The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth, by Ellie Hattie

Has anyone seen a mammoth around here?

Oscar is awoken at midnight, the magical hour, to find a mammoth outside his window. His name is Timothy and - oh no! - his younger brother Teddy is on the loose!

There's only one thing to do. Start the search! But can Oscar and Timothy make it through the whole museum, through the exhibits (who are throwing one wild party!) and bring Teddy home before the clock strikes one and the magical hour ends?

This is such a fantastic book - fun, imaginative and engaging. Each page takes us through another exhibit of the museum and lift-the-flap fun keeps the surprises coming. I loved the facts on every page (the ocean exhibit and flight floor are our favourites) and there's so many hidden gems that it's a great book to come back to again and again. It's also a great one to inspire a bit of exploration at your own museum.

It would make the perfect birthday present for kids three and up - and if you're quick, the book currently comes with it's own super cute Teddy mammoth softie!

Enjoy, wild explorers!

the book and the bea x

We're All Wonders, by R.J. Palacio

Late last year, as part of our Christmas Gift Guide series, we reviewed the incredibly moving Wonder on the recommendation of two of my nieces. 

Wonder tells the story of August (Auggie), who has a facial deformity and, after 10 years of homeschooling, enters real school. All he wants is to be accepted, normal and ordinary but is that possible when the first thing that people notice is how you look? Very sad, moving and ultimately uplifting, this was a favourite of Miss M (10 years old).

Well, to our huge delight, Auggie is back - this time in a children's picture book. 

We're All Wonders tells the story of Auggie in very simple terms. He looks different yes, but really he is just like everyone else. He rides his bike, walks his dog...and has his feelings hurt when people stare or talk...just like anyone would.

The message of the book is clear. Look with kindness on other people and remember always, that we are all wonders - different in our own way, but amazing all the same. 

This is such a beautiful and important book. We're All Wonders is the perfect opening to start a discussion with your kids about differences, kindness, friendship and empathy.

Perfect for kids 3-8 (and the older kids will love the original Wonder).

the book and the bea x

Nanette's Baguette, by Mo Willems

When I was early in my pregnancy with Bea (at that time "Gus", so convinced was I she was a boy), I discovered Mo Willems on one of my regular lazy lunchbreak strolls through the bookshop. Firstly, through the hilarious, drive-kids-crazy, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and then through the incredibly sweet, Knuffle Bunny series (written for his own daughter Trixie).

I snapped up the whole series then and there and Bea, also unable to go anywhere without her bunny, has loved it since she was tiny (I'm not able to finish the third without a little tear in my eye - the final pages are so beautiful).

It felt like a while since we'd added a new Mo to our shelves, so I was super excited to find a new arrival in our bookstore.

Nanette's Baguette!

This hilarious (and terrifyingly tongue-twisting) tale tells the story of Nanette who, on a day that she won't soon forget, gets to get the baguette! She runs into Georgette! And Suzette! And Bret (with his clarinet)! But still remembers to get the baguette from the baker Juliette!

But then - disaster! Nanette can't resist the call of the baguette (like the rest of us, I bet) and before she knows it CRACK, CRACK, CRACK - it's all gone. What will Nanette do? Move to Tibet? In a jet? Nanette is filled with regret.

This book is so, so great - Bea thinks it's hilarious and loves the quirky illustrations of poor, beset, Nanette. Be warned, it's a mouthful (a Mum next to me in the bookstore read two pages to her toddler, grimaced and placed it firmly back on the shelf), but good fun - and I can highly recommend starting up a competition with the rest of your family to see who can get through it the fastest.

Great for kids 3-7 (older kids will love the tongue twisters!).

the book and the bea x

Lucy's Book by Natalie Jane Prior

Is there anything greater, as a child and an adult, than finding a book you so love that you read it again and again (and again)?

I remember when I started uni, my favourite place to relax was the library. It had the most amazing old book smell (second only to the library at Harvard - I swear, they should bottle that smell!) and I'd ignore the books that I should be studying (there is a reason I failed Botany) and head straight for the children's fiction section.

There I'd find all of my old friends. Ramona Quimby, Jesse and Leslie (never forget), even Del-Del who gave me nightmares as a child but taught me about grief as an adult. I'd hide away in the stacks and read, all day, piling these favourite stories next to me as I went. There was something so incredibly soothing about revisiting my favourite stories, even now, so many years on.

Not so long ago, while visiting family, I saw this same thing in my gorgeous niece. Despite the stack of new books she'd received for Christmas (and which she sped through in four days) I found her once again was curled up, with a Harry Potter novel so loved that the spine was fraying. I was so thrilled to see the love she felt for her books, knowing that they will comfort her, in years to come, the way that mine favourites have for me.

Lucy's Book is about this kind of love.

Lucy and her Mum go to the library every Saturday. Lucy loves to read but she has a favourite book, that she races to get, every week. She borrows it and borrows it, and lends it to friends who take it around the world, until she can borrow it again, and take it on holiday - until finally - one sad day, the book is no longer there. It was too old, and too loved by everyone, to hold up to one last borrow.

Lucy rushes to the bookstore, but alas, it's out of print.

Months pass by and although everyone who Lucy introduced to the book is on the lookout, it remains missing.

Until....a second hand book sale appears in her village.

This is a love story about books and for everyone who has ever had that special treasured story that they simply had to share with the world. It's about how books bring people together, on a shared journey, and inspire imagination and friendship.

This is a sweet one for kids 5-7, especially those sweet bookworms among us.

the book and the bea x

Blue Sky, Yellow Kite, by Janet A. Holmes and Jonathan Bentley

"But I don't like to share Mama. It makes my heart sad."

