Newest For Sharing Reviews

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Santa Claude by Alex T Smith

For Sharing

Ah Claude! He is such an endearing little dog. He's back on an adventure with Sir Bobblysock and this time it is a Christmas adventure. There are baubles and trees and carols and reindeer and, of course, there's trouble! For who else but Claude would accidentally handcuff Santa to an armchair on Christmas Eve, and then need to deliver all the presents himself? Full review...

Ludwig the Space Dog by Henning Lohlein

For Sharing

Before there was Neil Armstrong and before there was Yuri Gagarin, there was another explorer of Space – Laika. This was no man however, but a dog. Laika was one of the first animals to explore space; the less said about her fate the better, but surely her adventures would encourage other canines to explore the great beyond? Ludwig is one such Mutt and although we may not have a rocket ship to help him with his adventures, we do have a set of 3D glasses. Full review...

Fred by Mick Inkpen and Chloe Inkpen

For Sharing

It's tricky being a puppy. There are so many things to try to understand, like sit, and stay, and fetch! Whilst the pup in this story has learned all of these tricky commands, and is doing very well at being a good boy, he is having some issues around the word 'Fred'...what on earth does everyone mean when they keep shouting it at him? Full review...

The Storm Whale in Winter by Benji Davies

For Sharing

The Storm Whale in Winter is a sequel to the highly popular The Storm Whale. Noi's father embarks on one last fishing trip before the Arctic Winter sets in. All alone, with his six cats, Noi patiently waits for his father's return. As night sets and the sea begins to freeze, Noi starts to worry and believes he can see his Dad's boat from his bedroom window. Full of courage, he sets off out in the snow to find his Dad. Getting lost in the blizzard, Noi is in need of help which comes in the form of his old friend. Full review...

Threadbear by Mick Inkpen

For Sharing

We have all had a special teddy, the teddy which is not perfect, the one that would never be classed as beautiful but the one that is loved more than any other. Threadbear is that very teddy. The man who made him put so much stuffing in him that his arms and legs were too hard. Sadly, because of all the extra stuffing, the squeaker in his stomach has never squeaked. Not once. Ever. Threadbear feels he is letting his Ben down, so he embarks on a mission to fix his squeaker. He tries and tries but fails, until he decides that there is one special person he must meet and maybe this will be the only person who can fix his squeaker. Full review...

The Building Boy by Ross Montgomery and David Litchfield

For Sharing

This is the story of a boy and his Grandma. An award-wining architect, Grandma promises to build the boy a special house on a hill over the horizon, over a city and beyond the sea. But Grandma is getting old – too old to make houses. And, one day, she is gone. Without Grandma, the house is empty. It’s just rooms. But the boy has an idea – it requires a lot of work but the result is totally magical. Full review...

A Piglet Called Truffle by Helen Peters and Ellie Snowdon

For Sharing

Living on a farm, with her father who works as a farmer and a mother who is a farm-vet, Jasmine has spent all her young life learning how to care for animals. On a visit to a neighbouring farm, Jasmine is excited to see the new baby piglets. Expecting to see eleven piglets, she is stunned to find one extra - a tiny little runt hiding in the corner. Being smaller than her hand, the farmer has no sympathy and expects it to die by the end of the day. Of course, Jasmine can't allow this to happen. The story is then set for a struggle to save the smallest piglet, called Truffle. Full review...

Spinderella by Julia Donaldson and Sebastien Braun

For Sharing

From high above the classroom, Spinderella watches in fascination the classroom activities at Scuttleton Primary School. She wants to be able to do two things: play football and count. However, her family of spiders are only interested in flies, flies and flies. They also have no desire to learn how to count Down with numbers they all cry. Unperturbed by their lack of enthusiasm, Spinderella goes in search of numbers and playing football. Along the way she meets a familiar wish granting character (no spoilers here) and her journey begins. Full review...

Letter to Pluto by Lou Treleaven

For Sharing

Letter to Pluto is a story told through an inter-planetary pen-pal friendship. Set in the year 2317, writing with a pen and sending letters has certainly become a dying art-form. However, Jon’s teacher, Mrs Hall, decides it is important to keep the art of letter writing alive. The only difference is that Jon’s pen-pal lives a long way away. 75 billion km to be precise. On Pluto. At first the idea of writing at all is bad enough, but when Jon finds out that his pen-pal is a girl he nearly quits the programme. Encouraged by his teacher’s bribes of merit awards for his best writing, Jon soon learns that Pluto is not as boring, small and smelly as he first thought. Full review...

Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph

For Sharing

As the title suggests this is the story about the 'Odd Dog Out'. All Odd Dog wants is to fit in and she, therefore, travels around the world to find a place where everyone is just like her. Everything seems perfect until she meets a dog who is behaving differently and realises that it might actually be a good thing to stand out from the crowd. Full review...

