One of the things I try and stock up on for the longer school holidays is books for Anya. I mix it up with some new books as well as pull out old books that she hasn’t looked at for a while. This is exactly what I did before the long Easter/Spring break. I always try and include a few different types of books to keep her interested so I’ll maybe include a puzzle book, a story book and a joke book or a fact book.
When I find a good picture book I end up buying a few copies to give as birthday gifts too. Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam is one of these picture books that is just delightful. Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam are a pair of robber dogs. In the dead of night they creep around town with big plans to rob banks, book shops and bike shops. But… they are hopeless robbers! After one too many failed grand plans, Shifty McGifty & Slippery Sam realise that crime doesn’t pay but cupcakes do! The book is written in rhyming text and is a sweet and funny little story with a simple moral take out. The illustrations are playful and fun and this book is equally great to read to kids or let 5+ readers read by themselves.
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Are your kids in to myths and facts? My seven year old is obsessed with them so we have recently made up a dinner table game called ‘myth or fact?’. We each take a turn to come up with a statement and the others have to guess whether it’s a myth or a fact. The statement can be about anything, any subject, any topic – the challenge lies in coming up with facts that sound like myths and vice versa. It’s really fun seeing what Anya will say as she sometimes comes up with things that neither Richard or I are sure whether it’s a myth or a fact. And other times her statements are so random, they are hilarious! She gets some of her info from one of her current favourite books – The Amazing Human Body Detectives – that I wrote about last year.
That book was such a hit in our home and yours (so many readers emailed me to say they had bought it and their kids loved it too) that when I discovered the other book in this series I had to get it for Anya and of course share it with you. Called Bug Detective: Amazing facts, myths and quirks of nature – this Bug Detective book is packed with interesting facts and myths about bugs, insects and minibeasts. Did you know that worms don’t have lungs or that ladybirds have poisonous knees? Or if you weighed all the ants in the world, they would weigh more than humans (wow, that I did not know!). All the info is presented in a fun and engaging way with great illustrations. There is a lot of info on each page but it’s broken up in to bite sized chunks making it easy for kids to read and understand.
The Bug Detective book also comes with a magnifying glass so kids can search for the extra, often tiny, details on some of the pages – making it even more fun to read. I highly recommend it especially for inquisitive kids who will devour this book and spend hours buried in it! If you’re in the US, you can find the book here and in the UK find it here
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Books are my favourite gifts to give kids. For birthdays, for Christmas gifts, for any occasion at all. With so many fabulous kids books out there, it’s not hard to find the perfect book for any child. Here I’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite books – some of which we already have and others that are on our wish list. I’ve mixed up the selection to include picture books, art books, activity books, educational books and more.
Anya’s Christmas gifts always include books and usually a selection of different types like the ones I’ve suggested here. The one that I am looking most forward to buying her this Xmas is The School of Art which I have browsed through and it looks great not just for kids but for adults too. The books I’ve picked are for a range of ages from toddlers to 10 year olds so there’s something for everyone. The ages though are just rough guides, not set in stone.
Here are my best kids books gift suggestions for this year:
Lately Anya has been asking a lot of questions about the human body and how it works. Her questions were becoming more and more involved and I didn’t have the answers. But she was really curious to know more so I did what I always do – I went looking for a book. I didn’t want a really serious book with anatomical diagrams which would be boring and too complex for a 6 year old but most of the books I came across were like this. So I continued looking and then I found The Amazing Human Body Detectives.
The Amazing Human Body Detectives is a fab little book packed with interesting facts about the body. The facts are shared in a fun and engaging way and the drawings are also playful and colourful. Each double page spread focuses on one part of the body so you have spreads on the brain, teeth and bone, muscles and many more. There are facts as well as myths which are all shown in bite-size chunks so it’s easy for kids to read by themselves. The book comes with a mini magnifying glass and then suggests ways in which a child can use it. There is also an interactive side where the book suggests experimenting with things like tasting food while holding your nose or looking inside your mouth and seeing what’s in there.
