Families Book Reviews
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Counting with Tiny Cat
Name: Lizi Backhouse
05 January 2018;Genre: Adventure
A first counting book with a difference, Tiny Cat is collecting balls of wool! He counts to 4 before starting to get 'more', 'even more', 'lots'....until he has too many! This is a charming, simple book that introduces counting to 4 and then the language of 'more'. A great way of introducing yo...
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Animals with Tiny Cat
Name: Lizi Backhouse
05 January 2018;Genre: Adventure
This is a simple book that features 'Tiny Cat', a cartoon cat, dressing up as a different animals. The illustrations are fun and Tiny cat uses various household objects to transform into a variety of different animals. The book is good starter for discussion and provides opportunities to build...
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Libby in the Middle
Name: Jane Rew
05 January 2018;Genre: Friends and family
A brilliant book. It's well-written and totally believable. The author manages to portray teenagers both accurately and sensitively without being disparaging. (Perhaps she has studied child psychology?) I was gripped right from the start, not least because we're kept guessing at the truth b...
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STEM Starters: Maths, Technology and Physics
Name: Jacqueline Harris
04 January 2018;Genre: Adventure
These books are a nicely presented package of activity and non-fiction. They are in soft colours and really attractively designed and illustrated by Vicky Barker, the text being written by different authors for the different subject matter. These are three of a set of six, the others being Scienc...
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The Ice Garden
Name: June Hughes
02 January 2018;Genre: Adventure
Jess has a serious allergy to the sun which means she cannot go out during the day without all-encompassing protective clothing (which she and her mother refer to as 'full hat'). This restriction means that she does not attend school and consequently has few opportunities to make friends. Most of...
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Sky Chasers
Name: Sue Wilsher
26 December 2017;Genre: Adventure
Sky Chasers is a wonderful adventure story, set against the backdrop of France at the time of Louis XVI. A colourful cast of characters - human and animal - tell the story of the Montgolfier family and their race to be the first to fly a hot air balloon. Magpie - a pickpocket - and her rooster fi...
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Urban Jungle
Name: Aidan Severs
26 December 2017;Genre: Adventure
Publishers Big Picture Press do not disappoint: they produce very big books full of wonderful pictures and this one by Vicky Woodgate is no exception. Urban Jungle is an oversized non-fiction book which explores the fauna of the world's major cities. Did you know that Spinybacked orbweavers can...
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The Elephant in the Room
Name: Aidan Severs
26 December 2017;Genre: Adventure
This surprising and striking book appears to stand alone in today's picturebook market - there certainly aren't many books like it, illustrated in an psychedelic style reminiscent of the Beatle's Yellow Submarine film but with an even trippier colour pallete. This is a book which aesthetically st...
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The Royal Rabbits of London: Escape from the Tower
Name: Lorraine Ansell
22 December 2017;Genre: Adventure
Escape from the Tower is the second book in the Royal Rabbits series. Having not read the first book, I wondered how the authors would introduce the characters and whether the plot would work as a standalone. The book very easily introduces us to Shylo, a small timid rabbit who has been accepte...
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Supertato: Evil Pea Rules
Name: Lesley Earnshaw
20 December 2017;Genre: Adventure
My class loved this story and it ended our Christmas week perfectly. Many of them had read other 'Supertato' adventures but that wasn't really necessary to enjoy this festive fun. They really liked the heroic potato battling against the evil pea and we could link this to so many other stories w...