Book Review: Top That - Monster Mayhem Doodle Wars

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I was sent this book to review with my 5 year old. It was an instant hit with its monster theme. With 96 pages of doodling and colouring activities it will provide many hours of entertainment. Each page has a different monster mayhem games theme with clear instructions but lots of room for self expression. At 5 my son couldn't read the instructions himself but once told what they said he had a good go at the task in hand:

The book has an RRP of £7.99 but is currently reduced to £7.19 on the Top That Publishing site. I think it is a good price for a book that will provide many hours of fun. It's also great for pen handling and reading skills without your child knowing.

This would make a great small birthday present or a stocking filler for boys aged 5 and up.

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TopThat Publishing: When I dream of 123 and Po-Tolo

Our family love getting envelopes from Top That Publishing with books in it to review. So it was great to get another couple to look at this month. This time both were aimed at my 5 year old son.

When I dream of 123 - Oakley Graham

This is a follow up to When I dream of ABC which we reviewed back in June last year. My son is soaking up learning in his Reception class so he immediately picked this up and attempted to read it himself. He could do the numbers and main titles but needed me to read the very amusing little piece on his number. For example:

15 

Sea Horses

Sea horses like two things; swimming forwards and swimming backwards. Because they are rather small, they never get very far.

The illustrations are beautiful and my son enjoyed counting the items to make sure they book was correct. A lovely book for a pre-schooler or reception aged child to share with an adult. At the minute it is available from the publisher in hardback at £7.19 (RRP £7.99). We were sent the paperback version at £6.99. See if you can count all 100 stars...

My blog year in review: Part 1

It's been an amazing year for my blog which I started back in 2008. This was definitely the year that the blog switched from being purely personal to including reviews and actually started earning me some much needed income.  So much has happened over the last 364 days that I'm breaking this review over 2 days to make it more manageable. 


Part one is the first half of the year from January to June and how I saw it from my blog:


January


This was the month for resolutions and new challenges. These included:

1. 100 Books in a Year - hoping that if I add all the books I read to the children at bedtime I'll have completed this!
2. Fitness Friday - this was a great supportive blog hop that unfortunately dwindled as the year went on but it did help me do really well getting in shape at the start of the year. Lots more work to do! As part of this I became an ambassador for Change4Life
3. I also pledged to work on becoming self sufficient. I haven't 100% succeeded in this but things have improved
4. This was the month I joined Reasons to be Cheerful for the first time. A great blog hop that helps to focus on the positive not dwell on the negative.

The high point of the month was appearing on BBC Radio Cumbria. Amazing where blogging can lead you! The low point of the month and indeed the whole year was the loss of my Granny at the age of 98. A much missed lady she will never be forgotten:

February

I have really tried to use this year to showcase my photographs. Not only through The Gallery and Silent Sunday posts but through stand alone posts such as this one from Bowness. I carried on my great relationship with Treasure Trails Cumbria with their fabulous murder mystery walks.

Karin started a Flashback Friday hop which I really enjoyed taking part in. This was the month I started reviewing iPhone apps with a debut from Peppa Pig. I did also manage a rant about the National Health Service. After signing up to the Become a Mumpreneur course I was quite happy to promote it.

Top That Publishing: Time for Dinner/Little Penguin Learns to Swim

This is my fourth "Yummy Mummy" book review for Top That Publishing:

It is always a pleasure to open an envelope from Top That Publishing as they have such delightful books in them. This time both the books were aimed at my 5 year old to review.

First up Time for Dinner by June Morley:

‘Yum, yum,’ said Fly. ‘I do love dinner time!’
It’s time for dinner and all of the animals are very hungry! But, with the cat looking hungrily at the bird, the bird looking hungrily at the spider, and the spider looking hungrily at the fly, will anyone have dinner at all? This humorous picture storybook with a comic twist is bound to amuse new and emerging readers time and time again!

This is a beautifully illustrated picture story book which was a delight to read with my son. There is a little bit of a repeat on each section of the story so your child can guess a little bit of what happens next. A series of animals in turn attempt to eat another animal for dinner but which will be successful? An enjoyable read whilst snuggled up on the sofa together. My son has learnt enough since starting school in September to be able to read some of the book himself and the font size is perfect for early readers.

It is available direct from the publisher RRP £5.99 but currently £5.39 or as an e-book (PDF) for download at £1.79.

