Monsters love underpants - Review

Monsters love underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

Available now

What's it about?

Underpants are monstrously funny in this playful picture book from the team that brought you Dinosaurs Love Underpants and Pirates Love Underpants.

Monsters around the world have different ways to scare, but they all share a love for zany underpants! Every Saturday night, you will find them in a secret cave, showing off their pants as they dance the Monster Bop, but they have to make it home before the sun comes up. After all, who would be scared of monsters in pants that were stripped and dotted?

Our review

As with the rest of the books in this series, the kids really enjoyed it. It's bright and colourful and funny. I always prefer a book I can enjoy too when I'm reading to my children at bedtime because then we all have a good time and this fits into that category, I was giggling right alongside them as we turned the pages.
The illustrations are fun and stand out in such vivid colours that there's plenty to look at for all ages.
If you haven't guessed or aren't familiar with this series, then the book is about the love monsters have for underpants and when they like to wear them but that its a secret as they don't think we'd find them particularly scary if we saw them parading about in their pants and knickers.
It's short and rhymes making in very enjoyable and one that can be read over and over again as I'm sure it will be in my household, just like the rest of our collection.

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Dylan's amazing dinosaurs: The Stegosaurus - Review

Dylan's amazing dinosaurs: The Stegosaurus by E.T. Harper 

Published by Simon and Schuster.

What's it about?

Join Dylan on his amazing dinosaur mission

Dylan loves exploring and learning all about dinosaurs. In his amazing treehouse he has a magic journal. Every time he opens it awesome things happen - even his toy pterodactyl comes to life! They fly off on dinosaur discovery missions to the Land of Living Dinosaurs. This time they are he has to discover what secret weapon a stegosaurus has.

Review

If your little one is a fan of dinosaurs then they're going to love this book. Its full of facts about the Stegosaurus, lovely illustrations and a nice little story to showcase the facts given about this particular dinosaur, plus it solves one little mystery about the creature at the end. It's a fun book, worth adding to your little ones collection and follows in a similar series, each book focused on a different dinosaur, I haven't seen those ones for myself but judging by this one, I'd guess they're just as good.

It's lovely and colourful and comes with a pop up dinosaur for them to play with, creating extra fun, I will definitely be looking out for the other books in this series for my little boy who really enjoyed listening to me read this one to him and pointing out the pictures.

Love monster and the last chocolate - Review

Love monster and the last chocolate by Rachel Bright. 

A delicious new story about Love Monster, the only monster in Cutesville, from phenomenal, award-winning picture book talent Rachel Bright! When Love Monster finds a mystery box of chocolates at his door, he can't believe his luck. But he's soon thrown into a whirlwind of turmoil. Should he keep the chocolates for himself? Or risk the perils of sharing his good fortune with his friends? This super-funny-rumbly-tummy-sherbert-explosion of a story shows that when faced with the selection box of life, following your heart will bring you the best treats of all.

Review

Children and adults alike can relate to this cute little story, who doesn't get a box of chocolates and want to eat them all to themselves? When Love monster arrives home from holiday to find a box of chocolates on his doorstep, this is the dilemma he faces, he knows he should share, but what if there aren't enough to go round? Will he do the right thing and share with his friends or will he sneak away to eat them by himself? Its a good message for children that's handled well in this story because it recognises that sometimes we don't want to share rather than just telling kids that they should, the book shows that sharing makes Love monster feels good about himself in the end, which is worth more than a box of chocolates, and in doing so he finds a surprise himself.
The illustrations are lovely too, I love the eye catching gold cover and all the pictures within which focus on what's happening with little background scenery but bright colours.
This is one to check out, it makes a nice bed time story with a message of sharing and friendship.

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Hello Kitty; I love my Daddy and Happy birthday - Reviews

I love my Daddy.
Hello Kitty thinks her daddy is very special. He's funny, clever, brave and kind, like every good daddy is! Read this wonderful book to find out all the things Hello Kitty loves about her daddy.

Happy birthday.
Celebrate all that's great about birthdays with Hello Kitty! Hello Kitty loves birthdays and today is her very own birthday. Celebrate with her as she has a party, opens presents, plays games, blows out the candles on her cake and more. Everyone loves birthdays and they're even more special with Hello Kitty.

