Frost Book Review – A Winter Animal Story

Eva received a copy of the Frost book to review last week, reissued and redesigned with a dazzling new cover! Frost is written by bestselling author Holly Webb and award-winning illustrator Britta Teckentrup. A perfect, read aloud, heart-warming winter tale full of wondrous animal adventure.

Frost Book Review

Frost Book – Eva’s Thoughts

Eva really enjoyed the illustrations throughout the book. Frost, a cute fox gets Cassie to follow him. She transports back to the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames which sounds really exciting too. She finds out Frost is a big sister and helps feed them with sausage rolls. Eva thinks this is lovely of Cassie as Frost needs her help.

Frost & Cassie - A Winter animal story

Frost 

Cassie’s neighbours all complain about the foxes hanging around the flat she lives in, close to the river Thames. Cassie thinks the foxes are beautiful though and has a favourite fox! A small fox with a white tail-tip Cassie calls Frost is her favourite. 

One night Cassie spots Frost looking cold and thin so she decides to sneak him some food. Frost wants her to follow him and leads Cassie towards the river where she feels the world change around her! She finds herself back in the 17th century- at the time of the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames. Cassie is thrilled by the sights and sound of the famous fair, then she glimpses a fox with a white tail-tip! 

Frost wants Cassie to follow him again, can she find a way to return Frost to his countryside home? 

St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Geeks And Tag-Along Zombies

Eva’s been reading St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Geeks And Tag-Along Zombies. Written by Karen McCombie and Illustrated by Becka Moor, this is the 3rd book in the St Grizzle’s Series. Available in paperback for £5.99 this fab book is published by Stripes, an imprint of Little Tiger.

St Grizzle's school for girls, geeks and tag-along zombies

St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Geeks And Tag-Along Zombies

We join Dani back at St Grizzle’s School for a third time as she discovers mixing her new and old life isn’t as easy as she thought. A shy new student suddenly disappears at St Grizzle’s, making life harder for Dani. Along with her friends, Dani has to unravel a truth about this shy tag-along zombie! As always with St Grizzle’s it sounds like a wacky story just from the title.

Previous Books

Having read St Grizzles School For Girls, Goat and Random Boys & St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Ghosts and runaway Grannies, Eva though this sounded fantastic. As a fan of boarding school series such as Malory Towers as a child myself, I can totally see the appeal.

Karen McCombie has written yet another fantastically funny storyline for Dani and her friends and had Eva absorbed from the first page. With its humour and references to YouTube Bloggers, zombies and chaos it kept her entertained until the very last page.

St Grizzle's School

Eva managed to read St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Geeks and Tag-Along Zombies in one day. She sat there giggling her head off turning page after page. I love seeing Eva unable to put a book down, truly engrossed the storyline and characters. We will definitely be waiting impatiently for the next book in the series. I am sure Izzy will eventually come to love the St Grizzle’s series too.

Has your child read any of the St Grizzle’s School series yet? Do you think it may be a series they could enjoy?

 

Fang-Tastic Friends – Vlad The Worlds Worst Vampire

Eva received Fang-Tastic Friends, the second in the Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire series this week. Written by Anna Wilson, Illustrated by Kathryn Durst and published by Little Tiger, Fang-Tastic Friends is a great sequel which Eva loved. This hilarious and charmingly illustrated paperback for kids is just £5.99.

Fang-Tastic Friends - Vlad The World's Worst Vampire

Fang-Tastic Friends

Vlad is back on another Fang-tastic journey full of hysterical yet relatable moments giving a comical twist to common issues children face. Vlad’s main focus is making friends and fitting in at human school. Vlad’s parents take a trip to Transylvania, leaving him with Grandpa Gory giving Vlad a chance to sneak off to human school. There’s a catch though, whilst Vlad stays with Grandpa Gory he has to complete, and master a list of vampire challenges to impress his parents with or there’ll be trouble!

Engrossed

Eva couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into this Fang-tastic sequel and join Vlad and his Fang-Tastic Friends. In fact, she was so excited she ended up reading the book in one sitting, sneakily staying awake until gone 9 pm! Having really enjoyed Vlad The Worlds Worst Vampire, which she regularly re-reads I wasn’t too surprised Eva had become so engrossed in the story. I was very much the same at her age.

Worried

Vlad is worried he won’t make any Fang-Tastic friends at human school but he soon makes friends with Minxie. Minxie quickly finds out Vlad is a vampire but she keeps his secret. Continuing to practice his vampire challenges, Vlad feels stressed that he can’t get the hang of mind-control.

 Mind-Control

Vlad feels like he can’t master mind-control, even trying to call Flit his pet bat, doesn’t work. That is, until Boz a school bully keeps bothering Vlad & Minxie. Wishing the class tadpoles would leap out of their tank and on to Boz the bullies head seems to work at least! Eva found this hilarious! She found it even funnier when Vlad pictures Boz tripping, flying into the bike shed & Boz being covered in spiders, works too. Vlad is worried though as his mind-control only seems to work on Boz!!

