Busy

Wow, so in the run up to the festive season (how very pc of me) I seem to have forgotten to post much in the way of blogs. Between the internet and laptop problems and the never ending stream of snot in the house I don’t seem to have found the time to write anything much. I have however been reading plenty with The Twins and The Toddler, and found a few more gems in my local charity shop again. In fact I came across one of my very favourite books in the world ( I know I probably say that about all books lol). Only trouble is I think the girls loved it a little too much….. but more about that later. I have a few (read about 10) books that I need to write up about, and some musings on Sharpemarket and the future.

I don’t seem to be doing too well in my little corner of the online marketplace, in fact while I am apparently getting plenty of clicks, no-one is buying anything. Maybe I should have put some more thought into things before I started, but I didn’t and here we are…. Anyone got any thoughts on what I should do with it? Have been told one or two things, but could do with some more eyes and opinions. I would like to make a success of it if possible. As much as I enjoy waffling on about books, I would like to be able to know that I am achieving something by doing so. It would also be good to know that I’ve actually helped someone choose a book.

8 books for £3

So, I’ve been back down the local charity shop this week. Got all excitable as I spotted some of my very favourite children’s books. Must have looked like a kid in a candy store. Each Peach Pear Plum (Pocket Puffin)
just had to be bought, there was no way I was leaving that in the shop. I also picked up 4 Julia Donaldson books, 2 of which I also consider to be absolute classics. I also picked up Peace At Last by Jill Murphy, another book that I absolutely love. Many of the children’s books I truly love are ones I have seen read in schools. There are a few books that seem to be used the country over at certain ages because they are engaging and are able to be used in a variety of curriculum activities.
Lastly I picked up 2 books that I have never heard of that I thought I could read to The Toddler. Well, he had his own ideas on what was suitable reading material for him, and within a few minutes of him finding the pile of books he had decided I was reading all of them in one sitting. Half way through I had to beg him for a water break. I felt like I had just ran the Grand National, my mouth was that dry.
Decided to try Each Peach Pear Plum with the Twins, bearing in mind I had bought it for them and already read it to the Toddler earlier in the day…
Twin 2, that’s paper, it will….. too late. Big rip in the book (good job I already read it to the Toddler then). Twin 1, don’t you do it….. too late again. Smaller rip in the book (not sure this one will survive) Does this mean you approve or not? This is one of the big problems of reading with both girls on my lap, I cant hold the book away from them as far and as easily as I would with just one. However I don’t think I am up for reading every book 3 times…. Maybe when they are older I can get them to sit on the floor like a nursery lol.
Anyway, I eventually got the book read, they seemed to be interested, although not as much so as The Toddler, but then he was able to look for the characters in question, and have a giggle doing so. Me, I love the book, large print, simple but fun text, lots to look at in the pictures. A great example of Allan Ahlberg’s books, and a bargain to boot!!

Snow Bears

I need some Christmas books I think. Never really been sure on the whole ‘holiday season’ books, but now The Toddler is at pre-school perhaps I should get some. Looking through the collection we have, all I could find winter wise was [( Snow Bears )] [by: Martin Waddell] [Oct-2011]. The Toddler loves this book, its one I have to read more than once usually, so I thought I’d see what the girls thought.
Once we got past the issues of sitting still…. Twin 2 please stop bouncing, you will fall off one day, and please stop pinching your sisters dummy, it really doesn’t help. Twin 1 you cant have the book, if you are hanging on to it I cant read it and please don’t screw the pages up.. I tried to read it to the girls, it didn’t go so well. Despite the lovely pictures and sweet story they just weren’t interested, maybe the story was too long for them, or maybe they wouldn’t have sat for anything. Your guess is as good as mine. They did seem to be rather full of beans, probably too much so for a story.

The Mazerunner

So I finally found some time to do some reading for myself. Took myself off to the bath, armed with The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Series) by James Dashner. I’ve seen the film so thought maybe the book would be worth a read, not that I’m usually a fan of books that have been made into films, or rather films made from books….

Slightly slow to start with, it reads really well,speeds up as it goes along and isn’t too flowery. I’m a fast reader so I read my way through nearly half of it during my bath. The location and characters are well described and work really well, although, possibly the fact I had seen the film first helped with that. The made up swear words get slightly annoying, although this does mean that you wouldn’t need to worry about your younger teen reading it. Looking forward to reading the rest of it and feel that I need to go shopping for the rest of the series.

More important in my eyes was the fact I got to read anything at all!! I usually only have to think the word ‘bath’ and one of the twins wakes up, more often than not when I’m halfway through washing my hair. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy a good book and a relaxing bath.

Little Tiger Press and other thoughts

I’m starting to really love the books by Little Tiger Press (http://www.littletiger.co.uk/) that we have in the house. They attract the attention of The Toddler and The Twins alike. Lovely pictures and stories combine to make fantastic books for small children.
Boswell the Kitchen Cat is part of Tell Me a Story 4 Book Giftset: “Boswell the Kitchen Cat”, “The Very Noisy Night”, “Shaggy Dog and the Terrible Itch”, “Molly and the Storm” by Newman, Marjorie, Hendry, Diana, Bedford, David, Leeson, Chr (2009) Paperback. I’ll be honest The Twins weren’t really interested, in fact I didn’t get past the first page before Twin 2 had slapped the book away making it very clear she didn’t want to read. I must point out that I don’t think she wanted to read full stop given that she shouted at her favourite book as well.
Really missing the time to read for myself now. See so many books that I want to read and just don’t have the time for that I want to cry lol. I love a good book, like the escapism that it means. Even Mr ReadingWithTwins knows to leave me alone if I go for a bath with a book in my hand. All I need now is the time, and ton of money to go book shopping with, Amazon will love me when they day comes.

