Gorgeous Colouring and Activity Books from Buster Books

If you are looking for a healthier, longer lasting and all together more thoughtful gift idea for the children this Easter, Buster Books has an absolutely gorgeous range of art and activity books for all ages.  Inspiring creativity, unleashing artistic talents and occupying children's time in a productive way, seems to me a much nicer way of celebrating Easter than by overindulging in chocolate eggs! They are also perfect for keeping kids occupied during school holidays or when April showers lead to wet weekends.

I have received a selection of new titles coming soon from Buster Books and each one is stunning.  I love Buster Books, as they take colouring, drawing and stickering to a new level of gorgeousness. With a range of different styles and themes, they have a title that will appeal to everyone, young and old.  The quality of the paper and of the designs is superior to most colouring books found on the market. Children can create masterpieces that can be framed and treasured or have fun completing the educational activities.


The Amazing Creative Colouring Book

Featuring complex, geometric designs, this book is perfect for building creative imaginations. Children can lose themselves in the patterns, which include retro prints, repeating kaleidoscopic motifs and designs taken from nature.  Such intricate colouring in can be very therapeutic and relaxing for both children and adults.

Publication date: 2/4/2015
Price: £5.00

The Dinosaur Colouring Book

Featuring fun facts and cartoon style pictures, this is a must for dinosaur fans.  There are illustrations of monster fish and giant insects alongside the Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor and Stegosaurus.  The phonetic pronunciation of the tricky names are included so children can learn the names of the dinosaurs too.

Publication Date: 16/4/2015
Price: £5.00

The Fashion Through Time Colouring Book

For fashion lovers, or those with an interest in the history of clothes, this book is a look back at the fashions through the ages from the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks, right up through the roaring 20's, the swinging 60's to the present date.  The intricate pictures are detailed giving a glimpse into the lives of people throughout history and around the world, focusing on what they wore and the accessories they had. It's a lovely book for older children and is also educational, inspiring an interest in fashion and design.

Publication Date: 16/4/2015
Price: £5.00

The Pirate Colouring Book

Ahoy me hearties!  Grab your crayons or pencils and dive right into the seven seas with this colouring book that is bursting with pirates, treasure maps, shipwrecks and hidden treasure.  The detailed, cartoon style pictures are perfect for little pirates to enjoy as they follow the adventures of the band of swashbuckling pirates. There is a lot of funny detail hidden within the pages and each spread tells a story, so it is a great prompt to get little ones talking and thinking creatively.

Publication Date: 19/3/2015
Price: £5.00

The Puzzle Activity Book

There are hours of fun to be had within the pages of this activity book!  There are mazes, objects to find, dot to dots, spot the differences and puzzles to solve.  The illustrations are detailed, fun and kid friendly.  Children can practice their penmanship and their mathematical skills as they solve the puzzles by matching shapes, counting and following mazes.  It's lots of fun and excellently presented to keep little ones happily entertained.  It's a good way to get reluctant readers and writers engaged as they have to read instructions and use their pen to complete tasks.  This is perfect for my 5 year old Freddy, challenging him in a fun way.

Publication Date: 9/4/2015
Price: £5.00

The Original Sticker By Numbers Book - Animals

By matching coloured stickers to their numbers, children can complete the beautifully illustrated animal pictures within the pages of this book.  From tropical birds to underwater scenes, the mosaic effect creates some lovely works of art.  The white spaces are numbered to correspond to a certain colour of sticker, making it simple to do.  There are over 3500 stickers, so even when the pictures are completed there will still be some stickers left for a bit of freestyle designing of your own.  The finished pictures are all so colourful and detailed, children will get a real sense of achievement through this activity.

Price: £6.99

The Tracing Paper Colouring Book

This is a stunning colouring book with an artistic twist. In addition to the colouring pages, it also contains 20 tracing paper pages, which can be used to create stunning stained glass effect designs. Some of the tracing paper comes ready printed with simple designs that can be completed by tracing patterns from the book or adding your own embellishments. The rest of the tracing paper is blank so children can come up with their own complete designs, or trace and colour favourite images from the book.  The tracing paper is very thick and high quality, and it is perforated for ease of removal. Once done, the tracing paper pictures can be stuck on a window pane to give a stained glass effect.

