Peapod’s Picks is a weekly round up of some of the books that Peapod* has read (usually for his bedtime story) each week plus a review of at least one of them.*His social media alter ego, not his real name!
This week has been a long one. Peapod and I have both been full of cold. So, I’m a day late and it’s a round up rather than a single review this week. Please take pity on my poor knackered self and let me off!
What did we read this week?
Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland
After reading Dinosaur Roar last week, we bought this one too. We enjoyed it, but as a Dino book we’d stick with the original Dinosaur Roar book, and as a counting book, we’d go for Ten Little Dinosaurs from Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty.)
I Totally Don’t Want to Play by Ann Bonwill and Simon Rickerty
We bought this after reading about Hugo and Bella’s fancy dress antics in I Don’t Want to be a Pea, which we thought was fab. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite match it – it was still an enjoyable enough read, but it lacked some of the humour of Pea.
Pants! by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt
Who doesn’t love a pants-themed picture book?! See more here!)
Delicious! by Helen Cooper
I am such a huge fan of the Pumpkin Soup trilogy. It always upsets me that every child at some point will do Pumpkin Soup at Halloween/Autumn in nursery or school but they never seem to read the others. If you only know the first book, please give Delicious and A Pipkin of Pepper a read too!
Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
I’d heard great things about this, and it’s been shortlisted for the illustrated category of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize so I had high hopes. I wasn’t disappointed – it’s wonderful; simply told with beautiful illustrations that are a brilliant mixture of the fantastic and the realistic, this is an empowering, positive and joyful read.
A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton
We ended last week reading Owl Babies because of Bill’s cries of “I want my mummy!” which feel very apt at the moment! So we followed it up with A Bit Lost in which baby owl falls off his branch and has to find his mum again with the help of a keen but not overly perceptive squirrel.
I’m a big Chris Haughton fan (Shhh! We Have a Plan is my favourite and Goodnight Everyone is our afternoon nap read) and this has all the things you’d expect – fab, slightly quirky illustrations with his unique style and palette (which Peapod loved), a repetitive pattern and humour especially in the ending. Also owls serving biscuits.
Have you read any of these?
Which picture books or bedtime stories did you read this week?