Today I have a review of a book that’s perfect for on the bus or for play. Check out the blurb and review below.
Blurb
Bus Rhymes to sing along with.
Have you got your ticket ready?
Where will you go today?
Why not jump onboard the bus –
Come along to sing and play.
So take your seat as off we go.
What could happen along the way?
Review
Hop on a bus! Where will you go today? Go on an adventure through song and rhyme with Bus Rhymes and Play Times. It’s so much fun for young children. There is a great selection of rhymes and songs, some my be more familiar than others, but all just as entertaining and interactive as the next.
Feast your eyes on the illustrations, they’re all there, big, bright and bold for all to see, just to enhance the experience.
The rhymes and songs are easy for children and adults alike to pick up and you can have fun with the illustrations in imaginative play and discussion.
Best Buddies by Lynn Plourde Illustrated By Arthur Lin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Best Buddies is a picture book that tells a story of a boy with downs syndrome, the bond with his dog and starting school. Find out more in the blurb and my review below. Thanks firstly to Raintree Publishers for a review copy.
Best Buddies introduces a boy-and-dog duo who are BEST FRIENDS and who do EVERYTHING together! So how will they manage being apart when the boy heads to school for the first time? Find out how a clever boy with Down’s syndrome and his loyal pet find the perfect way to feel close even when they can’t be together. A sweet, inspiring story that will ease concerns about the first day of school and other big changes for kids.
Review
Boy and dog have a special bond and don’t ever want to apart from each other. The time comes for the boy to start school and it’s tough because it means leaving the dog behind. They literally do everything together. All is not lost though as slowly but surely they both find ways of coping and getting used to a new routine. By the end, the boy and his dog discover having to part for awhile isn’t all bad. The loyalty remains and they will reunite after school.
It’s a sweet story with fun illustrations and one that can be red for the joy of it and also to prepare for starting school, either in a new term, after a holiday or if you suddenly get a new pet and child and pet have bonded.
I reviewed a number of children’s books right across the ages from 0 to teenagers. Here are some I highly recommend. Starting with young children’s books, working up in age range. I have also provided links to the blurbs and full reviews as you wok you way down.
The Picture Books – 0 to 6 years
Trains, Trains, Trains! Is a fun-packed picture book that works on different levels. It encourages thought, speech and language as kids choose their favourite trains. It also has fun with counting and speed and provides children, including babies with a certain comfort in its train like rhythm of the words. It’s a book that adults can have fun with reading to children. Here is the link: Trains, Trains, Trains
Tilda Tries Again By Tom Percival was recently on CBeebies, read by Rob Burrows. It has fantastic illustrations, which really goes towards aiding the story along. It’s a positive, encouraging story that takes children into Tilda’s world, where it’s okay to give things another try. Here’s the link to the blurb and full review Tilda Tries Again
David’s Bathtime Adventure By Sue Wickstead is great for kids who love or dislike bathtime alike. It’s full of imaginative fun. It’s also got great tips for adults after the story too. Here’s the link to the blurb and full review: David’s Bathtime Adventure
The Fairy In The Kettle By Pauline Tait is a sweet story about friendship. It is also fun with a fairy who lives in a kettle and plenty goes on in this short adventure. Check out the blurb and review here: The Fairy In The Kettle
What The Ladybird Heard at Christmas By Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks is full of adventure and trepidation in this fun poetic story. Find out more in the link here: What The Ladybird Heard at Christmas
Daddy’s New Shed By Jessica Parkin sees him needing a new one, but who will get to use it? It has much humour. Here’s the link to the review and blurb: Daddy’s New Shed
Where Is My Smile? is charming and about a boy who has lost his. Is there a solution that can be found? The book promotes talk of feelings and wellbeing. Here’s the link to the blurb and review: Where Is My Smile?
The Middle Grade Books – 7 plus years
The Ultimate Guide to Growing Dragons by Andy Shepherd shows you too can grow dragons. The book is great for the adventurous and for young gardeners and the curious. It’s part of the excellent The Boy Who Grew Dragons series. This one also has fun pages set out like collection cards and so much more, as well as the story. Find out the blurb and full review in this link: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Dragons
Benji And The Gunpowder Plot By Kate Cunningham gives children a great time travelling adventure to the time of Guy Fawkes. It’s the first book in The Time Tumblers series. Find out more in the link for the review and blurb: Benji and the Gunpowder Plot
Jump By J.G.Nolan is a football story where old and young come together. They each learn something about football and a particular footballer. Here is the blurb and full review: Jump
Dread Wood By Jennifer Killick, author of the successful Craters Lake, is middlegrade horror at its best, on a par with Goosebumps by R.L. Stine. It’s atmospheric and twisty with mystery and dark tunnels… also a detention to boot. Why then is a teacher underground and a caretaker acting strangely? Here is the link to the blurb and full review: Dread Wood
Which Way To Anywhere By Cressida Cowell – author of How To Train Your Dragon and Wizard of Once, is exhilarating with a terrific cast of characters, including a robot assassin and trees not being quite how you would expect in this new magical world. Here is the link to the blurb and full review: Which Way To Anywhere
Young Adult/Teens -12 years plus
Being is Better and Beyond Invisible is a duology of books. Meet Amber and her friend. Both have quite different backgrounds and yet find each other. The book highlights teenage loneliness, grief, parental divorce, health issues, friendship. It is relatable and essential reading for teens/young adults. Here is the link to full blurbs and reviews of both books – Being Is Better Duology
I have reviewed a number of books where publishers/authors have donated proceeds to various charities. Some, a percentage, others the entire lot. I’ve decided to compile a list with links to the original reviews, extracts, which also have blurbs within them, where you can find out more info.
