Children's Books > M Children's Books > S

Advantages: Beautifully written, good messages about confronting fears.
Disadvantages: Rather scary and a little bit anachronistic.

Marianne is bored. She is recuperating from a nasty illness and her doctor has prescribed a lengthy period of bed rest. Her usually sunny disposition has disappeared and in its place has come boredom, irritability, frustration and that dreadfully debilitating kind of tiredness that comes from having done absolutely nothing for days and days and days and days and endless days. As a last resort to amuse her depressed daughter, Marianne's mother fetches ...
...with. Inside it, Marianne finds a pencil she cannot remember ever seeing before. It is an ordinary looking pencil; stubby, and in need of sharpening, but something about it attracts Marianne and she takes and begins to draw. She draws a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night, Marianne has the most remarkable dream. In it, she finds herself inside her own picture. The house is there, the garden is there, the boy is there. The boy's name ... Read review

Advantages: Great ending to the Twig sequence
Disadvantages: Ending to the Twig sequence

Minight Over Sanctaphrax is a great ending to the twig sequence and my favourite of the three books in the Twig series . Twig, now a young sky pirate and captin, ventures into open sky to find his father in the great mother storm. But his sky ship is destroyed and Twig looses all memory of his journey and the secret he need to remember to save Santaphrax. Twig must venture into the darkest parts of undertown to rescue his crew others in the deepwoods ...
...put the book down. The beutifull illustrations add real meaning to the the story and involve the reader even more than in previous books. Paul Stewart has exelled himself in this brilliant book and he pieces together the final parts of the puzzle. For instance we discover the secrets of riverrise and meet charaters like Vox Verlix and Cowlquape in thier earlier years. The book is writen in great detail and you are constanly involved in the plot. ... Read review

Advantages: Fabulous illustrations, appeals to pre-school children.
Disadvantages: None

...is a new addition to my children’s picture book shelf! ≈≈≈ Price ≈≈≈ My paperback version, ISBN: 0-7445-9499-5 was £4.99 but is available from Amazon from £1.29 but do be aware of P&P charges. ≈≈≈ Nick Sharratt ≈≈≈ Those of you who are used to children’s picture books will no doubt recognise Nick Sharratt’s name as being the illustrator of many picture books, working alongside ...
...of picture books. ≈≈≈ My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh ≈≈≈ The book is told by a little boy who looks about 3 – 4 years old. He begins the book by informing the reader that his Mum and Dad make him laugh, one likes spots and the other likes stripes. He then focuses on his Mum, declaring that she likes spots in the summer and the winter. Moving on to his Dad, he confirms that he likes stripes on weekdays and weekends. ... Read review

Advantages: Good chunky magnets, entertaining, loads of fun
Disadvantages: None!

...presents for a while! My Fireman Sam Magnet Book is a relatively new book in the Fireman Sam franchise made for toddlers and older children. This book is a lovely hardback, with its top half in bright red, just like the Fire Engine Jupiter, with a big picture of Fireman Sam and Jupiter on the bottom half of the book. It's lovely and bright, really eye-catching and very inviting for children. My first impressions of the book were really good and ...
...and child-friendly as well! My only complaint about the book would be the size of the drawer. When you first get the book, all the pieces are sat in nicely, but obviously they all need to come out. The problem came when I tried to get them back in again and they wouldn't lay flat properly so I had to almost force the drawer shut. It's quite tough to get them all in properly, especially when Harry is trying to help, so you definitely need adult help ... Read review

Advantages: A fantasy book with a difference, (makes a nice change).
Disadvantages: Wish I'd read it ages ago.

...Firstly there's the title - Muddle Earth, and secondly the artwork. We're presented with a strange looking bunch of characters; including a boy with a saucepan on his head, a three eyed ogre, and a dragon that looks as if it's seen better days. It intrigued me enough to want to check out the first few pages and what I saw made me realise that I was going to enjoy this book and I still hadn't read the back cover yet! Before you even get to the first ...
...line It begins on Muddle Earth, when the three moons are rising in the sky, one purple (like a batbird), one yellow (like an ogre's underpants on washday) and one rather reluctant to appear green moon. Randalf the Wise is preparing to cast a spell; the three moons are aligned, he has the pointed hat, the scroll for the spell to summon a warrier hero (well, most of it anyway) and Veronica, the bossy budgie wittering on at him! Enter Joe Jefferson, ... Read review