Pirate Story Books
As part of our focus on pirate crafts and activities, I have invested in a couple of story books to help stimulate The Boy's imagination and explain the concept to him. It's a tricky thing to teach your three year old son about when you're desperately trying to keep him away from violence. There are a few really cool books by Jonny Duddle, like The Pirates Next Door, but he's not the type of boy to appreciate the bone-crunching humour in it.
"The Night Pirates"
The shadows around Tom's window are keeping him awake, and it soon transpires that they belong to a crew of girl pirates and their captain who need to borrow the front of Tom's house. The concept of an adventure on a pirate ship is far more exciting than bed and so he sets sail with the girl captain to a treasure island.
Simple, exciting with just the right measure of butterfly-inducing adventure, this beautifully illustrated tale of friendly pirates is by Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright.
"Peppa Pig: Pirate Island"
Absolutely no book anthology of The Boys would be complete without the porcine pair gracing it. This soundbook is really fun and follows the adventures of Peppa and George, along with their friends, as they accompany Grandpa Pig and Granny Pig on a boat trip to Pirate Island. They find a variety of natural and manmade treasure, before having an adventure of their own due to Grandpa Pig.
The Boy adores this book and we have to read it every day. A must for any Peppa fans.
"Pirate Pete"
Pirate Pete is quite a cheeky pirate and steals a treasure map from the Queen while she is asleep. Trying to race ahead of her fleet to take the treasure before she can get there, he soon becomes distracted by the potential of more gold in other places. Will he make it to the treasure before the Queen? Will he be taught a valuable lesson?
I actually bought this on Kindle to use on the iPad when out and about. A slightly more detailed story book it's a lovely, moralistic story with colourful illustrations throughout.
"Pirates!" Activity & Sticker Book
This is a fantastic full colour activity book with over thirty activities and puzzles in it, ranging from dot-dot to cookery activities, mask making, stickers, spot the difference to making a hinged puppet. It's certainly got plenty of ideas to keep all the jolly pirates happy during the Summer holidays. It's part of a four pack set (including knights, dragons and dinosaurs) from Igloo Books.*
I was sent the item marked * to feature on this blog. All other books I bought myself and all my recommendations are based on my honest opinion.
Top That Apps (Review)
I am a book reviewer for Top That! Publishers and this means that every so often we receive a few paperback storybooks to review. However, a month or two ago we were sent some download codes for a few apps that they had recently launched.
Mixed-Up Animals
This is a lovely little app which is very fun and engaging for pre-schoolers, with the opportunity for a whole load of discussions about animals and their habitats and how they are suited to where they live. The basic concept is that there are three sliders, one each for animal heads, bodies and legs. Children can slide it across to select their own, or shuffle to come up with a random generator. They can then select the backgrounds from a variety, save and share their work if they want to.
Mixed-Up Monsters
Exactly the same format, but with monsters!
We really like these apps and have had a good giggle about the monsters and animals that we've made up. Both are available on iTunes for iPod Touches, iPads and iPhones and require iOS 3.1 or later.
Top That! have a variety of apps and e-books available for download from iTunes and on GooglePlay for Android and to celebrate World Book Night, all Top That! ebooks and Apps (UK, USA, AUS & Canada only) will be free to download on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th April 2012.
View the Apps on:
- iTunes: http://topth.at/
iosapps - Google Play: http://topth.at/play
I was given free download codes for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased. I am choosing to share the information about the downloads because I think they are quality apps and e-books that children will enjoy.
(Disclaimer: Free eBook and app downloads only available for UK, USA, Aus and Canada. Not all Top That! eBooks and apps are available in all countries listed. Free download offer is for two days only. Normal pricing will resume following the two day period. The Publisher reserves the right to withdraw this offer without prior notice and at its discretion.)
"Smelly Peter, The Great Pea Eater" (Review & Competition)
There are two ways to my son's heart: making things and reading books. And chocolate. Ok, so make that three things and we'll ignore ice-cream for now.
If someone was to send my son a big box of books (and I mean big) then I would undoubtedly be indebted to that person forever, and so would The Boy. Little Tiger Press were those people.
When they first contacted me about reviewing for them, I took a little browse of their lovely and engaging site and was pleased to discover that we already had quite a few of their books. I will post in more details again about the books that they sent us, but I wanted to share two specifc books with you for the moment, both of which are picture books with a CD featuring the vocal talents of one Justin Fletcher.
"The Very Greedy Bee" by Steve Smallman and Jack Tickle
TOTS100 Book Club Review
I was nominated by the magnificent Mummy Mishaps to receive a copy of her favourite book on behalf of the TOTS100 Book Club. Knowing that I had identified reading a specific book on my list of Things To Do Before I'm 40, the cheeky minx put me down to have a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice'. I know what you're thinking; how has she not read it? But stop glaring at me; I've seen a couple of film versions, watched about 50% of the Colin Firth BBC adaptation, but can't get my head around the book. I will though now, because I like a challenge.
However, in tagging me I have had the baton passed to choose someone else to receive a copy of my favourite book; my must-read.
And so I choose Helen from The Crazy Kitchen, and the book that she's going to receive? See if you can work it out as I describe why I love it.
I first read this classic when I was given a copy of it by my great aunt. She had a horde of books that she insisted I read (one was Pride and Prejudice by the way!) and this one was the one that seemed easiest to me when I was 14 or 15. I was hooked very quickly, even if some of the themes in the book were a little too tricky for a young, innocent, teenage girl to digest.
I saw it performed in the New Theatre, Cardiff with Simon Williams as the male lead and Carmen Silvera as the formidable house-keeper, and was completely and utterly intoxicated by the power of the storyline.
