It's my stop on the blog tour to celebrate the launch of this magical tale of friendship, adventure and love. Kai is a lonely woodcutter who carves wooden statues for people to enjoy at Christmas.  According to his grandmother, every Christmas Eve a magical snow prince would fly through the wintery skies, turning everyone he met to ice. So every year, Kai and his grandmother would hide. But now Kai is alone and one night the icy Snow Prince bursts through the door of his lonely hut. But when he sees the Snow Prince's face, Kai realises that he is not so wicked after all! They journe ..read more

All flamingos are pink. And all flamingos love flingo weed. . . Or do they? Well there's one fussy little flamingo in the flock who isn't too keen, so she sets off to find something better to eat. The monkeys are eating big burpy bananas. Will Baby flamingo like them too? She does NOT! And what's more, she does NOT like being YELLOW! Off she sets through the forest, trying different foods on the way and turning the most interesting shades of blue, green and red.  Meanwhile the other flamingos are following her footprints and it looks like they find her just in time. Will Baby s ..read more

We all love READING stories but MAKING THE UP is much more fun! But how do you start? And what goes in the middle? What makes a great ending? Join Milo and his family as they work together to help Milo make up an exciting story full of treasure, wild animals and monsters!  This book combines real life with Milo's imaginings, inspiring readers to come up with ideas for their own stories, using every day things to help them. Naomi has created a double-sided tale full of imagination and adventure, while also inspiring young children to create and write down stories of their own. I l ..read more

"When you change the way you look at the world, the world you look at CHANGES!" I'm becoming a bit of a fan of Clare Helen Welsh's stories, and this little book is a great addition to her growing list of sensitive, heartwarming and thoughtful stories. Have you ever been grumpy, or sad, or bored? Of course you have! And of course, there's nothing wrong with those feelings. We all feel some or all of them over the course of a day, week or year. But did you know that if you put on your Sunny-Side Specs, you can change the way you see things and thereby change the way you feel? Donning a ..read more

This sweet book about the power of a hug is the perfect reminder to take a breath when we are feeling disgruntled and hug it out instead! Hugasaurus is off to explore and find some new friends to play with. Soon she finds some little playmates and to start with, everyone gets along just fine. But then, as all of us do from time to time, her new friends begin to forget themselves and start getting cross with each other. Soon everyone is arguing! Poor Hugasaurus does't know what to do. How can she stop everyone bickering and grumping about? A little platypus comes along and asks what h ..read more

It's Rory's first Fathers' Day without his Dad living at home and he's struggling to work out how he feels. On the one hand, he loves spending time with his dad at the weekends, but now he and his mum are living with  Mum's new boyfriend, Tony, who is also really nice. Rory misses his dad, but he doesn't want to upset Tony or his Mum. Who should he send his card to? Rory ends up scribbling on his paper in frustration, then tears his card in two and shoves it in his pocket. Seeing Rory's distress when Fathers' Day arrives, Tony suggests an outing. He takes Rory the art gallery. Here ..read more

Hitch the reindeer, load the sleigh, we can't be late for Christmas day! But Santa's lost his to-do list. Uh oh! Will he remember everything he needs to do in the run-up to the Big Day? How utterly refreshing to find this fabulously robust board book featuring a BLACK SANTA!  I can't believe this is literally a first for me - and its about bloomin' time!  The jaunty rhyme trips very nicely off the tongue as we follow Santa in his last minute preparations. With a touch-and-feel detail on every page and lovely bright illustrations, this jolly little book will really set the to ..read more

You might be surprised to learn that not all books are written by freelance authors. Many are created in-house by editors, including this wonderful book published by Little Tiger. Patricia Hegarty is Editorial Director of Caterpillar Books, an imprint of Little Tiger. She has written a wonderful range of rhyming and prose picture books which are superbly written and produced. This beautifully illustrated fact book features die-cut pages, which create a delightful extra dimension to this lovely book. With peep-through holes on every page, children can discover a world of minibeasts and ..read more

Introducing a beautiful new picture book by two of my favourite creators!  Grandpa and the Kingfisher is a touching story of the the joys of nature and the circle of life, sensitively written by Anna Wilson and gorgeously illustrated by Sarah Massini. A child and their grandpa are sitting by the river when they spot a blue bird, darting over the glassy water. Its beak long and sharp, and its wings shining like jewels. A kingfisher! It shoots like an arrow through the water and comes back up with a silver fish hanging from its beak. As Spring turns to Summer the child and their grandp ..read more

Flying Eye Books have a FABULOUS selection of large format information or non-fiction books so I was delighted to receive a copy of this book - The Great Barrier Reef! It's packed with facts on how the reef was formed and pages and pages to pour over detailing the plants and animals that make the reef their home, as well as folklore, human history and a bit about pollution. Lisk Feng's stunning artwork is printed onto thick course-grained paper, giving the book a real environmental feel too. The rich colours and sheer variety of images makes this a book to return to again and again, and ..read more