My children’s love of Nuddy Ned can be blamed squarely on my parents. When EldestGirl was about three years old, she went to stay with Grandma and Grandad, and they took her to the library and brought back a copy of Nuddy Ned. My parents – clearly with the same sense of humour as an average three … [Read more…]
This month’s Let’s Cook the Books is slightly sneaky, firstly because it’s featuring YoungestGirl, rather than EldestGirl, and secondly because we’re not actually cooking a recipe from The Gruffalo itself (roasted fox, anyone?). YoungestGirl received for her birthday, from my lovely friend Erica, a fantastic children’s cookery book based on The Gruffalo. (Believe it or … [Read more…]
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton was one of the first chapter books EldestGirl and I read together. I had loved it as a child, and remember playing for hours, imagining I had my own slippery slip to slide down a giant tree. Unfortunately, my parents lived in a new-build in the Midlands, so … [Read more…]
Every night we read a chapter or two of a book to EldestGirl. Her taste in fiction moved really swiftly from picture books to really quite complicated chapter books. She did baulk at The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe being read to her. I think it was just a bit too involved in terms of … [Read more…]
About a year ago, a few months before she turned five, EldestGirl started to prefer chapter books to picture books. She was still reading picture books by herself, but at bedtime when we read to her, she liked to be read chapter books. Over the last twelve months we have raced through so many I … [Read more…]
Every few months I do something stupid. I think it’s over-confidence. Nobody has had a tantrum for a couple of days. Nobody has thrown their dinner on the floor. I decide I’m obviously the best parent who ever lived, and it’s time to branch out a bit. Today we decided we would have a No … [Read more…]