#Review by Lou of The Ultimate Guide To Growing Dragons By Andy Shepherd Illustrated By Sara Ogilvie @andyjshepherd @PiccadillyPress #MiddleGrade part of #TheBoyWhoGrewDragons #ChildrensBook series #TheUltimateGuideToGrowingDragons

The Ultimate Guide To Growing Dragons
By Andy Shepherd
Illustrated By Sara Ogilvie

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Dragons is the latest in bestselling series – The Boy Who Grew Dragons series, popular with and great for 7 years old plus series with adventure, dragons, friendship and nature and more to feed curious minds. Fly down to the blurb and then my review below. I first thank Andy Shepherd for requesting a review from me.

Blurb

Did you see it?

A bright fleck of colour, darting into the green. You saw it, didn’t you? I knew you would! Because you’ve got your eyes open.

And now you want to grow dragons too.

Well here’s my guide with all the things I wish I’d known sooner. Of course, what I didn’t realise when I started writing it was how much I still had to learn!

Review

The previous book in the series was going to be the last, but then I guess another dragon grew or all the dragons got together and flew over and whispered in the author’s ears to plant a new idea in her brilliant imagination. This book imparts the secrets of dragons. Real dragons in the forest and sand and more in an engaging plot.

There is the Superhero Squad – Liam, Ted, Tomas, Aura, Kat and Kai, all in different parts of the world, which has Liam working out all the time differences. Each character has something interesting to say to feed curious minds about where they are in the world. It is also great for young gardeners too.
Children will learn that dragons are indeed all around them as the books delve into dragon fruits and more… It’s all written in an exciting, engaging style for children. There are pages set out like collecting cards about the dragons that are with each character that say about the name, the type, physicality, diet special skills, dragonality and special skills. Look out for the warnings too… You’ll also discover where to keep your dragons and so much more such as Polaris all within adventure and friendships.

The illustrations are wildly good fun and there’s a bit at the back of the book for children to write their own guide to growing a dragon.

This book is a terrific addition to this series of books, which I also highly recommend for adventurous, curious children.

#Review By Lou Of -Jump! By JG Nolan @JGNolan3 @sergarcreative #RandomTTours #Football #MiddleGrade #ChildrensBook #Jump

Jump!
By JG Nolan
Illustrated By Carina Roberts

Today I am on the blog tour of Jump! by JG Nolan. A book for 8 to 12 year olds about football and overcoming adversity to do what you’re really passionate about. Discover more in the blurb and my review below.

Review

Set in Scotland, around Glasgow and Clydebank, and features Cathkin Park quite a bit, football is important to Robbie Blair. He’s a huge Celtic fan and wanted to play football so much and had the talent, but breaks so many bones. He meets Jo, whilst in hospital, who knows a thing or two about football as her husband is also a fan. Heartwarming chat takes place.

Back home, he has a friend in Hamish, who misses him around the pitch and at school. Readers will see Robbie overcome adversity. There is also a school trip to an old people’s home, which gets very interesting and also valuable to readers. It reminds children that the elderly were young once and have so many tales to tell. Robbie is told about Hampden and Patsy Gallacher in 1925. This also renews Robbie’s determination to play football again and fight against the odds of what the doctors told him in the hospital.

This book is one children who are football fans will find fascinating. The storytelling in short chapters, creating a fast, exciting pace, like a football being kicked, but also with nuances within the chapters, which also have some illustrations and a photograph at the end. It’s a story against adversity with warmth of friendship and determination. There is much to learn within this story as it takes children back in time in footballing history, that will have them immersed and come out at the end knowing more than they may well had from when they began. In the blurb, there is a powerful, energised quote by Joe Heart, Celtic FC “We can all learn from Robbie Blair.” And perhaps we can, including children.

About the Author And Illustrator

JG Nolan was born and raised in a sleepy village in Shropshire and loved writing stories and

playing football as a child.

He has been a teacher for many years, working mainly with children who have had difficult

beginnings in life. He strongly believes in positive thinking and feels most things are achievable if

you put your mind to it.

