Egmont release new snowy stories

The Egmont Snowy collection

Egmont's new snowy stories

When I was a girl growing up in the seventies I collected the Mr Men books. Small enough for little fingers; short enough for bedtime stories and light enough to not squish your toes when you inevitably drop them.  

Today the format is just as perfect as it always was, only now its not just the Mr Men that come in this size.  Way back in October, when I was thinking about Halloween and originally started drafting this post, I was thinking ahead to Christmas and planning the house decorations.  Now the decorations have all come down and time seems to have swept past us as break neck speed. 

In true "frazzled mummy" style I intended to review Egmont's new snowy stories which come in this perfect format*, in time for Christmas.  Though too late for Christmas, these would make great additions to party bags, or extra presents for any birthday's you have coming up.  

I was kindly sent three of the lovely stories and we read them the day they arrived, and have done a few times since.  

But I made a school girl error.  I was supposed to include my daughter's excellently handwritten review of the stories which she did for me back then.  Unfortunately, in the chaos that reigned when nine separate boxes of decorations came down from the loft and the house was 'tidied' in preparation for Christmas day visitors, I managed to mis-place her work.  (sorry luv) So I finally have had to ask her, politely, to tell me again what she thought.  

Over to her in a moment. Firstly, my younger (aged 4) also gave a brief appraisal. She enjoyed all the books and the Thomas book the best as the "snowball bit was funny".  But I personally felt that the pictures were poor in this book: all close ups when there was scope for great pictures of the action.  That was as far as her review went, although she has selected the Thomas book, "Snowy Tracks" a few times since for bedtime story.

Here's the elders' (6 years old) review...

"It was really a surprise when we got home and got the books.  The one I really enjoyed best was the Mr Men one because it had Santa in it, it was Christmassy and it was seasonal because it was nearly Christmas.  The 'Everything's Rosie' book was quite a fun book because it had sledging in it and I liked the characters, because they are different and not all people.  The 'Snowy Tracks' Thomas book; it was very, very, very fun because it had snowballs and it was snowy, so that one was really quite nice, so I enjoyed that one as well, as well as my sister."

I asked her what she thought of the size.  She said "it was good because the big books are quite heavy".

I asked her what she thought of the pictures.  "They were quite good because they had detail; so like, if it said Rosie had an album then the picture would show you that Rosie had an album,so it told you what was actually happening."  

I asked, why's that a good idea for children? 

"Sometimes for children, if you tell me a word, like 'survive' I might not know what that means.  And 'album', some children are smaller than me and don't know what that means, so they can look at the picture and see what the story is and see what that means, so it's quite good."

I personally love books of this size.  The length is perfect for bedtime stories, the size is perfect for little hands, and the stories are written in a langauage accessible to early readers (my 6 year old can read them herself) and in a suitably large font size.  My only disappointment, as already mentioned, was in the pictures accompanying the Thomas story.   

The books we received were:

Mr Men meet Father Christmas by Roger Hargreaves
Snowy Tracks (A 'Thomas the Tank Engine' Story)
The Last Snowball (An 'Everything's Rosie' story)  
All published by Egmont.  

You can purchase them via Amazon via the links above.

*The Thomas and Everything's Rosie titles are approximately 1cm larger than the Mr Men books, but made with the same paper and in paperback.</

Reading books for pre-schoolers.....

My eldest is currently reading a series of children's books at school about Biff and Chip.  It's an Oxford learning tree series and I'd never come across it before, because I obviously haven't read children's books for a good 30 years.

And so I've purchased the first six Peter and Jane books by Ladybird.  These are the books I remember fondly, and despite being a member of a family of hoarders, haven't managed to save.  I had to order them of course.  Books that are 30 years old don't tend to be regularly stocked on the high street!  But they are as good as I remember them, and seemingly completely unchanged and no worse off for it.  The eldest is enjoying them.

The process of thinking about learning to read though bought with it a strong, and sudden, memory out of seemingly nowhere.  A name popped into my head.  Billy Blue Hat.  And another.  Roger Red Hat.

To start with I didn't understand the memory.  The words came with a feeling of fondness, and a memory of bright colours.  So I did some quick research.  It turns out I'm remembering a series of 1970/80s books commonly known as the Roger Red Hat Books, but actually called the One Two Three and Away series.  More pictures on Childofthe80s.

