Picture Books on Review - Marshmallows for Martians, Pete the Cat and Stop Sticking Stan

Marshmallows for Martians

George is a boy on a mission to find out what sort of sweets aliens like to eat.  Armed with a whole load of his favourite sweeties and a home made rocket, he heads off to Mars.

The book is brilliantly illustrated with detailed pictures and the fast paced, witty rhyming text is lots of fun.  

As the story unfolds, George discovers that the Martians favourite food is marshmallows, but not for the reasons you might think!!  It turns out that the sweets have a very welcome use for the inhabitants of Mars.

Released on June 5th 2014, this latest storybook from the author of Spaghetti with the Yeti is priced at £6.99 RRP and is published by Egmont.

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes

Pete the Cat loves his brand new white shoes so much, he walks down the street singing about them.  But on his travels, his shoes don't stay white.  As he steps in different things, his white shoes change colour.  Instead of fretting, Pete just changes his song and keeps singing, embracing the new colours as he goes along his way.

This story has a great moral for little ones - whatever happens, just keep walking and singing your song because it's all good! Pete overcomes the things that could have upset him with an unswerving yet understated optimism.  

The quirky illustrations and the simple, repetitive text is really effective.  Pete is a groovy and bluesy cat with a cool attitude. I love this book and the message it delivers!

There is an MP3 recording featuring the cool song that Pete sings along with other assets at www.harpercollins.co.uk/Petethecat. The book is out now priced at £6.99 RRP published by Harper Collins.  On July 3rd the next Pete the Cat adventure 'Four Groovy Buttons' is out. 

Stop Sticking Stan

Stan is a boy who loves collecting things.  When he receives a sticker as a reward for tidying his room, Stan decides that he is going to be super good so he can collect lots and lots of them.  Soon, Stan's sticker collection gets so big he ends up decorating the whole house.  Mum and Dad call a stop to his latest collection...but unwittingly start a new one!

This book comes with a page of stickers just like Stan's...which Freddy promptly decided to stick on the walls just like Stan did.  Oops!  Thankfully they aren't too sticky and peeled off easily.

This story is a gentle way to introduce the concept of a reward chart for young children, and has lovely illustrations throughout.  It has a RRP of £6.99 and is published by Egmont.


*Freddy received the books to review but all opinions are our own.

Top That! for Phonics and Bumblebees!

Top That! Publishers have sent us a fabulous bundle of books to review.  We have a lovely, big glossy picture book and some Flip-over Phonic books to aid children with reading and spelling.

Po-Tolo is a picture book with a green message.  When spaceman Po-Tolo came to Earth on a quest, the brave, busy bumblebee Izzy helps him save his planet.  In Po-Tolo's world, the bees have all gone and all the plants are dying.  The environmental message is clear, making young children understand the importance of the humble bumblebee.  Po-Tolo's plan diagrams show how bees collecting pollen leads to more plants!

The CGI illustrations are bold and bright and the fun story is entertaining to little ones as well as having the important green eco message.  Freddy laughs out loud at this story, when Po-Tolo's spacesuit springs a leak thanks to a naughty wasp!  It also makes little ones realise that they don't have to be big to be a big help! It costs £6.29 and is suitable for ages 3 and up.

We also received three free-standing flip over Phonics books: Short Vowels, Three Letter Words and Word Families.  The books are quite sturdy with thin card pages.

Each page is split into three, allowing children to flip through to match up the correct letters, rhyming words or phonemes to make words or groups of words.

Freddy is a bit too young yet to really benefit from these as they are recommended for children aged 5 and over.  They will however be great aids in learning to read and spell.  The books come with notes for parents to help the understanding of phonics.  By using colour and picture matching, children can find the correct matching pages, even before they have learned the alphabet. This is a great resource for pre-schoolers!