Reviews

Book Review – Little Mouse Helps Out

14th May 2017

Little Mouse Helps Out written and illustrated by Riika Jantti

With beautiful retro images the simplicity of Little Mouse Helps Out, reminds me of stories from my own childhood.

Finnish author and illustrator Jantti’s second picture book follows a play date day for Little Mouse. As a mother of two increasingly independent ‘mini adults’ the scenarios and phrases are all too familiar. “I wants to pour the juice myself”, “Oops!” (It spilled on the table), “That’s all right;” said Mummy Mouse and she wiped it up. Ah Mummy Mouse, you have the patience of a saint, but it is only breakfast!

Who’s toddler hasn’t grunted “my do it” or “I do it by myself”? The lovely simple drawings and demands of Little Mouse certainly brought a smile to my face. But neither of mine have ever offered to help clean the loo – Little Mouse, you’re hired!

Mummy Mouse is my new hero – the patience and tolerance of a saint. I suspect she needed a little sip of nettle wine at the end of that day.

I would say this is perfect for 2 to 4 year olds. Mine enjoyed the gentle flow and familiarity of the scenarios, but it was perhaps a little subtle and gentle to keep mine from wriggling.

This sweet hardback book is £7.99 and is available on Amazon.

Thank you to Scribe for letting us enjoy this book.

Under the Love Umbrella

8th March 2017

Under The Love Umbrella by Davina Bell, Illustrated by Allison Colpoys

This sweet, soulful book is an explosion of colour and warmth.

“Up in the sky, amongst the stars there’s something you might not see … But over your head and just above there’s an umbrella of my love to show it’s you I’m thinking of wherever you might me’.

The book taps into the real every day fears of children, covering fear of the dark, loud noises, change and anxiety. The message is one of support. My 6 year old seemed to be able to identify with some of the scenarios. It was me that was almost in tears at the little boy who had an accident and looked so ashamed. My son laughed! It could be that the poor lad was dressed as an elephant with a yellow puddle round his feet <rather than my first born being a callous deviant!>.

The topics and emotions are relevant to potty-trainers, nursery and school-starters or any young child with worries or fears. I don’t know if the children will overtly notice, but the book is realistically diverse from Brian and his two mums, to Izzy being collected by her Grandma and Joe carrying his favourite doll. I love that these are just part of the fabric of the book.

Beautiful quality hardback with embossed silver fireworks on the cover and thick matt pages. The vivid luminous colours and bonkers patterns are a feast for the eyes.

In places we found the rhythm of the words a little off-beat, which interrupted the flow slightly. But the images are so beautifully full of emotion and there are some absolute stand out lines for me.

“My love for you goes on forever” “Be still, breathe deep wherever you sleep you’re under my love umbrella”.

The words and pictures are accessible for little ones and I’d say this book is suitable for children 2 – 5 years. Although my 6 year old enjoyed trying to spot the umbrella’s hidden on the pages and starting to read the words himself. It would be lovely to see their next book cover themes for the slightly older children, with the same background of warmth and joyous colour.

This is every parent’s love song to their child and a comforting hug of a book.

Available for £11.99 at Waterstones or Amazon.

Book review: There’s Not One by Jennifer Higgie

13th November 2016

It’s not often that you’d happily display a kiddie book on your coffee table, but this one is a little bit different. Created by the editor Frieze magazine, Jennifer Higgie’s debut really is a work of art.

Inspired by Matisse’s cut-outs and the Eric Carle books, Higgie introduces art to children in a way they can relate to and a language they understand. “There’s not one baked bean. There are (at least) a zillion”! For children who love to draw, the art will spark their imaginations.

Each pleasingly heavy page is an explosion of colour, patterns and shapes. Perfect for children just learning to count, or those learning their colours. Trying to count the stars certainly keeps them busy!

‘There’s Not One’ encourages the counting of dogs, numbers, leaves, raindrops and stars. More importantly it will give those flourishing little brains something to chew on. The final joyous message “you are the only you in the whole world and we’re all in it together!”.

This colourful hardback picture book is suitable for ages 0 – 5 years, both mine (aged 3 and 5 years) loved it.

There’s Not One by Jennifer Higgie is available on Amazon for £10.99.