Time for cuddles

With all the colds and horrible germs floating around the house there has been a lot of cuddles going around, so when I spotted a book in a national discount books store I just had to pick it up.

Cuddle Bear by Claire Freedman and Gavin Scott is a lovely book with a lovely message. We all need a hug now and again and the beautiful pictures and simple text illustrate this perfectly. It was, therefore, a great shame that Twin 2 had no intention of sitting still long enough for me to read the book. I’m assuming she was starting to feel better as only the day before a cuddle on Mummy’s lap was all she wanted. The poor book got bashed, pulled, grabbed, twisted, you name it, and she took great (and loud) delight in doing so. Twin 1 was more prepared to sit although the book still got attacked to some degree, meaning lots of squeals accompanied the story again. She looked up at me a few times while I was reading, wonder what she was thinking? How much do they understand at 9 months? What I wouldn’t give sometimes to be able to know what is going on in a babies brain.
As I liked the book, I decided to give it a go with The Toddler. He sat and listened, we gave cuddles and hugs at each mention of them. It was a lovely book to read before bedtime (not a bad one for a cold filled cuddle time either).

Cool Cars

Well chewed since the girls found it and read so many times that I could almost do it without the words, part of the The Amazing Machines Truckload of Fun, Cool Cars is a real winner in this house. The rhythm and flow of this book attracts the attention of both The Toddler and The Twins alike. The pictures are clear and interesting with lots to look and discuss with your older ones. The sentences being short works well for younger ones as the pages get turned quick enough that they don’t get bored. I’m also using this book as means to teach the toddler to ‘read’, well learn the story. He now says the word ‘Cars’ every time it appears on the page as I stop and wait for him to. He also ‘reads’ some of the words at the end of the sentences. How intelligent does my boy look? Result!

Please don’t eat the pages

I’m guessing by the fact the girls spend an inordinate amount of time chewing on and folding up the toddlers lovely, nice, paper (proper) books, that the twins are enjoying reading time. Unfortunately the books, and The Toddler, are none too impressed with this way of showing their appreciation leading to a couple of almost destroyed books (surely paper cant be good for their stomachs?) and one or two pushes from The Toddler followed by rather epic sulking sessions. This is meaning my afternoons (pre-school in the morning) are largely taken up by thinking about 2 questions.

1) How to stop 9 month olds from chewing books? – Well make sure they are out of reach would be a start, but try explaining that to a 2 year old (well nearly 3). Trying to convince him to keep toys that are just his in his room to stop the girls playing with them is only just starting to take effect

and then

2) How to stop the nearly 3 year old from being jealous etc about said books? – If you figure that out reader, please let me know. I’m all out of ideas. Saying that however he will let me read them with him and the girls, just wont let them look at any book (not even the old cardboard ones) by themselves. And he wont let any books be ‘for the girls’ either, no matter what they are.

Duck in a Truck and Winnie the Pooh

So the snot has abated somewhat and I thought I’d try out some of my other gems from the local charity shop. It has to be said I probably spend loads in there some weeks. Really should get round to buying me some books too.

Decided that I would read Duck in the Truck to The Toddler first. The pictures and text work just perfectly for his age. He got to have a good giggle at the duck being stuck and even more so at the end of the book. I wont spoil the ending for those of you that haven’t read it. That said its a book that adults wont mind reading over and over again too. Twin 1 looked over at times while we were reading it and Twin 2 crawled over and tried to pull the book out of my hands burbling while she did so. Cant decide if that means she wants to read too or if it means I’m not supposed to be reading to The Toddler.

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Trouble with Bees was bought with the girls in mind, although the counting element will be good for The Toddler too. Get down to there being 8 bees left and I’m revising my thoughts here. The touchable bees definitely caught the girls attention, but the story/poem was a bit too long really for them. Maybe not such a good choice on my behalf. Lets try it on The Toddler and see what he thinks. “Count how many bees are left” Nope, even he got bored by the end…. Hmm lets get it out another day and try it again. Maybe I should have read Duck in a Truck to the twins too, next time I think.

Jez Alborough is a fantastic children’s writer. The stories keep your child’s interest and the pictures are great. It wont be a hardship reading his stories over and over again if they become your child’s favourite, even MR Readingwithtwins will read these books.

One Bear Lost

In an effort to keep Twin 2 contained I read to her on her own this evening. I picked up That’s Not My Panda and One Bear Lost (Picture Board Books).

“That’s Not My Panda (Touchy-Feely Board Books), it’s ears are too fluffy” Twin 2 grabs the fluff for the ears and bashes the book. I’m assuming that means it’s good. Scratchy bits for the paws we had to think about a bit, rub our fingers over a few times and then she bashed the book excitedly. The furry back was also met with approval, however no interest was shown in the bumpy nose or the smooth tongue. I’m wondering if this is because the ‘feely’ bits are too small as the final fluffy tummy was also met with lots of touching and book bashing. She then grabbed the book off me and tried to eat it…..

Time for a different book. Lets try a new one we haven’t read before. One Bear Lost (Picture Board Books) is a rhyming book abut 10 bears and their day. Its a lovely size for little hands with beautiful pictures. Don’t grab the book please, we have only got down to 8 bears. This book is good for counting with an older child. “8 hungry bears go on the….” At this point Twin 2 grabbed the book off me and dropped it down the side of the sofa. I think it is safe to say she didn’t enjoy the book. Back to pandas it is then.