Sticker books and the kids who love them...

When Wildman was small I never understood the attraction of sticker books, after all what kind of preschooler wants to sit and stick stickers for hours?

Despite my scepticism, other parents raved about them:

 "Oh little Tommy just loves them"
or
"They're so fantastic for fine motor skills"
or
"He sat there sticking for 45 minutes!" (clearly very appealing to a Mum).

I did try to get Wildman to play with them but he would just stick the stickers on the wall for about 2.3 seconds (yay - not) and then lose interest leaving me to spend the next half an hour trying to pick them off without damaging the paint.

Fast forward a few years and I now find myself the Mum of a 3 year old girl who LOVES sticker books. She spends ages carefully sticking them in exactly the right places then telling me stories about the scene she has created.

Its all been a bit of a shock really.

Most recently we have been trying out the Peppa's Halloween Sticker Activity Book (which Penguin very kindly sent in a box of books for review). We aren't a family that embraces Halloween but this book is spooky, cute and very age appropriate.

Princess particularly loved the page where you need to stick jigsaw puzzle shaped pieces on to complete the scene.

I think Peppa's Halloween could do with a few more pages that were just scenes that kids could stick Peppa and her friends on to, rather than all the stickers being needed for the activities, and Princess definitely wished it had a few more stickers in the middle for her to play with, but the overall activities were fun and achievable for a 3-year-old.

And I got to drink a whole cup of tea in peace while Princess was busy with Peppa!

Who'll love this: Peppa fans.
Cost: $7.99
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

 

Hello from Nowhere by Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair - book review

It is incredible that a picture book can give you such a sense of the isolation, stunning beauty and mateship of the Australian outback, but that is exactly what Hello from Nowhere does.

It starts with the lines; "Eve thought that living in the middle of nowhere was better than living anywhere else in the whole world." and by the end of the book I was convinced that she might just be right!

In fact Eve lives at a truck stop called Nowhere with a population of 5, somewhere on one of the great empty stretches of road in the middle of Australia.

Eve is never bored - she plays with animals, chats to tourists, runs and feels the magic of the outback. The only thing Eve feels like she is missing is her Grandma who thinks that Nowhere is "the back of beyond".

When Eve finally persuades Grandma to come and visit she gets to show her just how wonderful Nowhere is.

I really liked this book - it feels like a tribute to the Australian outback and the people who live there. The pictures are stunning and the story is told so simply but has such a wealth of feeling, you can really tell how much Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair love Australia.

This is a great book for learning about kids who live different lives from ours, for remembering that kids can make their own fun, and for appreciating the beauty of Australia.

Who'll love this: Its a great present for children who overseas and for grandparents to give their grandchildren, plus its just a wonderful story with lots to talk about.
Cost: $24.99hc
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia