I think he's sold out big time!

I'm sorry to hear that. I'd heard rumours he'd been in talks with Mr. Gove about a new role in schools being put on Special Measures...

Any Special Measures yourself for Halloween this year? What will you and Ted be up to?

We'll mostly be consuming mountains of slime cake!

Ah yes. The infamous Slime Cake. I have to say I feel a bit uncertain about the yumminess of that. Do you really rate it?

It's awesome, although it's made from bogies, baby possets and alligator drool it really is one of the most scrummy things around! It's a Mary Berry recipe you know?

Mary Berry! ah well in that case... I can quite see the appeal for my children now I know that bogies are one of the main ingredients. They are Fine Connoisseurs of Interior Nose Contents.

Thank you Tamara and have a slice of this one before you go.

'Tamara Small and the Monsters' Ball' written by Giles Payley Phillips, illustrated by Gabriele Antonini and published by Maverick isbn 978-1-84886-100-8

With thanks to the author for providing our copy and allowing interview time with his heroine on a very busy day for her.

Summer holiday themes 1. Hair

Well no sooner have we started embracing the rain than it's gone. Tsk. Nothing but glorious sunshine today and forecast all week. sigh. And just in time for the school summer holidays- honestly! *eyes lifted heavenwards, shoulders shrugged in slightly gallic fashion*
There was I HOPING that we'd be imprisoned together for 6 weeks with nothing but an old box of Lego pieces and some broken Ben 10 figures to entertain us but no: it appears we are to be forced out doors to enjoy such nourishments as the local paddling pool, bike rides round the park, picnics in the woods and Olympic Torch Relays.

I'm not sure what will happen to my blogging whilst I'm on Full Time Active Mother Tour of Service but I suspect it will get less regular and less bookish. However I'll try to give you a snapshot of our day's activity with a book recommendation to accompany it where possible.
Theme of the day today is Hair. It's important to start the holiday with the removal of shag so it has time to grow back and look as disreputable as possible  before the new term begins again.
Before shots:

Bill is looking particularly impressed at being asked to demonstrate his wonky mother-cut fringe isn't he? No matter- he is about to be Transformed by the scissors of an expert.

Both my children used to holler and flinch on the hairdresser's chair. There was no particular secret to this phase passing beyond taking them to a rather chichi specialist children's hairdressers where in exchange for a substantial fee they are bribed with a table of action figures, sweets and books. If the same problem besets you however you could do worse than trying to get hold of a copy of 'Need a Trim Jim' by Kaye Umansky, illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain (out of print- curses-but still easily tracked in libraries and second hand). I love all their 'Jim' books; 'Pass the Jam Jim' most of all but this would run a close second.
Jim doesn't want to get his blonde thatch cropped despite crashing into walls and finding it hard to get his spaghetti in his mouth. He's worried it's going to hurt. Will the benefits of being able to see again outweigh the trauma of facing the scissors? I think we know the answer. Great rhymes and exuberant illustrations make a trip to the hairdressers FUN.

And here are my once-shaggy Jims after their trip:

Bill looking completely different now obviously. hmmm. I can see I'm going to be attacking him with the paper scissors again soon.
at least his fringe is a bit straighter.
so that was worth £15 then.

Right that's the scintillating haircut post done to be only out-scintillated by the inevitable shoe shopping  post to come... But I think I can promise More Exciting Excitements tomorrow.

'Need a Trim Jim' written by Kaye Umansky, illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain, pub. Red Fox if you can find it.

Rain, Rain come again! (All Join In)

You know how I was going on and on in a dreary fashion about it raining a lot two months? Well guess what. IT'S STILL BLOOMIN' RAINING.(I realise this doesn't count as news to everyone who shares this island with me but it's worth reiterating to those in sunnier places). There was a report in the paper yesterday about the cancellation of a concert in Hyde Park due to the 'total emulsification of the surface'. I have no idea what that means but it sounds pretty Armageddon-ish. The Olympic Torch must be burning through unprecedented amounts of paraffin to keep alight on its journey through constant drizzle interrupted by torrential downpours.

BUT.

That first paragraph marks a transition point in this blog and in The Little Wooden Horse household. For we are going to moan No More. We are taking positive action and making a decision to choose rain. To embrace it. To LOVE it (we have booked a summer holiday in Cornwall-we have no choice really)...and we invite you to join us and re-calibrate your gloom settings to 'Hurray it's wet again!'.

Bill was the pioneer. This weekend, in the face of the monsoon style buckets dropping out of the sky once more he went running round and round in circles in the garden getting as soaked as he possibly could. He's been hardened off by the amount of time he's spent reciting 'The Jumblies' recently; great stalwarts in the face of Weather they are.


It made him very happy, and culminated in a good session of making rain angels on the sodden ground.


It got me looking for more positive takes on rain within our bookshelves and it wasn't that easy . There was Shirley Hughes' lovely (of course) 'Alfie Weather' but they end up indoors escaping from the wet stuff there.
We've got Geraldine McCaughrean's amazing Ark diary; 'Not the End of the World' but that seems premature (just) and it's not exactly a cheery read.

Tove Jansson's 'Moominsummer Madness' is probably a better example of how to enjoy a good flood. I wouldn't mind relocating to a floating theatre for a summer season; and those genuinely planning out-door productions at the moment should be studying it as a 'how to' guide (if in doubt float your audience on upside-down umbrellas).

But for today I am going to offer you one of my favourite poems from one of my favourite books;  Nice Weather for Ducks  from 'All Join In' by Quentin Blake:

'..We don't care if it's raining
and the sky is murky black-
We're joining in the Duck Song
QUACKQUACKQUACKQUACKQUACK'

It's truly impossible to feel anything other than Purest Joy reading this book and looking at Quentin Blake's pictures. Come on Clouds! Bring it on!

I need more though in case the lip begins to wobble in weeks to come? Suggestions please...

All Join In' by Quentin Blake, pub.Red Fox isbn 0-09-996470-8 -but you've got it already right? It's an ESSENTIAL for life. Should be on that government poverty line necessary list thingy along with the beer allowance.