Tag: picture books

Bedtime Stories 🍂

We’re well and truly into autumn here in Scotland with frosty mornings, dark evenings, and the leaves turning all gold, amber and red, and decided to share a few of our favourite autumnal bedtime stories we’ve been enjoying together lately.

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

A story about three friends (a duck, a squirrel and a cat) who live together and all have a specific job to do when it comes to making the most delicious pumpkin soup, until one day the Duck decides he wants to try doing Squirrel’s job instead. This is a lovely story about friends falling out and making up again.

Little Goose’s Autumn by Ellie Woollard and Briony May Smith

One of two very different stories illustrated by Briony May Smith in this post. Little Goose’s Autumn is a gentle rhyming story about a goose trying to work out what she’s supposed to do in autumn by talking to other animals preparing for winter, before she finds others of her kind who show her the way.

Ollie’s Lost Kitten by Nicola Killen

We have a few of the books in this sweet little series about a girl called Ollie and her adventures. In this autumn/Halloween story, Ollie and her cat are out playing when she finds a lost kitten that she helps to reunite with his owner, but she gets lost in the forest in the process until she’s rescued by her own cat.

The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater

An amusing and fun story about a confused squirrel trying to investigate who keeps stealing the leaves from his tree in autumn, and the (long-suffering) little bird that tries to explain the changing seasons to the forgetful squirrel.

Witch in Training by Michelle Robinson and Briony May Smith

The other book illustrated by Briony May Smith in this post, which I bought as my oldest suddenly became scared of witches after watching Disney’s Tangled. This is all about a young witch learning to make potions and flying around on her broomstick searching for ingredients with her mum and familiars. A fun little story about learning, making mistakes and fixing them when the magic goes awry.

The Enchanted Dream by Sue Rawlings and Charlie Dear

Lastly, this is a recent purchase that I couldn’t resist when I saw it in a children’s boutique on our recent visit to Pitlochry and The Enchanted Forest. Written by a Scottish illustrator and writer duo, this is a simple story about a group of children and their carer making autumn crafts before going to visit the Enchanted Forest light show with lots of little references to the area around Pitlochry. It was a perfect souvenir from our recent trip.

Have a lovely week. X

Bedtime Stories: Julia Donaldson

I’ve been meaning to write another post about the stories I’ve been reading with my oldest daughter, and decided to focus on some of the wonderful stories by Julia Donaldson we’ve enjoyed together.

The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child

The Gruffalo is a modern classic picture book about a little mouse who out wits all the creatures in a forest that want to eat him, including the fearsome Gruffalo. A wonderful story about how being small doesn’t mean being helpless which is an important message for children.

I’ve written about The Gruffalo’s Child before as it was one of the first stories my oldest daughter showed an interest in and one that she still requests from time to time. In the sequel, the Gruffalo’s daughter ventures into the deep, dark wood to see if she can find the big bad mouse her father warned her about, and once again the cunning little mouse has to outsmart a bigger creature.

Room on the Broom

Another old favourite that my oldest daughter knows off by heart and we take turns to read/recite a line from start to end. Room on the Broom is the story of a witch who is always losing her belongings but who makes friends with all the creatures that help her find them again. I love the themes of kindness, helping each other and teamwork in this story.

The Snail and The Whale

This is another lovely story about a little Sea Snail that wants to travel the world and has the chance to do so on the tail of a humpback Whale. A recurring theme in this and The Gruffalo is that being small doesn’t mean being helpless, and it’s the determined and clever, little snail that ends up saving the whale’s life.

Zog and Zog and The Flying Doctors

A dragon called Zog is learning all the skills he needs to know at dragon school and is repeatedly helped by a girl who turns out to a Princess. In a clever reversal to the usual fairytale, Princess Pearl aspires to be a Doctor instead, which is a really inspiring message for girls in particular.

In the sequel, Zog and the Flying Doctors travel around helping different creatures who all have the chance to return the favour and help Princess Pearl later on. Of all the stories we have by Julia Donaldson, I think these two are my favourites with themes of perseverance, friendship and kindness.

Stickman

Stickman goes out one morning and then finds himself lost and far from home as different people and animals mistake him for a stick and use him for everything from playing fetch with a dog to building a nest. Stickman is a heartwarming story about never giving up no matter how hopeless things seem, but I tend to save this one for Christmas as Santa Claus shows up at the end.

The Princess and The Wizard

Finally, I wanted to mention The Princess and The Wizard as it was one of the first books my oldest daughter chose (no doubt drawn to it by the pink cover with a Princess) after she got her own library card and we’ve borrowed it a few times since. It’s a story about a Princess who is kidnapped by an evil wizard on her 7th birthday and the seven attempts she makes to escape by changing her colour and changing her shape. Another encouraging story about how determination and cleverness can overcome a more powerful enemy.

Have a lovely week. X