Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

The Colour of Shadows is the story of a seventeen year old girl who after discovering a big secret her dad kept from her moves out of home and ends up homeless and on the streets. I liked the sound of this book as it sounded like something different. The first few chapters made me feel like it wasn't going to be so great as I was getting a little bored of it but after fifty or so pages I was fascinated and didn't want to put the book down. I found the parts of the book focused on the homeless fascinating as although you think you know what happens on the streets at night there's so much more to it that I'd not even have considered. I found Saffron's reasons for leaving home a bit of a silly decision and it soon seemed to be spiralling out of control for reasons she didn't even seem certain why so it was good when we got to see Toms perspective on things and from a completely different lifestyle to hers. I liked the character of Tom and how he was always looking out for people but I did find his chapters a bit repetitive sometimes from what I'd just read of Saffron's. As for Saffron, I like how we got to see her change as a character and how her trust changed throughout the book and her views on the people she met. I found the end of the story could have been explained a bit more, after a whole book of Saffron's reactions to the secret I find it hard to believe she'd do as she did so easily and quickly after the meeting. Overall I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, it was definitely an eye opener and one everyone should read!

Disney Princess Sing Along is a fun book filled with ten princess songs which the children enjoy. On each page of the book there is a popular Disney song's lyrics which the children can read whilst they sing and a picture of the relevant princess. The preschool children are too young to be able to read the lyrics but they still often choose to read this book as they like looking through all the princess pictures in the book. There is a nice selection of songs in the book and so we have found there is a song most of the children enjoy. The children particularly enjoy Belle and Ariel's songs as they are great to dance to! Although there are only basic illustrations of the princesses on each page the pages do look appealing for the children as they each have a pretty princess background. It would have been nice to have a few more pictures of the princesses as they are in the films from that scene rather than just the basic image of them standing there. The CD is brilliant and the children love to listen to it when they want to do some dancing, a lot of the time when we have it on they'll run over to the dressing up area and put on a pretty princess dress so that they really feel like the princesses which is adorable to watch! This book makes the children very happy and they're often found having got it down to read it to themselves or asking for the music to be played. It doesn't matter to them that it's not a story as they just love looking at all the illustrations! 

You Can Never Run Out Of Love is a gorgeous story of how love is endless. It shows in such a brilliant way that although you can run out of many material things that there isn't always more love to give which is a great concept to show to the children so that they can better understand the emotion. It is done in a fun way and the children liked seeing all the amusing ways things that you could run out of like nappies which made them giggle and ideas which one of them children found most amusingly as as she pointed out it looked like the craft room after she'd been drawing earlier! The main characters in this book are two lovely families which show their love for each other throughout, it is so nice to see how different both the families are and yet we still get to see they share the same feelings which is great to show the children how we all have similar feelings and shared interests despite what we look like. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and funny at the same time! The children loved looking at the illustrations as they are full of such pretty colours and always captured just the right feeling for what was happening in the book at the time whether that was a happy and emotional love page or a funny one where something has run out. We chose to read this book first to the children on Valentines Day and it was perfect for an easy way to show and explain the emotion of love to them. The children were captivated by the lovely story and beautiful illustrations and it made them all feel good, a fantastic story to read with children of any age and a perfect reminder of how much love there really is!

Mad About Minibeasts! is a brilliant book all about insects. On each page there is a short rhyme / poem on the insect telling you a bit about the insect and some fun facts but in a way that it's read as a story and the children love it. They think the first page is brilliant where it explains a bit about insects generally and they love finding and pointing out all the insects they can see and recognise. Throughout the book it is full of different insects and what is great is that although there are insects the children know well like ants there are also ones that are new to them and different. I like how each page is like a poem as it means that we don't have to read the whole book and it doesn't really need to be read in order so it is great if we have a few minutes to fill and it'll teach them a bit about the insects at the same time. The book is full of bright and colourful illustrations of the insects and where they live which cover the full pages which the children love. They will spend a long time looking at the illustrations and are more than happy to read the book on their own looking at each of the pictures and go back to the book time and time again! The children love this book and it is great for them to see what insects they can recognise from the garden and the conditions they live in. This is definitely a favourite book of the children's and it makes them excited to see all the different insects, a brilliant story book for children who love insects!