Anyone else remember these!?  I'm wondering where I could now find a copy!

Children's Books - Which one's do I pick?!

I've been buying and reading books since before I can remember. I have always been a 'reader'. One of those children that, when I wasn't at dance class, always had my nose in some book or other. I love stories. I get so involved in books that, if someone asks me a question whilst I am reading, there's a short delay (while my brain processes the question, taps me on the shoulder, and asks politely if I want to respond to this particular question) and then I answer it, or more commonly, because by this point I have no real memory of the question, say "Pardon?". The delay makes my husband laugh, when it's not irritating him! It's like talking to me via satellite. I'm sure people think I'm ignoring them, or doing it on purpose, but I promise I'm not!


So what books do you select for a baby, toddler, little girl, when you are a big reader yourself, and have such a specific view on what you like and dislike?


Well, I've tried to be as open as possible. To regularly visit my local library (most libraries do a weekly 'story time' session for babies and toddlers which is free!). I allow my daughters to look through the children's books themselves (no matter what mess they make in the process - I simply do a quick tidy up when we're finished). I try and let my girls to pick the story books themselves and not 'edit' their choices with comments like "Oh, that one doesn't look very good ,love, how about this one instead". Though I still do that more than I'd like.


As a result of letting them pick, we've discovered some gems! I thought I'd share them here.


My 4 year olds' favourite story at the moment is "Fancy Nancy". Written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, published by HarperCollins Children's Books originally in the U.S.A in 2006, then in Great Britain in 2007, it's a 32 page picture book about Nancy and was a Number 1 New York Times bestseller. Nancy loves being fancy. Sparkly shoes, feather boas, flower covered hats and ACCESSORIES! It's a brilliant story that my daughter clearly identifies with. And there are another 5 in the series. Only, be prepared to get a little bit fancier yourself! http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/ (then enter Fancy Nancy into the Search engine on the top right.)


Julia Donaldson has obviously written one of the most famous of children's stories, "The Gruffalo". It's one that the elder has only just got into. But one of her utmost favourites over the last 3 years has been Julia's picture book "Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose". Illustrated by Nick Sharratt and published by Macmillan Children's Books, it's a 24 page picture book about a dinner party for animals. Good manners are few, but fun is had by all. It's a lovely, rhyming story, with excellent pictures and opportunity for practising animal noises if you want to get imaginative! Though I'm not sure what noises the Gazelle and Hyena may make! http://www.panmacmillan.com/ (and enter the title into the search engine)


A recent discovery for my 4 year old is "The Fabulous Fairy Feast" written and illustrated by Sue Heap and published by Egmont. A 32 page picture book (with 2 pages that open out to the side for the scene in the wood! This story is, again, beautifully written. It isn't a rhyming story, but it does have some lovely little rhyming sections. The pace of the writing is excellent, making it fun to read out loud. And I particularly like the fact that Lizzie Little-Fairy has a pet frog called Burp and a flying pink bicycle! http://www.egmont.co.uk/ (again search for the title)


Finally a couple of choices for the 1 year old in the family.


Firstly a set of books illustrated by Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo's illustrator!), published by Campbell Books, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Books. The collection of 4 books is called "Animal Rhymes", and contains "Freddy the Frog", "Lizzie the Lamb", "Katie the Kitten" and "Pip the Puppy". Short rhyming 8 page story books with beautiful pictures, with plenty for little fingers to point out. http://www.panmacmillan.com/ (search for title)


Secondly, the classic of course, Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". No need for fancy furry bits in the book. No need for flaps, or pull outs. Just a few well chosen holes where the little caterpillar has eaten. Watch the giggling start when you put your fingers at the back of the page to tickle your child's finger when they put it through the holes! It does mean that there is one particular page (where the caterpillar eats a long list of scrumptious foods) that is a favourite, and it's hard to get the story moving past that page! Oh well. Never mind! http://www.puffin.co.uk/ (search by title)


I hope that gives you some ideas. I've added the links to the book publishers for more information, and if you like the look of them you should be able to get them from local libraries, even if you order them (which you can do for free!).


Have fun reading!