Ever since we’ve had the book, Anya picks it up and reads out lots of interesting facts to me like a ‘sneeze releases 100,000 germs in to the air’ and ‘only 2% of the world population has green eyes’. Lots of these facts have fascinated me too as I didn’t know them and so I’ve really enjoyed this book too. Even if your child hasn’t shown much interest in the human body, I think The Amazing Human Body Detectives is a great little book to have on your shelf. It’s perfect for 5-7 year olds as they can read it themselves and then come and tell you all that they’ve found out!
{All photos by ebabee. Anya wears floral mint pyjamas by the ebabee shop}
We love colouring in this house. Anya of course loves it but she often asks me to colour with her and I find it quite therapeutic. Recently, while on holiday during half-term, Anya even got Richard involved and the three of us spent a rainy afternoon colouring (who said we don’t know how to live!). As with story books, I try and look out for fun, unusual and unique colouring books and this one called Evolution: A Colouring Book is exactly that. It’s Anya’s current favourite (and mine!).
Evolution is a colouring book as well as a book on evolution. As a colouring book it’s interactive with flaps, die-cuts, stencils and mix and match pages and then you have the text on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The facts are presented simply so it’s ideal for kids especially 6-8 year olds. Anya has been asking a lot of questions on evolution lately and this book is a great introduction to the concept. But the fact that it’s an interactive colouring book too makes it even more engaging for a child. It’s unusual to find a colouring book that teaches and is interactive and that’s why I love Evolution as it is so much more than just a coloring book. This book would make a great gift too especially with Christmas coming up.
While there are lots of fabulous kids picture books out there, I have not had too much luck finding fun chapter books for kids, especially ones with lots of pictures. Anya is at that age (6 years) where picture books are still of interest to her but she could do with longer stories and more text to develop her reading. Recently I stumbled across The Beast in My Belly and it was just the kind of book I had been looking for. It’s a short chapter book for kids with most chapters no longer than a page or two but it also has lots of fun pictures on every page. At 6, kids still really engage with pictures and like to look at them alongside reading the text and this book has plenty of both. Besides which it is a great little story too.
Rumble, rumble, rumble! It’s that noisy tummy rumbling feeling we all get when we’re hungry. We’ve all experienced it but what happens when you’re a small child and don’t know why it’s happening? What could it possibly be? The Beast in my Belly is a funny chapter book about how far a child’s imagination can go when they’re trying to figure out something they’ve never experienced before. The little girl in the book imagines all sorts of things that could be happening inside her belly each time it rumbles. She is convinced there is something sinister inside her belly and tries to tell the adults in her life but of course none of them believe her. The illustrations are quirky and unusual and really bring the book to life. The colours they’ve used in the drawings are stunning too.
The Beast in My Belly is a great short chapter book for kids around 5-7 years old to read to themselves. But it’s also a fun book to read out loud to younger kids. It’s great for plenty of giggles with lots of cute drawings and it’s just a sweet little book which we have thoroughly enjoyed.
One of my favourite places to discover new and unusual kids books is in museum shops especially here in the UK and in the US. You can find real gems that you wouldn’t easily come across elsewhere. Last week we visited Tate Modern and after admiring the art I made a beeline for the shop. I barely glanced at the adult collections, knowing that I was here to check out the kids books which didn’t disappoint. There were loads of fabulous books some of which I had already come across but many others that I was delighted to discover. I could have bought about 20 books but I had to hold back. There was one though that I couldn’t resist and that was Captain Coconut & the case of the missing bananas.
Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas is such a fun kids book – full of laugh out loud humour that kids (and adults) will love. Captain Coconut is a detective who is called in to solve the mind-boggling case of the missing bananas. But Captain Coconut is no ordinary dectective – he has a brain as fast as lightening or so he thinks. Mrs Y is distraught as she bought 14 bananas and 4 of these were eaten by her and her family. The next morning, instead of finding 10 bananas, there were only 6! Where have those 4 missing bananas gone? So Captain Coconut arrives and goes about solving the mystery with lots of silliness, fun and entertainment for the reader. Beyond the fun there are also some simple maths puzzles (about the disappearing bananas) that kids will enjoy solving with Captain Coconut. The graphic illustrations are so artistic and colourful using collage style art and there are lots of them so there’s plenty to look at on each page too.
