Category: childrens books

April 15, 2025

My Mom Book Review

The perfect gift for Moms, My Mom celebrates the unique bond between mother and child, no matter how this relationship starts.

About My Mom

My Mom is a stereotype-busting celebration of all the everyday things that one child’s mom does to make her so awesome!

My Mom says that when I arrived
I was like a star
drifting
down
from the sky
and into her life.

The story follows mother and child from before the child is born, celebrating the bond between mother and child even when the child is just a dream. With an inclusive feel, all mother and child relationships are celebrated in this story – whether biological or adoptive.

A joyous spirit of adventure is present throughout the story, following mother and child as they take on life’s big and small adventures together. From sailing a ship around the garden and exploring forests, streams and meadows to telling stories in a cozy den and cuddling before bedtime, a child reveals all the simple yet special things she loves to do with her adventurous mom.

Our Thoughts

The journey to parenthood is different and non-linear. This book captures it perfectly in the opening sentence, “My Mom says that when I arrived I was like a star, drifting down from the sky and into her life”. We become mothers in very different ways and stages in our lives. For some of us, this journey may appear easier and for others we may have a longer journey that goes down a variety of different paths. We all have the same fears that becoming parents may never happen, no matter how hard our heart yearns for it. But when this day comes, and that child enters your life, it is like life starts again and your heart is full of love and hope.

This beautiful book brought tears to my eyes as you hear the child share how much they love their Mom and everything that she does with her. She shares how her Mom can fix anything and how her Mom’s strength and bravery in turns gives her strength to face her fears. As parents, we sometimes can try so hard to give our children the perfect moments (sparing no cost!) when all they really want and need is the simple moments – walking in the park, making crafts, playing together, snuggling on the couch. Seeing these little adventures through the eyes of a child, brings a different perspective into being a mom.

My favourite line of this book, “Mom tells me how she loved me when I was just a dream. And when I see my mom so happy – I’m really, really glad she dreamed of me.” My heart just melted reading this line, we love our children so deeply regardless of how they come into our lives. Children need this love and flourish when they feel safe and loved.

The illustrations in this book go along well with the story line – they are soft, whimsical and fun. They highlight the magic of childhood and the love between Mother and child. You can hear the giggles, feel the wind blowing and the touch of a small hand in your own.

This is a wonderful book for new parents, it makes not only a wonderful book to read with your child but to cherish for years to come.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon. Learn more about this book and others on Quarto.

About the Author

Susan Quinn was born in Manchester but has traveled the world: by way of South Africa and Sydney. She became a children’s librarian at 23 and then moved back to England. Her first book, Little Bear and the Butterflies, was published by QED in 2014.

About the Illustrator

Sarah Mathew is a freelance illustrator who lives in Cambridge with her husband and three boys. Sarah is naturally curious and loves collecting little seeds of inspiration. Sarah takes a playful and experimental approach to her work, testing out new ways of working and seeing where the happy accidents or beginnings of ideas go. Sarah has many treasured memories of being snuggled up with her children reading a big pile of picture books.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 9, 2025

Sing With Your Baby Every Day: 30 Songs and Nursery Rhymes to Sing Along To

The sound a parents’ voices helps babies feel safe and feel comfortable with their surroundings, Sing With Your Baby Every Day is a gorgeous book that puts some of the best loved nursery rhymes and songs in one gorgeous keepsake.

About Sing With Your Baby Every Day

Sing With Your Baby Every Day is keepsake volume of thirty nursery rhymes and songs to share with your baby, and illustrated with hand-embroidered artwork.

Science tells us that babies develop when they are spoken to, sung to, and read to. Even when they’re tiny, their parents’ voices helps babies make sense of the world and feel comfortable with new people and places and beautiful book brings you best-loved nursery rhymes and songs in one volume, including:

Five Little Ducks
Round and Round the Garden
Teddy Bears Picnic
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
A Sailor Went to Sea
Grand Old Duke of York
Kookaburra

Bond with your little one and watch them grow as your recite and sing these classics.

This book is also part of the Stitched Storytime series: Read to Your Baby Every Day, Read to Your Toddler Every Day, Read to Your Baby Every Night, and Pray with Your Baby Every Day.

