Paul Gallico wrote two of my favourite books EVER, and one of them is The Man Who was Magic. You’ve probably heard of Paul Gallico, even if you think you haven’t. If you frequent secondhand book stores (and you probably do, if you’re here), you’ll have seen some of his work. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a secondhand…
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has to be one of my favourite kids’ movies of all time. I actually first watched it before I even had children. I was pregnant with my eldest son, off work with a rotten cold and in need of something lighthearted to cheer me up. Little did I realise it would later become one…
The Ultimate List of Must-read Children’s Books: The Top Five First, an apology. I posted my introduction post to the Ultimate List of Must-Read Children’s Books in July last year, and have left you hanging ever since. Shocking. I could give you a list of excuses and reasons as to why the blog has been much neglected this last year,…
So this post was supposed to have been finished in time for Halloween, but at the moment I’m about as hopelessly disorganised as Eglantine Price, so it’s a tad late. However, it was Bonfire Night last night, and Mary Norton’s Bedknob and Broomstick is nicely fitting for that too, so I feel like I’ve just about gotten away with it.…
The Cuckoo Clock Next in my challenge to read the first 200 Puffin Books is The Cuckoo Clock by Mrs Molesworth. After The Microbe Man, which was a little heavy going, I decided to opt for something a little lighter and fluffier. This one is PS3, only the third book to appear in the Puffin Story Book series. It was…
Years ago, when I was a young and enthusiastic new student at university, I went along to the Freshers’ fair. The Freshers’ fair was a gathering of all the social groups organised by the students of the university, each one promising fun, frolics and a ready-made circle of friends if you joined up. Did I join the film society? The…
The Ultimate List of Must-read Children’s Books Many moons ago, I got to thinking that there were probably quite a lot of great children’s books that I had never read. But how to narrow it down? Which ones were the best? Which were the ‘must-reads’ that I shouldn’t possibly miss? So I set about looking for a list of the…
The Puffin Challenge So, as if my TBR wasn’t completely unmanagable already, I’ve decided to give myself the challenge of tracking down and reading the first 200 Puffin Story Books. I know, I know, it probably isn’t at all sensible for a number of reasons – I already have far too much to do, and it might prove difficult to…
Long time no see! I don’t think I’ve posted anything on the blog since Februrary, so it’s nice to be back on the vintage books again. I’m easing myself back in with a picture book for easy reading, and I’ve chosen Pig on the Run as the next stop on the bookworm trail, as it has the same author (Mira…
For the last few years now, I have been feeling increasingly bah, humbug about Christmas. It just seems to get earlier and pushier every year, which frankly always makes me want to dig my heels and fold my arms. I’m usually busy pretending it isn’t happening until at least the first week in December, at which point I start to…