picture book

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.

In the City – Dominika Lipniewska

March 26, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

To young children everything is fascinating. They especially seem to love the hustle and bustle of busy places and I’ve always found that my children are completely mesmerised whenever I take them into London. Cities have so much going on. Much that us adults just take for granted, but through a child’s eyes everything can be new and exciting. In the City is a wonderful way to take a look at all the different things children might find in a city.

In the City is actually quite a long book, and as a result goes into quite a bit of depth about all the different things you might see, and hear, in a busy city. There are pages devoted to the buildings you might see, the people you might meet, the animals that call the city home, the different sounds you might hear, the various modes of transport, the food you can eat and the things you can do whilst in the city.

The text in the book had loads of prompts in it for you to use to start conversations with your children about what they can see in the pictures. It might be simply counting animals or boats, or maybe asking them about what types of food they like, or what modes of transport they have travelled on. This is particularly brilliant for any adults who are not natural storytellers and find sharing books with their children a bit challenging at times. It’s an excellent way of introducing lots of things that you can talk about with them.

The whole book is illustrated by Dominika in a very bold and distinctive fun graphical style. Her illustrations have lots of shapes in them, which may sound like a slightly weird thing to say, but when you look at the pages of the book (or the fab trailer above) you’ll see what I mean. Not everything looks exactly like it might do in real life, but again that is a brilliant conversation starter with the child that you’re sharing a book with. I can also see it as a brilliant way of encouraging a child to recognise shapes and also to draw. If you start them off with some basic shapes like a rectangle or a semi-circle and show them how the book has used some of these shapes to draw a car, a baby’s pram or a playground.

Sharing the book with one of my children I loved just how much there was to see and talk about in the illustrations. The bold style of them made them great for attracting children’s attention and both of us felt drawn to point at the pictures with our fingers to point things out to each other or to count things.

I liked the fact that In the City doesn’t actually state which city they are talking about. The N29 night bus is a bit of a nod towards London where Dominika lives, but as the book doesn’t focus on any distinctive landmarks it is quite possible to apply it to any city that you child might know, or might be about to visit. I think it would make a wonderful gift for a young child before a weekend trip to the city and it would be a brilliant conversation starter for talking about what cities are like and all the different and similar things that they might find there.

In the City by Dominika Lipniewska is published in Hardback by Button Books in April 2019. ISBN 9781787080300. £12.99. It is aimed at children aged 2 – 5 years.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of In the City 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.

Tom’s Magnificent Machines – Linda Sarah & Ben Mantle

September 1, 2018 by penny Leave a Comment

As soon as I opened the package containing Tom’s Magnificent Machines I just knew that Master C would be excited by it. He loves making things and has such a brilliant imagination and combined with that a fantastic understanding of how things work.

I’m going to start with a warning though. Tom’s Magnificent Machines is one of those pictures books that you read and suddenly find yourself with a lump in your throat and something in your eye. It’s beautifully poignant.

Tom lives with his Dad and together they have a pretty special life – sharing a love of making things. Especially things that move. They started simple, but soon moved on to bigger and better inventions which almost took over their house. A house that was full of giggles. Lots and lots of giggles.

But then Tom’s Dad lost his job and everything changed. Gone was the funny, smiling dad that he was used to. The machines that they had made together started to gather dust. When he thought that things couldn’t get any worse Tom’s Dad told him that they could no longer afford to live in their home and they were going to have to move house. Tom was heartbroken.

He knew that he had to do something. Had to come up with a plan to change things. Luckily after lots and lots of thinking he came up with an idea. Something that would make the most of all the inventions that Tom and his Dad had made and hopefully allow them to stay in their home. He just needed to convince his Dad that his plan was worth trying.

Tom’s Magnificent Machines works so perfectly on two totally different levels. Simplistically there’s the amazing inventions that Tom and his Dad have come up with – and Master C absolutely loved these and the way that they are illustrated by Ben Mantle. On a second level there is the partnership between father and son. The two-way love and support between them. It’s simply beautiful. Even if it did have me reaching for the tissues.

Tom’s Magnificent Machines was published by Simon & Schuster on 23 August 2018 Paperback ISBN 978-1-4711-2246-0 Priced at £6.99. Available to buy online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Tom’s Magnificent Machines 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.