Penny Reads

AD: Review – Happy Confident Me Journal

April 30, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

We were sent a copy of the Happy Confident Me Journal for the purposes of this review. Full disclosure statement at the end of this post.

As lockdown here in the UK continues, looking after our children’s mental health is so important. Our kids have been uprooted from the routine that they have been used to since starting school and that can be really quite confusing for them. No matter how well they might understand what is going on, getting to grips with it all emotionally is so much harder. Especially as they are all missing their friends so much. That’s where I’m hoping the Happy Confident Me Journal will help my daughter in particular.

Happy Confident Me Journal - picture of front cover

Nine year old Little Miss C has always been a bit of a worrier, but she’s the type of child that will seem fine on the outside for ages and then suddenly everything will come tumbling out in a hot, teary mess. What I’ve learnt to do is try to get her to release how she is feeling on a more regular basis and this is how I hope using the Happy Confident Me Journal is helping her.

LMC tries to sit and write her journal each night before bed and she’s admitted to me that it’s great put everything down on paper then, as it helps her to sleep better.

Happy Confident Me Journal - example of a daily page in the journal

The journal is arranged so that each day children are asked to think about the different emotions that they have felt that day. It’s a brilliant way of making children see that emotions can change daily, and that while you might feel sad at one point in the day, you might also feel happy at another point.

They can focus on happy things like what they are grateful for that day, what has made them smile, what has made them proud, and who has been kind towards them. There are also weekly activities, and plenty of space to doodle and get their creative juices flowing.

Happy Confident Me Journal - example of a weekly activity in the journal

One thing that my daughter particularly liked was the inspirational quotes that are included daily. And when she didn’t know the person that the quote was attributed to she simply asked her Alexa to tell her all about them. A perfect combination of modern technology and learning right there!

The other brilliant thing about the Happy Confident Me Journal is that as a parent you can often use it to help initiate conversations about emotions and feelings with your child. Some days my daughter is happy to share what she has written with me. On other days she’s not. Both of these are perfectly acceptable, and even if she doesn’t show me what she’s written on a particular day talking to her about why can often help her to understand how she is feeling even more.

Happy Confident Me Journal - part of a completed daily page in the journal

As a parent right now it is challenging in a whole new way to anything we’ve ever been used to before. Not only are we responsible for our children’s education differently, but also, we are the only adult that they have any interaction with. We need to make sure that we don’t miss things that might be obvious to a fresh pair of eyes. A child slowly slipping down into an anxious, possibly depressed, state is something we all want to avoid, but there’s a risk we might miss as we are so caught up in a lockdown juggling act. For me, the activities in the Happy Confident Me Journal help to give us a regular temperature check as to how my daughter is doing emotionally through this. It’s not to be used instead of taking time to be with them and talk to them, but more as a tool to open up some of those conversations about both bad and good feelings.

The Happy Confident Me Journal can be *bought online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of the Happy Confident Me Journal for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links marked *. If you click through and buy anything from these links I will earn a small commission, but it will cost you no more than if you had gone to the site direct. Many thanks for anything that you do choose to buy.

Ladybird Tuesday – Florence Nightingale

April 25, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Ladybird Tuesday has had to take a bit of a backseat since lockdown began here in the UK. My Ladybird collection has been incredibly useful in helping me to home school the kids, but in terms of making time to write blog posts, things have been a bit more difficult!

It seems somewhat appropriate right now to start our Ladybird homeschooling journey with the nurse that all the new NHS field hospitals are being names after – Florence Nightingale.

Now, the name Florence Nightingale was already incredibly familiar to loads of people even before this pandemic, but how much do you really know about her? Yes, I could say that she often went by the name of “the Lady with the Lamp”, but that was roughly were my knowledge petered out.

I don’t pretend that the Florence Nightingale book from the Adventures from History series (series 561) is the authoritative guide on the woman, but it is definitely a good starting point, especially for children. It was published as the 7th title in this series, which possibly shows just how important a figure in history she was considered to be back in 1959 when this series was originally published.

Born in Florence, Italy (hence her name) in 1820 Florence’s father was a rich man who returned to England when she was still small. She was. solemn little girl whose favourite game was to pretend that her dolls were sick, and to nurse them back to health. It’s no surprise then that she went on to become a nurse. But, back then nursing was not seen as a profession that a girl from a “good background” should go into, and Florence had to fight to be allowed to go to Germany and Paris to study nursing, which only happened when she was 30.

The Crimean War in 1854 was when Florence went from “just” being a nurse to being probably the most famous nurse there ever was.

