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My Top Five Books for One Year Olds

January 23, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

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I’ve always loved books and it’s a love that I hope to have passed on to all three children. Whilst nine year old Little Miss C is a complete book worm and devours pretty much any story you give her, seven year old Master C is more of a non-fiction reader. He loves books of facts and those that explain how things work. He’s also got quite a thing for audio books with Roald Dahl and David Walliams on regular rotation in his bedroom. But what about the youngest bookworm in the family? One year old Tube Stop Baby.

It’s hard to pin down at exactly what age children start to enjoy books, but at 14 months old now I know that TSB is definitely doing just that. We keep a collection of board books in the living room in a box that she can easily get to and we often find her going through all the books in the box, turning the pages and chattering away to herself about what she sees in them. There’s a second shelf of books upstairs that we sit and read with her as part of her bedtime routine.

Even at such a young age it’s clear that she has favourites. Books that she keeps going back to and ones that she brings over to us to have read to her. It’s beautiful to see and something that I hope continues.

I remember favourite books with LMC, but I never made an effort to keep a record of what she favoured when. This time around I’m determined to change that. So here are mine and TSB’s top five books for one year olds.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carl

Probably the most well known title on the list, there can’t be a parent alive who isn’t familiar with the story of the little egg laid on a leaf that went on to be a *Very Hungry Caterpillar. With beautiful artwork, lots of opportunity for children to count along with you, complete with holes in the page to help little children use their fingers for counting.

As well as teaching little ones about the lifecycle of a caterpillar the book also contains lots of familiar looking food that little ones will recognise. TSB is always particularly excited to see the watermelon come up on the list of food that the caterpillar tucks into on Saturday.

There are so many reasons this book is a 50 year old classic and rightly so.

Rabbit’s Nap – Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

I’m not sure how *Rabbit’s Nap first came into our possession but I’m glad it did. A beautiful tale of a rabbit who is desperate to have a nap, but various other noisy animals make it rather difficult for him to do so. With a flap on each double page there is plenty for little fingers to discover as you read the story. I just need to convince TSB to be a bit less enthusiastic about the flaps – ours are held together with rather a lot of sellotape now.

The rhyming text gives the story a lovely rhythm when you read it aloud, making it perfect for a pre-bed story. The fact that it ends with rabbit actually getting her nap (sorry for the spoiler!) makes it ideal for leading on to encouraging your little one into bed themselves.

Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown

“In the great green room there is a telephone, and a red balloon, and a cow jumping over the moon…”

With words that form in your mouth as wonderfully as these who wouldn’t want to read this aloud?

The artwork in *Goodnight Moon is different to most of TSB’s other books, with pages alternating between black and white and a colour illustrations, between views the whole room and close ups. It’s stylised, but with loads of detail that grabs children’s attention.

That combination of artwork and delicious words and rhyming is what makes me love reading it so much. After all, who can’t help but smile when they read “a bowl full of mush, and a quiet old lady whispering hush”?

Peepo! – Janet and Allan Ahlberg

As you may have gathered from my collection of Ladybird books, I love books set in the 40s and 50s and part of me wishes I had been alive then. *Peepo! fits into that category perfectly.

Again, rhyming text makes it wonderful to read aloud, but to me it’s the illustrations in this book that I love most. There is so much detail on every single page and lots that is referred to in the text meaning that you can point lots out as you read it. I just wish I could jump into the pictures and take a proper look around.

Each double page spread includes a cut out that you can peep through and the way that the text uses the word peepo in the rhyme means that you can then encourage your little one to peep through the hole to the picture on the next page.

That’s Not My…

*That’s not my… books are known and hated by parents across the country, but there’s no doubt that children love them. Their formulaic text makes them somewhat dull to read, but each page has a different texture on it for your children to discover and at this age discovering new things like this is incredibly exciting. TSB can spend ages with a pile of these books, touching the pages whilst making sounds of wonder. That makes it worth putting up with the words!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that are marked with *. If you click through on any of these links and buy anything then it will cost you no more than normal, but I will receive a small commission. Normally only just enough to buy about a quarter of a cup of coffee, but appreciated all the same. Thank you.

Ladybird Tuesday – The Story of Newspapers

January 20, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

This week’s Ladybird Tuesday looks back at a book that was originally featured over on Being Mrs C – The Story of Newspapers.