Anya adored this book and after we had read it together, she went off to read it by herself. Every so often I would hear her laughing out loud. It’s a book that is ideal to read to younger kids and but also great for slightly older kids to read by themselves – like around 6-7 years. Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas is the first book in this series but there are more cases coming soon – I can’t wait. This book is such a joy so if you are looking for something fun and a little bit different, then do check it out.
One of the best things about living in London has to be the diversity of the people and cultures. London is full of immigrants from all over the world living alongside native British people too. I too am not from here – I’m from India but now London is my home. In London you can experience culture, food, art and language from almost anywhere in the world and that is just special. Not that many cities can boast such a diverse range of people but there is one other that immediately comes to mind and that is New York City. Maybe it’s even more diverse than London if that’s possible and it’s another city I love for this reason. So I was absolutely delighted to receive a kids book last week called Larry and Friends that celebrates exactly this aspect of city life.
Larry and Friends by Nat Jasper and Carla Torres is a children’s book on immigration and all that is great about it. It is set in New York but it could be London or any other big, multi-cultural city. The book is about Larry the dog who is born and bred in NYC but his group of friends are from all over the world. Larry is celebrating his birthday and one by one his animal friends arrive at his party. As each friend arrives we get a little insight in to their lives – where they are from, what they do and how they ended up making NYC their home away from their native countries. His friends come from Peru, India, Korea, Iran, Tibet, Puerto Rico and lots more places but are all now living in NYC. There isn’t a typical story as such but each character has a little back story of their own. And the illustrations are colourful and so detailed and all done in a beautiful painting like style.
Anya really enjoyed this book and picked it up to read by herself too. She didn’t immediately get the significance of the animal friends from all over the world but we ended up chatting about how some people leave their native countries to settle somewhere else. It was an interesting conversation and we talked about how London is one of those kind’s of cities. She has friends from Pakistan, Lebanon and China so this made the book even more relevant. While this children’s book celebrates immigration, diversity and friendship, it also subtly puts across little life messages like it’s always important to be yourself, you can overcome adversity, knowledge is to be shared and more. Larry and Friends is a lovely, happy and uplifting book on a topic that I think we need to see more of in kids books. Unfortunately it’s not that easily available outside the US but you can order from there although shipping is expensive.
P.S. If you are looking for more kids book recommendations you might enjoy these:
Maps
What do you do with an Idea?
Once upon an Alphabet
What do you do with an idea? How many times have you let an idea slip by just because people told you it wouldn’t work? I know that I have pushed aside ideas many times because people have laughed at it or because I didn’t believe enough in myself to pursue it. We all have ideas, big and small, but often we are scared of them and don’t know what to do with them. Will people laugh at our idea, will they think it’s weird or worse will they think we’re weird? Do we have the determination and confidence to develop it? This kids book called What Do You Do with an Idea? is all about an idea and what can happen when you have one. It’s written in a very simple, easy to understand way for kids with beautifully simple drawings to match.
What Do You Do With An Idea is a kids book that is just as much for adults. It’s a great reminder for any age that ideas are to be treasured, nurtured and believed in but more than the idea, it’s also about believing in yourself and having the confidence to look beyond the meanies who try and put you and your idea down.
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and read it to Anya expecting her to love it just as much as I did. She didn’t. She didn’t dislike the book but I think she didn’t fully get it. This book is recommended for three years and over but I think for younger kids it’s a cute picture book but not much more beyond that. Even for Anya who is six, I think we need to talk about the book a bit more for her to fully appreciate it. But don’t let that put you off as this book as it’s a keeper. What Do You Do with an Idea? is a book to pull out whenever you or your kids are struggling with an idea and self-belief. I am so glad I bought the book and will be keeping it and bringing it out every so often to read to Anya and I know she will appreciate it more in time, especially as she gets older and maybe starts having more doubts about things.
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