
Did you get chance to join Nikki Gamble’s Book Blast with all the latest releases for February? Another thrilling book night and the highlight of my month! If you missed it Nikki will be uploading it onto her YouTube channel soon. The next Book Blast is on 4th March 2022.
Another brilliant read as always this week from A Library Lady jam packed with lots of book news – link here. I really love Anne’s reading news and she’s definitely tempting more books onto my wish list including Wolf Light by Yaba Badoe and My Mum Is a Lioness by Swapna Haddow illustrated by Dapo Adeola.
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New Releases and Coming Soon
Here’s some of the books that have caught my eye recently…
Diary of an Accidental Witch: Flying High by Honor and Perdita Cargill and illustrated by Katie Saunders

Thoroughly enjoyed V’sViewFromTheBookshelves’s review of the second book in the Diary of an Accidental Witch that you can read here. It’s on the wish list!
Hope the Whale by Laura Chamberlain

Hope the Whale by Laura Chamberlain is a remarkably magical book about the migration of whales. In particular a whale called Hope. The story is told through the eyes of a boy who watches the whales each year pass through his bay.
The illustrations by Laura Chamberlain are sublime and there is incredible use of perspective in the images. One particular spread of note is where we see Hope swimming in the depths of the ocean and above is the dark base of the bottom of a boat bobbing on the surface.
Certainly a book worth using when looking to explore perspectives. The illustrations give many exploration opportunities through maps and the main character choosing to draw what he sees.
It’s a story book but I love how the end of the book tells the real story of Hope the Whale who is a whale skeleton that can be found in the Natural History Museum. This book is one that fires up your brain into wanting to discover even more and would be a particularly useful book to begin a topic on whales, oceans or migration. I certainly went straight off to the Natural History Museums website to discover more for myself.
It Fell From the Sky by The Fan Brothers

This one caught my eye on Nikki Gamble’s Book Blast evening for Februaury. It Fell From the Sky by The Fan Brothers is the story of anthropomorphic minibeasts discovering a marvel (a marble). Spider decides to make money out of this opportunity – a true capitalist!
I loved the sound of it so much that I also listened to Nikki Gamble interview The Fan Brothers on her podcast. You can find the episode here and it was a really fascinating interview. It’s absolutely on my wish list after the interview!
Tonie Box New Release Audio Books

Tonie Box has just released two new Tonies – 101 Dalmatians and Octonauts – click here to find out more. We love our Tonie Box and if you’d like to find out more check out my blog on Tonies here.
Yoto Player New Card Audio Releases

Yoto have also released some new cards including a selection of Horrible Histories, different languages cards and one that I’m particularly excited about – Everything Under the Sun which is a non-fiction book by Molly Oldfield. I do love feeling like I’m getting good value for money and this one is over four and a half hours long.
If you’re interested in audio players you might like to check out my blog post on Tonie Boxes vs. Yoto Player here.
Books for the Diary
14th February Exploring Nature with Children Evergreen Week

For those nature lovers, Raising Little Shoots nature curriculum is moving into evergreen week. You’ll find these evergreen ID cards in the resources section here or you can access them from the files in the Facebook Group here.
14th February Valentines Day

Valentines’ Day is the perfect day to snuggle up and share a story. Kate Hudson’s blog post on the Book Trust website gives you some tips and a few ideas of books to enjoy here. We Are Teachers site has a whole host of possibilities here. I say it doesn’t matter what you’re reading – just sharing books together is love.
17th February Random Acts of Kindness

There are so many ways to be kind and it doesn’t have to cost anything. It can be as simple as a smile. The Brightly list of books about kindness has one of my favourites Counting Kindness by Hollis Kurman and illustrated by Barroux.
The Book Trust kindness list has one of our new arrivals It’s A No-Money Day by Kate Milner. It was a VIP Reading box with associated activities and I’m going to use it to help Floss understand more about food poverty and one of the charities we support as a family – Food Banks.
Do also check out my current poetry reading further down the post for a recommendation that fits well with kindness.
Spring Flowers ID Cards

You might also like the early Spring flower ID cards that you can find in the resources section here or you can access then from the files in the Facebook Group here.
Thought Provoking Reading

Clare at Tiny Steps Make Big Strides has posted a very interesting post on knowing your literacy lingo. It’s part of a bigger article in Dystinct magazine.
Clare explains that Dystinct is an online magazine full of easy reading articles about language and literacy learning for all educators. Clare’s blog post has a link where you can get free access to the magazine if you access by the end of February 2022. I found it a fascinating and informative magazine and I will certainly be returning for the next issue.
What I’m Reading
Snow? by Jo Surman

Snow? by Jo Surman is an exquisite book that we have read over and over again and I would recommend to everyone. Check out my full review here.
Fledgling by Lucy Hope

I’ve finished reading Fledgling by Lucy Hope, published by Nosy Crow and thoroughly enjoying it! Recommended age around 9-12. Do have a read of my full review here – it’s one not to be missed.
Colour and Me! by Michaela Dias-Hayes

Colour and Me! by Michaela Dias-Hayes and published by Owlet Press has been a great read and one I’d recommend for all early years and primary settings and the perfect read for introducing colour mixing and experimenting.
You can find my full review here and my top suggestions on how you can support our children to have access to more diverse books.
Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I’m so excited to be finally back into the world of Aurora. Aurora Burning is the second book in a trilogy and I found the first book totally thrilling! It’s got great character development in this sci-fi thriller with just the right amount of humour thrown in.
Genie and Teeny Make a Wish by Steven Lenton

I dip in and out of Twitter but this week discovered VIP Reading. They do brilliant book exploration boxes and you can also make your own boxes of books and goodies. I’ll be adding more about VIP Reading soon as I signed us up for their subscription. On their site they had Genie and Teeny at a reduced price so I added it to my basket as it’s one I’ve been meaning to read to my daughter and niece.
We’ve just finished chapter 2 so far and it’s brilliant with lots of laugh out load moments and moments that kids will love as you’re just thinking ‘ew’ – like when Teeny’s slobber is dripping on Genie!
The Path to Kindness Poems of Connection and Joy

Continuing my new reading habit of enjoying some poetry each day I spied this little treasure – The Path to Kindness on NetGalley as an eARC from Storey. It’s due for release on the 22nd April 2022 and I’m finding it so different to what I’m used to reading and a refreshing delight.
I’m looking for more poetry recommendations, so if you’ve read any great poetry books recently please do share with me. I’ll be back next week with more book news.
Lisa x