Ladybird Tuesday The Story of Newspapers

The story of Newspapers is the sort of Ladybird book that I really love. It really shows its age, yet I love that glimpse into this frozen period of time. Published in 1969 this book explains how newspapers came into being and also how they were produced and run at the time of publication.

It’s fair to say that the newspaper industry has changed a crazy amount since this book was published. Broadsheet newspapers have slimmed down, internet based news has changed how newspapers work, there are daily freebie papers available across the country and then there’s all the more recent news surrounding the Leveson Inquiry and the closure of the News of the World. Whilst some things have stayed the same, it’s fair to say that you could easily fill another Ladybird book with changes that have taken place.

All the illustrations in The Story of Newspapers are done by Ron Embleton and they are beautifully detailed, having a great 60s look about them. They all seem to really easily take the reader back to that time.

The one above showing the Evening Standard being delivered to a London street corner really does just speak volumes to me of London rush hour back then.

As was the case with many Ladybird books from this era there is a clear reflection of what the role of women at the time was. This meeting if newspaper management deciding what should be going in the next morning’s edition features just one woman and it’s pretty clear that she’s there as a secretary, rather than an editor.

There’s one thing that’s a bit strange with this particular Ladybird book though – you don’t see many children’s books with a copy of Playboy on the front cover, but if you look closely below that’s exactly what there is!

Now, I’m told (not being an expert on this subject myself!) that Playboy was a different kind of publication in those days – possibly more like GQ today – but I can’t say that that stops me being surprised though.

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and this post originally appeared on there. I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.

Dancing the Charleston – Jacqueline Wilson

January 17, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

One of my aims for 2020 is to read more. I miss curling up with a book in bed – somewhat impossible when you have a 14 month old sharing the room with you half the time – but there’s nothing stopping me from sitting elsewhere to read. That may sound a tad radical, but totally possible if I Really want to end this book drought. In addition to just treading more, I also want to actually finish some of the books that I’ve started over the last couple of years. To my knowledge I’ve only managed to finish two recently, but more on them another time. Let’s kick off with what is actually a children’s book – Dancing the Charleston.

Dancing the Charleston Jacqueline Wilson cover

Nine year old Little Miss C has been a huge Jacqueline Wilson fan ever since she started reading her books. She was lucky enough to get to meet her at the Foundling Museum in London and she still talks about that day so much. We were also fortunate enough to be able to take mum mum with us on that visit – an extra [pair of hands is always useful! – and she too was blown away by Jacqueline Wilson when she spoke to the gathered children and adults.

A while back I recall mum telling me and LMC about a newspaper interview she’d read with Jacqueline about how she sometimes finds it hard writing about modern-day childhood, as she can feel a bit out of touch with it. Instead she was turning her hand to writing some books set in history. That’s exactly the case with Dancing the Charleston, as the title may suggest.

Mona lives with her aunt on the edge of the Somerset Estate, with her aunt holding the position of dressmaker to Lady Somerset. For years the closest Mona has got to life inside the big house has been through her aunty being friends with one of the maids who used to visit and bring stories about the comings and goings.

All that starts to change when Lady Somerset falls ill and Mona is taken to see her shortly before her death. Understandably the child is confused as to why, yet Lady Somerset’s death is the start of a change in Mona’s life. With one of her sons, Mr Benjamin, taking over the house a new lease of life is brought to it, in proper 1920 style. Parties and a more bohemian lifestyle are just the start of the changes that Mona sees and Mr Benjamin seems intent on including this dress-makers daughter in this new life. But why?

I started reading Dancing the Charleston simply because LMC had got it out of the local library and on the way home we stopped at a playground and whilst the older two were playing and the youngest one sleeping in her pram I wanted something other than my phone to occupy me. I was instantly hooked, although I had to admit that this is actually the first Jacqueline Wilson book that I’ve read all the way through.

I was enthralled by the story and the various twists and turns that it took along the way. One in particular had me let out an audible gulp of surprise when I got to it! What I really liked though was how she had managed to set a story in a time that many children may not know much about and help the reader see it all through a child’s eyes.

At school this term LMC is taking part in a “reading through history” challenge where children are encouraged to read books set at different points in history. Dancing the Charleston fit the brief perfectly as her first book to tick off the list.

