Along Came Poppy: Book Reviews

Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts

What is empathy; why is it important; and how can books help? #ReadForEmpathy

Today is Empathy Day; a day founded by EmpathyLab to focus on the importance of building real life empathy skills in children and young people through literature. But what is empathy; why is it such an important skill for children to develop; and how can books help?

As most of our regular readers are aware, this year has been a particularly challenging one in the Along Came Poppy household. The Mini Reviewers, now 4, 5 and 8, have had to deal with some huge changes and as a result there have been lots of big emotions flying around. The children have all experienced disturbed sleep, outbursts of anger as well as increased crying. These three things, according to the parents of 4-11 year olds recently surveyed by BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity, are the most common signs of young children being worried or anxious.

I am a firm believer in being honest and open about my feelings and always encourage my children to be the same, as they say "a problem shared is a problem halved". However, BookTrust's latest research highlighting the importance of reading for children's mental health, indicates that only just over half of children aged between 8-11 talk to their parents when they are feeling stressed, sad or worried. 39% of children in this age range even admit to finding it difficult to talk about their feelings or emotions.*

Kipper's Big Blue Balloon Blog Tour!

Kipper the dog is turning 30 and to celebrate Hodder Children's Books have released a special anniversary edition of Mick Inkpen's classic picture book The Blue Balloon. This is the story in which Kipper made his debut appearance and the lovable pup has been entertaining children ever since. It is a book that I have fond childhood memories of and one that I now enjoy sharing with my Mini Reviewers so today we are delighted to be taking part in Kipper's Big Blue Balloon Blog Tour!

Touring Picture Book: In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon

Hello and welcome back to Along Came Poppy! The last few weeks really seem to have flown by here and, as we are already well into March, it is time for another Touring Picture Book choice.

For those of you new to the blog, every month the Touring Picture Book team, comprising of Acorn Books, BookBairn, Mamma Filz and ourselves, choose a new picture book together with activities inspired by the story to share with you. This month our choice is the enchanting In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon written and illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon and published by Templar Books.

Blog Tour: The Dinosaur Department Store

Today it is our stop on The Dinosaur Department Store Blog Tour and we are delighted to be sharing our thoughts on this fantastic new picture book with you. Written by Lily Murray and vibrantly illustrated by Richard Merritt, we are sure this read aloud romp of a story will get you and your little bookworms giggling!

Touring Picture Book: All Are Welcome

Hello and welcome back to Along Came Poppy after our little blogging break. Today as part of the Touring Picture Book team, we are delighted to be sharing the wonderfully colourful All Are Welcome written by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman and published in the UK earlier this year by Bloomsbury.

This is the first Touring Picture Book of 2019 and as always we are collaborating with fellow picture book enthusiasts and bloggers Bookbairn, Mamma Filz and Acorn Books. We have all shared a different activity inspired by the same book so please do take a look at where All Are Welcome took each of us this month.

New Year, New Challenge?

As the new year approaches, are you like so many others looking for a new challenge? Then why not run your own book business and become a Scholastic Book Champion?

Christmas Traditions for Book Lovers

I recently read about an Icelandic Christmas Tradition which is part of Jólabókaflóð roughly translated as "the book flood of Christmas” when most publishing houses release a “flood” of new books just in time for Christmas. The tradition involves the exchanging of books on Christmas Eve and then settling down for a cosy evening of reading and eating chocolate. As a book lover and self-confessed chocoholic, this sounds like the perfect way to to celebrate Christmas and a lovely tradition to adopt as a family. Over the last few years there seems to have been a dramatic increase in popularity of celebrating Christmas with books and, in particular, children's books. Here are a few of our favourite Christmas Traditions for Book Lovers together with a brilliant selection of Christmas Books.

Chapter Book of the Month: Isadora Moon Makes Winter Magic

For those of you that are regular readers, you will know that Mini Reviewer, Izzie, now 7, has a favourite series of books about a little half vampire, half fairy called Isadora Moon.

Books of the Month: October

With December just around the corner, October feels like a rather distant memory, however as both October and November are incredibly busy months in our house full of birthdays and lots of excitement, we hadn't quite got round to sharing our favourite reads of last month until now so here goes...

