Books

I was given the opportunity to review some Walker books recently with Boy, and I jumped at the chance, as "We're going on a bear hunt", another Walker book, is one of my favourites, and a modern classic. When "Yummy" by Lucy Cousins arrived in the post, I was bouncing. A gorgeous, hardback book of classic fairy tales, with a Lucy twist. When I was pregnant, Boy and I got a few books from the library about new babies, and by far his favourite was by Lucy Cousins. The thing he liked the most were the wacky, eye-popping, bright illustrations, which are the earmark of "Yummy".

I had a flick through before Boy got home, and was delighted to find some stories I'd not heard since my mother read them to me from a ladybird book, alongside more popular favourites such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Shall I shamefully admit that I read the whole thing before tiny hands even got near it?? My favourite aspect of the book was....hee hee, the sheer level of violence. Fairy tales in their original form are often really quite violent, and I love that Lucy Cousins has decided that children should be gently introduced to the fact that the world isn't always kind. It's much easier to learn in a story than a few years down the line out in the real world. Children shouldn't be patronized, as much as innocence is precious. I found it almost comical how shocking some stories are! I don't remember batting an eyelid as a child though. If you have a particularly sensitive child, perhaps this is more of a daytime than bedtime book.

I must admit that we don't make a habit of reading books with paper pages yet in our house, Boy just isn't ready at (a very young) twenty months. Not only do I fear for the books general welfare, (and Yummy is a stunning book, the kind you keep for the grandkids), but he just hasn't got the attention span for me to read what is inevitably much more text per page than a board book, and an altogether longer story. We just about manage the "That's not my..." books, and that's only because I've memorised them and blurt out the text before chubby hands insist on turning the page.

But with "Yummy", there were at least two very short stories that I was actually able to read to Boy! And without much coaxing at all. As you can see from the photo, he was enamored with the pictures. I can't wait until he's a bit older, this is sure to become a bedtime favourite. Well, for me anyway.

While I'm blogging about books, the glowing Amy from and1moremeans4 passed a book meme onto me recently, so I'll give you a two for one dealy. This went round facebook recently too, but the page number was different. Here are the game rules!



1. Collect the book that you have most handy.
2. Turn to page 161.
3. Find the 5Th complete sentence.
4. Site the sentence on your blog.
5. Pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

So here it is, warts and all: try expressing milk from one breast while you feed from the other.
Guess what I'm reading?? Check out my previous review of it.

And I'd like to know what the following bloggers are reading, apologies if you've already had it:

Slugs on the Refridgerator
Josie from Sleep is for the Weak
Cave Mother
Slightly South of Sanity
Natalie from Soph4Soph

Also, while you're reading check out this post for info on how to do your good deed for the day, boost your good karma, and VOTE for my friends Faye & Liam to win their dream wedding!!