Author:

June Morley

Illustrator:

Marina Le Ray

ISBN:

978-1-84956-439-7

EAN:

9 781849 564397

Publish Date:

1st September 2011

• Book size: 254mm x 254mm
• 32 pp
• Full colour throughout
• Paperback
• Ages 3 to 5

Top That Publishing Review: The Froobles

This is my third "Yummy Mummy" book review for Top That Publishing:

This time we were sent 2 of the brand new The Froobles books Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy and Bobby Blackberry and the treasure island. The books have an RRP of £2.99 and are compact in size like other popular ranges of children's books.

Each book starts with a scene created by children from a playgroup. Each story has a different lesson for children to learn such as not being selfish or listening to others. There are nice bright illustrations using a mix of models and collages. 

The stories are a good length to keep a young child's attention though my son was desperate to  use the free stickers that came in the book. Much to his sister's annoyance he stuck some of them over the words on the first page!

There is a Froobles website which has games for children to play with the characters such as noughts and crosses with Apps Apple. From November there will be Apps available on iTunes voiced by celebrities Johnny Vaughan, Denise van Outen, Edith Bowman and Reggie Yates.

The series is priced well for the pocket money and stocking filler market. With 12 to collect I'm sure this will become a popular range especially with all the website and apps links to keep the children's attention.

Top That Publishing Yummy Mummy Review II

This is my second "Yummy Mummy" book review for Top That Publishing:

Having really enjoyed the first 2 books we were sent I was looking forward to more good things. And I wasn't disappointed. For my 7 year old daughter I was sent Explore, Dream, Discover .... which is described on it's back cover as:

a travel-diary, memory-maker, doodle-pad, brain-engager, boredom-stopper, idea-waker, picture-keeper, captain’s log. A thought-provoker book!

It's a shame we aren't going abroad on holiday as this book is really geared around preparing for a trip overseas with places for writing down vocabulary or useful facts about your destination. At 7 my daughter is at the younger end of the target audience for this book and she needed quite a bit of input on it. She loved retrospectively filling out bits as if preparing for our trip to Mallorca:

memories of Mallorca

She has a very vivid and arty imagination so enjoyed doing the bits she has done so far. I can see that this would be a great book to get to entertain your older child when travelling. It makes for a great journal as well as providing plenty ideas for ways to pass the time whilst on a journey such as drawing your own inventions:

A way to transport your luggage

On the Top That web site its currently on offer for £7.19 (normally £7.99) so a good chance to get it. I look forward to doing the rest of the book with my daughter over the summer holidays.

My 4 year old son is currently mad about numbers so his eyes lit up when he saw that his book was all about Counting with a Sticker Activity Book. Doing some of the stickers kept him amused as we did the shopping in Morrisons!

The book was ideal for this as parts of it only require the included stickers and not a pen or pencil. I liked the fact that the stickers each had a page number under them so you could be sure you were using the right one. There are also pages on which your child can practice their number writing too. My son prefers the sticker pages at the moment but he does also enjoy writing numbers too. A fun way of helping your pre-schooler or Reception child practice their basic counting skills. This is also on offer at the minute for £4.49 instead of the usual £4.99.

Top That Publishing Yummy Mummy Review I

I was delighted to be picked as one of the "Yummy Mummy" book reviewers forTop That Publishing last month:

Just in time for going on holiday we received our first two books to review: 

When I dream of ABC is a finalist in this year's The People's Book Prize and after reading the book it is well deserved (and yes I have voted for it!). It is a quirky look at the alphabet with amusing and nonsensical definitions of the entries which had me giggling as well as the children. The illustrations are beautiful and there are plenty of opportunities for interacting with your child by looking at the details on each page. My 4 year old son loved listening to the book and my 7 year old daughter enjoyed reading it with me. A book that was definitely a hit with all the family as it was amusing as well as educational.

The second book Hullabaloo was a much louder book and as my mum found not great for winding down at bedtime! On each page a new animal with its actions are added to the tale and my 7 year old enjoyed the challenge of trying to remember them all as we went through. Once again the illustrations are really well done with plenty to talk about on each page and my 4 year old had fun counting the animals and spotting where they had moved to as the story evolved. 

Both these books would make great additions to children's bookshelves so I hope more people can enjoy them too. I am really looking forward to seeing which books we get sent next...