We *heart* We Give Books

It's the Easter hols in about three hours, so I (Keris) won't be posting for the next couple of weeks, but before I skip off into the sunshine (there is still sunshine, isn't there?) I thought I'd mention We Give Books.

Created by the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation, We Give Books is an online initiative that features a growing digital library of stories you can read with your child for free - whenever you like, no matter where you are - and each time you read a book online, Penguin will give a hardcover or paperback book to a child in need.

Simple, effective, wonderful.

Chloe, Instead by Micah Player

Who could resist this cover? When I received the bumper box of books from lovely Tina at Abrams & Chronicle Books, it was the first book I grabbed and the first book both Joe and Harry picked up. And the inside is just as bright and lively as the cover.

Molly always wanted a little sister, but Chloe is not exactly what she had in mind. Chloe eats crayons, tears the pages out of Molly's books, messes up her things and interferes when Molly's practicing playing the keyboard.

Molly, of course, comes round to the idea that Chloe is her own little person and that's okay, but it actually happened a little bit too quickly for me. One page Molly is screaming at Chloe and the next page everything is fine. I think the story would have flowed a little better if Molly had taken a touch longer to come around to Chloe's antics, but apart from that, I really enjoyed this book. The ending is particularly gorgeous. I also loved the look at both the upsides and downsides of a new baby in the family and so did Harry, since he's been there himself.

It would make a lovely gift for a child who's about to have a new baby brother or sister.

We *heart* Sandra Boynton

I bought a copy of Hippos Go Berserk before I even had children. My husband used to read it to my belly during pregnancy and he even attempted to recite it to me during labour (not sure what he was trying to achieve with that, but it made me laugh).

Since then, I've bought quite a few Sandra Boynton books and have loads more on my wishlist. This morning I read the Belly Button Book to Joe and he loved it (toddlers love showing off their belly buttons, no?) and we've also started reading Pajama Time at night and Hey! Wake Up! in the morning (I love how that one starts "Hey little guys, open your eyes! What do you say, it's a brand new day!") Oh and What's Wrong, Little Pookie ("What's wrong, Little Pookie? Your bright eyes are wet. Come over and tell me why you are upset.") LOVE.

Boynton's illustrations are consistently hilarious and the books are fun to read for adults as well as children. Just writing about them now, I've found lots more I neeeeeed to buy. (Philadelphia Chickens has been on my wishlist for years. That one had better be first.)

What's your favourite Boynton book?

Picture Books for Kindle - If You Have a Hat by Gerald Hawksley

I love my Kindle. My boys (aged 3 and 7) would love to get their hands on it, but they're not the most gentle of children and I fear for its safety, but when we went on holiday last year, I didn't want to take a bunch of books in our case and so I downloaded some Kindle books for them, including this one - If You Have a Hat by Gerald Hawksley.

I didn't have incredibly high hopes. Kindle isn't really designed for picture books - or rather, my old, black and white Kindle isn't - but If You Have a Hat was a huge success. Its subtitle is 'A silly rhyming picture book' and it's actually also very simple, which is perfect for Kindle.

The first page features an illustration of a hat, accompanied by 'If you have a hat -'. The next page: the cover illustration of a child wearing the hat, with the text 'put it on your head.' Then we have a cute, waving insect with 'If you have a bed bug -'... can you guess the next line? It's 'tuck it up in bed' with a picture of the cute bed bug, yes, tucked up in bed. The illustrations are simple and cute enough that it doesn't matter that they're not in colour.

Joe (3) loved it because it's funny and he could guess what was coming next. Harry (7) loved it because he could read it himself (which was actually one of the reasons I loved it too - listening to Harry reading to his little brother for the first time...).

(My only complaint is rhyming "wee mouse" with "tree house" - it doesn't really scan and it bugs me every time I read it.)

We also bought Silly Monsters ABC, which was equally successful, and I've just noticed there are five more Gerald Hawksley books for Kindle and I'll be buying them in time for our next holiday.

Never Say NO To a Princess by Tracey Corderoy & Kate Leake

A fun and feisty princess picture book served up with a good helping of adventure, friendship and finally...manners!  The little princess wants her own dragon and no one Ever says NO to a princess, do they?

We meet the young princess as she's in the process of demanding a variety of things and because her parents, the King and Queen are too busy doing royal things, they are happy to instruct servants to give her what she wants.  Her biggest threat to them is that if she doesn't get what she wants, she'll howl and cry and throw a tantrum.

When she sees a dragon, she demands that she should have one.  All manner of antics follow where the servants attempt to snag the dragon, but no joy.  This results in a huge crying spell for the princess and in fact, she cries so much, she floods the castle and the lands and gets swept out on a flood of tears into the dark scary woods.

She's more than JUST a bit scared but help is at hand, in the shape of the very same dragon she desperately wanted for herself.  The dragon is kindly, and the princess demands, quite rudely to be taken home, immediately.  Of course the dragon in turn demands the magic word and the princess is stumped.

Eventually she does figure out what the dragon means by the magic word and after spending the night with him, drying out and chatting, he flies her home.

The princess is reunited with her parents who notice something about her immediately.  She's no longer miserable, she's changed.  The princess dispatches an invitation to her friend and invites the friend to a party and behold: the princess is happy and smiling.  Not only has she made a new friend, but she's also happy.

I loved Never Say NO to a Princess.  The artwork is fresh and cute and full of mad sparkles, and gives us the idea of chaos this princess' life is all about - what she demands, she gets, no questions asked.  She's rude, arrogant, and has no manners.  Yet it takes a run-in with a fearsome monster who has far better manners than her, to teach her this lesson, someone to stand up to her, ignoring the wailing and the bad manners.

Smart and funky, Never Say NO to a Princess, is a great read for readers 3+.  The lesson is pretty obvious but done in a very charming way so that even as an adult, I didn't felt preached to.  Which I think is a great lesson to learn: being polite makes you a better person and invariably makes you friends.