Review
Both of these books are beautifully illustrated with simple, yet colourful pictures. They both have short stories, perfect for reading to little sleepy heads at bedtime or for first time readers looking to try and read to themselves. In I love my daddy Hello Kitty is talking about all the things she loves about her dad, the things he does for her and how he makes her feel like a princess, it really captures the bond between a father and his little girl in such a simple way that I think any daddy's girl will relate, whatever the age. I also liked that she mentions things he loves that she doesn't quite enjoy, like his bad singing and a favourite part of mine was that he can always help solve her problems unless its maths because even though her daddy is her hero, she knows he isn't perfect, but that's okay. It's a lovely message for a kids book.
In Happy birthday it is of course Hello Kitty's birthday, she's having a party that all her friends are coming to. What I liked about this book is that it often asks the reader questions, like what should Hello Kitty wear or who is wearing the silliest hat, it encourages young readers to get involved with the story and to really look at the illustrations.
Both books are wonderful for little princesses and little readers all around, I'd highly recommend them.

Find out about more Hello Kitty picture book titles on HarperCollins' website.

I love you night and day - Review

I love you night and day by Smriti Prasadam-Halls

Available now 

What's it about?

I love you wild, I love you loud.

I shout it out and I feel proud.

I love you night, I love you day.

In every moment come what may. 

The pages in this fabulously warm and reassuring picture book are bursting with exuberance, warmth and humour. A celebration of love - it's the perfect present to give to the one you love, and offers a heartfelt and affirming message of unconditional love that is pitched just right for little ones. This is a picture book that will be read again and again, and treasured for years to come.

Mine and Oliver's review 

This book is a short and sweet tale about how much two friends love each other. The whole of the book continues the same as the little snippet in the description like 'I love you big' and 'I love you small.' I liked the small inclusion of opposites, whether it was intentional or not and its a nice way of showing kids that there are so many ways you can love someone. It was a nice story for bedtime as its quite a calm and slow tale and Oliver looked at the lovely images while I read him the story. We both really enjoyed it and talking about it the next morning, I tried to get Oliver to pick a favourite part but he said he liked it all.

Favourite illustration

Our favourite image is of Bear and Bunny have their backs turned to each other because they've fallen out but they are still saying they love each other. It shows that even when you're mad at someone or upset with them, you can still love them.

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Herman's letter - Review

Herman's letter by Tom Percival

Available now

What's it about?

What do you do when your best friend in the whole wide world has to move a long way away? Promise to write to each other ALL the time and to stay best friends FOREVER, that’s what. But it’s easier said than done – especially when your best friend seems to be having much more fun than you are...

Mine and Oliver's review 

This is a lovely, if a bit sad, little story about Herman who gets sad when his best friend, Harry moves away. At first he feels sad and misses his friend and then becomes jealous when he feels Harry is having far more fun than him and is making new friends. Herman feels he's being left behind. All emotions I think a child would feel if someone they were close to went away so I think this would be a great book for any child in that situation. Oliver really enjoyed the story and listened intently until the end of the book. His favourite part were the letters which are lift-the-flap, so it really was like we were opening a little letter that we'd received. The illustrations were simple and really nice to look at, I think each image captured the scene and the story well.

Favourite illustration
The snowy pages are really nice but I think our favourite is of Herman when he is travelling to visit Harry where he meets penguins, bats, leaps over a crevice and climbs a frozen waterfall, it really shows just what he's willing to go through to get to his best friend.

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Oh no! - Review

Oh no!

What's it about?

Oh No! is a delightful book about things that can go wrong, sometimes practical and sometimes just funny but guaranteed to make the children giggle!  

13 different spreads, 13 clear transparent pages. Can you guess what happens next? Flip the acetate page over to find out.

Mine and Oliver's review

Oh no! is a really fun book with some great illustrations, there aren't any words so it encouraged us to discuss what was happening in the picture and what has gone wrong when we flipped over the acetate sheet. We've previously had a couple of books in this series and he really enjoyed them and liked Oh no! just as much as did his sisters and friend! There are some funny pictures in this one, like a girl being flown in the air by balloons and a cat eating a bird, which made the children laugh and we flipped back to the start numerous times after reaching the end before they let me put it away, though it didn't last long as Oliver insisted on taking it to bed with him to look at by himself. Safe to say that Oh no! is a winner in our household.

Favourite illustration

I think our opinions might differ here but my youngest, Isabelle (2) seemed most taken with the dinosaur on the last page, which flips from when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth to being in a museum!

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Diary of a Christmas wombat - Review

Diary of a Christmas wombat by Jackie French

Available now

www.harpercollins.co.uk 

What's it about?

Mothball the wombat is fighting the reindeer for the carrots left out by children when he takes an unexpected sleigh ride – so now it won’t be just Santa who faces the prospect of getting stuck in the chimney!

