Bigger and Bigger

Bigger and Bigger
Animals, Wheels & Dinosaurs

Written by Moira Butterfield
Illustrated by Bella Bee

Published by Milly & Flynn

Milly & Flynn have just released this lovely hardback series called Bigger and Bigger. The series currently includes Animals, Wheels and Dinosaurs which all feature pages that increase in size with each turn of page. With clear, recognisable animals, dinosaurs and vehicles, children will love pointing out the different things.

Animals starts off with a little mouse warning a bird not to chase him as just around the corner is his bigger friend. With each page, each animal meets a bigger animal and warns them that their friend is much bigger. But when they meet Elephant, he's scared of Mouse but Mouse just wants them all to be friends.

Dinosaurs features Dinky Dino who just wants to reach some tasty leaves to eat but he's too small. He meets lots of bigger dinosaurs all eating different coloured leaves but he just can't reach until he meets the biggest Dinosaur, his Daddy, who pulls down some yummy leaves for him and tells Dinky Dino that one day he will be as big as him.

Wheels features Billy on his bike who is overtaken by a motorcycle, a sports car, a van and a tractor but when they all become stuck behind a broken down truck, there's only enough room for Billy and his bike to get pass. Sometimes its good to be the smallest.

Aoife enjoyed sitting down and exploring these books and found them easy to turn with the different sized pages. I read them out loud but would also point out the different vehicles and animals and used the Dinosaur book to explore colours with her.

I really like the colour gradient on the outside and the different animals, dinosaurs and vehicles peeking out. Each one features a fun rhythmic story with happy endings and a sweet message. 

With bright colours and cute characters, the Bigger and Bigger series is ideal for ages between 1- 4 years. For more information visit Milly & Flynn.

Who's in the Jungle?

Who's in the Jungle?

By Rebecca Gerlings and illustrated by Kimberley Scott
Published by Milly & Flynn

This large touch and feel board book, is illustrated by the lovely Kimberley Scott, another artist whose work I’m familiar with. A bright colourful 6 page spread filled with cute jungle animals, with each page spread starting with 'Here in the jungle…' followed by a rhyming sentence describing the animal that can be found.

The colours palette is nicely picked, with each spread having a different tone, so children can associate the colours with the animals surroundings.

I love the large tabs around the edge of this board book, great for little chubby fingers, and with the animals peeking out it gives a clue to little ones of who’s in the jungle.

There’s quite a good amount of textured surfaces on each spread throughout the book, with each texture being different, great for little hands to explore. This book is recommended for 1 years and over but is definitely a great first touch and feel book!

Who’s in the Jungle will be available to buy in bookshops from September and on the Milly & Flynn website.

My Favourite Fairytales

My Favourite Fairytales

by Nina Filipek and illustrated by Bruno Merz
 Published by Milly & Flynn

 

Aoife and I were extremely lucky to receive the series of book, My Favourite Fairytales, from new childrens publishers Milly & Flynn.

 

The fairytale series includes; The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Ugly Duckling, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Rapunzel, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Hansel and Gretel.

 

 

All are retold by Nina Filipek and illustrated by Bruno Merz. The books are recommended for children over three years due to the suggested activities and stickers that can be found at the back of each book. Please note that the books will be available from early July and will each be sold with 2 sticker sheets for a limited period of time.

These classic stories have traditional illustrated illustrations in watercolour and pencil, which makes a lovely continuity throughout the series.

 

 

For each book the story flows well and at the end includes activities to encourage the child to think about what has happened and to flick back into the book to help answer the questions. From a layout point of view, the use of type and for some books, the different fonts, all enhance the telling of the stories bringing these classics up to date.

With the lovely surprise of stickers at the end of each book, if you don’t want your little one sticking them to walls or furniture, they would be great to use for creative activities - such as encouraging your child to create artwork about the story using the stickers or making up their own stories about the characters.

…And even though Aoife is too young for these books, after reading this article on the Guardian; about US paediatricians now urging parents to read to children from their earliest days, it never really is too early to start reading to your little ones!

No bookshelf should be out these classic tales as they are stories that shape all of our childhoods and are true treasures to for future generations to enjoy.

For more information on the books visit the Milly & Flynn site.