Book Review :: Imaginary Fred ::

I have been a huge Oliver Jeffers fan long before I had children of my own to read the books to, so when I was asked to review his latest book, Imaginary Fred, written by Eoin Colfer I jumped at the chance. Since I have had children of my own, Jeffers' books have filled Milo's bookshelves. I have to admit we haven't read any Eoin Colfer yet, though I did read some of the Artemis Fowl series back when I found myself (briefly) working as a school librarian and I suspect these will definitely be a series Milo would love.

Everything about this book is beautiful, the duck egg blue cover with gold embossing is wonderful and as you would expect from Jeffers, the illustrations are just delightful, but it's the story that we really really loved.

Milo was reluctant to read this book at first, but I think that's partly down to him being at that crossover age, somewhere between picture books and chapter books (as he calls them). However once we got started he loved it.
As the title suggests it's the story of an imaginary friend named Fred, who appears to those in need if the conditions are just right, but Fred rarely gets to hang around long, as as soon as the 'real' friend finds themselves another 'real' friend, he disappears and waits up in the clouds until someone else needs him. Until one day he finds a real friend who is everything he wants from a friend, the pair are so close but of course Fred knows only too well that it won't be long until he begins to fade away.

It's a really touching story of friendships and they way that they change and alter and how that can be OK. As someone who had an imaginary friend as a child, I guess this book really appeals to me, Milo too had a brief friendship of the imaginary kind, with Merida an Italian princess who lived in a castle. He also often referred to the 'guys' who were coming round to play or taking him out somewhere. It's been a long time since his imaginary friends faded away, but it was nice to remember them together.

We really love this book and thoroughly recommend, whether you've been lucky enough to have an imaginary friend in your life or not. The book is out now and can be found here.

Harper Collins are currently running a competition in which you can win your very own story of your imaginary friend written by Eoin Colfer and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. You can enter over here where you will also find an activity sheet and a poster to accompany the book.

**We were sent a copy of the book to review but all thoughts are completely our own.

Book Review :: What the Ladybird Heard Next ::

We're huge fans of the original 'What the Ladybird Heard' book, so we were thrilled when asked to review the follow up, 'What the Ladybird Heard Next'.

In a lot of ways I would have assumed that Milo was too old for this book already, but in reality he really isn't. Despite the fact we've moved on to 'chapter' books for most of our bedtime reading, this book has reminded me that he's really still interested in picture books and he absolutely loved this story. He still likes hunting out the ladybird on each page and loved the pictures too.

Effie has also been enjoying this book a lot. It's really only the last couple of weeks that she's shown much interest in books at all, but now that she has she really really loves sitting on your knee leafing through a book. She adores this book especially and will point to it on the shelf declaring 'dat', which I think means 'that book please' (we keep the paper books out of her reach but she has an easily accessible array of board books in both her bedroom and the living room). Effie especially loves the texture of the glitter on the pages. But her favourite thing of all is when Milo reads it to her, which is also my favourite thing of all.

Just like the original, the rhyming structure of this story is lovely (as is to be expected from Julia Donaldson) the illustrations are fun and bright with plenty to look at, making multiple readings a must and a pleasure and each page has both glittery elements and a little ladybird to find. It's fun and funny and bright and thoroughly enjoyable for everyone.

Milo made a little stop motion video of the book ::



The book is out on the 10th September but you can preorder here.

 **We were sent a copy of the book to review but all thoughts are completely our own.

Book Review :: The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak ::

The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak was sent to us to review the week that Milo was off school ill and it was the perfect thing to cheer him up.

On receiving the copy I excitedly declared to Milo, 'we've got a new book to read, it's called The Book with No Pictures', his immediate response was clear disappointment. 'What? Are there really no pictures, it'll be boring'.
Of course there really aren't any pictures, none at all, not even one, but that doesn't make this book any less entertaining, in fact it makes it even more so.
Milo was in complete hysterics throughout and couldn't wait for his Dad to get home to 'trick' him into reading it too.
I don't want to give too much away so as to spoil it for you, but here are some of Milo's thoughts ::

I thoroughly recommend this book it will be a great addition to christmas stockings and cause great hilarity on Christmas day getting various grown up family members to read it!

Below is a great video of B. J. Novak himself reading it ::

You can get the book here.

**we were kindly sent this books to review but all thoughts are our own.