Mine and Oliver's review

This was a nice short read and was perfect for Oliver's bed time, he enjoyed looking at all the pictures which were lovely and not surrounded by too much extra detail so you were drawn straight to the central picture.
I liked the way it was written, as the Wombats actions for each picture, rather than as a straight out story, it gave the book a unique feel.
I also enjoyed how its a Christmas book but the wombat didn't even realise that, there was Santa and he was on his sleigh, he was just looking for carrots before his next nap. It gave the book a fun feel and amused me even though I'm an adult.
Me and Oliver haven't read any of the previous books in this series but we're definitely going to be checking them out as we both enjoyed this one and I think it'll last us way past Christmas.

Favourite illustration
The beautiful two page scene of the wombat asleep on the back of Santa's sleigh, overlooking the entire Earth with the sky in the background. There are no words on this page, just the big picture and every inch is used to create the wonderful scene whereas the other pages are left with a white background. It really stands out from the others and is a gorgeous image.

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Jack and the baked beanstalk - Review

Jack and the baked beanstalk by Colin Stimpson
Available now.
http://www.templarco.co.uk/

What's it about?
"Fee-fi-fo-fummy, I'm always counting money!"

Jack and his mom run a little café, but business has dried up and they're nearly broke. So when Jack comes home with only an old can of baked beans in return for their last few pennies, his mother throws it out the window. Overnight it grows into a gigantic baked beanstalk, which takes Jack to the castle of a giant who spends all his time counting his huge fortune. Jack helps the giant to find something more fun to do, and saves the café in the process!

Mine and Oliver's review

The first thing I noticed about this book is the beautiful and wonderfully detailed illustrations, I loved the way it was drawn and Oliver enjoyed taking the time to explore each picture.

This is a fabulous modern take on the original tale of Jack and the beanstalk where Jack trades for a can of baked beans and the giant is a banker who's always counting his money. It kept me just as entertained as it did Oliver as we both giggled at the story and I mentally compared it to the story I've always known.

This is a book that can be enjoyed by girls and boys alike and I predict it will stay a firm favourite in my house when I try it with my other two children, that is, if Oliver will give it up for long enough for me to!

Robot Dog review

Robot dog by Mark Oliver

What's it about?

In a factory on a hill, a huge machine creates robot dogs for owners eager to feed and play with the lively creatures. But when Scrap dents his ear, he is exiled to the junkyard where all of the other rejected creatures live without someone to care for them. The yard is a comfortable place, but it is never quite the same as finding an owner. What can the rejected dogs do? All dogs, even robot dogs, want an owner.

Mine and Olivers review:
5/5
When I took Oliver to bed he wasn't interested in a story, he didn't want to go to bed, but as soon as I opened up this book he stopped! The pictures are lovely and colourful. The tale starts off sad when a poor robot dog is scraped because he has a dent. Though he's sad and doesn't quite understand what's going on he makes the most of it and makes new friends with the other scrapped dogs which I think is a great lesson fir kids. When the dogs get sad that other dogs they play with have an owner they make themselves an owner with the scrap metal in the junkyard to make for a happy ending. We thought this was a lovely book, it teaches kids to make the most of a bad situation and to be resourceful rather than to be jealous of what others have. The pictures are cute and colourful and the text is big enough for little fingers to follow.
 

Knight night review

Knight night by Owen Davey

Releases 1st August 2011

www.Templarco.co.uk

This is my first childrens book review, Oliver is my son who will be participating in these review, he's only two so it'll be a more minimal input lol

What's it about?
Going to bed is a great adventure for one little boy in this charming tale. It might seem like he's putting his toys away, brushing his teeth and climing into bed, but actually he's riding thorugh a hallway forest, jumping over bathroom crocodiles and climbing a castle wall - no wonder he's exhausted and falls straight to sleep!

Mine and Olivers review.
4/5
This is a lovely book, it sticks with the same natural colour tone as the cover and has some lovely pictures, Oliver enjoyed exploring them and we lingered on each page so he could have a good look. The story is cute and simple it follows a little boys bedtime routine but in his imagination as a Knight which will appeal to any little boy but reading it to my older Daughter after proved it's for girls to as she also enjoyed it. There's one line of a few words to each page so it's a short book, good for if your little one has a short attention span, making it a perfect start to get them into books. The only thing I will say as a slight negative is that the text is very small, especially for such big pages so I don't think it would be so suitable for when your child is learning to read later on but still a lovely book I'm sure we'll read over and over together.

Owen Daveys website