When his football mad son, Robbie, was much younger, he kept breaking bones and was told by

the doctors that he should never play football again. It was during one of his many lengthy stays

visiting Robbie in the local children’s hospital that the idea for ‘Jump!’ drifted into JG Nolan’s

mind.

JG Nolan began to read the exploits of famous, maverick footballers from the past, to inspire his

son and give him hope. Whilst doing this, he became more and more drawn to the tales of

famous Celtic legends from the 1920s, whose names are still chanted in Parkhead to this day. It

soon became clear to him- his first book would have to be set in Scotland.

JG Nolan’s research led him to discover the iconic, ethereal, Cathkin Park.

After meeting Scottish actor Simon Weir, who has helped preserve the park for many years, the

pieces of the jigsaw fell into place and ‘Jump!’ was born.

When JG Nolan’s son started on his long road to recovery and fitness, his determination to

succeed reached the ears of famous local footballer Joe Hart, then at Manchester City. Joe very

kindly sent Robbie some signed goalkeeper gloves to cheer him up during treatment. Robbie

would eventually follow in Joe’s footsteps and attend the same secondary school in their home

town, Shrewsbury. Years later, after Joe had transferred to Celtic, he was thrilled to be asked to

read ‘Jump!’ and offered to write the foreword. A truly serendipitous chain of events!

Carina Roberts is an award-winning artist and illustrator who loves creating characters and telling

stories. Carina spent her childhood drawing, reading and befriending animals – it was in these

first few years that her dream to be an illustrator was born. She’s been running with it ever since!

She specialises in creating books, particularly for young readers – a lot of her inspiration comes

from the wilds of Wales where she lives. She adores fiction and nonfiction alike – after working

on illustrations for the National Trust in 2020 she is especially keen that her work encourages

more people to go on an adventure

#Review By Lou of – The Titanic Tunnel By Glen Blackwell @GBlackwellBooks @RamdomTTours #BlogTour #ChildrensBooks #MiddleGrade #TheTitanic #TheTitanicTunnel

The Titanic Tunnel
By Glen Blackwell

Suitable for ages 9 to 12, this book sweeps readers into an adventure and back in time onto the Titanic. I am pleased to be closing this blog tour with a review. Thanks to Random T. Tours for inviting me. Find out more below…

Synopisis

Emmie & Jack are on a school trip with a difference. Visiting

Belfast to see where Titanic was built, they step back to 1912 and

discover the great ship itself. All too soon, they find out that the

way home is blocked, and Jack gets dragged off to work by one of

the crew. Who is the mysterious stranger lurking in the shadows,

and can they solve his time riddle to escape from the doomed ship

before it is too late…?

Review

Emmie and Jack are on a school trip to visit The Titanic and museum, all seems perfectly normal until they step in and find themselves transported back in time on an adventure of a lifetime. They land in 1912 and all at sea onboard The Titanic. Jack however, is dragged off, leaving Emmie alone to find him. She also doesn’t anticipate coming across a woman called Mary who also has someone missing. Emmie is acutely aware it is a race against time to find those who are missing and get off the ship before it sinks. It is full of adventure and adversity, as well as facts embedded within this exciting story that is told through children of present day. It is a great book for 9 to 12 year olds who like adventure, mystery to solve and history.

#BookReview By Lou of What The Ladybird Heard At Christmas by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks #JuliaDonaldson @LydiaMonks @@MacmillanKidsUK #ChildrensBook #ChristmasRead #Christmas #WhatTheLadybirdHeard #WhatTheLadybirdHeardAtChristmas

What The Ladybird Heard At Christmas
By Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks

A delightful seasonal addition to What the Ladybird Heard… series for preschoolers and young primary school aged children. Discover the blurb and my review below. First, thanks to Macmillan Kids for gifting me a copy of the book to review.

Blurb

Packed full of fun, What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas is a fantastically lively rhyming adventure from the bestselling picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks.

In a big old house, the ladybird is visiting her friend the spider for the festive season. But those two bad men, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len, are up to no good again. They have a devious plan – to steal the children’s Christmas presents from their stockings! It’s a good thing that the clever little ladybird has overheard their awful plotting, and she has a cunning plan to make sure they don’t get away with it.

