Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars - A New Hope - plus Competition

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars - A New Hope, a film that changed the world of film forever.

For me, I remember many a Christmas where we watched Star Wars together as a family. I sat watching in awe at the lightsabers and stormtroopers and thinking how amazing Princess Leia was. The love story, the action and comedy in the films is what makes them so special, with a brother and two male cousins I fondly remember playing with the Millennium Falcon that my grandparents had at their house.

Fast forward some *coughs* 30 something years and it is the turn of my son to enjoy the films as much as I did, which he does if not more. With new films having been released since my day and more set for release this year it is a great time to be alive for any Star Wars fans.

My son loves to play with his lego Star Wars, making up scenes from the film and it has been something he has enjoyed watching with his Dad, it is great that it can be passed on from generation to generation and be something all ages enjoy.

With the 40th Anniversary though comes the release of some beautiful new books from Egmont, bound in a black cover and colourful page edges, these are books to take pride of place on your book shelf, they look simple, clean and contain the stories from the films.

My son who is 9 has thoroughly enjoyed reading them, his words are 'they are really good Mummy, just like the films only I can read them when I am in bed'

The books in the series are:
Star Wars: A New Hope Junior Novel
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novel
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Junior Novel
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Junior Novel

and the beautifully illustrated Galactic Atlas

The Galactic Atlas has been a particular favourite, allowing my son to sit and look at the pictures with his sister and hopefully encourage her to like Star Wars the same way, which she does a bit because it has a princess in it.

My son has started the series from the beginning, reading A New Hope which is one of his favourite films. An introduction to this intergalactic world and to the wonderful characters, my son has loved reading this book the most and I think that is purely because it is where it all starts, he loved reading some to his little sister who I am sure one day will be as in to reading them as he has been.

The Empire Strikes Back follows on from A New Hope in the same way the films do, obviously this is a bit darker than the first but still, it has been written in a way that makes it easy for younger readers without being too scary.

Return of the Jedi is my favourite story of all, mainly because of the Ewoks but I think ultimately because at the time it was the final chapter in a story that we had all grown to love. The book tells the story in the same way with the same familiar feeling on it ending. Since then we have The Force Awakens, I have only seen this film once and then I was making dinner, so I am not really that sure whether it follows the same story, but I have been informed by my son that it does.

They are all wonderfully adapted stories which make them great for younger readers, with some of the more difficult to understand elements of the story altered. The prologues set the scene and the beginning of each story cleverly offers up information about what is happening, as if you were actually watching the film.

These books would make absolutely wonderful gifts to any Star Wars fan, especially since it is the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope this year.

And if you fancy having a read yourself then I have a competition to win the four new junior novels, all you need to do is enter via the Rafflecopter form below, T&Cs apply.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Egmont UK

Happy Pony Stories Giveaway

Last week, we reviewed a wonderful new series of books called Happy Ponies, they were a welcome addition to our reading pile. These are such easy to read stories that you and your children can relate to, they have been thoroughly enjoyed in our house.

Best of all I am really excited to be able to offer the first three books in the series worth over £20 to one of my lucky readers, as well as five runners up prizes of a set of stickers from the series, perfect for those sticker loving pony fans you might have.

All you need to do is enter via the Rafflecopter form below, T&Cs apply.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Ponies Book Review

We were recently sent some of a wonderful new series of books called Happy Ponies, this series of 20 books are based on real life ponies that live on a farm on the Isle of Wight. Gail, the author taught the ponies owner Nicola how to drive carriages pulled by the ponies and whilst out on their trips, Gail would imagine different characters and scenarios for the ponies.

The bright and colourful book colours are appealing to the eye and the playful ponies on the front were an instant hit for my daughter who coincidentally, is going on her first horse ride this weekend as a birthday treat from her best friend.

The stories themselves are well written and feature real life situations that children can not only enjoy but relate to as well. Our favourite being the story of Malt Loaf and the Tooth Fairy, my son lost his tooth a few months back so this was something we definitely understood.

We have been reading these as bedtime stories and they make the perfect lighthearted story for the end of the day, if I could change one thing it would be the layout. To have the text split over the pages with a few more pictures would have made them more engaging. However I more than made up for this with my silly voices, which it states are more than appropriate in the front of the book, very good.

