Celebrating Children's Book week Pt 3

Bathwater's Hot By Shirley Hughes is a great book for very young children books which deal with basic concepts like opposites can be boring for grown-ups but the lovely pictures in this one make is lovely to enjoy. Good books doesn't have this book but there are a whole bunch of other Shirley Hughes books on there which are all well worth the read.



What Makes a Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz once again this book deals with the basics in this case colour. The really delightful thing about it is that as you open each page a new coloured ribbon pulls through so that by the end you have the whole rainbow. Although the words don't talk about it it's a great opportunity to talk about primary and secondary colours and how they are made, after all their all their on the page. Read this from about 2 years on into the school years.

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The Little Red Hen A Golden Book Classic Golden books have been around forever and they are often sold at the supermarket relatively cheaply. This makes them the perfect treat for a tired and unhappy junior shopper. The thing is you need to be confident and sensible and stop in the middle of the supermarket and take the time to read the book before you buy as some are great (Scruffy the Tugboat, The Poky Little Puppy) and some are rubbish (Toy Story and generally anything else that's based on a movie). There is no shame in reading stories to your little people in the middle of the supermarket... save the ending for the long wait at the check out or a 'once the groceries are away' treat. The Little Red Hen is one of the truly good ones and well worth owning. Out of the Egg is a new take on the story which recently won a New Zealand Post Book Award I haven't seen it in the flesh YET but I have seen it reviewed and it looks great! Read both to your preschooler- book passionate 2 year olds or 3 years and up for those who have yet to experience the real joy of reading. Then go make some bread; it's messy and fun, can span a whole afternoon in short spans and great science!


My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes By Eve Sutton An oldie but a seriously goodie. Lot's of fun with rhymes and silly stuff. Plus that super good repetitive text your three your old will be say "But my cat likes to hide in boxes" along with you a few pages into the book. And if you have a cat I bet it's pretty partial to boxes too which is a cool tie in to exploit.


A Fish Out of Water By Helen Palmer. This is one of the books in the 'Dr Suess Beginner books' and it's one of my favourites- so well loved it's cover was lost long ago. These books can be a bit like the Golden Books, though not as much, many of them are about learning to read more than they are about a good hearty story. The ones that are more for learning to read can be fun but I think in small doses... books should be about stories. And if you share and read lots of good stories then reading will come- without trying. For readers 3 years+.



The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was none of his business aka 'The story of the Little Mole who went in search of Whodunit' By Werner Holzwarth. This is a book about Pooh what better subject for a children book. The Mole receives a 'gift' on his head and goes around asking other animals if it belongs to them. I won't spoil the ending for you! Read it to your 3+ year old especially those grubby boy children they love it! I'm kind of bummed that we already own it as I just learned that there is a 'plop'-up version- way cool!

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Katie's Picture Show By James Mayhew. The 'Katie books' are a lovely way to explore art and artists with children. Katie has a wonderful grandma who takes her into Gallery's where Katie has a whole bunch of fun 'getting into' the pictures and meeting the people in them and such. The book details the names of the paintings and the artists. If you enjoy this then you'll also like; 'For the Love of Vincent' and other books by Brenda Northeast. Read them to your 3 year old and up; but just enjoy them for the first year or so and then start to explore the concepts in them and make your own trips to gallery's and choose favourite artists and paintings. And maybe even buy some prints... it's so easy now to get a cheap Van Gogh print at the Warehouse and such. Or print off some pictures from the internet and make a gallery in a book... and write your own stories together about what would happen and how it would feel to go into the pictures.