book review

Barry the Fish With Fingers – 10th Anniversary Edition

April 30, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

It seems somewhat appropriate to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Barry the Fish with Fingers, seeing as that’s how many fingers he has!

I’ve said it before here on Penny Reads, and I’ll happily say it again, we’re massive fans of Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet in this house. For years now I’ve been reviewing their books and their characters such as Supertato, Norman the Slug, No-Bot and Dough the Bug are firm favourites, especially with Master C. Strangely though Barry the Fish with Fingers has passed us by, until now. Possibly because as a ten year old we missed him originally as Little Miss C is only just turning nine now. That’s why this 10th Anniversary Edition of Barry is perfectly timed. Master C is excited to meet a new creation from Sue and Paul and it’s lovely for Tube Stop Baby to be building up her own library of picture books already.

Barry is, much as his name suggests, a Fish with Fingers. And even better, his fingers are Fish Fingers! The other fish used to be amazed by the puffer fish who could blow bubbles, but that was nothing once Barry came along. Suddenly their world is opened up to all these different things that you can do when you have fingers. Everything from knitting and finger painting to finger puppets. But even better still – fingers mean that you can tickle!

What fun the fish we’re having. Well, all except one. Puffy the Puffer Fish was feeling rather sad that no one was interested in his bubble show any more. But then Barry put his fingers to good use and by doing something that only a fish with fingers can do he saved Puffy’s life.

There’s no doubt about it, Barry the Fish with Fingers is a delightful book. As with all of Sue and Paul’s books the illustrations are delightful – full of colour and fun. The story itself is again perfect to be shared with a small child, especially one that likes being tickled!

The 10th anniversary edition of the book is a brilliant way of introducing Barry the Fish with Fingers to families that might have missed out on him when he was first released. There’s a new celebratory cover with sparkly foil bits on the front, and on the back it features Sue and Paul’s other well loved characters – Keith the Cat, Doug the Bug, Supertato and Norman the Slug.

Barry the Fish with Fingers 10th Anniversary Edition is released on 16th May 2019. ISBN 978-1-4711-7818-4 and the Paperback is priced at £6.99. It is available to buy / pre-order online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Barry the Fish with Fingers for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post, and others linked to in it, contain affiliate links.

Lonely Planet Kids Sticker World – Airport, Castle and Farm

April 4, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

The school Easter holidays are almost upon us, and if you parent anything like I do then you’ll know that you need to have a few tricks up your sleeves to get through the holidays with as much peace and harmony in the family as possible.

One trick that I’ve learnt over the years is the value of always having an activity book of some kind in my bag, or in the car, so that it can be deployed whenever we have a wait somewhere. Whether that be at a restaurant or cafe whilst our meal comes, or during a long journey, or possibly even something unplanned like whilst waiting for roadside recovery or waiting to be seen at minor injuries! All of these have happened to our family during one trip or another, and now I aim to be prepared for all eventualities.

I was delighted therefore to be sent the three new addition to the Lonely Planet Kids Sticker World Series – Airport, Castle and Farm. In these Sticker World books children get to create their own worlds. The books are a mix of doodle books and sticker books with each double page spread leading children through designing their own world – whether it be an airport, a castle or a farm in these particular books.

The Sticker World Airport book for example takes you through deciding what your airport will be called and where it will fly to, right through to who will work there and who will travel through it. It also takes children through the whole airport process. Going through security, waiting in departures, a spot of airport shopping, boarding the plane, what they will do on board, what they might eat whilst in flight and even air traffic control. It’s a brilliant way of explaining the whole airport and flight process to children and would be excellent preparation for a child who has possibly never flown before, or one who is particularly nervous, or who maybe has special needs.

Each book contains over 500 stickers that children can use when prompted to create their sticker world. The only small world of warning that I would give about the books is that the shiny pages mean that you need to choose your child’s drawing or writing implement with care so that you don’t end up with either pens that rub off easily, or ones that don’t show up properly. Felt tips are definitely the answer, and I found that the Berol ones that we always use worked fine, as long as you let them dry sufficiently before shutting the book.

In the Castle book, children are invited to help restore an old castle. As well as the layout of the castle itself, they are taken through thinking about the people who live and work inside the castle and what they will wear. Also, what will they find inside the castle? Art on the walls? Hidden treasures being kept safe? And might there be ghosts living there too?

