Tag Archives: book review

Top ten books loved by my (other) 3 year old

Our little 3-year-old has grown so much in the year since I posted Top 10 books loved by my (other) 2 year old. She’s understanding much more complicated storylines, and has an amazing attention span when she’s curled up listening to her favourites books.

She’s started recognising words and sounding out letters (watching her older brother go through kindergarten last year has definitely helped her with that!) and I’m pretty sure she’ll be reading by herself before my next post next year. Her favourite books were hard to pick – there’s been so many in the last 12 months – but the below selection have really stood out.

Harry in a Hurry - Pan Macmillan AU

1. Harry in a Hurry by Timothy Knapman

The 3-year-old still loves rabbits as much as she did when she was two, and I bought this book for her when I was away travelling with work. Harry the hare races around on his scooter so fast that he misses the destruction he’s leaving behind… until he crashes into a pond and is rescued by the super. slow. tortoise. Tom (who takes all afternoon just to blow his nose).

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Top ten books loved by my 5 year old

What difference a year makes! Last year the list was full of picture books and junior non-fiction. This year we’ve made a sudden change to a) chapter books that we read before bed over a number of weeks, sometimes months, or b) books my son reads himself. And it’s a whole new and exciting world!

It’s amazing what 6 months of school can do. Our boy who wasn’t interested in reading anything other than his own name is now reads absolutely everything. And I mean everything. From sign-posts and cereal boxes to TV captions and toothpaste tubes… if it has a word on it, my 5 year old will be right there sounding out each of the l-l-l-e-e-t-t-t-er-er-er-s… letters!

Treehouse

1. The 26-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

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Top ten books loved by my (other) 1 year old

I now have a second little one year old, and thankfully she’s mad about books too (read my previous ‘top ten’ posts here). She absolutely adores storytime, especially first thing in the morning in bed with me, or in the evening before dinner curled up on the lounge under a blanket.

This girl knows what she wants, and as I run through the list of book options she’ll shout, ‘No!’, ‘No!’, ‘No!’ until I get to the right one. Then with a smile and a ‘Yep!’ she’ll snuggle in close to me and hang off my every word.

Baby Touch

1. Baby Touch Playbook by Ladybird

This book has everything to catch and keep a baby’s attention: Bright colours, different  textures, holes, lift-the-flaps, and mirrors.

My 1-year-old chats away to the animals and laughs at the rabbit hiding behind the bush. She peers into the mirror and names all the people she can see – Mummy and ‘Bubby’ and if we’re lucky, ‘Brother’ is in there too.

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13. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (100 book challenge)

great gatsby

Invite me to your parties, Jay!

It’s the characters that make this story. The narrator, Nick, is fairly plain and uninteresting, but the people around him are such complex, intriguing and entertaining characters that I loved this book from beginning to end.

The story follows the life of the rich on Long Island in the 1920s. They invite themselves to parties, they complain about the heat and are utterly unhappy in their marriages. It’s the perfect recipe for an engaging story where the characters drive the plot, not the other way round.

After a few recent disappointments in my 100 book challenge, this was a refreshing change.

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12. The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom (100 book challenge)

Five people heaven

Number 12 on the 100 book challenge

Coming off the back of Pride and Prejudice, I needed something that was short, easy to read and straight to the point. This book promised all of these things. It delivered… but I was left with an uneasy feeling that the story could have been so much better. That it was almost a very good book.

The positives are many. For one, it’s a brilliant concept: that, at the moment of your death, you meet five integral people from your life to help you realise things about your life. Two, the characters are interesting. Three, the story is revealed slowly throughout without pages of info-dump.

But I didn’t love it.

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