Not only was she a nurse, but also a leader and a very determined woman. After hearing how British troops were suffering compared to the French after being injured she responded for a call to go out and nurse the troops. The rest, as they say, is history.

As with so many of the titles in the Adventures in History series, Florence Nightingale gives an excellent first introduction to both the Lady with the Lamp, and also the Crimean War and the change of attitudes to nursing troops injured on the front line. It certainly here in 2020 gives children an excellent insight into why the new NHS hospitals are being named after her.

If you’re looking for a modern book on Florence Nightingale for you children then there is a great selection available on Amazon here. There are also various titles suited to adult readers who want to learn a bit more about her.

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.

Disclaimer: This post contains a couple of Amazon affiliate links marked with a *. If you click on these and buy something from Amazon I receive a small commission, but it will cost you no more than usual. Many thanks for any purchases that you make.

Born Lippy – Jo Brand

April 17, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

I’m not really sure where to start with Born Lippy. I picked it up from my local library whilst waiting for the kids to make their audio book choices (seriously – if your kids love audio books make sure they check out their local library as their collections are wonderful!) and just assumed that I knew what it would be like. I was expecting a typical Jo Brand style journey through her life with amusing stories of the highs and lows of being a female from her, rather unique, viewpoint. That wasn’t quite what I got.

Born Lippy is far more of a self help style book than I was expecting. It’s a book that you dip in and out of, rather than one that you read straight through. In it Jo does pull on her own life experiences (which are incredibly varied and utterly fascinating) but it’s not done in a narrative fashion. Instead she jumps from topic to topic, dishing out wonderful advice that she wishes she had had or listened to earlier in life. As the mum of teenage girls, it’s also the sort of advice that she wants to give her teenage daughters about being a woman.

It’s a great read. An informative read. A really useful read, especially with a list of helplines and useful URLs at the back. An enjoyable read. But, just not the read I was expecting when I first picked the book up.

Some of what is said in Born Lippy is now out of date though. Then again, the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in with the current COVID-19 lockdown make much of our pre-coronavirus lives seem out of date. The sections of the book where she writes about health and how, for the sake of their mental health, people shouldn’t try to self-isolate obviously jar massively with today’s situation. But, none of us could have predicted quite what 2020 would bring. If Jo’s publishers (or Jo herself maybe) are reading, that might make a good extra chapter for any future version. How women should prepare themselves for any similar future pandemic and what women learnt from this one. Then again I’m pretty sure Jo’s advice would be something along the line of stocking up on cigarettes, alcohol and chocolate in advance and not following Joe Wicks on YouTube every morning!

Born Lippy by Jo Brand is available *online in various paper and digital formats. Or, if you’re reading this post lockdown, why not get a copy from your local library.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links marked with a *. If you buy anything through these links it costs you no more than if you had gone there and bought it independently, but I receive a small amount of commission from your purchase. All commission is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Ladybird Tuesday – People at Work: The Road Makers

March 10, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

Ladybird Tuesday has had another unplanned break. Blame a poorly little one, and a bit of a crazy time being a school governor. The combination of the two has meant very little time with a laptop or a book lately.

In that time AWOL from here I have had my usual crazy school run routine to follow – which some days results in about three hours on the road. As I found myself sat on the M1 one day staring at the signs it made me think about when a motorway like that was new and how strange it must have seemed. That in turn got me thinking about the Ladybird book on the subject (because, after all there were Ladybird books on pretty much EVERYTHING back then) The Road Makers, one of the titles from the People At Work series (606B).

We’ve visited this series several times now on Ladybird Tuesday (The Fireman, The Builder, The Soldier, The Policeman, The Car Makers, In a Hotel) and it’s one that I keep coming back to again and again as I love it so much. It’s a wonderful snapshot of how things used to be back when they were first published in the 1960s.

Ladybird Tuesday The Road Makers People at Work Ladybird Books Vintage

The Road Makers starts with some of the history of road making from tracks from village to village, to Roman roads, Turnpike roads and through to the first roads designed for motor cars. The most interesting fact for me was that the word “tarmac” comes from “tarmacadam”. This name comes from an engineer called Macadam who designed roads with smaller stones in layers and then a top layer finished with broken stone and grit. These roads were first used for horse drawn vehicles, but when the motor car came along these roads wore away more quickly, so to make the roads wear better tar was mixed with small stones and used for the top layer. This became tarmacadam or tarmac as we know it today.

As road use increased further, the Minster of Transport came into being and this is where The Road Makers starts to show the gender imbalance that was very much present in the 1960s. The book goes on to explain that the Minister’s role is to build new and even better roads, and so as part of doing that he “asks men” to work out where new roads are needed. I’m pretty sure women could have done the job just as well, but in the 1960s they simply didn’t.