Down on the Farm, children are introduced to all the animals and birds that might live on their farm, and all the jobs that the farmer must do there. There’s plenty to keep him (or her) busy looking after the animals and also fixing various things. They’re also invited to think about what the farm might sell in their farm shop.

All three Sticker World books are brilliant in that they combine pages to keep children occupied with also teaching them a huge amount about each world that they are creating. I’ve already talked about how useful I can see the airport book being if you are travelling with children. I can see the castle one working brilliantly with the castle theme that Master C will do at school in Year 2 and the visit to a local castle that they all go on. The farm one will work equally well if you’re planning a visit to a farm (much like we did recently over on Penny Travels) or learning about farms at school.

Priced at £5.99 each the Lonely Planet Kids Sticker World books are perfect for taking along with you any school holiday trips that you have planned, or just working through with your children over the holidays.

Sticker World Airport, Castle and Farm were all published by Lonely Planet Kids in February 2019 and are priced at £5.99 each. Each book has 40 pages, plus 6 sticker sheets.

Disclaimer: We were sent copies of the Sticker World Airport, Castle and Farm books featured for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Discover our Solar System – Colin Stuart

January 30, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

Master C has an obsession with factual books. He just wants to know how everything works and he absorbs facts like a sponge. Once he’s into a certain subject he can spend weeks telling everyone everything he knows about the topic. Recently he’s been covering space and a recent space themed birthday party that he was attending meant that it was the perfect time to review Discover our Solar System.

Discover our Solar System perfectly manages to combine a book packed full of factual information with something that is written so that children want to read it and enjoy to do so.

This isn’t just a book that covers the planets. There is so much more content covering everything from the Big Bang through to the International Space Station. There is a timeline showing the Space Race and also pages showing different space rockets and the basics of how they work. Each planet has its own page, including a large illustration, and there is a separate double page spread on the dwarf planets, including Pluto.

All the factual text is accompanied by excellent illustrations which are incredibly detailed as the black background on each page makes them incredibly attention catching too.

At school I have noticed that children are taught about different types of book and when they cover factual non-fiction books there are certain things that they always look out for, like a contents page and a glossary. Master C and I were therefore very pleased to see that Discover our Solar System includes both. The glossary being brilliant for any child who is reading the book on their own and possibly wanting to make sure that they are fully understanding everything that they are reading.

Master C used the book to help him find a picture of Saturn so that he could then draw a version on it on the card for the friend that was having a space themed birthday party. If that’s not a brilliant ay of introducing a child to factual books like this then I don’t know what is.

Discover our Solar System is a brilliant book for anyone interested in space or astronomy and Little Miss C enjoyed reading it alongside doing her astronomy badge at Cubs recently. I’m hoping Master C finds it just as useful when he comes to do his badge at Beavers.

Discover our Solar System by Colin Stuart and illustrated by Charlie Brandon-King was published in October 2018 by Button Books. RRP £12.99 it is aimed at children aged 7+. It is available to buy online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Discover Our Solar System for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

We Are Family – Claire Freedman & Judi Abott

September 20, 2018 by penny Leave a Comment

We Are Family

Families come in all different shapes and sizes and as many of you will know, my family has changed shape considerably over the last couple of years. No matter what size or shape your family is though, the simple message of “We Are Family” is what trumps everything and that’s what comes across in this delightful book from Claire Freedman and Judi Abbot.

Focussing on the bond between siblings it talks about all the fun things that brothers and sisters do together and how they stick up for one another. They may be some fallings out, but they always make up fast as underneath everything they are best friends.

Little Miss C and Master C certainly have their ups and downs, but I know that deep down they do love each other and that becomes clear when you look at how they look out for each other and how they’ve stuck together through the ups and downs of the last year. Earlier this week Master C had a session with a speech and language therapist and one thing that melted me in the de-brief afterwards was when she said she spoke to him about friends and his understanding of friendship. She said that he talked happily about his friends from school, but particularly said that he wanted more friends like his sister. I still well up thinking about that.

Bringing We Are Family into our home comes at a perfect time really as the pair of them will be welcoming a new half-brother or sister in the next couple of months. I know that it will mean changes to the family dynamic once again, but I’m hoping that reading this together will help them both see that it is an extension of their family rather than anything else.

