Children's Books > w Children's Books

Advantages: Beautiful, simple, thematically rich children's book
Disadvantages: none

...loving it, a friend thrust Waiting for Anya into my grubby mitts and forced me to read it. I thank her. Jo lives in a small French village near the Spanish border. Life is hard while his father is away at war, as are all the able-bodied men of the village, and yet the war doesn't appear to otherwise affect the town, which plods on its merry way. The shepherding duties are still to be done, and they are down to 12-year-old Jo and his grandfather, ...
...To Kill A Mockingbird. Waiting for Anya is told in very straightforward language, in the third person. It reads smoothly and paces itself beautifully between the internal wonderings of Jo, a boy who feels keenly all the adolescent angst of relations with friends and family and is now forced to reconcile these into the context of wartime, and the thrilling, heart-stopping tale of Benjamin and his lost tribe. I feel it is no accident that there are ... Read review

Advantages: Emotive storyline and great illustrations
Disadvantages: not for younger readers who may not understand the message

War and Peas I have been doing some work on WW2, and of course, out came this well thumbed book, drawing as it does on some of the aspects of war and negotiations in a light hearted way. STORY AND ILLUSTRATIONS The author of this book has illustrated many books by other authors, so it's a foregone conclusion as we read through the book that the illustrations will perfectly complement the text, and will be instantly appealing to children. In fact, ...
...request for help goes unnoticed, war is declared. The blurb on the back of the book asks us whether "it will end in peas-or just lots and lots of peas". Before we read the book, children will make predictions, and generally see the humour in the play on words. The story starts with a skinny King Lion in his suit of armour, sitting looking over his barren land, while elephants and rhinos look forlornly at the dry ground. He knows that in the next ... Read review

Advantages: A warm yet poignant tale of wartime childhood.
Disadvantages: Quite short.

...wonderful older children's picture book War Game by Michael Foreman I was reminded that I must read one f his other books again. This one jumps from the First World War setting of War Game to the Second World War and the childhood of Foreman. Would this one be as good as War Game? ~~~THE AUTHOR. Michael Foreman was born in Suffolk in 1938 ~ in the village of Pakefield near Lowestoft. From being a small boy he drew pictures and wrote stories and ...
...the Kate Greenaway Medal for War Boy. ~~~THE PLOT. War Boy is a semi-autobiographical account of Foreman's early childhood in Pakefield during World War Two. It is a charming tale of growing up in a sleepy seaside town ~ a sleepy town that is transformed by the War. This area of coastline was targetted by German Bomb raids and Foreman gives his view of how the fear and noise dominated and influenced his childhood. We learn a lot about Foreman's ... Read review

Advantages: Large font and simple wording
Disadvantages: None

This book is a timeless classic that I, myself, enjoyed as a child and am now sharing that experience with my daughter. We read it at least five times every single day at the moment and even at the young age of 17 months old she copies all the sounds and stomps along with the characters to find the bear. Then she dives for cover once he's found and we have a jolly good laugh as we run for cover! It is one of those stories that ensures so much fun ...
...child from 12 months up will surely enjoy this book but is probably more popular with school age children who are just beginning to read. It is the perfect starter book with it's large font and simple, repetititve words... simply beautiful. I orginally purchased this book in paperback at our local supermarket as an extra birthday present for my daughter, it soon became her favourite story and after 4 months has not let up yet. Recently though I discovered ... Read review

Advantages: Concludes the series nicely, as usual well written and entertaining
Disadvantages: Not the end I would have wished for

...bit more and Janie determines what really happens and traces and meets her birth family. Lots of other stuff happens – 3 books worth in fact – but that’s not important here. This book: Carrying straight on from “The Voice on the Radio” (book 3 in the series), this book tells us of Janie’s life at the moment. Things have settled down, and her 2 families are beginning to get on ok. When her (adopted / kidnapping) ...
...realization that everything is not what it seems. Even the messed up world she’s currently living in, with 2 families and a lot of confusion, is nothing compared to this and she does the typical Janie thing of acting first and thinking later. The good stuff: Imagine you’re young. Younger than you are. Younger than I am. For someone in that position, this book is amazing. It is well written in a simple, laid back style, and has just ... Read review