The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

This is a great book. I don't think I mentioned it before - maybe I have - but this is a must buy for any eight to twelve year old who has just visited or is heading for the English capital.

In The London Eye Mystery Ted and his sister Kat take decide their visiting cousin Salim on the London Eye. He ends up in a different capsule to them and then disappears. They watch his capsule the whole time and yet when it stops, he never gets off. Where did he go? What happened to Salim?

Ted tells the story. Also, he explains that he has Asperger's Syndrome. That's an aside and is not what this book is about. It just explains his fascination with the weather. And also, why he is so methodical and great at figuring out what happened to his cousin. He doesn't usually get on very well with his sister but working together on this mystery helps them see each other in a different, more positive light. A fantastic read.

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay

I'm a bit wary sometimes of buying some my boys "classics" to read. Maybe its memories of trying to plough through Middlemarch in college (I never succeeded) but I think its understandable if they opt for something light and easy at bedtime rather than get stuck into something worthy. Actually a lot of the classics will work well read aloud, but my nine and eleven year sons share a room with their four year old brother, so it is still picture books only that I can read aloud there.

When I saw that The Magic Pudding was still on the shelf unread, since its appearance in a stocking last Christmas, I wrote it off as a loss. I'll get to it at some stage I thought. It was, after all, written in 1918. The language is different to what they are used to, to say the least. Then my eleven year old asked me to get him a Godzilla graphic novel. Hmmnn, not for nothing. Give this a go first, I asked him, if its too difficult, that's ok, but give it a try.

He read a slice or two a night. This book isn't divided into chapters, its in slices. With no complaining whatsoever. Really, it is not a chore to read this book. Its a pleasure.

Bunyip Bluegum is a Koala Bear. He lives with his uncle in cramped circumstances.

Tired of the lack of space, he asks around for advice and is told it would be good for him to head off on his own for a while. But he is not on his own for long. Soon its a gang of four; Bunyip, Bill Barnacle, a sailor, Sam Sawnoff, a penguin and The Magic Pudding.

They encounter crafty pudding thieves,

kind dogs carrying baskets of eggs, 

and  much, much more. 

An excellent read. For ages seven and up. Maybe I was wrong about children's classics? Maybe I should give Middlemarch another try.

What It Is by Lynda Barry

I've had my eye on Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons for a while. I don't know where I heard of her first but when I did the Amazon "look inside" thingy on it, it looked very funny. Yet it really didn't seem that my boys of then twelve and under were the right audience. I thought a teenage girl would be the perfect critic but I don't have one of those. Then I saw this in the library and took my chance to have a look.

What It Is is Lynda Barry's latest book and has garnered great reviews. Already the price of One Hundred Demons has gone up.

This is a book written in words, paint, collage and other things I don't know how to name. Its clearly the work of a huge talent and is all about how she stared to draw and paint and also a manual on how to start writing. I found it in the adults graphic novel section of our library but have not seen anything too shocking in it. (Well, she does say her parents were not at all nice, so some may find that unsuitable.)

My nine year old, who recently has taken to drawing characters he copies from comics found a few pages where Lynda describes how she did the exactly the same. It stopped me "encouraging" him to draw from his imagination, which I knew he found irritating.

There is so much in this book - about thinking and drawing ..

reading fairy tales;

having not very nice parents;

wonder if ones own work is good, or crappy;

musing on playing, and toys;

and the mean mother again..

(my kids weren't shocked by how she speaks to the young Lynda, but they were horrified by the cigarette!)

Great for teens interested in art or really anyone with eyes and some curiosity about life. Also, I don't think I mentioned, there are LOTS of funny bits; the pictures of her hula dancing are hilarious and definitely worth the library reserve fee.

The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi by Anna Feinberg, Barbara Feinberg and Kim Gamble

This is a good one. Bought a few years ago on a whim(I saw it on Julias Bookbag) it was an immediate success. Its what my son describes as a "second reader". That is, if you can get through the "I Can Read"s easily, than this is the next step. And what a rewarding one! The collection we have huge - nearly one thousand pages. (there are all thirty two stories in this one - you can also buy them singly or divided into two volumes.)

It's definitely one which they will need to be sitting up in bed with two pillows to manage. Its not one to slip into the schoolbag for reading time. However, what my guys liked was that every now and again they could say nonchalantly "I'll just mark my page...hmm..that's page eight hundred and forty five!" For early readers, this is very exciting.

Written by Australian trio, Anna Feinberg, Barbara Feinberg and Kim Gamble these are the stories of a little boy called Tashi, who come into Jacks life on the back of a swan. And they become friends.

There are beautiful pencilly drawings throughout to accompany Tashi's amazing stories.

For ages six and up.

Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinska

For some reason, Maps was reduced to £6.40 stg last week on Amazon.co.uk. This week its £10.88. That's still a lot cheaper than the price in the shops around here - around €24.00. I have been eyeing it up for a few months but the price and the glaring omission of Ireland from its pages stopped me. However, I got over that and have to admit, it is a fabulous book. Not a conventional atlas, its a (long pause here, how do i describe this book?) set of illustrations of forty two countries, the Artic and Antartica, with details of each country also drawn in. Make sense?

As well as being enormous, beautifully bound and chock full of fantastic details, it has an impressive shelf life. My four year old pre-reader can examine the pages the same way he does the Where's Wally books and other detailed illustrations and his older reading brothers can look up whatever countries they have an interest in at the time and are bound to find out something new.

So, if you gave this as a present to a three year old and he would still be using at at the ages of seven or eight and older. A pretty good investment all round.

Uprooted by Lynne Reid Banks

I've been glued to this since yesterday. It was hastily borrowed from the Children's shelves of our library as I had nothing to read. (We got there just before closing and there was no time for me to run into the adults section.) Its for ages nine to eleven and up and is the story of ten year old English evacuee in Canada during the Second World War, inspired by the authors experience. I never knew people went that far as evacuees, but they did. Its really fascinating and I love it.

Goop (not Gwyneth's one)

Mix three dessertspoons of cornflour with about one and a half of water. (just keep adding either until you have a solidish mixture.)

Goop! Mold into a ball and keep your hands moving - it keeps its shape. Stop and it turns wierdly liquidy. SO cool.

And even cooler, so far it has been easy to clean up.  (off the floor and countertop, that is. I have no idea if it will come off clothes.) Oh, and we added food colouring too.