And so begins our arrival into the tumultuous threes. Just one month away from her actual birthday, it seems I have a threenager on my hands. And no matter how many times I remind her to share, that "sharing is caring" and there's plenty and it's more fun with friends, the Bea just hasn't quite got it.

Blue  Sky, Yellow Kite, is a beautiful story about what it's like to really, really love something that belongs to someone else, how hard sharing can be and how ultimately, keeping things to yourself is no fun at all.

Blue Sky, Yellow Kite, tells the story of Daisy. One day she sees a yellow kite in the air, wheeling and swirling, diving and twisting. She follows the kite all the way to the end of it's string and meets William, who happily and kindly opens his gate and hands Daisy the reel.

But Daisy is taken away in the moment and, thinking only of her love for the beautiful kite, flies it all the way to her house, where she hides it at the top of her shelf. She dares to fly it only once more - and when she sees William, sadly watching, can't sleep for thinking about how she's taken his kite and hurt him.

So at last, she returns the kite to William and leaves a note to apologise. And that afternoon, she seems something beautiful in the sky, coming back towards her...

This is a great story about friendship, jealousy, sharing and forgiveness. I love the illustrations - Daisy and William are such sweet little characters and the beautiful countryside made me want to move to our own country cottage immediately.

I think we've still got a ways to go before my own little Daisy is sharing - but this was a lovely one to share together and opened the door to more discussions about sharing (made easier by our recent obsession with kites). It is probably a tiny bit old for Bea, though she did love the story, so I'd suggest kids 4-6.

the book and the bea x

Under the Love Umbrella, by Davina Bell

When I heard that Davina Bell, author of the sweet Underwater Fancy Dress Parade, had a new book out I couldn't wait to see it. I rushed right out to our favourite bookshop and, as fortune would have it, snared the very last copy.

No surprises here, I loved it. It's for every little one who has felt nervous at school, who felt shy or had an embarrassing thing happen or kids, like me, who would last until about 10pm at a sleepover and then be desperate, tearily so, to see their parents and be home in their very own bed.

It's also the perfect gift for every parent that's had to put their babies in daycare.

When I went back to work, and Bea to daycare, it was awful. If that sounds melodramatic...well, daycare drop offs are. She would cry, I would cry, she would feel better five minutes after I left, I would cry the entire way to work. Ahh, parenthood.

Once, I tried to reassure her by saying that it was okay because Mama always comes back. Of course that only made it worse because she would quietly cry (kids take note: the quiet cry is infinitely more devastating to your parents than the tantrum cry) in the back seat of the car and repeat, the whole way there, "it's okay. Mama always comes back. It's okay". 

via giphy

So the idea that Bea is under my love umbrella, wherever she goes, is so reassuring and magical - it's a beautiful thought for her and me.

The illustrations, by Allison Colpoys, are bright and sweet and I loved seeing the diversity of families throughout the book. This is a gorgeous story for the worriers in your family who need that little bit of reassurance that they're okay, wherever they go. Perfect for kids from 3 and up and the perfect gift for any parents leaving their kids at daycare for the very first time (hang in there, I promise it gets better).

the book and the bea x

Paper Dolls, by Julia Donaldson

In the brilliant "Yes, Please" (if you haven't read it, go find a copy!) my best friend and spirit animal Amy Poehler described divorce like this:

"Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading that blanket, throwing it up and watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will break with it lands".

Never a truer word was spoken. I've been a single mum for a little over two years now and truthfully, going through a separation with a baby is like walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls, in gale force winds, while it snows. In front of all of your family and friends and Facebook. Oh! And you're naked. Did I mention that?

In those early days, being surrounded by other happy families and books about happy families was tough. Books about "special" divorced families was worse.

I remember one day going to storytime at the library and the librarian was giving a  tour of the kids section for all the new parents. "And here are the books for....difficult situations. This is where you'll find books on someone passing away, or kids whose parents are going through a divorce". It stung so badly my eyes watered and I was frozen, feeling like the only person in that room who needed a "difficult" section and like there was a flashing neon sign alerting the whole world to that fact.

The difficult section never did help. But there were quite a few totally unrelated children's books that did. There was one in particular that we loved then, and still love now. Paper Dolls.

It was my sister that first showed me Paper Dolls. Her four year old adored it, and she knew it would speak to me too. She was right of course, but probably wasn't counting on my bursting into tears and shouting "You STUPID BOY!" halfway through and for that I apologise to her, my four nieces, and the 25th floor of the hotel we were staying at on our family vacation.

Paper Dolls tells the story of a little girl, in tiger slippers, who makes a chain of paper dolls with her Mama:

"They were Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie and Jim with one eyebrow and Jo with the bow".

Oh, how she loves those dolls. They dance, they sing, they laugh, they evade sneaky tigers and crocodiles. They play in the long grass and talk to ladybugs. And no matter the adventure or danger, they're holding hands and they won't let go.

Until one day, a boy comes along and snips them. Snips them into a million pieces and tells them they're gone forever. But (spoiler alert!) that isn't the end of our brave paper dolls. Oh no, no, no. Their pieces all join together and the dolls find a new home, in the little girls memory, along with so many other special things.

At first I thought this sweet, whimsical book about childhood and loss and memory was way too sad for the Bea (honestly, I still get a little choked up in parts), but like her four year old cousin before her, she loves it. I think it's the repetitive text and sweet illustrations and the funny adventures of the Paper Dolls.

For me, it's a story about the magic of childhood, a reminder of the love between a mother and a child and how no matter what, we'll always be together.

"We're not gone, oh no no no, we're holding hands and we won't let go".

It probably wasn't written with this intention at all, but I think this is a beautiful one for any Mama going through a hard time.

Kids 4-6 will love it too - it's a great one for doing extension activities and there's a tonne of paper dolls ideas on pinterest! 

the book and the bea x