Pickley giggles at story time

Thank you to Scribe Publications

My Autumn/Winter Wardrobe Goals

25th September 2016

Ah Autumn, welcome back. We wouldn’t mind a sprinkling more of summer sun, but we’re ready for boots, blouses and beautiful winter coats.
Who doesn’t love shopping for their Autumn Winter wardrobe?

Item no. 1 for our AW16 wardrobe – some beautiful knitwear. We’re not quite ready to welcome the snow flurries, so some slim knits will work a treat for now. Look for metallic or animal print details in neutral shades for day or jewel tones for night. Find these and others from French Connection.

But winter isn’t just about cosying up. With the promise of some sneaky, sparkly nights out, we need to be ready to shed the ‘mum uniform’ and slip into something a little more sassy. You don’t have to stray too far to look good on a night out with the girls. I often opt for a classic tee with a touch of embellishment; studs, sequins and lace are all a winner for a day to evening look. I own two of these lovelies. You will find them at a purse-friendly price from Warehouse and Karen Millen.

The nights are getting longer, but our hemlines don’t have to! It’s too early for the C word <sorry Santa>, but it won’t be long before the festive parties kick-off and we want to be ready. Sequins, animal print, metallic foil skirts, embroidered and embellished, all these stunners are available at a snip of the price from French Connection.

I hope you’re feeling inspired? I’m virtually salivating at the prospect of hitting ‘buy’. I’d love to hear about your top tips and key purchases for this season.

Pssst, if you want to get ahead of the pack, you can register for a Black Friday sale alert too!

Via lovethesales

Best days of summer – Project Mc² Premiere

4th September 2016

Are the leaves nearly all gone? Am I the only one who feels the summer dresses only just came out of the attic?

Before we charge headlong into Halloween I wanted to take one wistful look back on our family summer. While I worked for most of it <working mum sigh> we managed to squeeze in a few final bits of fun to round off a brilliant summer. The reminiscing has begun…just before I purchase 4 pumpkins ready for carving!

One of our favourite days of the summer, as a family, was a trip to The Royal Institute for the launch of the second series of the Netflix show Project Mc². The kids absolutely love a trip into town, especially when it involves a train and a tube!

Season two of Project Mc² followed the four best friends – plus two new recruits, Devon D’Marco and Ember Evergreen – as they complete undercover missions, as part of secret organisation NOV8. They’re on a (secret) mission – to make sure tween girls (and boys) know that it’s cool to be smart and to love S.T.E.A.M subjects (that’s science, technology, engineering, art and maths). Seems like a pretty smart idea!

The kids had the most amazing day, from smoky science experiments with Mad Science to code cracking and espionage with Sharky & George. From buckets of dry ice to crawling along the floor of The Royal Institute, it was the absolute best way to introduce my children to science.

We still have test tubes full of glitter and crystals in our kitchen!

We loved being treated to the first viewing of the super sassy Project Mc², but better still, Gumdrops fell in love with the range of uber cool fashion dolls – each coming with their own experiment that kids can perform at home.

My kids may be a little younger than their usual audience, but both are hooked!

www.projectmc2.com

Be a Friend – everyone needs someone

15th August 2016

Be a Friend by Salina Yoon

Be a Friend – Everyone Needs Someone – by Salina Yoon

We are avid readers (of books with pictures!) so were thrilled to join the Boolino book testing team. Our first book is a beautiful, gentle book with a lovely message at the heart of it.

“Dennis was an ordinary boy … who expressed himself in extraordinary ways.” Dennis, the little dude, is a mime artist. He looks the part too!

While Dennis is totally committed to his mime world, he does, at times, feel lonely and even invisible. Ouch. Although we’ve all been there ourselves, it still hurts to read it when you have a school age child. As a mother of a school boy who just joined a new school and is trying to fit it, this certainly struck a chord.

Just when you think brave Dennis is destined to a silent world, he kicks an invisible football and … someone kicks it back! He finds a like-minded mate. You can breathe now. I certainly did.

Mine were absolutely enraptured by the images which helped them understand the emotions. My little one may not have followed all the words, but the wonderfully simple and engaging illustrations helped her join in. I got her to guess what Dennis was miming in each ‘scene’.

