Children's Books > T Children's Books

Advantages: Encourages listening and thinking skills
Disadvantages: Might make your brain hurt!

...after reading an article in the Times about keeping children’s brains active throughout the long summer holidays. We often play games and quizzes at family meal times (when I went on holiday I packed in my suitcase… type of game) so I though this book may give us some food for thought, so to speak. A thunk, explains the author Ian Gilbert, is a simple looking question about an everyday thing which makes you stop and reflect and then look at things ...
...question harder, everyday situations. The concept of thunks came from America where Matthew Lipman, a professor of philosophy, realised his students could tell him in detail what the great philosophers thought, but were unable to formulate ideas for themselves. About 10 years ago he developed a course of what became known as Philosophy for Children which was abbreviated to P4C. By questioning why they feel something to be true, or not, students ... Read review

Advantages: Bright , Colourful cute
Disadvantages: title suggests a story but it's really just poems

...I often take her to the libarary and let her choose her own books. She always chooses books thats really stand out and I can see instantly why this book appealed to her. A Colourful cast of sea creatures pop up from the pages of this fabulos book from an award winning creative team. Pull the tabsand lift the flaps , then find the cheeky starfish hiding on every page. The Pop Up Commotion under the Ocean is a collaboration by Giles Andreae and David ...
...My Granson Is a Genius, The Lion Who Wanted To Love, Giraffe's Can't Dance and There's a House inside My Mummy. David Wojtowycz is the illistrator of the Purple Ronnie series, his childrens titles include Rumble In The Jungle, What Colour Is Love and Once Upon An Animal. The book is bright and colourful throughout and all the characters are happy, smiley and friendly looking, even the shark. Although the title suggests that it's a story, it's really ... Read review

Advantages: Genltly rhyming text, great illustrations
Disadvantages: none

The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson This is another classic Julia Donaldson book that is illustrated by Axel Sheffler. It is 32 pages long and costs £5.99, published by Macmillan. It is a story of a snail who has an "itchy foot" and dreams of far away places. He finds a whale that will take him to places he's never seen or dreamed of and everything is going well until disaster happens… will the snail be able to save the whale? It is written ...
...and on. The illustrations are beautiful showing a wide range of places that the snail is visiting. There are plenty of things to see which complements the text. The snail and the Whale is also available on audio book read by Imelda Staunton who just brings the story alive. As I type I can hear the gentle lilt of the text and the subtle jokes which make it a joy to read, not just for the children but also for the adults. How does she write such ... Read review

Advantages: Fun and Educational
Disadvantages: None

...enough for young ones. There's No Place Like Space was published in 1999 therefore Pluto is included and introduced as one of the nine planets. So for the more serious astronomers this might not be a preferred choice. But for a parent like me who wants to introduce the solar system to a hungry little mind I would say it is more than fine and very inspirational. ... Read review

Advantages: Simple retelling of the Christmas story
Disadvantages: None

...out all my versions of the Christmas story to read to a group of young children. I like books which tell the story in a simple but informative way and which have interesting pictures and not too much confusing text. This book is one of those which fits the bill perfectly, and having used Usborne Bible tales on numerous occasions, it will be making another appearance. The story is written in such a way that there is a line of very simple text at ...
...of what is happening in the picture. There are ideas in which an adult can help their child to begin to read with the suggestion that the whole story is read to the child and the child is given the chance to talk about the pictures. I then ask children to read the simple text to me, after which I read the longer text. I find that this turn taking does increase their confidence, as it allows them to make sense of the story without any arduous text ... Read review