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Giraffes Can't Dance (Orchard Picturebooks)

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Giles Andreae

July 12, 2001
This is an absolutely charming book, my son loves listening to the rhyming verse and spotting all the different animlas in the book. A fantastic book to generate your childs love for books, highly recommended.!

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Room on the Broom

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

September 20, 2002
Simply fantastic.

The rhyming scheme is fantastic and the characters likeable. Even tho the witch is 'ugly' and has a big wart on her nose, she is kind and helps people and ISN'T scary.

A very funny story, with great rhymes and moral messages but without being preachy- so they just absorb my osmosis that if you do good things for your friends and dont judge them on how they look, then they will do good things for you in return.

The highlight tho is my 3 year old and I booming out together "BUZZ OFF- THATS *MY* WITCH" at the dragon. Even funnier was when he reused it when his friend tried to take one of his cars !! Ha ha

Buy it, you wont regret it

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The Gruffalo

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

August 27, 1999
I bought this book based on a recent poll of top books for children and I was not disappointed. At the time my daughter was 14 months old and so I was a little concerned it would be too old for, how wrong could I be. The first time I read it to her was the first time she sat through a whole book. She then urged me to read it twice more.
It is now a firm family favourite and I have sent many copies to friends and family as gifts.

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The Snail and the Whale

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

September 03, 2004
This was an instant hit with my toddler, who was entranced by the rhymes and learned the word snail within a single read. I found myself quite moved when reading it too, especially when the snail feels small in the big beautiful world.

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The Night Pirates

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Peter Harris

September 01, 2005
This is one of my and my 4 year old son's favourite books. It tells the fantastic story of Tom and a team of girl pirates who steal the front of Tom's house and use it to disguise their ship so they can steal treasure from Captain Patch and his grown up pirates.

What sets this book apart is the wonderful illustrations and the text which not only has a gentle rhyme and repetition but flows across the page using different fonts and layouts to help tell the story. for instance when the pirates run away, so do the letters.....

This book will be treasured by any boy or girl and it is particularly refreshing to find a story about girls who are not pink princessese. Buy this book - you will not be disappointed!

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The Smartest Giant in Town

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

September 05, 2003
Zany story and zany, funny ills combine to make a really good package for young children at storytime. The ills combine a striking ability to make a simple statement while being quite detailed. The verses and letter that make part of the narative add variety.

Excellent!

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A Squash and a Squeeze

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

June 04, 2004
What a fantastic read and great for all ages - although the Gruffalo is still the frim favourite in our house this book gives it a real run for its money..... highly recommend this for all 1-7 year olds. Also as an adult that enjoys doing the voices (badly!) its easy to read this book aloud again and again without getting tired of it.
Julia and Alex are a great team - brilliant story and brilliant pics.

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The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Judith Kerr

February 06, 2006
My little daughter loved this at bedtime. The moral - that which appears on the outside to be frightening and threatening need not be so upon examination - is such an important one for children to appreciate; an antidote to the prevailing scare culture where middle-class children are increasingly driven everywhere in a vehicle and kept from playing out on the street and taught to shun strangers.

A gentle, warm story with ditto illustrations. Magic!

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Monkey Puzzle

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Julia Donaldson

August 11, 2000
This is a lovely book which my 2 year old daughter really enjoys especially filling in the 'thats a ....' on each page. The simple repetative text and colourful pictures also makes the book suitable for my 11 month old. I also think this story has a lovely idea that although people may not look like their parents they are still a family. A lovely lesson in diversity.

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Dear Zoo

Childrens Toy Shop > Children & Baby Books > Picture Books
by: Rod Campbell

February 02, 2007
This is our 4 month old son's favourite book, as indicated by his rapt attention and animated arm and leg waving on certain pages. All the pages have bold colours, and the small amount of text on each page has a rhythmic quality that makes it enjoyable to read aloud and keeps little'n engrossed. He particularly likes the lion page, although this might be in part due to his dad (me) performing a load "Roar!" at this point. I'll update review when our son is old enough to read it himself.