We Are Family really is perfectly pitched for children who may not have had a brother or sister before and are wanting to understand how much fun siblings can be. It’s beautifully written and Judi Abbot’s accompanying illustrations are gorgeous.

We’ve recently shared a Claire Freedman book before, when we reviewed How To Nab A Rabbit, but this is a totally different style of book. That to me shows her versatility as a children’s writer, but also how having a range of books to read with your children is so important. Picture books can be shared not just for enjoyment, but also as a way of helping children understand different things happening in their lives.

We Are Family was published by Simon & Schuster on 12 July 2018. Paperback ISBN 978-1-4711-1716-9 Priced at £6.99. It can be bought online via Amazon here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of We Are Family for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Lunch on a Pirate Ship – Caryl Hart and Kristina Stephenson

September 14, 2018 by penny Leave a Comment

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only parent out there with a fussy eater. Even if you’re blessed with a child who is prepared to try most things put in front of them, all children still go through phases of refusing to eat something they’ve been given. Even if they ate the same thing happily the day before. That’s what makes Lunch on a Pirate Ship ring so true.

Jack is so busy playing with his toys in the garden that he doesn’t hear his mum calling him in for lunch. By the time he makes it to the kitchen his chips were cold and his baked beans had gone hard. He understandably doesn’t want to eat that, so instead turns his imagination to what it might be like to eat with his pirate friends.

Here begins his food adventures on the high seas. But he soon learns that life as a pirate isn’t necessarily all that great when it comes to food. Pickled crabs and rotten fish aren’t everyone’s first choice at mealtime, so imagine Jack’s delight when he finds cupcakes, jelly and ice cream. But life’s not as simple as it first looks and Jack and the pirates soon realise that they’ve been lured there by a troll who is planning to eat them all for his lunch!

Jack and the pirates return home, realising that mum’s cooking is actually pretty good after all!

Lunch on a Pirate Ship has some lovely, fun illustrations from Kristina Stephenson which go alongside the fast-paced rhyming text by Caryl Hart. It’s a brilliant book to read aloud, either at bed time or to a group of children. It’s also perfect for kicking off discussions with children about food and the different things that they like (or hate) to have served up for lunch or tea.

Lunch on a Pirate Ship was published by Simon & Schuster on 5 July 2018. Paperback ISBN 978-0-85707-942-8 Priced at £6.99. It can be bought online via Amazon here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Lunch on a Pirate Ship for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

How to Nab A Rabbit – Claire Freedman & Monika Filipina

August 17, 2018 by penny Leave a Comment

Kids love the idea that all the different world’s that they encounter in books are all linked together. Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks are friends. Harry Potter has met Ben and his Gangster Granny. The logic that the Big Bad Wolf would therefore feature in another book came as being totally normal to Master C. And that’s exactly what happens in How to Nab a Rabbit.

In How to Nab a Rabbit, the Big Bad Wolf himself provides some foolproof tips as to how to get yourself a rabbit for the pot. In the words of the wolf himself:

For hungry wolves, this book is a winner,

It shows you how to catch your dinner.

Love bunny pie and rabbit stew?

They’ll soon become your dream come true.

The Big Bad Wolf covers off all sorts of different tactics, from stalking rabbits to creating holes for them to simply fall in to. He even addresses the most daring tactic of them all – The Love Lure.

Despite his fictional reputation, it seems that the Big Bad Wolf isn’t actually all that successful in nabbing a rabbit. So much so in fact that by the end of How to Nab a Rabbit the Big Bad Wolf has come up with a new idea for a book: How to be a Vegetarian!

I guess it just goes to show that it’s always worth having a back up plan for when things don’t go according to plan.

How to Nab a Rabbit is a proper laugh out loud kids book. With its rhyming verse it’s perfect for reading out loud at bedtime and Master C was chuckling along as I read. Author Claire Freedman knows exactly how to make kids laugh, and Monika Filipina’s accompanying illustrations capture the Big Bad Wolf’s attempts perfectly.

If you’ve enjoyed How to Nab a Rabbit then why not check out some of Claire Freedman’s other books that I’ve reviewed:

How to Nab a Rabbit was published by Simon & Schuster on 9 August 2018. Paperback ISBN 978-1-4711-4451-6 Priced at £6.99. It can be bought online via Amazon here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of How to Nab A Rabbit for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.