The Touring Book Club: The Boy and the Bear #TouringPictureBook

We are back with another Touring Picture Book post and this month The Touring Book Club team comprising of ourselves and three other book loving families (Bookbairn, Acorn Books and Mamma Fliz) have chosen the very beautiful The Boy and the Bear to share with you all. Written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Sarah Massini, The Boy and the Bear is a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship and is perfect for snuggling up with on a cold Winter's day.

Spooky Stories from Bloomsbury #ReadYourSocksOff

So with Halloween right around the corner we have some spooky picture books to share with you from Bloomsbury Picture Books. Since September Bloomsbury have been PAIRing brilliant picture books with a different theme each month to introduce children to some exciting new reads. September's theme was FRIENDSHIP and you can read about what Mamma Filz thought of Bloomsbury's selection here. This month's theme is of course Halloween, just take a look at this fairly spooky selection we were sent and get ready to READ YOUR SOCKS OFF!

The Touring Book Club: STORM #TouringPictureBook

After an incredibly blustery weekend, it seems incredibly fitting that our Touring Book Club choice this month is STORM. Written and illustrated by Sam Usher and published by Templar Publishing, STORM is the fourth and final instalment in a beautiful seasonal series of books, which celebrate the special relationship between a little boy and his grandad.

BookTrust's Great Books Guide 2018 #GreatBooksGuide

If you are looking for some reading inspiration for your little ones this Autumn, we recommend that you take a look at BookTrust's Great Books Guide 2018. The guide contains over 100 book recommendations for children aged 0-12.

Today is the last stop on the Sign Here Blog Tour and it is finally our turn so welcome to Along Came Poppy and we do hope you enjoy our post.

Sign Here is a truly unique book for children containing 22 "unofficially official" forms to be ripped out, filled in and of course signed! The forms cover all sorts of childhood issues from dream and pet requests, to tooth collection and thank yous. These humour-filled forms also provide a lighthearted and imaginative way for children to communicate some bigger issues for example when they are scared, sad, angry or simply want to say sorry.

The book, which is a collaboration between two milliners, author Gabrielle Djanogly and illustrator, Adele Mildred, is designed with children age 6-10 in mind. It is perfect for those creative and imaginative little beings who thrive on writing notes, creating charts and making lists. So when Mini Reviewer, Izzie, first got her hands on our copy of Sign Here, she could not wait to get started!

Books of the Month: September

Hello, today we are sharing our favourite books from September. Whenever I sit down to write our monthly favourites post, I am amazed that it is that time again but here we are already more than a week into October. It will be time to go Trick or Treating before you know it!

Speaking of Halloween, you may have already seen our post about our favourite Chapter Book this month, Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone. As our choice is already such a well known book, instead of doing a standard review, I shared our experience of reading Harry Potter to the Mini Reviewers . You can read the full post here: When to read Harry Potter to your Little Bookworms.

As well as a favourite Chapter Book, we have picked our favourite Non-Fiction Book and Picture Book from last month too. We do hope you enjoy our choices!

When to read Harry Potter to your Little Bookworms...

Hello and welcome back to Along Came Poppy! Today we are discussing our favourite Chapter Book from September, Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone by J.K Rowling, published by Bloomsbury. As it is a book that so many of you will be familiar with already, instead of a standard review, I am sharing my thoughts on when to read Harry Potter to your little bookworms.

The Itchy-saurus by Rosie Wellesley #NationalEczemaWeek

Did you know that 20% of children have eczema? Unfortunately this figure includes all three of my Mini Reviewers, so we thought as it is National Eczema Week, we'd share a great book all about a very itchy and angry dino!

Today we are delighted to be taking part in the Maybe the Moon Blog Tour. Maybe the Moon is the stunningly beautiful debut picture book by Frances Ives, published by LOM ART. It is a gentle and heartwarming tale of friendship and community and most importantly it reassures us that we are never truly alone:

"I know that the moon, so high above,

is shining on me and the friends I love.

Whether we live in the forest or play in the park,

we are all joined together by the light in the dark."

The Mini Reviewers have been back at school and nursery for a few weeks now and that combined with the distinct change of weather, means that Autumn has most definitely arrived! You may have noticed we were a little quiet over the Summer months, this was mainly because we were too busy reading as well as having a few bookish adventures of our own. Poohsticks anyone? Or perhaps a spot of Gruffalo Orienteering?

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