Category: childrens books

January 8, 2016

Make Bedtime Memorable with Lost My Name

Books take us on an adventure, teach us valuable lessons and sometimes they can create memories that last a lifetime. With a personalized story tailored to your child’s name, Lost My Name, makes bedtime stories fun, memorable and precious.

The Story Behind Lost My Name

This is one of the best parts about the Lost My Name books, they were developed by a group of Dads and an Uncle who wanted better books for their kids. This simple dream started back in 2012 and with the help of their understanding families, they grew and eventually they began to sell their books. They rocked The Dragons Den, they gained investment and have continued to grow. But the heart of their company still lays in bringing magical moments to bedtime.

The Little Boy Who Lost His Name

Creating a personalized story for our youngest son was beyond easy. We visited their site, entered his name and the magic began behind the scenes. We were quickly able to flip through the images that would accompany his story. One of the neatest parts of this process is that the story is developed using the letters of your child’s name. This means that each child’s name creates a unique story from over three hundred variants, awesome right?

Our book arrived in under a week (just in time to read Christmas eve!) and our son was delighted that his book had an extra special message written to him inside the front cover. The illustrations were bright, colourful and adorable. They almost reminded me of a hand painted water-colour story. The story line was fantastic and had us giggling and guessing the whole way through. It was a beautiful story even more so knowing how much thought and time goes into each and every story. We have read The Little Boy Who Lost His Name every night for the last two weeks! It has become a huge hit in our home. The book also makes a fantastic keepsake for our son and an even better gift if you are attending a birthday party, shower or just because you want to spoil that special person in your life!

Interesting Facts

Over 500,000 copies sold in over 150 countries.
2014 top-selling children’s book in the UK and Australia.
The books are available in seven languages.
Lost My Name is one of the world’s first full stack publishers based in Hackney, east London.

Make sure you follow Lost My Name on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to keep up to date on titles and more.

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

December 2, 2015

The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse

PJ Mouse, an adorable little stuffed animal, was lost and alone until young Emily heard his cries for help. Now, along with his new family, PJ gets to travel the world-discovering exciting new places and people along the way in PJ Mouse’s two books set in Canada and Queensland.

About the Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Canada

Come join PJ on his first adventure across Canada as he hikes on a glacier in the Rockies, finds a salt lake in the prairies, and walks on the ocean floor in Nova Scotia.

My Thoughts

In this first story, we meet the adorable PJ mouse and how he came about meeting his special human friend, Emily. They instantly form a special bond that is full of love, kindness and great humour! PJ joins Emily and her family as they travel across Canada, learning all about great sites including glaciers and a salt water lake. Poor little PJ always somehow happens to get into trouble! Canadians will love either reading this to their child or having their older child read it, not only is the story funny but they will learn a lot about Canada too! The illustrations are also the perfect touch to this story, sweet and simple!

Rating: 5/5

About The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Queensland

Come join PJ on this, his second adventure, along the coast of Queensland, as he snorkels at the Great Barrier Reef, chats with a Loggerhead turtle in the midst of a great undertaking, and explores the tropical rainforest until he has to be rescued by one of the local friendly wildlife.

My Thoughts

In the second followup story, PJ finds himself with his family heading to Australia! He learns all about travel, airplanes and passport. I love the special friendship he has with Emily. She always takes such good care out of him as she straightens his stuffing, calms his fears and encourages him. I loved how PJ thought he would have to walk upside down since he was heading to the land down under! In this story, we not only have a good laugh but we also learn a lot about Australia. A win win for all parents alike!

Rating:5/5

You can purchase a copy of these books on the authors website, Amazon, Amazon.ca and Barnes & Noble.

About the Author

Gwyneth Jane Page (Jane), who holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University, has called many countries home. She grew up in such places as England, Peru, the USA, and the Caribbean, and has also lived in Australia and Canada. She now resides in Victoria, BC with her husband and four children. The PJ Mouse books are based on Jane’s family trips with the real stuffed animal, PJ, who was found by Emily, Jane’s youngest daughter.

Megan Elizabeth, Jane’s second oldest daughter, has lived in Canada and Australia and travelled extensively with her family and PJ. Having been artistic since she was a little girl, illustrating the PJ Mouse books has enabled her to combine her love of travel with her love of art. Megan completed her studies at VanArts and is now building her career as a professional photographer as well as an illustrator. She currently resides in Victoria, BC with her family.

The Giveaway!

