books


An Amazing Book for Tween Reluctant Readers from Night ZooKeeper

An Amazing Book for Tween Reluctant Readers is a paid collaboration with Night Zookeeper: Escape from Conform Prison #mynzkhero  which is the only create your own adventure story featuring your child own drawn superhero. Being a mum to a reluctant reader means that I am always on the lookout for ways to encourage children to read and engage them in books and words and that is why I adore the Night Zookeeper range. Your child might already be aware of the amazing books by Joshua Davidson which introduce them to the importance of creativity and friendship


Top comics for ten year old boys 13

I love reading and I am so pleased to have been able to pass that love of reading on to my boys.  Mini has always been a ferocious reader, but Maxi was a reluctant reader up until the last year or so.  One of the things to remember as a parent is that reading doesn’t always have to equal books and comics are a great way to encourage readers.  So here are our current top comics for ten year old boys.


Engaging books for reluctant readers aged 8/9 12

Even though we have read to or with the boys most nights since they were born, Maxi has been a reluctant reader for as long as we can remember.  However, Mini was a very early reader and has devoured books since he could read his first word. It has been really hard to find books that engaged Maxi, he was always a competent reader, but just didn’t want to read for fun.  I have to admit that it baffled me.  What was I doing differently with Mini and how could I apply it with Maxi?


Discover the savage world 29

We have so many books in the Mad House that we had to buy a new book case for Mini’s bedroom last week.  Not that I am complaining.  I love that he is a book worm and I really wish that Maxi would have the same relationship with books that iIni does. Both the boys really love “fact” books and they are great for encouraging boys, who can often be reluctant readers.  We are fans of Miles Kelly Publishers and have received and bought books from them before and they sent is the new Discovery Channel Discover the Savage World book to review and also set us a couple of challenges […]


House of Secrets 10

We love books in The Mad House and one of my favorite times of the day is when we read to each other.  As the boys are growing up I still feel it is important to read to them and I am aware that sometimes the length of books is daunting to younger children if they want to read them themselves, however, chapter books are great for family reading.  We were recently sent The House of Secrets and we have been reading a chapter or two each night and it is a fab family book.  It is a real page turner. We were keen not to let too much away, but have decided to do a very quick video review for you. […]


The Tots 100 Bookclub – The Happiness Project 8

Some info about the book club:

The Tots100 Book Club is where bloggers share their favourite stories. Every month, the Tots100 invites 10 bloggers to tell us about stories that have moved and inspired them – and to share their favourite books with a nother blogger. Each month, they’ll be publishing a round-up of the Book Club’s recommendations over on the Tots100 site, meaning you need never be short of great reading inspiration again!


Books by the Bedside – a meme 11

I love books, we have them everywhere all round the house. But often my most thumbed books end up beside my bed. The ones that I dip in and out of for inspiration, enlightenment and sometimes my general well being. These are the books that make me happy each and every day and night.

So it got me wondering if this was the same for the rest of you and decided being the nosy person I am , I would love to know what books you keep by your bedside


Encouraging reading in boys 15

I wrote a post about encouraging writing in my boys and wanted to followup with one about encouraging reading. I am an ferociously reader. I adore books and lap them up, no, that is not quite right I adore reading. I love words, their meanings, the way they make me feel, the places they take me too. SO for me it was key that I introduced my boys to books very early on in their lives.

Make books available

We have books everywhere and we make sure that they are within their reach, We have them in the loo, in bedrooms, in the sitting room, we have a bookcase on the landing and one in the conservatory too. When the boys were smaller I made sure that books were in a box at their level and we rotated them. We were offered a free trial of Reading Chest and I have to say Mini loves it. He gets three books delivered and we can post them back when he has read them and we get three more in the post. It is superb if you are looking for books which are pitched at their ability and you do not have a library or in our case there is no reading scheme in Reception, which means Mini doesn’t get any books he can read, just ones that we can read to him.


Escapism 10

I used to love reading, before I had the boys and was in to all this blogging lark, my head could be found in a book pretty much every spare minute of the day.  I devoured the words, I sunk in to the imaginary world around me and I read.  I loved everything about books, from the anticipation of a new book from a specific author to the feel of the pages turning and the respite from everyday life they presented to me. Somewhere over the last 6 years I have got out of the habit of reading.  I can not concentrate long enough to read a book, I keep reading […]