After talking about how the new roads and layouts are designed (just look at all those men in the drawing office) and engineered we go on to hear about the men who actually go out and build them physically. And from what I can gather from the pictures in the book, it seems that quite a few tractors are involved in the process!

Civil engineering was never really my forte, but the book provides a fair bit of information on how the roads are built – talking about some of the different stages in the process. I do love the page on service stations though. Out in the open, it looks so quaint and uncluttered compared to what we are used to today.

It is also nice to see mention of the roadside telephones that were installed for people to be able to call for help if they breakdown. With most people carrying mobile phones I guess many of these motorway telephones are now redundant, but I have to admit to having not actually noticed if they are still there or not. I guess I ought to take a look the next time I’m driving on a motorway.

Ladybird Tuesday – Shapes

February 18, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

I’ve started looking back at my Ladybird Tuesday archive for posts to move over to Penny Reads, but I keep getting lost down the rabbit hole that is my Ladybird collection. I’d forgotten just how many Ladybird Tuesday posts there were over the years, and just how many books I have in my collection. This time round I’m re-visiting Shapes.

Shapes is a book that both Little Miss C and Master C enjoyed immensely when they were younger. This title was published by Ladybird in 1978 and was part of a series of five books (alongside abc, Telling the Time, Counting and Colours) that were designed “to help parents to amuse, interest and at the same time to teach”. On the spine they are identified as “Early Learning” and I think they were originally part of series 563, although this is obviously a later version as the original series was published in the 1950s.

The artwork in this book is very much of the era – lots of bright colours and some of it really quite “arty”. It’s interesting to note that the book was written by Ethel Wingfield and designed by her husband Harry, yet the illustrations are credited to John Scott and Harry Wingfield. I may be wrong, but I’m guessing that Scott was responsible for the modern looking parts and Harry for the more classical looking shell pictures that I’ve featured below.

I find 1970s Ladybird books quite fascinating as there was this obvious desire to update everything and modernise it in some way rather than appreciate the older book designs and illustrations for the wonderful works of art that they were. A shame really, but I suppose it gives collectors like myself more to collect!

It’s been ages since I looked at some of these 70s books and I’d forgotten just how different they were inside to the older Ladybird titles. Time to gig out a few more from my collection I think.

Ladybird Tuesday: The Weather

February 9, 2020 by penny Leave a Comment

After a weekend in which the country has been well and truly battered by Storm Ciara, it seems the perfect time to dust off my copy of The Weather for Ladybird Tuesday.

When I first featured this title back on Being Mrs C it seems that we had also just come out of a week of bad weather. Then again the weather is something us Brits love to talk about. There’s no wonder then that Ladybird included this title in their Nature Series, Series 536.

This book very much focuses on the British Weather and it really does teach you everything you need to know about the weather and meteorology in general. As well as talking about why the British Isles have the weather they do, it goes on to explain high and low pressures and why the winds blow.

In addition to a table detailing the different levels in the Beaufort Scale there is also a nice visual version which is perfect for children who may have some difficulties putting all the descriptions into something they can understand.

Many of the explanations about why weather events happen take me clearly back to my science and geography lessons at school. I can certainly see this book being useful with the kids. When they were much smaller their Dad had a weather station at home and they enjoyed knowing how much rain had fallen in the night and things like that. I may well have to get one so that their little sister can experience the same once she’s a bit older.

I find that so many of these Ladybird books take me back to my childhood when I read them, even if I didn’t have that particular book when I was a child. When I reached the page about thunder and lightening I was instantly taken back to one evening sat in my parents living room when we had a huge thunderstorm which really scared me. At the time I had a book out of the local library which I think was called The Weather Witch – despite my best efforts I just can’t find this at all online. In this book I seem to recall that the witch was responsible for the weather which meant that I was asking my Dad to get her to stop as I didn’t like the thunderstorm. My Dad’s efforts to explain to me that he couldn’t stop the weather fell on deaf ears somewhat and I remember going through the same arguments with Little Miss C who seemed obsessed with the idea that “Mummy can stop the wind”!

As well as explaining the weather simply (yet without dumbing it down) the book also explains how the wind, temperature, sunshine and precipitation are measured. Having been originally published in 1962 the book obviously doesn’t cover all the up to date tools and techniques that they now use in the Met Office.

Whilst weather stations like the above are still used I’m pretty sure that popping out in a tie and pullover with a pipe in your mouth isn’t the way it’s currently done.