Young girl meets a dashing gentleman with a sizeable fortune to his name. They fall in love in the stunning setting of Monte Carlo, wed and honeymoon there, before returning to his sprawling estate on the south coast of Cornwall where, as the new lady of the house, she has to instruct the staunch Mrs. Danvers. The new Mrs. de Winter must try and crawl out from the shadow of the previous, now deceased but still idolised, first wife to prove her worth as the mistress of Manderley.
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…
… is the classic opening line and from here the new Mrs. de Winter explains the tumultuous tale of love, history, death, intrigue, deceipt, mystery, skeletons and a spine-chilling web of lies that leads to an unimaginable ending.
I was on tenderhooks 'til the very last line and had to re-read many sections of the book again and again because I was astonished. Daphne de Maurier was a spell-bindingly amazing writer and this is one of the best books I have ever read.
Therefore I nominate Helen to receive 'Rebecca' by Daphne de Maurier!
Two Top Titles (Book Review)
The Boy is developing in his taste for reading material and we're starting to stray away from board books into the realms of paper books. Which is excellent because we've just been sent two new titles from the fabulous Top That! Publishing.
'Time For Dinner' by June Morley
As with all Top That! books that I've come across, the illustrations by Marina Le Ray are as enticing as the spider's web adorning the cover of this book. Time for Dinner is a comical tale of a riot of animals who are a little bit hungry leading up to dinner time, with the pecking order defining who might end up on the menu!
This humorous book tells the tale of a spider who tries to persuade a fly to rest in his web while he trots off for a nap, a bird who tells the spider that it's ok to rest in his nest, and so on. The clever twist at the end of tale makes it a pleasure to read time and time again without being boring for little one. There is plenty to look at in the vibrant illustrations and the pages are thick, quality paper making it ideal for pre-schoolers.
'Time for Dinner' is available for £5.99
'Only Nooglebooglers Glow In The Dark' by James McKnight
'Farmer McDoogle has a very unusual farm. On his farm he doesn't keep chickens, cows or pigs. On his farm he keeps monsters!' And one of these breeds of monsters is called the Noogleboogler. The Nooglebooglers are special because when they eat difflebug leaves, they glow in the dark!
Aimed at slightly older children than The Boy, this clever, fantastical story introduces you to the wonders of life on Farmer McDoogle's farm and the special 'talents' of all the different animals that live there. The scene is set for the annual party in the barn when suddenly there is a powercut and Diggle (the farmhand) has a cunning idea to save the day.
With humour and all the necessary ickiness associated with monsters that pre-schoolers love, along with beautiful illustrations by the award winning Mark Chambers, this is another winning title by Top That! This book is also part of a growing series of titles about life on McDoogle's Monster Farm.
'Only NoogleBooglers Glow In The Dark' is available for £5.99
Both titles are currently available for the reduced price of £5.39!
Ping & Pong: Santa
I've had the pleasure of reviewing the Ping and Pong series of books before and it really is a pleasure. They are the most lovingly written and illustrated books by Amy Trevaskus (and Alison Heath) with genuinely innocent stories to tell. Amy has come up trumps with another winning title for this festive time of year:
The Boy Reads…
I'm sure that this is the same as with most toddlers, but when The Boy develops a liking for a book, then it is read over and over again. Tonight (as one of my working days) was my turn for the bedtime routine and I was pleasantly suprised to see that Mr. TheBoyandMe and The Boy have been practising a little pre-reading skills:
Saturday 24th September 2011 – 'On Saturday He Ate Through…' (266/365)
Review: The Froobles
There are a fabulous new range of books out by the brilliant children's publishers Top That! called The Froobles. We were sent the titles Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy and Orlando Orange and the Big Scary Bear to review.
The Froobles are characters based on fruit and vegetables that come to life through the power of children's imaginations. When the children in a playgroup create a scene for them, the characters enter into this magical and ever-changing world to explore it, having new adventures that only they know about.
There are twelve characters and books in the series:
- Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy
- Billy Banana and the Magic Mystery
- Bobby Blackberry and the Treasure Island
- Charlie Chilli and the Safari Song
- Chloe Carrot and the Greedy Witch
- Cory Cucumber and the Farmyard Muddle
- Little Jack Potato and the Big Surprise
- Ozzy Onion and the Noisy Dinosaurs
- Penny Pineapple and the Chocolate Forest
- Sienna Strawberry and the Ice Palace Ballet
- Tessa Tomato and the Rainforest Rainbow
The books are small and fit perfectly into change-bags for instant distraction and story-telling. There is also a sheet of stickers at the back of each book with the main characters and locations from that story, so that little ones can recreate the story. The illustrations are really funky and modern, using hand-drawn pictures alongside photographs and computer imagery.
The text is simple enough for a Foundation Phase child to attempt reading it themselves, and alongside this the font is perfect: is uses the correct type of 'a' and 'g' that are encouraged for use with early readers.
Normally retailing at £2.99, The Froobles books are available at a special reduced price of £2.69 through the publishers Top That!
The Froobles world is wide-reaching and encompasses traditional and modern media. Not only are there the twelve books, but there is also a fabulous website (www.Froobles.com) with games for each character, from dressing Little Jack Potato, skateboarding with Cory Cucumber, to playing nought and crosses with Apps Apple.
In addition to the books and website, in November, there will be a range of interactive Froobles Apps (available from iTunes App Store) featuring the voices of Johnny Vaughan, Denise Van Outen, Edith Bowman and Reggie Yates. I will definitely be downloading these as The Boy is very competent with a touch-screen but not so much on the computer; he'll be able to enjoy these on the iPod Touch.