Publication date: 16/4/2015
Price: £9.99

You can visit busterbooks.co.uk to see their entire range.  You can also follow @BusterBooks on Twitter and Instagram and find them over on Facebook too.

Books on Review - The Butterfly Club and Fingerprint Fun

Fingerprint Fun

However young (or old) your children are, they will love the new Fingerprint Fun book.  Using painty fingerprints, children can complete the pictures adding spots on animals, creating fireworks or putting the petals on flowers.  

Each page is colourful and the designs are lovely and quirky, ready to be completed using multi-coloured fingerprints.  Once all the pages have been finished, the book will serve as a lovely memento of your child's little fingerprints.

Fingerprint Fun is good for reluctant artists, encouraging them to get arty with great results from little effort.  It's also lovely for very little ones who can be supported to finish the paintings using their little painty fingers.

Fingerprint Fun is from Buster Books and is published on April 2nd RRP £5.00.

The Butterfly Club

This is Jacqueline Wilson's 101st book!  Over the years, all of my girls have been fans of Jacqueline Wilson at one time or another.  They love her strong female characters and can relate to many of the situations in her books.  The Butterfly Club tells the story of triplet Tina, the smallest and most cosseted of the three sisters, as she enters junior school.  Used to being looked after and protected by her two sisters Phil and Maddie, it comes as a shock when their new teacher, the very strict Mrs Lovejoy, seats Tina at a table next to the school bully Selma.

Things look very upsetting for Tina until she is asked to help create a butterfly garden in the school grounds along with Selma.  Tina soon discovers that there is more to Selma than meets the eye, and also that she doesn't need her sisters as much as she thinks.  Tina learns to stand on her own two feet and finds friendship in the unlikeliest of places.

This book is a lovely read, written from Tina's perspective.  The themes of friendship and developing self-confidence bring some important messages to young readers aged 6 to 10 years old. Watching tiny Tina go from a nervous little girl who is almost unable to function without her sisters' support to a confident and successful young lady is quite heartwarming!  The butterfly garden plot line helps readers to learn all about butterflies along with Tina and at the end of the book are some informative pages for anyone wanting to make their own garden, filled with facts and advice.

For fans of Jacqueline Wilson books, there is a nice surprise as the characters from Double Act make a guest appearance.  It was really nice to meet Ruby and Garnet again now they are all grown up!

With Nick Sharratt's illustrations gracing the pages, The Butterfly Club promises to be a new favourite among younger fans.  It will also be a great introduction to Jacqueline Wilson for girls aged six and over, who are yet to discover the author.  It is a contemporary, fun story that is easy to read, with some great characters,

The Butterfly Club is out now in hardbook, published by Doubleday RRP £12.99.  Also available as an e-book.

We received both titles for the purpose of this review.

Some Great Christmas Book Ideas from Buster Books

I am a big fan of Buster Books and their wonderful range of colouring and activity books for both children and adults alike.  Here is a selection from their range of books available for this Christmas. They will make lovely gifts or stocking fillers and will be great to entertain the family this festive season!

The Pretty Christmas Colouring Book

Colouring is a wonderfully relaxing pastime that can keep excitable children entertained for hours. The Pretty Christmas Colouring Book is a thoroughly festive book packed with lovely illustrations, from intricate snowflakes to wintry scenes.  Penguins, elves, snowmen and reindeer feature on the pages and children can get creative and make their own Christmassy masterpieces. The paper is great quality and the designs are really involved and interesting.

It's a great stocking filler or a nice gift to give to children when school breaks up, to keep them busy while they wait for the big day.  It'll also provide some colouring therapy for any stressed out adults during the festive period!

Price £5

The Original Stickers by Numbers Book

If you enjoyed colouring-by-numbers books a a child, you will love this latest twist which involves using colourful shaped stickers to complete pictures.  Each picture contains numbered white shapes and it is your job to cover these areas with the correct stickers using the number code. It;s a bit like completing a mosaic.

There are some lovely designs such as tribal masks, intricate palaces and beautiful butterflies, that need completing using the numbered stickers, which are found at the back of the book.  The sticker sheets are perforated so can be removed for ease of use.  There is a handy guide at the front of the book to get you started.

This activity will be enjoyed by young and old alike. There are enough stickers to allow some freestyle sticker deigning too.

Price £6.99

Where's Santa?

