Reading Tip and Book List: How to choose the best books for toddlers I’m regularly asked to compile a list of top books for toddlers. With so many incredible books available, the task is almost impossible for me. Instead, I thought I’d provide you with a list of tips for helping you to choose the best books to read with your toddler (and I couldn’t resist recommending a few of my favourite books at the end of the post)
Otter Country by Miriam Darlington – review Otters are easy to love but difficult to know. Most of the love is mediated by those with more time, patience and skill than us; it is through books and film that the otter has squirmed its way into our hearts. Miriam Darlington's initial seduction, like that of my own, came from Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water and Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter. Darlington's childhood crush was deep and affecting, but removed.
Constructive Ways to Help Kids Read, Write and Recognise Their Names It’s hard to believe, but Cammy starts school next year. It feels like only yesterday that she first appeared on My Little Bookcase as a baby- not yet walking. But the time has come and we are starting to prepare. I recently received a voucher to purchase labels through Skool Labels, and I began thinking… Cammy can spell her name. She can read her name too. 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes. But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom
Julia Donaldson's top tips Julia Donaldson has written some of the most popular and best-loved children’s stories including The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child, Room on the Broom, The Highway Rat, Zog and Stick Man. She is also the author of the popular phonic Songbirds series, part of Oxford Reading Tree published by Oxford University Press. Watch these videos of Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson talking about some simple and fun ways you can help your child with their reading at home. Guaranteed to make reading fun and help your child develop a love of reading.
Paulo Coelho's attack on Ulysses insults readers Samuel Johnson, in one of his great aperçus, responded to some pettifogging critic with the phrase: "A fly may sting a horse, but the horse will still be a horse, and the fly no more than a fly." That sentence sprang to mind the minute I read that Paolo Coelho had decided to take James Joyce to task. In an interview in Folha de S Paolo (one wonders if he chose that outlet for any particular reason) the self-proclaimed "literature wizard" contends: "Today, writers want to impress other writers." He then names the culprit: "One of the books that caused great harm was James Joyce's Ulysses, which is pure style. There is nothing there.
untitled 25 Must-Have Books for Babies: Find these books at your local library or purchase through the affiliate links provided. All recommendations are mine. I write so often about books, I’ve put them in one central location and created a collection of all of my book lists! Find more great reading book lists here. Reading to babies is such an important ritual for their growth and development. Reading everyday : No Thanks, Mr Franzen, I Like My Novels Difficult Let's give praise to Jonathan Franzen. Not only does he write bestselling novels, he also manages to get on everybody's nerves with a few carefully reckless comments. Recently he inadvertently became a Twitter trend.