Ode to Books and Owl Babies review.

My Love of books and a review of Owl Babies plus some activities.

My First Love

It would be an understatement to say i love books. I honestly cannot live without them.

I get all antsy and anxious if i haven't got a book on the go. What would i do....talk to my husband? Really, you do that?

I have loved books for as long as i can remember. I grew up on an estate with a little library. Some of my earliest memories are of me and my older sister ( 11yrs my senior) going off on our own to spend time picking and reading books. We would then go to the park behind the library before taking ourselves off home to work through our books before doing it all again the next week. 

I can still see in my minds eye the library's squat prefab structure, dated 70's decor, orange carpet and laminate book shelves. The yellowed and torn books worn by many hands. I was gutted when it closed, to be replaced by a young offenders institute.

You'll be glad to know i didn't visit the building after that. ; )

When i found out i was expecting, it wasn't the cute little booties i rushed out to buy. It was books. Baby books mirrored and monochrome, children's rhyme books, even children's classics to build up a collection for 'Bumps' future reading.

I clung to what i knew, i provided books like most mommies provide blankets. Many and layered, a different one for different times, seasons or occasions. If i could make my baby well read then i could make him well loved or something like that, it was all a bit fuddled by pregnancy hormones but my baby NEEDED books.

Much to my great delight i have nurtured a book lover. It fills me with joy each time he brings me a book asking for a story and i love the way he remembers snippets of his favourite, repeating them in his play or when he needs the reassurance they offer.

Book Review

We love the book 'Owl Babies' by Martin Waddell, Illustrated by Patrick Benson.





Its a sweet simple story of three little owls who wake up in the night to find their Mommy has gone. The three owls have a good think about where their mommy is (all owls think a lot)and baby Bill repeats 'I want my Mommy', my son loves to put on his cry baby voice and say this bit.

After a nice snuggle up together on a branch to ease their anxiety, the baby owls see their mommy return and she reassures them that she had only gone to get them food and that they knew she would come back really.

N loves it when the owl mommy returns, squealling 'AND SHE CAME'

when she swoops across the night sky. He had some issues with separation anxiety and when i found this book i knew it was just the thing to help him.

All i need to say now if he needs reassurance when i leave him is, Think about the Owl Babies and he does, 'because All Owls think alot' and we agree that mommies always come back. He KNOWS this just like, Sarah, Percy and Bill did. 

Here are a few owl related activities I've found for you to enjoy this week.

• Here is a site i stumbled upon which is full of great activities including a fun Owl sandwich, some colouring pages and a Owl finger rhyme.
• Here you can find an O is for owl printable to sneak in a bit of Literacy.
• Here, Here,  and Here are my favourite of the many Owl crafts out there. Loo roll Owl anyone?

I hope you enjoyed my reminiscing and review. Thank you for reading.

I will be linking up with the 9th Kid Lit Blog Hop over at Mother, Daughter, Son Book Reviews. Please stop by to have a look at some other great reviews.Here

Sharing a Shell Book Review

Sharing a Shell - Book Review and Activities.

Sharing a shell by Julia Donaldson,
Illustrated by Lydia Monks
Macmillan
IBSN 978-1-4050-2048-0

I bought this book specifically for it's focus on sharing, this is something my two year old needs to work on. The fight over felt tip pens at our last play date where me and the other mommy ended up stuck on one side of the kitchen door while the boys fought on the other, effectively barricading the door to us just reinforced this point, but i digress.

The book has a lovely lyrical text and colourful lively pictures with highlights of glitter.

It has some fairly big concepts for little ones but they are presented in such a way that children will take them in without realising they are being taught anything.

The story's main characters are Crab, Blob the Anemone and Bristle Worm.

Crab has no shell, eventually he finds one but Anemone and bristle worm come along wanting to share.

Crab eventually lets them and they prove their worth, keeping away fierce fish and doing 'Shellwork' (housework) A good example for children about the benefits of sharing.

The friends eventually fall out, getting fed up of each other and go their separate ways. Lonely and sad without each other. Bristle Worm mediates between the two. 

A terrible storm wreaks the friends new temporary homes and Bristle Worm who has been looking out for his friends all along, finds a nice big new shell for them all to share. All three are united and happy once again.

A simply way to highlight to children that in times of hardship you need your friends.

A lovely book with some great concepts. It's a big favourite with my son who loves to listen to me read it then afterwards takes the book off me and 'reads' it too himself, running his fingers across all the glittery bits on the pages and reciting the bits he remembers. A sure sign of a good book if ever there was one.

One of my favourite sites for books for kids is www.lovereading4kids.co.uk, i love their recommendations. They have this book down as for 3+ yrs, i would say more 2+yrs myself and although quite simple the themes of the book are relevant to older children too.

An all round great book with wonderful text, captivating illustrations and important themes.

I plan to do some activities to support the book. I have linked them below for you.

• A downloadable sheet with Songs, Games and Activities
• Printable Dominoes, a Game and Dot to Dot picture
• Ocean small world play - Not specific to sharing a shell but could easily be customised to fit and a great sensory experience.

I am not as brave as http://rainydaymum.co.uk who made the Ocean small world play above so when i do my small world scene, I'm going to use blue play dough to represent the sea with a foil rock pool filled with a little water. I love her idea though, so many textures, i will be nicking the oats for the shore idea as well. I was going to make yellow moon sand so oats are far less hassle. 

The Dominoes would be a great way to sneak in a little maths. My favourite in the activity sheet has to be pretending to be a crab, Anemone and Bristle worm. I can see me and my son having great fun shuffling sideways, shooting our arms out to sting fierce fish and wiggling along on the ground like worm.


I am excited to be linking this post up to the Kid Lit Blog Hop from at mother,daughter and son book reviews.

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I would love to hear your thoughts on the book and if you have any ideas for any related activities.

Thanks for reading.

P x