More People to Love Me by Mo O'Hara and Ada Grey

For Sharing

'More People to Love Me' is a story about a little girl with a huge family. She has a mummy and a step-mum, a daddy and a step-dad and four brothers and sisters. She also has lots of grandparents: in fact, she has so many grandparents she has to have a special name for some of them – like Grananna, who is her step-dad David's mum. Given the size of her family, it's not surprising that this little girl struggles to fit everyone on the family tree she draws at school. This upsets her a bit until she realises it's actually better to have a forest than a single tree. Full review...

The Road Home by Katie Cotton and Sarah Jacoby

For Sharing

The year is winding down, and nature is beginning to turn her thoughts again to winter. As the leaves begin to change, and birds start to fly South, animals throughout the forest are preparing for this change in seasons. This book follows their trials and tribulations as they all try to take the road that leads them home. Full review...

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton

For Sharing

As a teacher and a parent, one of the main aims I have when it comes to reading is to promote a love of reading in all children. This can of course in general be more challenging with boys. Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton have created a wonderful book with two familiar characters at the centre. Their previous tales of Shifty McGifty were shorter books around 35 pages told though rhyme. However, their latest book, The Spooky School, at 124 pages, is perfect for the maturing primary school student (approximately 6-9 years of age). If these children had experienced the earlier books, then there is a feeling that Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam have grown up with them. Although this book will appeal to both boys and girls, boys will particularly enjoy these fun tales. Full review...

The Dragon's Hoard by Lari Don

For Sharing

If you ask anyone to name a Viking story, legend or tale, my money would be on Beowulf. However, it is not clear whether this was an Anglo-Saxon or Viking tale. Try further and search on Amazon for Viking sagas for children and you won't get very far. Until now, that is. Lari Don has written a collection of stories which bring tales from this historical era to life. Most primary schools study Vikings as a topic, so it is surprising that there are so few quality stories around for this age group. Full review...

Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast

For Sharing

I'm going to tell you a story about Dog, Man, Lady and the Pup. They all work on an industrial site - in fact Dog and Man live there in a caravan and Man drives the sort of digger which is dreamed about by boys large and small. Lady and the Pup run the snack bar and one day as they're all having something to eat, the Pup goes missing. Man and Lady search everywhere but it's Dog's sharp ears which finally track him down - caught in a branch over a fast-flowing stream. And it's Dog who works out how to rescue him. I needed 88 words to tell you that story, but Kate Prendergast does it without using a single one - and she tells it in a far more engaging way than I could ever manage. Full review...

Can You Say It Too? Brrr! Brrr! by Sebastien Braun

For Sharing

What most parents don't tell you is that they only have children for their own entertainment – the little tykes can be hilarious funny. One fun area is when a baby starts to learn words – DaDa, MaMa. Soon they pick up seemingly random words – Light! Yallow! (I think that is meant to be hello). Once they start looking intently at your lips as you speak you can start to guide them to words that you want them to use. For example, what language skills would they require if they visited Antarctica? Full review...

A Day With Dogs by Dorothee de Monfreid

For Sharing

I couldn't resist a book entitled A Day With Dogs, not least because it's my idea of heaven, and I was intrigued by the subtitle What Do Dogs Do All Day? Well, when you open the book you'll get an answer to that question, although it certainly won't be the one that you're expecting: these dogs are in cars, on skis, in the kitchen, at the doctor and in lots more places. There's a hint to the style of the book in the dedication: for Richard Scarry. Full review...

Sing Along With Me: We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Yu-hsuan Huang

For Sharing

I'm not normally a great fan of Christmas-themed books: after the day they're a bit old hat - for the adults if not for the children, but just occasionally something comes along that's so well done that an exception can be made. As soon as I touched We Wish You a Merry Christmas I could feel the quality: it's a chunky board book with added extras. The fun starts on the cover: there's a slider (look for the red ring with the yellow arrows) which makes a penguin (I think!) and a fox appear and disappear from behind a Christmas tree. As the animals move you can see pictures of two more animals playing in the snow. Full review...

Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms by Gloria D Gonsalves

For Sharing

Lamellia is a kingdom of mushrooms lying deep within a forest. It is ruled by Polipoli, its big brown king. One day, a group from his mushroom army finds a human baby abandoned in the forest. The baby is hungry and crying. What will the mushrooms do? Will they reject the baby as a member of a hostile species? Or will they take care of it and accept it as one of their own? They choose the latter option, but how will a kingdom of mushrooms take care of a human baby? By working together, of course! Full review...

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter and Quentin Blake

For Sharing

At night a serious, well-behaved and (let's be honest) rather superior young black cat goes out hunting. Well, if we're being totally honest, there's a little bit of poaching in there too. By day she is Miss Catherine St Quintin, although her owner calls her Kitty. Other cats call her Q, or Squintums, but they are very common cats and Kitty's owner would have been scandalised had she known that there was an acquaintance. The reaction would have been even stronger had she known that Miss Kitty went out in a gentleman's Norfolk jacket and fur-lined boots. With a gun. Full review...

The New Libearian by Alison Donald and Alex Willmore

For Sharing

For a job that often deals with words, Librarian is not an easy thing to spell. I often drop one of the Rs and end up with Libarian and that just will not do. One simple spelling mistake can make a word take on a whole new meaning; what would possibly happen if you spelt it Libearian? Is it a mistype, or does the person behind the Help Desk look a little hairy to you? What big paws you have Libearian – all the better to stamp your books with. Full review...