Charities highlighted are The Trussell Trust, Streetreads (homelessness), Marine Conservation Society. Feel free to take a look at these very different books… some may surprise you.
Cooking The Books is published by Hobeck Books who specialise in crime books. This book is part story, part cookbook. It comprises of excellent, twisty short stories of every genre of crime and a favourite recipe from most authors published by this Indy publisher.
UnLocked is by a group of authors who call themselves D20. You can find out who they are in my link to the full blog post, which this time includes an extract of 2 stories from the collection. They are atmospheric stories about ordinary people doing ordinary, but very necessary jobs.
The Dark Side of Christmas is by various authors published by Hobeck Books. Expect the unexpected in these tightly twisted stories. Expect the unexpected and open if you dare!
Blurb (no link this time) From ghostly skatings on thin ice, echoes of peppermint creams and the joys of being a secret Santa, to rebellious turkeys, deserted offices, spiteful colleagues and yuletide loneliness – these stories touch on strength of spirit, with the odd splash of blood and gore.
All royalties from the sale of this book go to Streetreads, a charitable initiative that encourages reading and creativity amongst the homeless in Scotland.
Leo And The Lightning Dragons By Gill White is a sensory story full of bravery, friendship and dragons. It is perfect for children in SEN and any child universally aged between 4-6 year olds. It is based on a real child – Leo, whom at the time of publishing was battling a rare form of epilepsy. It s a hopeful, optimistic story for children. Proceeds go to CHAS – Children’s Hospices Across Scotland. I originally reviewed in 2019, see link below. I have an update on Leo The publisher – Fledgling Press has now informed me and would like me to inform you all that ‘Sadly, Leo has lost his fight in the Spring of 2022 but we continue to support the fantastic work that CHAS does with families’.
Setsuko and the Song of the Sea By Fiona Barker about marine life and the jewels of the sea. She befriends a whale. Will Setsuko become a real life mermaid? A book for 5 plus to enjoy.
10% of the net profits from each book will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society
I have reviewed a number of books where publishers/authors have donated proceeds to various charities. Some, a percentage, others the entire lot. I’ve decided to compile a list with links to the original reviews, extracts, which also have blurbs within them, where you can find out more info.
Charities highlighted are The Trussell Trust, Streetreads (homelessness), Marine Conservation Society. Feel free to take a look at these very different books… some may surprise you.
Cooking The Books is published by Hobeck Books who specialise in crime books. This book is part story, part cookbook. It comprises of excellent, twisty short stories of every genre of crime and a favourite recipe from most authors published by this Indy publisher.
UnLocked is by a group of authors who call themselves D20. You can find out who they are in my link to the full blog post, which this time includes an extract of 2 stories from the collection. They are atmospheric stories about ordinary people doing ordinary, but very necessary jobs.
The Dark Side of Christmas is by various authors published by Hobeck Books. Expect the unexpected in these tightly twisted stories. Expect the unexpected and open if you dare!
Blurb (no link this time) From ghostly skatings on thin ice, echoes of peppermint creams and the joys of being a secret Santa, to rebellious turkeys, deserted offices, spiteful colleagues and yuletide loneliness – these stories touch on strength of spirit, with the odd splash of blood and gore.
All royalties from the sale of this book go to Streetreads, a charitable initiative that encourages reading and creativity amongst the homeless in Scotland.
Setsuko and the Song of the Sea By Fiona Barker about marine life and the jewels of the sea. She befriends a whale. Will Setsuko become a real life mermaid? A book for 5 plus to enjoy.
10% of the net profits from each book will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society
Leo And The Lightning Dragons By Gill White is a sensory story full of bravery, friendship and dragons. It is perfect for children in SEN and any child universally aged between 4-6 year olds. It is based on a real child – Leo, whom at the time of publishing was battling a rare form of epilepsy. It s a hopeful, optimistic story for children. Proceeds go to CHAS – Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.
I originally reviewed in 2019, see link below. I have an update on Leo.
The publisher – Fledgling Press has now informed me and would like me to inform you all that ‘Sadly, Leo has lost his fight in the Spring of 2022 but we continue to support the fantastic work that CHAS does with families’.
What The Ladybird Heard At Christmas By Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 