Enter to win Book One set in Canada, PJ mouse stuffed toy and sticker passport! Open to residents of Canada and the US. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

November 30, 2015

Kids Write 4 Kids Challenge

Children by nature are expressive and imaginative. They come up with the best stories and leave you craving for more. It is when we encourage our youth to keep up with their creativity, to continue to explore the world of reading and writing that this passion grows. We need to ignite the love of reading and writing at a young age so that they do not become discouraged later on in life.

This is the reason why the Ripple Foundation launched the Kids Write 4 Kids Creative challenge for children in grades four to eight, to inspire, encourage and foster a love of reading and writing. This will be the fourth year of the creative writing challenge and they are looking for Canadian youth to share their stories. The bonus: The winning story (or stories) will be published in digital and print! How exciting would that be? Who wouldn’t want to see their work in print!

Here is what they are looking for in the Kids Write 4 Kids Challenge:

Canadian youth in grades four to eight, enrolled in a school in Canada.
Story must be original and written by the author submitting the story.
One entry per an author.
Stories must be written in English.
Stories can be fact, fiction, poetry – the choice is yours!
Stories will be printed as they are submitted (so double-check that spelling and grammar)

Some of the past winning titles include; Escape from the Taco Shop, A Truly Gross Adventure and The Wish. You can see the complete list of winners here.

Head over to the Kids Write 4 Kids Creative challenge place to find more information on how to enter your little author’s story. Be sure to check out this interview to meet the authors.

November 16, 2015

The Knights Before Christmas

The Knights Before Christmas is not your usual Christmas story but brings with it silly humour and a new kind of Christmas fun.

About The Knights Before Christmas

‘Twas December 24th, and three brave knights were just settling in for the night when out on the drawbridge, there arose such a clatter! The knights try everything to get rid of this unknown invader (Santa Claus!), a red and white knight with a fleet of dragons.

‘But nothing would stop
their white-whiskered foe.
No matter their efforts,
he just would not go!’

My Thoughts

Silly, fun, rhyming humour is what you can find with this trio of Knights as they protect their King from a jolly invader with his fierce dragons (think red suit and his sleigh!). The rhyming follows the much-loved, Twas the Night Before Christmas, which helped as my children could almost guess the next words. We have so much fun whipping this story out, snuggling on the couch and reading it to each other. We have read it almost every night for the last week and it still hasn’t grown old! It definitely puts a new spin on an old family favourite, while adding in humour, excellent illustrations and a theme most young boys and girls can relate to! A fantastic addition to our Christmas book collection.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5+

About the Author

Joan Holub is the author and illustrator of more that 130 children’s books, including Zero the Hero, Little Red Writing, and the Goddess Girls series. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

About the Illustrator

Scott Magoon is the illustrator of many books for young readers, including Spoon and Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and the author and illustrator of The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot and Breathe. The art director at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, he lives in the Boston area with his wife and two sons.

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

November 16, 2015

The Spirit of Christmas

The best gift at Christmas? The gift of time, family and love!

About the Spirit of Christmas

Bells jingle, sleds dash through the snow, trees are topped with sparkling stars, and children everywhere dream of candy canes and presents. But the best gift of all-the most magical gift of the season-is when we spend Christmas with those we love.

My Thoughts

What a perfect, heart warming book just in time for the Christmas season!

It is perfectly sized for little ones hands and comes in a board book format giving it sturdiness for little hands. The images are adorable and bring you back to your own childhood. The book is written in rhymes that allows you to read aloud quite easily to your child with natural pauses.

It is the actual story that brought tears to my eyes and which makes this the perfect gift from a parent (or grandparent to a child). It is love and the birth of a child that is celebrated at Christmas. All the other things may be toppings we enjoy but it is love and family that means the most especially at this time of the year. It is a fantastic book to remind not only yourself and child about the true meaning of Christmas but also how much we love our children. This will be one of the best books you could buy a special child in your life this Christmas season!

You can purchase a copy of The Spirit of Christmas on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5+

About the Author

Nancy Tillman is the author and illustrator of the bestselling picture book On the Night You Were Born ; its companion journal, The Wonder of You: A Book for Celebrating Baby’s First Year ; The Spirit of Christmas ; The Heaven of Animals ; and the New York Times bestsellers, Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You ; The Crown on Your Head ; and I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love. She also created the mischievous cat Tumford in Tumford the Terrible and Tumford’s Rude Noises, and illustrated It’s Time to Sleep, My Love by Eric Metaxas.

Nancy’s mission in creating her books is to convey to children everywhere that “You are loved.” She lives in Portland, Oregon.

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