At the end of each book is a picture of one of the real life ponies and a bit about them, their character and likes and dislikes, this is a really great addition and brings the ponies to life. My daughter has loved looking at these and then looking for them on the front of the book.

These books would make perfect gift for a pony loving child, whether they love to ride them or just have an interest in these wonderful and majestic creatures. 

The first 3 instalments of the Happy Ponies series are available to buy from Amazon, for just £6.99 each. These stories are sure to be a staple on our reading list and have definitely been a bedtime favourite for us these past few weeks. We can't wait to see what other adventures the ponies get up to in the future.

NB: We were sent these books for the purpose of this review, all opinions and pictures are my own.

My Daughters Favourite Book

At the moment, my daughter has me reading this book to her every night. It was a charity shop find, I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to get it for her.

Not only is it by the renowned childrens author Enid Blyton, it is also about a mouse, and we love a good mouse story in this house.

I love the name plate in the front of the book, it's so 80s!

My daughter really enjoys reading this book with me, I think she enjoys both the story and the pictures! I love that I can read with her an author that I enjoyed so much when I was younger.

The drawings in this book are really beautiful and even though this book is almost 30 years old it is still as fresh and inviting as it was back then.

Do you have a favourite book at the minute?

Reading with Children

My son really didn't enjoy reading when he first started school, in fact it's safe to say he hated it and just couldn't get in to it.

But now he is a reading superstar and I love hearing him read, we didn't really push the whole reading thing and instead he just grew to love it.

He now reads to himself and is so enthusiastic about finding books to read, his current favourite are Beast Quest.

Reading is such a great gift for a child, for anyone in fact, it offers independence and is an important part of learning. There is a great video over on Netmums about reading with younger children and books for younger children, it's a bit of self promotion as I am featured on it but it also has some great tips from some other amazing bloggers.

Anyway I digress, this was about my son and the magic moment that is hearing him read. Sometimes it feels like after learning to walk and talk the milestones stop, but they don't, this is a wonderful milestone and a great way to enjoy time together too.

Linking up to Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse

Little Miss Hug

Yesterday saw the launch of a brilliant new Little Miss book, Little Miss Hug is a cheeky, pink character known for her hugs.

This new book is the 35^th book in the popular Little Miss series, and what a fantastic book it is.  Little Miss Hug is an expert hugger who knows how to give the perfect hug to all of her Mr Men and Little Miss friends in times of need and for fun, because you don’t need a reason to share a hug with your friends.

We love hugs in this family so this book went down a treat, so much so we read it two times last night.  I don't want to spoil the story but it is a truly wonderful and heart warming story with some of the most famous Mr Men characters making an appearance.

My daughter loves it so much and has been looking at the pictures, telling me about them. The pictures are bright and colourful and typical of this classic series.

This book fits in perfect with the whole Mr Men and Little Miss series and carries on the wonderful world that Roger Hargreaves created.

In addition to the new book is a free AR (Augmented Reality) App that is available to download on both Android and IOS, it is absolutely wonderful and works with the book as well as pages in the Mr Men and Little Miss magazine. 

Pointing the device at the book brings Little Miss Hug to life and from there you can play a game or even get her to give you a hug.

I love that the book is moving with the times and can be enjoyed in so many ways, we will always love reading the books most though :)

NB We were sent the book to review, all opinions and picture are my own.

Snowflakes - A Beautiful Story

I found this book a while back in the library and it was an instant hit with my daughter, so when a friend of my mother in law asked what to get the children for Christmas I told her about a few books and this was one of them, since we can't keep this out forever from the library ;)

Written by the lovely Cerrie Burnell from CBeebies it is a beautiful story about a girl who moves from the busy city into the countryside with her Grandma.

Inspired by the work of Coram a charity that helps children who are adopted the story is truly beautiful, with a message that every snowflake is different, but that every snowflake is perfect.

With wonderful illustrations this is a fabulous book, especially for this time of the year.

Mia see's the moon and knows it's the same moon as the one she saw in the city making her feel more at home.

It is a beautiful story of friendship, caring and love and I can thoroughly recommend.

This week I am linking up to We Like to Read over on Tigerlilly Quinn's blog.

A Childs Love of Reading

My son started school back in September, up until that point he hadn't really shown any interest in reading himself.

Don't get me wrong we read to him every night and he loved it but he wouldn't want to try learning any words or letters.