This is a quirky but charming book, suitable for ages 3 years up (although some 2 year olds would like the pictures). The text is nice and large for early readers and the images help enormously with their understanding. On one level it is a sweet tale of friendship, on another it explores what it is to be a little different. Take heart, Dennis doesn’t compromise or try to conform, he stays uber cool and still finds his very own special buddy.

You can buy Be a Friend by Salina Yoon on http://www.boolino.co.uk/kids-childrens-books/be-friend/ for just £4.89

http://www.boolino.co.uk/?utm_source=friend-20&utm_medium=banner

Book Review: Mrs Blossom and Sniffy (the dog that was a little bit whiffy), by Rachel Sherfield

5th February 2016

My very clever friend and author has written and illustrated her first ever book and it is good. No I’m not just saying that because I like and respect her; yes there’s that too, but it is a cracking kiddie book. Review over.

Ok, there’s more to tell.

Let’s introduce the star of the show Mrs Blossom…

“Mrs Blossom, my neighbour, was a lovely old biddy, who walked with a stick to stop her being giddy”.

“Her companion now was her dearest dog, Sniffy. He had black wiry fur and was a little bit whiffy!”

The story introduces Mrs Blossom, 90 years old who lived on a farm and had 4 children but now lives alone with her dog ‘Sniffy’. But this is not the tale of a lonely lady, old Mrs Blossom dotes on her dog. Mercifully she has no scent receptors, so she remains oblivious to his vile eruptions! What child doesn’t like hearing about smelly bottoms?

The bear, who is a little bit obsessed with our local bus (the K3 since you asked) was fascinated by the well-drawn bus scenes and was asking about all the passengers. Gumdrops loved the farm scene and promptly started singing old Macdonald and “moo-ing” through the remainder of the book.

The hero of this lovely story is actually little Sniffy himself, who sends an important message (from his butt) to the other passengers. We must respect our elders. Someone call AGE UK please and ask them if they can produce a Sniffy toy for their next campaign?!

The clever part – all the backgrounds in the illustrations were created using crayon rubbings from around Rachel Sherfield’s home and garden. The author invites children to make rubbings themselves, offering some ready to print templates on the website.

A beautifully illustrated, fun and touching book for children of any age (mine were 2yrs and 4yrs).

For templates and to buy this gorgeous story for £6.99 visit:

www.mrsblossomandsniffy.co.uk

Kilnhanger Yoga Retreat

19th January 2016

This weekend I went on a yoga retreat. Not a sweaty, kaftan wearing, kale-juice only one; a deliciously peaceful and gently sociable one.
My old school friends and I have done a Kilnhanger yoga retreat day for the last 3 years. How civilised to meet in the stunning Surrey countryside in stretchy yoga-pants and not in a shouty bar!

The setting alone is enough to make you breath more easily and stretch your tense jaw muscles in a slow and happy ‘wow’.
Maddie, our yoga instuctor, is welcoming and calmness personified.
On arrival we catch up with sleepy cuddles over homemade ginger tea and brioche, before moving through to the studio for our morning yoga session. The ‘studio’ is a double-height barn with an unbeatable view. All equipment is provided, including my favourite; the snuggly blankets and lavender eye pillow’s.

After a morning of proper stretchy yoga we stop for a delicious vegetarian lunch of: red lentil soup, smoked paprika frittata with green bean salad and ‘healthy’ raw chocolate and date brownie.

We don’t waddle back through after our veggie feast, we slowly waft back for a good snooze… I mean blissful meditation. What a wonderful gift – to sit quietly, consciously clearing your mind with no-one needing anything from you.

The last session of the day ‘restorative yoga’ was my favourite. Imagine lying back on a giant squashy bolster, wrapped in blankets and just breathing …. Absolute bliss. Stretched, fed, calmed and rested – we were pampered babies for the day!

Our day cost £65
Relax and renew.

10.30 – Fresh Ginger tea on arrival

10.45 – Yoga class with elements of somatic movement to create ease of movement and unblock energy channels

12.30 – Lunch – a super healthy vegetarian lunch.

13.30 – Meditation – centring and quietening the mind

13.45 – Restorative yoga – a sequence of deeply relaxing, supported yoga postures.

15.00 – day finishes

Kilnhanger also offer accommodation to prolong the zen.

To find out more and book your peaceful pampering day www.kilnhanger.com