Children's Books > H Children's Books > B

Advantages: Lovely story set in Kenya
Disadvantages: none

Handa's Surprise-Eileen brown Handa's surprise is a really simple story set in Kenya. It is a great multicultural book that is often used in pre-school, nursery and early years settings. It introduces children to unfamiliar places with different animals, foods and ways of life through words and pictures. Handa put seven delicious fruits in a basket for her friend, Akeyo. She will be surprised thought Handa as she set off for Akeyo's village. I ...
...the sweet smelling guava? Handa's surprise is great to read in a group, children enjoy looking at the large colourful pictures and large text. At the back of the book are suggestions for useful and enjoyable ways of making the most of reading together: Describing food In the book, each fruit is described "soft yellow bananna", "round juicy orange" ...Children can take it in turns to chose a fruit or vegetable and describe it. Shops Children ... Read review

Advantages: Great for all horsy teenagers, not snobby
Disadvantages: You need to like horses really

Saddle Club books I was somewhat addicted to these when I was younger. Written by Bonnie Bryant a huge number of books have been written in the series. They are about three girls; Stevie, Carol and Lisa. They all love horses and live in the same town. It's a great series for young teenagers, who love horses, because it has no snobbery, like many horsy books. The girls go through all the usual things, first boyfriends, holidays, school dances etc, ... Read review

Advantages: Great comparisons
Disadvantages: none

...The story starts by describing how a couple of different animals feel to the touch. “Parrots are feathery, porcupines are prickly, But how loud is a lion? Shhh! Listen!” Each page is formatted the same way with a couple of animals being compared and then the question of how loud the lion is. Included in the list of animals are the spotty cheetah, the happy hoopoes, the crafty crocodiles and the hefty rhinos. Looking through the book you can see ...
...that you can pick out how each creature is made up. ***My Thoughts*** I am really impressed by this slightly different style of book. My son really enjoyed Secret Seahorse and with this in mind he was instantly attracted to this school library book. As soon as he handed it to me, he said that it was like the seahorse book and that he couldn’t wait to read it. This is probably due to the fact that he loves anything to do with Lion King at the moment ... Read review

Advantages: Good book if you like this type of thing.
Disadvantages: Not for everyone.

There are three books in the Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton: The Naughtiest Girl in the School (First Published 1940) The Naughtiest Girl Again (1942) The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor (1945) While being in many ways typical school stories such as the St Clare's and Malory Towers books, also by Enid Blyton these books are also significantly different. (Interestingly, The Naughtiest Girl in the School was actually the first Enid Blyton school ...
...Well for a start, the school is a mixed school, educating both girls and boys, while in most school stories from this era deal with single sex boarding schools. The other major difference is that the school is run by the children themselves, who deal with matters of discipline at a weekly meeting. At this meeting the children are allowed to bring up any complaints that they have against other children and the problems are considered and dealt with ... Read review

Advantages: fantastic illustrations
Disadvantages: not the clearest for teaching opposites

...first part always asks, 'But how big is a pig?' and then a phrase or question to encourage you to tell whoever is writing the book (which you find out towards the end are piglets). *** RATINGS *** This is a difficult one. Initially, I was disappointed with the text in this book. I have come to the conclusion that it is a lovely book and I would very much recommend it but it was bought a year or so too early for my son as some knowledge of opposites ... Read review