The fifth title in the Number One bestselling series from the award-winning team of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, which has been enjoyed by over four million children worldwide.

Enjoy more adventures with the clever little ladybird in What the Ladybird Heard, What the Ladybird Heard Next, What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday and What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside.

Review

This book takes young readers into Christmas with a rhyming story that Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks are synonymous for. Seek out the ladybird on every page and meet a spider and its friends. All is not as it seems, when instead of Santa, as they are expecting, it is 2 burglars. Will Christmas be saved?

The book is short and sweet, with just enough mild trepidation to capture the gaze of young eyes and to enthrall their enthusiasm for a book. This is a series many children will be familiar with, starting with – What The Ladybird Heard. Children delight in trying to find the ladybird, thus using their skills of observation and to gasp a small bit when there’s something bad about to happen amongst, what is rather a cute scene, to find comfort in knowing all is well again in the end. The illustrations are perfect at depicting the words on the page. They are bright, fun and just as engaging as the story itself.

This is a book I highly recommend for Christmas stockings or a pre-Christmas read.

Bodies, Brains and Bogies By Paul Ian Cross, PHD. Illustrated By Steve Brown @DrPaulScience @rararesources #ChildrensNonfiction #STEM #HumanBody #Science #Biology #HumanMind #Blogtour

Bodies, Brains & Bogies
By Paul Ian Cross, PHD
Illustrated By Steve Brown

Thanks to Welbeck Books and Rachel Random Tours for inviting me to review Bodies, Brains & Bogies, which will serve children’s curiosity well, in a fun and informative way. Now, onto the blurb and my review.

Blurb

Bodies, Brains & Bogies

This fantastic title from Paul Ian Cross, the writer of How to Vanquish a Virus, takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of everything that’s disgusting, unusual and amazing about the human body. Find out everything about poo, pus and bogies, while learning a whole lot about how our bodies work hard in hundreds of fascinating ways to keep us alive.

With tons of hilarious and informative illustrations, it includes lashings of Paul Ian Cross’s trademark laugh-out-loud humour, in-depth knowledge and infectious optimism. It’s the perfect funny, accessible way to discover everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the human body, but were too grossed-out to ask!

Review

For the curious minds of children who also love gross facts and humour as they learn something new about their bodies.

Bodies, Brains and Bogies, what’s not fun about that for kids? It has humour and pictures mixed in with the facts, so there’s no way kids are going to find this book dry and dull. It’s exciting and intelligent and speaks directly to kids. So, amongst the fun, the author clearly takes things seriously, so children will learn a lot about themselves. There’s everything from how the brain works, to a cake, but not in the sense we instantly think, how vital organs such as the heart work and what they look like, right down to poops and burps and so much more…

Like a quiz? There are also fun quizzes throughout to see what you know and learnt. It’s totally grossed out and is packed full of fascinating facts in short sections and pages, making it easy to focus on.

This is a non fiction book about the human body that I highly recommend for home, libraries and in the classroom.

Daddy’s New Shed By Jessica Parkin #JessicaParkin @LoveBooksTours #PictureBook #ChildrensBook

Daddy’s New Shed
By Jessica Parkin

Today I am delighted to reveal my review on the blog tour for children’s picture book – Daddy’s New Shed.
Thanks to Love Books Tours for the invite and a copy of the book.

Blurb

When Tilly’s father buys a new shed, he plans to use it as an office. But her mother has other ideas.
Aunt Lottie and her very tall friend Asaf take the old shed down to make room for the new one, and make a big mess. Daddy has to work hard, but finally the shed is finished. But who gets to use it?
This is the second book in the Tilly Tales Series.

Review

This is a delightful children’s book to have fun with. It’s all about friendship and family and building a new shed. The illustrations are bright and bold and with only a couple of sentences per page, it is perfect for young children, especially pre-schoolers. It has a funny twist as to who will get the shed. It’s an easy story to follow that most certainly entertains.