Austin Macauley publishers kindly sent the following children’s books for review:

THE DUCK TRAIL

Is written by Steven G. Matthews. It tells the tale of Drake the duck who doesn’t listen to his mother and gets into an unfortunate situation.

The text is written in a poetic nature and the illustrations are bright and colourful which will appeal to children.

The duck trail retails at £8.99.

SANSA (the not-so-smelly-skunk)

 

 

is written by Tracey Barker. Sansa is a skunk that none of the other animals will play with because they say she smells. The story tells how she eventually finds a loyal friend.

This feelgood tale retails at £10.99

MY MOMMIES AND ME;

written by Annie Casta,M.D, explains why some families are different from the traditional mum, dad and children set-up. The book is beautifully written in a way that children will understand. It could be used as a tool to explain to children about different families and learning to accept them.

It retails at £7.99.

I LOVE YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

:

Is a story of unconditional love told through the eyes of a bear family.

This book retails at £6.99

THE READING PROMISE;

This is my favourite of all the books, because many parents and children will relate to and maybe get comfort from.The story is about a single mum who worries about not having a lot of money to spend on her baby. She introduces him to books borrowed from the library that give him a life long love of literature.

The book is written by Troy Kent with illustrations by Elisa Moriconi. It is truly heart warming, with a fantastic inspiring moral.

This one retails at £8.99.

 

WE ARE ALL SPECIAL;

 

Is written by Mariam James and illustrated by Ethelbert Metzger.

The book explains that although everyone is different we are all special.

Again this book could be used as a tool for helping children with a low self esteem to feel more confident about themselves.

The book retails at £8.99.

LYDIA GREENFINGERS;

Is the only hardback book that I was sent, it is written by Joseph Hopkins with illustrations by Greg Carter. Lydia is sent to live with her aunt after becoming an orphan, she is sad and lonely until she learns how to grow plants in her aunt’s neglected garden.

This book retails at £13.99

All of the above books are glossy paperbacks except Lydia green fingers ( which is hardback)

I love each of the books and would recommend them all , they would make great contributions to bedtime routines as a before settling down to sleep story and would also be enjoyed at any time of day over and over again.

Parents, grandparents, child minders and other early years practitioners would benefit from adding these books to their book shelves.

Each book is recommended for children aged 5-7 years, but I feel that they could be enjoyed by a larger age range;  young children will love the bright, colourful illustrations each book offers and older children  ( early readers) could attempt to read the clearly  printed text for themselves with a little help from an adult.

Disclosure: I was sent the books for the purpose of the review but all opinions are my own.

The books are available to buy here

As always questions/comments are welcome.

Until next time.

Karen

x