The other thing that I loved about reading Dancing the Charleston is that LMC and I could sit and talk about it together – especially as she started getting to all the reveals within the story. We read together often, but have been poor at seeing a book all the way through from start to finish. This is something else we’re trying to change, but it was lovely to have both read the same book in quick succession and to be able to talk about it. It’s a beautiful bonding thing that I’ve realised we’ve lost since we used to have more traditional bedtime stories together.

Our next book that we’re reading together is LMC’s choice, and happens to be another Jacqueline Wilson book – We Are The Beaker Girls. After that we’re going to move on to my choice – a book that several people have recommended to me: The Boy at the Back of the Class. I’ll let you know how we get on with them both.

Where to buy the books mentioned in this post

Disclaimer: Any links marked with a * in this section are affiliate links on Amazon. If you buy through them it will not cost you any more, but I will receive a small (not enough enough for a cup of tea normally) commission for sending you there way. Thank you if you do buy anything as a result of reading this post. It is appreciated.

Dancing the Charleston is currently only *available in Hardback, but will be published in paperback on 20 February 2020 and is *available to pre-order now.

We Are The Beaker Girls is also *only in hardback now and whilst you can *pre-order the paperback, it won’t be published until 11 June 2020.

The Boy at the Back of the Class is written by Onjali Rauf and is *available in paperback here.

Ladybird Tuesday – Cub Scouts

January 14, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

The very first sentence in the Ladybird Cub Scouts book gives away just how out of date it is.

“A Cub Scout is a boy between eight and eleven years old.”

Quite what the author would have made off the fact that my nine year old daughter is currently a Cub I have no idea! I think if I called her a “Cub Scout” she’d also give me a weird look. As far as she’s concerned she’s a Cub. Also, the idea of her having to wear a cap, shorts and knee high socks seems as alien to her as not being allowed to be a Cub because she’s a girl.

As a woman who was only able to be a Brownie and a Guide as a child, some of the history of the Cub Scouts is actually quite interesting, and puts lots of things into context for me. I had never understood before as to why all the leaders were characters from the Jungle Book (starting with Akela who in my daughter’s case happens to be one of my friends – I’d just never dared admit that I didn’t know why!)

Baden-Powell had realised that boys that weren’t yet old enough to be Scouts (aged 12 and up then) needed something similar to join. He found the right background for what they wanted in the Jungle Book where Mowgli, the man cub, is growing up in the jungle with wolves, in particular obeying Akela, the wise old wolf. He also was taught the law of the jungle from Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther, Kaa the snake, Chil the kite and Raksha the mother wolf. This led to the Wolf Cub part of Scouting being started in 1916, with the Wolf part of the name eventually dropped.

As much as Scouting has moved on since 1970 when this book was written (50 years ago – let that just sink in…) there are some elements that are still reassuringly familiar. Things like the Cub Scout promise, motto, handshake and salute are used today (or at least are in my daughter’s experience).

Ladybird Cub Scouts Picture of Cub Scouts at a meeting

An outline programme of a typical pack meeting also looks familiar with the Grand Howl, Flag-break and Flag-down and Inspection are all part of the weekly meeting that LMC knows. The badges may have changed and been updated somewhat (although I must admit that I much prefer the look of the old badges!) but the general idea behind them remains the same, and children still feel the same level of pride when they wear them on their uniforms.

Ladybird Cub Scouts Cub Scout Proficiency Badges

I do love reading the requirements though for the Arrow badges. They are just so of their time. Things like knowing how to behave when National Anthems are played in public and having to make a scrap book on the Royal Family almost seems comical in 2020.

From a Ladybird book perspective, the Cub Scout book, like the others in the Scouts and Guides series (series 706) is packed full of relevant information for any boy (as it was only boys then!) who wants to join Cub Scouts, or has already done so but wants to be the absolute best Cub he can be. In the way that Ladybird did so well, at the end of the book is a list off other Ladybird titles “which Cub Scouts may find particularly helpful in their training”. Some great titles are on the list, including some of the Junior Science series, nature books and titles from the How it Works series. Also on there is A First Book of Saints and books on Stamp Collecting, Coarse Fishing and Cricket and Football. Unsurprisingly for 1970 they don’t seem to think that the Ladybird book of Knitting or the similar book of Sewing are of interest to Cub Scout boys!

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.

Ladybird Tuesday – Helping at Home

January 6, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

I feel like I say this rather a lot – but Ladybird Tuesday is back. Again. Let’s call it a new year and a new start eh and not talk about all the other false starts here on Penny Reads? I’m jumping straight in though with what is probably one of my favourite Ladybird books of all time – Helping at Home.