Our Thoughts

Little ones love singing and hearing their parents and siblings voice. You can see the changes in their face and eyes, the way they just light up when they hear these special people in their life. Singing and reading are so important in their development and I think we do this naturally as we try to soothe our newborns with songs and movement. It is one of the most natural actions we take as care providers and parents – we sing to soothe and to show joy.

Sometimes where we struggle is having enough songs to sing! I am guilty of this and then I start to try to remember every Girl Guide and hymn I have ever heard (while only remembering likely one verse!). I love the variety of songs in this book, re-learning the proper words to each song and also being able to share some of my own memories of each song with older siblings (it even brought up conversations of whether they remember us singing these songs together when they were little). Each day we sang different songs, went back to favourites that made our little one smile, and even added in our own actions and dances to each song.

The book itself is stunning with the illustrations, we found ourselves running our hands over each page. The design is so thoughtful and intentional with big impact. This really helped to engage our little one and family in reading and singing time.

This is a wonderful book that would make a great addition to baby shower and newborn gifts. Parents will enjoy each moment spent singing to their little one with the aid of this gorgeous book!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon. You can learn more about the series on Quarto.

About the Author

Irish-born Claire Grace studied English and Philosophy before becoming a Senior Commissioning Editor of children’s books. She is the author of many books for children and has worked on a collection of award-winning titles. She now lives in Scotland with her husband and son and works as a full time author and freelance editor.

About the Illustrator

Chloe Giordano began to sew in the last year of her illustration degree at the University of the West of England. Since graduating, she has continued to experiment with freehand embroidery, using sewing thread and hand-dyed fabrics to make her work – and the books in her bestselling Stitched Storytime series are illustrated with her hand-embroidered artwork. Her clients include Penguin, Vintage Books, Bloomsbury, Liberty.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 1, 2025

Is That My Hat?

Is That My Hat is a fun, engaging read for parents and young children.

About Is That My Hat?

Mole is struggling to find the perfect hat. After trying on big, spooky, and silly hats, Mole ends up creating the perfect hat for himself. Full of creativity and bright illustrations, this picture book is a charming and engaging read.

Our Thoughts

I love to read and I especially love reading with my children. These moments are incredibly special and important to hold on to. I really try hard to ensure that the books we are reading are geared towards their age, but also stimulating, engaging and most importantly fun.

With a new addition to our family we have been on the hunt to add to our collection of story time and bed time books. Is That My Hat? was a huge hit in our household. It had everything that makes a child’s book fun and engaging. The sentences had a great rhythm that allowed you to change the tone and pitch of your voice to really help draw a child into the story. It felt natural to speak the words to my child and change my facial expressions to bring the story to life. While my little one is quite a bit younger, a three to four year old would have a great time with prompting questions (what items would you choose for a hat, what makes that special, etc..) to help bring this story to life.

The illustrations are simple, with clean lines and bright colours that help to deliver the storyline without being distracting. I prefer these types of illustrations in children’s stories as I find this helps encourage connection to the story itself versus being caught up trying to follow distracting images page to page.

Is That My Hat? is a wonderful story for young children and will be a welcome addition to your home library.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

About the Creator

Kevin Payne is an author, illustrator, and poet from Devon, England. He was an elementary school teacher for seventeen years and still loves working with children to develop their skills and love of words. Away from writing, Kevin plays soccer, writes songs, and is a local town crier. Oyez!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 27, 2021

Halloween Yoga Book Review

Get excited for Halloween and learn some simple (and not spooky) yoga poses at the same time with Little Mouse and friends!

About Halloween Yoga

Tammy McDoodle and her friends are dressed in their favorite costumes and so are Little Mouse and his best friend, Mr. Opus the cat, in this fun book which combines Halloween with straightforward yoga postures.

“Before you go out to trick or treat,” says Tammy’s mom, “Let’s do some Halloween yoga poses to keep calm”.

Your little ghosts and goblins will delight in simple, not-so-spooky Halloween yoga moves, such as witch, ghost, black cat, and jack-o-lantern poses. Children will get excited for Halloween while learning an easy way to stay calm and get healthy activity in this beautifully illustrated board book set to rhyme.

Our Thoughts

Yoga is a great way to get young kids (and adults!) to slow down, focus, ground themselves and be mentally and emotionally prepared to face the world. Halloween is always so much fun (it is by far my favourite holiday of the year) but with all the decorations, sounds and distractions it can be overstimulating and overwhelming for young children. How many meltdowns have you witnessed as a parent of an overstimulated, overtired (and likely had way too much candy all day) child? It is so important to give them the skills that they need to take a deep breath, perform a calming pose and then carry on with their activities. These skills, if developed and encouraged at a young enough age, will become great habits as they become older.