Fang-Tastic Friends Back Cover

What Happens Next

Eva says she can’t wait to see what happens next and is totally hooked on this series. She hopes it isn’t too long until Fang-tastic Friends is followed by a third book in the series. Fang-Tastic Friends is fantastic, even I got a bit engrossed flicking through the book. This is definitely a series full of humour and issues children and young vampires face. We can’t wait to read more about Vlad and his Fang-tastic Friends.

Do you love the sound of Fang-tastic Friends too? Have you read the first book yet?

 

 

 

The Storm Dog – Christmas Books

We received a copy of The Storm Dog by Holly Webb to review, published by Stripes, an imprint of the Little Tiger group. Holly Webb has written over ninety books for Stripes including Animal Stories, My Naughty Little Puppy & Maisie Hitchins Series. This book is an unforgettable tale of courage and adventure just in time for Christmas. Available in hardback for £8.99 The Storm Dog is a great gift for children Eva’s age (7).

The Storm Dog

The Storm Dog

The Storm Dog is about a girl called Tilly who is excited to spend Christmas in wales with her gran and great-gran. Gran promised to help Tilly on a big school project about the second world war. Her gran had been evacuated herself during the war. At least that was the plan!

Tilly falls asleep on the train and time-travels back to world war 2 instead! Upon waking Tilly finds herself being evacuated along with her two younger brothers. She comes across a stern old Mr Thomas who reluctantly agrees to give her a home on his farm.

Mr Thomas lives alone with his beautiful sheepdog Tarran. As Christmas approaches the farmhouse gets cut off by the snow. Tilly has to be braver than ever when Tarran comes to her for help one stormy night.

Eva started reading as soon as the book arrived and was glued to it for 2 days until she finished it. She thought The Storm Dog was a great book because it has lots going on. Tilly was so brave at the end of the story that Eva thinks she is super cool. The Storm Dog is a fantastic action packed, courageous adventure!

I would recommend The Storm Dog if you are looking for Christmas books having seen Eva become so absorbed in the storyline. Eva retold the story so well where she was captured by the magic of this beautifully heart-warming story. It is definitely a book I can see her re-reading too.

 Do you know a child that would love The Storm Dog to add to their bookshelf this Christmas?

 

 

 

 

St Grizzle’s School For Girls, Goats And Random Boys – Book Review

St Grizzle’s school for girl, goats and random boys is written by Karen McCombie and Illustrated by Becka Moor. Published earlier this year by Stripes (An Imprint of Little Tiger Group) is available in paperback for £5.99. Perfect for children aged 7-9 years St Grizzle’s is a hilariously quirky book.

St Grizzle’s Series

St Grizzle's

Eva loves to read books that are funny and a bit quirky and she is currently loving books based around schools. I remember enjoying similar books at her age. We’ve been hunting out new series for her and we were sent St Grizzle’s school for girls, goats and random boys. The title caught Eva’s eye because it had such a silly name.

As soon as Eva had started reading she was giggling away. The main character, Dani is packed off to a strict girls boarding school while her mum heads off to the Antarctic to study penguins bums! St Grizelda’s school for girls turns out to have had a drastic change of teaching style. Dani and her mum realise the school is in chaos with no rules, craziness and a goat!?

Dani feels homesick but has to wait for her mum to make alternative arrangements. Whilst she waits the madness begins to warm Dani’s heart. The quirky characters throughout the story kept giggling throughout the story. She loved Dani and after reading the teaser for the second book in the series she couldn’t wait to read more! She loved the illustrations throughout the book making sure to show me each one. Luckily I have a copy of the second book St Grizzle’s school for girls, ghosts and runaway grannies for her to review next week. Check back to see what Eva thinks of the next book and to find out more yourself!

Do you know a child that would love this book too?

Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire – Book Review

Eva has been reading Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire this week. Written by Anna Wilson and illustrated by Kathryn Durst, Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire is available in paperback for (RRP) £5.99 and perfect for 7-9 year olds. The first book of a brand-new illustrated series, featuring fangtastic characters & batty humour, Vlad tries to find where he belongs.

Vlad World's Worst Vampire

Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire

We recently discovered books published by Stripes in the library, Stripes is an imprint of Little Tiger Group, our favourite publisher! Eva decided she wants to work her way through books published by Stripes. I have to admit they seem rather funny and quirky, perfect for her. Seeing Eva so excited about reading is fantastic and she was ecstatic to receive Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire.

Vlad is the youngest member of the Impaler family, the bravest vampires ever! Vlad isn’t that brave though, he’s even scared of the dark, much to his parents disappointment.  Wanting to make friends Vlad decides Human school is the best place to make friends. With his pet bat Flit Vlad heads off to Human school in search of friendships, trying his best to keep his true identity a secret!

From the very first page you can tell this will be a hilarious book to sink your teeth into. Anna Wilsons fantastic humour makes this book the perfect read! We will definitely be keeping an eye out for the rest of the series as they are published.

 

Eva’s Thoughts

I liked Vlad the worlds worst vampire because he pretended to be a human but was actually a vampire! He pretended to be a human because he wanted to go to human school. After reading about Jollywood academy – The best school in the world, Vlad decides he prefers the sound human school. His family isn’t too happy about it though! It is such a funny book to read.

 

 

 

Burnished Chaos