Now, most of my Ladybird books are picked up in charity shops or at car boot sales, but sometimes there’s one that I’m so keen to get my hands on that I’ll actually go searching for it on that well known internet auction site – and that’s exactly what happened with Helping at Home.

Originally published in the Learning to Read series (series 563) Helping at Home has a special vintage magic to it simply because it provides such a lovely insight into family life in the early 1960s.

Being completely fascinated in the 1950s in particular (and Helping at Home just being published in 1961) I found myself staring for ages at all the illustrations in this book, trying to take in all the minute detail of their homes. For anyone who has started watching the latest series of Call the Midwife, you’ll know that it is now up to the mid 1960s (Churchill’s funeral in the first episode of the new series was 1965) so it’s fascinating to compare what you see in the illustrations with how they have dressed the sets for the programme.

In Helping at Home, the accompanying text explains all the things that the children are helping their parents to do around the house and garden. As with the Ladybird Keyword Reading Scheme books the text tries to feature repeated words and also works in conjunction with the pictures to help children work out what all the words are.

What I think I’m somewhat in awe of is just how much these children do around the house to help their parents. Maybe I just need to try harder with my elder two, or make housework into more of a game or fun activity for them. At the moment housework and jobs like these featured end up being things I have to do when I either get a moment’s peace, or once they’ve gone to bed!

As with so many Ladybird books from this period, the male-female role split is very clear. All the jobs at home like making the bed, dusting, cooking, washing up are done my mummy, whilst outside jobs like mending the fence and digging potatoes become daddy’s role. Even shoe cleaning is led by Daddy, pipe in mouth. A role which I can always remember being my father’s when I was a child, yet something that I did for my kids just this evening before their return to school tomorrow. It’s definitely the case that things would be much more mixed up if this book were to be written today!

This era of Ladybird books really had to be my favourite and Helping at Home is a perfect example of “Ladybird Land” at its finest. I know so much has moved on since then, especially in terms of equality, but there’s still part of me that I would love to be able to go and live in Ladybird Land, even if only for a day or two. Please tell me I’m not the only one!

Ladybird Tuesday is a regular feature here on Penny Reads where I delve into my Ladybird book collection and choose a title to share with my readers. The weekly series originally started on my old blog, Being Mrs C, and I’m now in the process of moving all those posts over to Penny Reads and also adding titles that I have acquired since then. A list is currently being compiled here of all the titles I have in my collection.

Review: The Magical Underwater Activity Book – Mia Underwood

December 18, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

Review: We were sent a copy of The Magical Underwater Activity Book for the purposes of this review. See full disclosure statement at the end of this article.

My ability to find time to actually read books seems to have taken a bit of a hit in the run up to Christmas. As usual at this time of year, there is so much to do that I’m not quite sure what to turn my attention to next. Trying to keep my head above water in the festive rush means that there are times when I need to occupy the kids, and rather than just using technology to help I’ve found that deploying an activity book at the right moment can be the solution.

The Magical Underwater Activity Book is probably one of the most beautifully illustrated activity books I’ve seen. As I said when we reviewed Mia Underwood’s first book (The Secret Woodland Activity Book), her Scandi-Style of artwork is just gorgeous.

This time around she is taking children on a magical underwater adventure where they get to meet a variety of real life and fictitious aquatic characters.

The book provides children with a huge range of activities. Everything from pictures to colour in to learning more code. From learning about map grid references to a template to make a deep-sea submarine. There’s also an opportunity for them to really get creative by using a “roll a story” grid to come up with characters and a plot for their own underwater story.

What I also really liked about this particular book is that it doesn’t just focus on the good side of things. There is a nice dose of realism by taking about the environmental impact of humans on marine ecosystems, and in particular the effect of plastic rubbish and micro-plastics. By making children understand this whilst they learn about marine life will surely help them to be conscious consumers of plastic and to think carefully about how they dispose of it.

It’s so refreshing to see an activity book that is not only fun and educational, but also one that carries such an important environmental message too.

The Magical Underwater Activity Book was published by Button Books in November 2019. RRP £9.99 and for ages 4 – 8 years. It is available to buy online *here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of The Magical Underwater Activity Book for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links marked with a * symbol. If you buy something having clicked through from this link I receive a small commission (often not even enough to buy a cup of coffee), but it costs you no more. Thank you.