Ten of Santa's elves have gone missing and are hidden within the pages of this exciting book! Children get to follow Santa as he searches for the lost elves in places such as the theatre, a Christmas market. the beach or even on safari!

The extremely detailed, full colour pages are packed with things to spot and there is a spotter's checklist at the back so you can check off things as you find them. Children can spot Santa himself hidden among the busy scene on each double page spread.

This is a lovely book that will keep everyone entertained and challenged as they search for the hidden objects and characters.  The pictures are really humorous and fun, and kids will love studying every page. It'll be a real hit at Christmas whatever your age, providing a fun festive challenge for the family.

Price £9.99

Christmas World of Stickers

For a fun filled activity book, packed with stickers, colouring and doodling pages, this is a perfect choice.  Delightful illustrations and creative things to do give kids the opportunity to have some arty fun and the 800 stickers add an extra element to their entertainment.  Children can add their own creative spin to the designs by adding colourful, shaped stickers or using colouring pencils or felt tips.

The colourful pages are lovely and the characters such as penguins, elves, Eskimos and snowmen are really appealing.  Little ones will be kept busy as they enjoy colouring, doodling and sticking this Christmas.  The quality of this book is really lovely.

This is a lovely gift idea for Christmas.

Price £9.99

Find out more on these and other titles at www.busterbooks.com and follow @busterbooks on Twitter.

Some Beautiful Books on Review - from Buster Books and Michael O' Mara Books

I have received some stunning books to review from Buster Books and Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. 

Colouring in is not just an activity for little kids, adults can enjoy this pastime too.  Colouring in can be a very therapeutic, stress relieving and relaxing thing to do and these first two titles offer hours of enjoyment to grown-ups.

Creative Colouring for Grown-Ups 

Beautiful Patterns

Packed with beautiful illustrations and intricate patterns, this A4 size books allows adults to indulge and explore their creativity and unleash their inner artist.  The pictures are so detailed and cry out for colour to transform them into a beautiful masterpiece.  You don't need to be a talented artist to create something quite  wonderful.

Unwinding with a colouring book and some pencils really can help improve your general wellbeing, and is a lovely way to spend some quality 'me' time.

Publication date:  11/09/2014

Price £9.99

The Neon Colouring Book

This book is filled with funky designs and crazy patterns using black, white and neon colours.  Featuring pages of animals, plants, landscapes, food, accessories or vehicles alongside detailed patterns, the pages can be coloured in using highlighters or coloured pens to create some dazzling designs.  It's fun and jazzy, perfect for teenagers looking for a relaxing way to unwind.

Publication date:  11/09/2014

Price £9.99

For the younger kids, there are lot of colouring books, activity books, doodling books and ticker books available from Buster Books.  Whatever a child is into, there is a title that will appeal to them!  The next two books are perfct for my little boy Freddy who is 5.

The Diggers and Trucks Colouring Book

From bulldozers to lorries to cranes to tractors, this colouring book is packed with fun pictures for kids to colour in.  Each page invites truck mad kids to get moving and colour in the scenes that include snowmen driving snowploughs, pirates on a forklift laden with treasure and gorillas in the back of a truck. The pictures are detailed without being too complicated.

Price: £5.00

The Halloween Activity Book

Filled with hair raising games and activities, this seasonally themed activity book will give kids hours of gruesome fun.  With dot to dots, a graveyard maze, 'orrible origami and ideas for things to do, this book is filled with creepy but cool stuff!  The colour illustrations feature brains, gore, eyeballs and severed limbs...all the things that your little monsters will love!  It is the perfect activity book for Halloween.

Publication date: 04/09/2014

Price: £5.99

The Owl and the Pussycat

The final book is a beautiful anthology that introduces children to poetry.  From much loved classics including Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Lear and Tennyson to modern works by Carol Ann Duffy and Benjamin Zephaniah, this book is divided into sections featuring poems about themes such as Humour and Nonsense, Monsters, Beasts and Fairies, War and Death and Animals. 

Children can explore a world of rhyme and rhythm, fostering a love and appreciation of poetry.  I love my children having access to the sonnets of Shakespeare, the works of war poets and the nonsensical humour of Edward Lear is such an easy to digest anthology.  It's a lovely book that can be dipped into and enjoyed at any time, and adults will enjoy revisiting and sharing favourite poems with their children.

Publication Date: 04/09/2014

Price £9.99 HB