Where Has The Books That Heal Kids Lady Been?

It's not often that I throw a personal post in my blog but maybe some of you have been wondering why I haven't been posting as much these past few months. Trust me - I've got stacks of AWESOME books sitting right here just waiting to be bragged about. I have had a good reason.....

I am expecting a baby girl in October and well....enough said....I've been a little bit occupied. I'm known to be a passionate gal so we've just been living it up in the land of baby. I've also taken a little time to set up a baby blog for friends and family which if you are a blogger than you know that's a time sucker! My love of books sure hasn't diminished though. Got LOTS of great reviews coming your way....working on some good ones today. Thanks for your patience. Now lets get back to discussing all things books!

Review: Hester's Blister

Hester's Blister

Written by Chris Gurney

Illustrated by Sarah Nelisiwe Anderson

Publication date: 2010
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 978-1-86943-930-0

Summary/Back cover:
"OUCH!" said Hester Lister,
for she had a nasty blister,
right on the tippy of her tongue...


Hester asks everyone to help her find a remedy for her pesky blister problem, but her journey has an unexpected result!

Review:

Wow what a fantastic story about a common blister of all things!  Hester is in search of a remedy for a blister which takes her on a journey to seek a variety of advice which she graciously accepts, great rhyming with a neat twist at the end.

To my surprise my 3 year old son chose this book to read before a book about dragons and he said "read it again mum" which I did because I loved it too!   A great endorsement from a 3 year old who can quickly lose interest but he was into the story 100%.

Recommended age from 3 to 100.

Review written by Teresa

Review: Have You Seen My Potty?

Have You Seen My Potty?

Written by Mij Kelly

Illustrated by Mary McQuillan

Publication date: 2007

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books

ISBN: 978-0-340-91152-5

Summary/Back cover:

This is the story of Suzy Sue, who has something very important to do!  

The truth is she needs to do a poo... Will she find her bright red potty in time?

Review:

This is the toilet training book that I've been looking for for months!  I was so pleased to stumble upon this wee gem - it's about a young girl who needs to do a poo in her potty, but it's gone missing.  In fact, the farm animals have taken it, and are using the "poo-pot" and raving about how wonderful it is, whilst not knowing what this "potty" is that Suzy Sue is looking for.

Eventually, she gets the job done... and, as an added bonus, my 2.5 year old actually got a poo in the toilet after a read-throughs of this book. So thank you to Mij and Mary for creating the perfect toilet training book!!

A definite must-have for parents of toddlers - we've only got this book out of the library, and I'm reluctant to return it, as it's become a very well-read book here.  I think I'll have to find a copy to have permanently in our bookshelf here, especially as the 10 month old will no doubt go through the toilet training stage in a wee while, too!

It's funny, it's clever, the illustrations are gorgeous (I love the look of concern on Suzy Sue's face, getting more and more anxious as the book goes on), and it's rhyming as well, which always makes for a winning children's book in my eyes.

My rating: 5 out of 5.

Review written by Bronwyn

Review: Animal 123

Animal 123

Written and Illustrated by David Wojtowycz

Publication date: 2000
Publisher: David & Charles Children's Books
ISBN: 1-86233-152-9

Summary/Back cover: 
Check into the Animal 123 hotel where behind each of the ten doors the zany animal guests are involved in crazy goings-on!
Look in on the two tangoing toucans or sneak a peek at the six sleep-walking skunks.  Oh, and don't forget to look out for the mice... This is the fun way of learning to count to ten!

Review:
I grabbed this book from the library, purely because it's by David Wojtowycz (illustrator of Commotion in the Ocean, The Lion Who Wanted to Love, and Farmyard Hullabaloo, amongst others) - and the illustrations don't disappoint at all.  Beautiful bright pictures of some funny animals (although my 2.5 year old didn't believe us that the sheep were actually sheep, as they were all dressed up in lounge-singer costumes!). The text of the book is not a story as such, but a title for the animals on each page:  "Three thirsty flamingos" for example, is all the text on the page with three thirsty flamingos (funnily enough...).

In saying that, it's a great book for your learner counter.  We spent a lot of time counting how many animals were on each page, and then read the book backwards as well (we're just learning how to count from ten down to one).  It's not a bedtime story, but it is a good learning tool.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Review written by Bronwyn

Review: Tremendous Tractors

Tremendous Tractors

Written by Tony Mitton

Illustrated by Ant Parker

Publication date: 2003
Publisher: Kingfisher
ISBN: 0-7534-0831-7

Summary/Back cover:
Tremendous, chuggy tractors,
so sturdy and so strong,
connecting up to farm machines
and pulling them along.
Climb aboard a tractor with a trio of friendly farmers in this playful picture book.  Zippy wordplay, zappy art, plus a picture dictionary make learning about tractors fun!

Review:
Another book from the Amazing Machines collection (see other reviews here, here and here), and as much loved by my 2.5 year old as Terrific Trains.  The rhyming in the book is made to sound like a tractor chugging along, which makes it as much fun for the adults to read, as it is for the kids to listen to!

This book, along with all the other ones in this collection, is great for Mums of little boys, as it teaches us about the different parts and uses of tractors, so that we can actually sound all knowledgeable when we get the inevitable questions like "What's that tractor pulling?" "How does that machine work?" etc. that inquisitive boys are known for!

Definitely a winner here - I rate this book 4.5 out of 5.

Review written by Bronwyn

Another Blog!

Hi there, to all my fellow readers (how many of you are there? I'd love for you to pop in and say "Hi", so I know there is someone out there in cyberspace!!)

Just thought I'd let you know about another kids' book review site that I've come upon - it's called Kids Book Review, run by a couple of ladies in Canberra, Australia.  They've got heaps of reviews there (773 just now, when I looked!), so it's definitely worth a look.

If you find any other review sites, or other sites that might be of interest to us here, please do let me know - either leave a comment here (or on any post), or flick me an email to 1001bookreviews@gmail.com

I hope you're enjoying the reviews we're doing here - and thank you so much to my fellow reviewers.  If anyone has a book that they'd like to have a review done on, please do let me know a title, or if you have some books that you'd like to review yourself, please do so - I'm always on the lookout for new reviewers.  I don't think I'll get to 1001 reviews by myself, so am depending on you Mums and Dads to help me out!!

Watch out in the next few months for a new section I'm going to start - Parenting Book Reviews. I won't count these as part of our 1001, but will place them in a separate page at the top of the main page.  Any special requests for which parenting books we should review?  I've got 4 or 5 here, which I will write up about.

Bronwyn xx

Review: Emergency!

Emergency!

Written by Margaret Mayo

Illustrated by Alex Ayliffe

Publication date: 2002
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
ISBN: 0-87614-922-0

Summary/Back cover:
Fire! Fire - emergency!
Fire engines race all the way.
Hoses rushing, water gushing,
Help is coming.  It's on the way!
Fire engines, police cars, ambulances, lifeboats, and tow trucks race to the rescue in this noisy, busy book bursting with action.  Emergency? Don't worry - help is on the way!

Review:
This is a real boys' book - my 2.5 year old loves it, what with all the rescue vehicles in it!  The fact that we get to yell 'Emergency!' on each page helps a lot, too!  As with other Mayo/Ayliffe books (such as Dig Dig Digging and Snap), the text is rhyming, and the illustrations are lovely and bright.  This one is my son's favourite Mayo book so far!

Review written by Bronwyn