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Fishy Books and Activities

This week we were thrilled to receive a fishy package from The Happy Book Club to review. The Happy Book Club provides different themed book packs for pre-schoolers and young children.
A neatly wrapped package arrived!

WHAT DOES THE SUBSCRIPTION INCLUDE?
Take a little look at our brief unboxing video below:


As you can see the Mini Reviewers were very excited to see what was inside the neatly wrapped package!

We discovered that the theme for this month is “Fish!” and the package contained two beautiful picture books (see our reviews below) and a sheet of activity suggestions. The subscription also includes access to an online community and competitions; and a monthly donation is made to a relevant charity.

WHAT ARE THE BOOKS LIKE?
We have not received a book subscription pack before, so I didn’t know what to expect from the books themselves but I was pleasantly surprised. Both books are relatively new publications (2015/6) and we have not come across them before.

The Happy Book Club - August Package
The River An Epic Journey To The Sea - Illustrated by Hanako Clulow with text by Patricia Hegarty - Caterpillar Books (2016)
A gentle rhyming story, which tells the tale of a small fish’s journey down river. Starting in the snow-capped mountains she travels through pine forests and finally reaches the sea. This is a high quality, hardback picture book. The illustrations of the wildlife and scenery surrounding the river are stunning and are accentuated by a small holographic fish that appears to be swimming down the river. Also the final double page of the book has some lovely fish with foil detailing. The Mini Reviewers were very excited by the moving fish. They also liked talking about the wildlife on each page.

Buy here.

Tiny Whale A Fishy Tale - Text by Joshua George and illustrated by Puy Pinillos - Top That (2015)
Gerald, a little goldfish, feels unimportant and is fed up of being one of many. He sets off on an adventure and when he discovers a reef full of blue fish he reinvents himself as a whale! With its bright pictures and humour, this book is very different in style to the first. It makes a great story to read aloud and the Mini Reviewers loved it.

Buy here.

HOW DID WE GET ON WITH THE ACTIVITIES?
The activity sheet provided details of a website where colouring sheets and puzzles can be printed off; and a Pinterest board with lots of relevant craft ideas. There was also a link to a fishy song; an outing suggestion; and the details of this month’s charity, The Marine Conservation Society.

As my printer is out of action (don’t ask!), I was unable to print off the colouring sheets so we tried the “celery stamping fish activity” off the Pinterest board. This was a huge success!
We also had a good sing-a-long to the song and checked out the Marine Conservation Society’s page, which has lots of educational games and activities to explore.

OUR VERDICT
The Mini Reviewers were super excited to receive the surprise package in the post. It was fun to unwrap together to discover what was inside. Receiving a themed box was really novel for both me and the children. The books were excellent and the activity sheet gave me lots of age appropriate ideas to keep the little ones entertained. Thank you to the Happy Book Club!


Have you tried any book subscription services?
If so, drop us a comment below we'd love to hear from you!
Until next time... HAPPY READING!
Kate & the Mini Reviewers xx

Disclaimer: We received the August Subscription Package for free from The Happy Book Club, all opinions are, as always, my own. This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, you can find out more about what this means here.

17 comments:

  1. I love the idea of book subscription boxes but I'm worried that we will get doublers given we have so many books already. This looks fab though! Would make a great birthday or Christmas gift though!

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    1. That is always my worry too! I think getting a subscription box for new parents would be fab - I'd have loved that :)

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  2. fab idea but I am addicted to the Works - 3 books for a fiver - absolute bargain!! #KCACOLS

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  3. What a lovely surprise to get in the post, although I would worry about getting books we didn't like! Had to laugh at your printer not working. That's exactly the sort of thing that happens to me all the time!

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    1. Printer still not working - total nightmare! Yes always a risk that you may not like them but I sometimes find the kids like books I wouldn't normally choose for them:)

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  4. I do love a good subscription box especially if it involves books, sounds like an absolute bargain too! Thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe

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    1. I do like the thought of getting surprises every month - like Christmas really :)

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  5. Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x

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  6. How lovely! I love how they pick a theme each month, rather than it just being a completely random choice! x #KCACOLS

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  7. This is a great idea will have to look into it #KCACOLS x

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  8. What a fantastic idea for a subscription service! I love the idea of receiving books through the post! #KCACOLS

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  9. I love the idea of a book subscription! These seem like lovely books - I was looking for fish books a couple of weeks ago and failed to find any in the library - these would have been perfect! #KCACOLS

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  10. This sounds like a good idea! My two would be really excited by this - they love their books! #KCACOLS

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  11. Subscription packs are always so exciting when they come through your letterbox, aren't they? I like the theme idea, and the ability to tailor the subscription to your child's age - these sound great! Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again tomorrow!

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  12. Just reading back through these comments and they're really helpful, thank you. To anyone who was worried about receiving books that they already have or books that aren't liked, we would swap books free of charge! Do check out our Twitter feed @HappyBookClub for an upcoming Christmas campaign!

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