Hairy Bear

Hairy Bear

By Sam McCullen

We recently received this lovely illustrated picture book, Hairy Bear, by Sam McCullen. This is Sam's second picture book that he has written and illustrated, Billy Back-to-Front, was his first. Sam has a beautiful unique style which makes me reminisce of children’s TV shows such as Pigeon Street. It’s this very style that has made him work with great authors like Julia Donaldson and Ian Whybrow.

Sam's second picture book is about a hairy bear that is tired of sharing a mountain meadow with his family and so he sets off to find somewhere better. He finds himself in a town which is full of bears just like him, but not all is what it seems...

The book has such a traditional charm with its detailed pencil illustrations that it would appeal to adults and young children alike. With its long landscaped shape, soft muted colours and easy flowing words, it makes a lovely book to read at bed time. Everything works really well together within the book, the type face and subtle rhyming - it's a book that I can see children acting out with their own teddy bears and you could ask them to look out for the little spider that follows hairy bear on his travels.

All in all this is a perfect picture book. And if you love bears, like I do, then its the ideal purchase! Hairy Bear is available from all good bookshops and to buy from Sam’s website here (he even does a personally signed copy!).

Tickly Fish & Friends

Tickly Fish & Friends!

By Mandy Stanley

Another fab title supplied from Top That Publishing. When this came in the post, I nearly gave myself a fright by catching the pink furry tummy button - A loud ‘tickling’ laugh echoed out of the envelope! I had received Tickly Fish & Friends, a bright and colourful sound book, about a tickly fish and her underwater friends who all have tickly tummies.

This book comes from the author/illustrator, Mandy Stanley, who also writes and illustrates the wonderful Lettice series of picture books. The illustrations in Tickly Fish are bold, colourful and they work perfectably with the words and story.

This is a lovely way of introducing under water sea life and with the repetition of being asked ‘Who’s tickling his/her tum?’, it allows the child to look ahead and guess the new animal which can be then followed by tickling the animal’s tummy, and pushing the button to hear their laughing.

A solid book with wipeable cover and pages for little grubby hands, which is always a good thing (as I'm sure I will soon experience with only 5 weeks to go!). I can imagine ending this book with… who’s tickling baby’s tummy?

Tickly Fish & Friends is available to buy in bookshops and from the Top That Publishing website.

A day on the Farm

I was very lucky to receive the following book from Top That Publishing, and what a lovely surprise.

A day on the Farm

Illustrated by Steph Hinton and written by Sally Hopgood

 

 

This lovely illustrated item is a ‘pull-the-tab book’ and my initial thoughts, after quickly flicking through, was that the character design by Steph Hinton was great, it worked well with the colours and patterns, and an overall attractive book.

A sturdy hard back book that will help introduce the names of farm animals and their young; where they live and what sounds they may make, and what you could expect to find on a farm yard.

Writing flows well but even if you had already read this book to your child, you could explore this book in other ways, i.e asking what sounds do the different animals make, where do the animals sleep? Ask them to spot the other animals that can be found on the pages, such as a cat, frog or bird. Lots of fun can be had with this book and maybe an early way of introducing farm animals before actually visiting a farm..

Though I have yet to test this with a little one, the pull outs feel sturdy and I can imagine exploring this book many times throughout their early years.

A day on the farm is available to buy now from all good bookstores and online from Top That Publishing.

Baby on the way

Hi!

Welcome to my blog, Bookworm Baby!

I love books and I especially love children’s picture books, but with a baby on the way (in 5/6 weeks time, eek) I have never really looked at those early pre-school books for the very young. Through this blog, I hope to explore the pre-school, early years and picture books with my little one and hopefully he or she will enjoy this journey together with me.

Though it may be a while before they will be interested in books, other than putting them in their mouths, I’m already keeping an eye out in book stores and online for great finds that I hope to share with you.

Here’s my little one at 20 weeks, not long to go.

Thanks for popping by!