Fast forward four months and we now have a reading machine, he is constantly trying to spell words out and comfortably knows all of his 'bear' words.

I am so proud and in awe of how much he has learnt in such a short space of time.

They truly are little sponges capable of absorbing the most important and inane facts of the world.

Dyslexia at 30

On Saturday I went to the opticians, nothing unusual, I just felt my eyes were getting worse and I was getting headaches at work when using the computer.

We sat and talked, I explained how difficult I found it to read a book because the words seem to split up and move. But it had always been that way, ever since I first went to the opticians when I was about 12.

We then talked about how reading son his books felt easier, possibly because the words are often on dark backgrounds and over the pictures.

He then told me it sounded like I have a form of dyslexia. I can read and write, however I have always just found reading books somewhat of a chore!

So at 30, after almost 18 years of finding it difficult to read, I finally have a reason and can hopefully find solutions to my reading difficulty.

If anyone has any experience of this I would love to hear from you.

Teach Your Monster to Read

My son has just started school so reading and phonics are currently top of our agenda, our fridge is covered with magnetic letters and we have many books that we read every night.

I am always on the look out for other interesting ways to get him reading and making sounds so when I heard about a game that could help my son with his reading, I was keen to see how he would get on.

Teach Your Monster To Read is a free interactive game which allows your child to design their own monster and takes them on a journey finding letters, learning how to pronounce them and building words in a fun way that makes it seem like they aren't even learning.

The game itself is fairly easy to play, my son who is four can quite easily control the monster using the mouse, although he misses a few objects hopefully the game will improve these skills.

There are several levels too, so it doesn't get too repetitive and they are all fun games that keep my son engaged.

Teach Your Monster to Read has been developed for the Usborne Foundation - a charity set up by Peter Usborne (who also founded The Usborne Publishing company). There will be a series of games, all of which will be given away for free. The game has been featured in the Sunday Times, the Times Educational Supplement and recently won Gold in both the Practical Preschool and Primary Teacher Update awards.

Finally, the guys at Teach Your Monster to Read currently have a great competition running over on their blog, if you have a little one who loves to draw monsters then they can enter to win a first prize of £150. The competition ends at 5pm on Friday so get creative and send in your pictures.

Disclosure: We have been given three of the Usborne Young Readers books for reviewing the game. The game is available free. All views and opinions are my own.

The joy of reading to children...

Whilst sat reading my son his current favourite book in bed last night, I remembered how much I loved my mum and dad reading to me and how I enjoy reading books to him.

In part I think it is due to the books themselves, we are currently reading Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. They are doing this for the Christmas play at nursery and so I felt we should buy it so we could read it lots.

It is a brilliant book, as are all the ones written by these two most talented children's writers and I thoroughly enjoy reading it.

Obviously the most well known is The Gruffalo but we also have A Squash and a Squeeze and it is really great to hear him reciting the words back.

The next on our list is  Room on a Broom, as with most books these days the others in the 'series' can be found at the back and so we have to go through the ritual of which books we have and which ones we will be getting next every night.

A few of our other favourites although not really readers but hilariously funny is anything by Nick Sharratt, we were bought Octopus Socktopus by a friend for our sons 1st Birthday and it still makes us laugh.

And finally, our other favourite books, the Mr Men series! My mum and dad have some videos (yes videos) and he watches them over and over again.

We love the books and even though they are a 'bit long' as my husband claims every time this is the choice of book to read, they always have a great meaning and I do enjoy reading them and doing the voices.

My favourites are Mr Messy and Mr Greedy, not just because we have two of them in our house but because the endings are great :)

 

 

A little me time and a new found love of books!

I won some brilliant Rowan Coleman books in an auction over on the Make for Macmillan Facebook page a few months ago and they have reignited a love of reading.

With it the ability to get lost from reality into another world, if only in the  30 minutes or so whilst feeding my daughter.

I had forgotten what it was like to read and I now browse through the book shelves in charity shops looking for something to read!

This is my sad collection of books I have read in the last eight years, there might be a couple of Harry Potter in there somewhere but that is it.

Apart from reading my son stories in the evening I haven't read anything in years and you can tell from the books how I have gone from soul searching books in my early 20s, debortuary ridden and men understanding in my mid 20s to books on being a 'woman' and mother in my late 20s.

I bought this one from a charity shop yesterday so will sit down with a cup of something warm later and have a read!