In this story, before the group even sets out to have a magical, mysterious fun night, they participate in some very calming (and spooky) themed yoga poses. The book itself is easy to read, fun to follow along with and to do the poses as you read it (we would stop and practice the poses and it did not take away from the story). The story has adorable illustrations that the whole family will love. Children will fall in love with the spooky and fun poses that they can incorporate into practice every day of the year (not just at Halloween). I loved how she made the practice fun – this is such an important part of encouraging, guiding and supporting young children, make it fun and they will want to do it over and over again. This will make a great addition to your child’s home library.

You can pre-order a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Teresa Power is an internationally recognized educator, keynote speaker and bestselling author of the award-winning series, Little Mouse Adventures and The ABCs of Yoga for Kids which have been translated into four languages.

In the 1980s, she started practicing yoga to de-stress from the vigor of law school, and subsequently became a yoga teacher. She is a sought-after speaker, having appeared at conferences, schools, and libraries across the nation.

Teresa enjoys volunteering and has worked with The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Choose Health LA, Let’s Move! West LA, University of Southern California and others. Teresa has been featured by Good Morning America, USA Today, Parenting, Reader’s Digest, Fox11 LA, Telemundo, CBS LA, and other media outlets.

In addition, she is the founder of the International Kids Yoga Day, whose mission is to make the life-changing practice of yoga accessible to everyone, regardless of age, location or finances. A graduate of University of Southern California, she earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and in 2002 completed a yoga training program with Indigo Yoga.

About The ABCs of Yoga

Our goal is to present parents, grandparents, teachers, and educators with a fun, unique and creative method to teach children a powerful art form, mindfulness outlet, and physical activity that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. Yoga has been shown to have numerous mental and physical health benefits that can help emotionally balance children, encourage more acute mental focus, and also serve as a beneficial physical exercise that they enjoy doing. Our products use an intrinsically engaging and colorful method of inspiring children to learn yoga. Enjoy the benefits of a more focused child with enhanced clarity and a calmer demeanor—thanks to the benefits of daily mindfulness through yoga.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 22, 2021

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant Review

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate!

About The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate! Toast, Scone, and Milk think he’s being mean, but Croissant thinks they’re being mean to him. A sip of Milk and ten deep breaths help everyone calm down and talk to each other.

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant is a children’s picture book with fun and colorful hand-drawn illustrations that teach a lesson about misunderstandings any child can grasp. Croissant learns how to let anger pass, and that yelling hurts others’ feelings. It’s a simple story for parents to introduce ideas of managing feelings to children, illustrated by Korey Scott.

The book also features a delicious croissant recipe that parents can make with their children, and full-page coloring activities featuring the characters in the book (kindle and e-reader compatible too!).

Our Thoughts

This was a cute, funny way to get your children talking about their feelings – especially those big feelings around unfairness, grumpiness, feeling left out and how to deal with them.

In this book, Croissant is grumpy because Toast and Scone are taking up all of the room on the plate and he feels that they are being mean to him. But Toast and Scone feel that Croissant is being mean for no reason at all (I think we can all relate to these feelings!). Milk steps in and is able to calm the grumpy Croissant down by taking a deep breath and counting to ten. Suddenly, everyone is calmer and able to talk to each other with kindness and respect.

This is a cute book to get the conversation moving with your child about those tough feelings and how we can work together to calm those feelings. We all can feel intense emotions, and children are the same. They sometimes lack the words to express those feelings and can yell, throw and hit. It is important to teach them to how to notice those emotions that are building up, why they are and how to pause, take a deep breath and calm themselves back down again. The bonus? This book comes with a fun recipe and colouring activities to reinforce the lessons that they are learning. A win-win for parents and caregivers!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and B&N.

About the Author

Mona K is a statistician by training and loves to weave stories with numbers in her day job as a health services researcher. She is also a children’s book author who believes that picture books are a source of both wisdom and silliness. Mona loves to bake in her free time, and her love for croissants and meditation inspired her to write this debut children’s picture book. She lives in New Jersey with her seven-year-old son and husband.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.