Meltdown! by Jill Murphy

For Sharing

Before I say a word about this book, I want to offer a few words of reassurance. Firstly, we've all been there, cringing, trying to pretend that it's not your child. Secondly, it doesn't mean that you're a bad parent - or, if you are, so is everybody else. Finally there is nothing wrong with your child: they've just got a dose of the terrible twos (or threes) or the frightful fours. It will pass. Honestly. Right? Are you ready to read on now? Good. Just take it steadily. Full review...

Amma, Tell Me About Diwali! by Bhakti Mathur

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Klaka had celebrated Diwali and it had been great fun - a wonderful, beautiful day and tonight the city is lit up by thousands and thousands of lights. Amma and daddy had given many gifts to their boy and Klaka and his brother had lit the earthen oil lamps known as diyas. They didn't just eat and have a good time - they also offered their prayers for good fortune, prosperity and health to Ganesha, the God of new beginnings and to Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. But Klaka was curious: Amma he said, tell me about Diwali. Full review...

The Snowflake Mistake by Lou Treleaven and Maddie Frost

For Sharing

Princess Ellie lives in an ice palace that floats high in the sky. Her mum is the Snow Queen and they have a very special machine that collects clouds and turns them into snowflakes. The machine works perfectly until the day that Princess Ellie is left in charge – the machine breaks and Ellie has to find another way of making snowflakes. Luckily her friends the birds are able to help. Full review...

An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

For Sharing

Some might say you only ever need one alphabet book in a home. Considering we have half a dozen (and, as it happens, no little ones in the house) I would counter this with a question: how many words are there in the world? Because when you only get one for each letter, you may find a simple book of 26 entries may not be enough. Full review...

Mog Time by Judith Kerr

For Sharing

Mog Time is a compendium of six stories about the beloved cat. It is a beautiful, heavy hard back book which means it is perfect for reading together. The pages are large so everyone can crowd round and have a look. It might be a little tricky for smaller hands to manage but that's not a problem as these are much better for reading aloud and enjoying together. Full review...

The Snowman Strikes Back by Allan Plenderleith

Emerging Readers

It's not easy being a snowman, you know - particularly when you are made by Ernest Green-Bogle, who delights in tormenting you. Sometimes he'd make you upside down or looking like a pig (it's just plain undignified, you know). That's not the worst of it. He has been known to attack snowman with a hairdryer, feed his carrot nose to a rabbit and even encase him in a block of ice. The snow clown was not funny and the snow ice cream cone even less so. But one day everything changed when Ernest came home and there was a big boy with him. Ernest had a black eye and the big boy was threatening him. Full review...

Little Monster and the Spooky Party by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart

For Sharing

There are spooky things happening in the world of books for children that can only mean one thing; Halloween is around the corner. There are books for Christmas, Easter and the August Bank Holiday, so why not some for the scary holiday? After all, themes such as ghosts and skeletons are far easier to write about than traffic jams on the M6 and spending time with your in-laws. One little monster has been invited to the type of spooky party that may just entertain your own little monster. Full review...

Ten Little Monsters by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty

For Sharing

Halloween is a strange event, it has been increasingly Americanised and sold to children as a fun day of scary activities and sweets. However, if you think about it, dressing your child as an undead bride or blood sucking vampire actually seems a little odd. These are the same kids that get scared when Brian Blessed shouts on TV, yet they are happy to cover themselves in fake blood. Creating a book that is Halloween themed is a balance of making it exciting, but not scary; sometimes the books can be both. Full review...

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

For Sharing

If I told you that They All Saw A Cat is a children's picture book about perception, you might be forgiven for thinking that toddlers were taking their pleasures a little sadly these days: you might be slightly mollified when I added in that it was also about the natural world, but it's much better that I just tell you a little bit about the content and I'm sure that you'll understand. Full review...

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

Emerging Readers

The first thing you must know about Ada Marie is the way she said nothing until the day she was three. Now that's a way to pique your interest from the start. After all what sort of child does not speak until she turns three? In this case it's a very smart little girl. Full review...

The Hippopandamouse by Jools Bentley

For Sharing

When the princess comes to your shop, everyone stands to attention, and Fluffley's Fine Toys is no exception. In preparation, the staff work hard to ensure everything is perfect. The floor is clean, the shelves neat and tidy, a place for everything and everything in its place. And if anything doesn't meet these exacting stands then POOF! It's off to the Unstitcher room. There is no room for anything less than perfection here. Full review...

What's the Opposite? by Oliver Jeffers

For Sharing

When a child is very young they don't have the ability to grasp what their hands are, never mind complex matters of State, but eventually they all must start to learn. One way to achieve this is by reading fun books about the alphabet or numbers, but not all concepts are as clear as letters and numbers. What about the concept of opposites? How do you define to a 16 month year old why one thing is opposite to the other? Thankfully, you don't need to know the answer as the Hueys are on hand to help in their usual irreverent way. Full review...