It's time for another Children's Book Review.
Today it is a book for young children about a granny and her grandkids going on an adventure.
We have always felt that books are very special to our family and share a love of reading but now that Fred and I have got to the "grandparent stage" we are once again looking at, buying and reading books that are suitable for young children.
So when I heard about this book and the fact that it was about a granny who liked to go on an adventure with her grandkids I was very interested to get a copy to read with our grandkids.
Disclaimer: I did receive a free copy of this book to read and give my honest review.
So let's have a look at
Granny Franny's Big Red Bus
As with other Children's Books I have reviewed
SSHH Don't Wake The Baby! - Christmas Children's Book Review
I like to get our grandchildren involved but things did not go exactly to plan this time.
We had planned to visit them and sit on the comfy couch with them snuggled in beside us and have them make the big hard decision of
But then 3 out of that family of 5 took sick with a nasty cold and so the visit was off.
I had told them we had a new book for them!
What were we going to do - once they know we have got something new for them they are always looking forward to seeing what it is.
Now any children find it hard to wait and this gang were already disappointed that we were not coming to their house so we decided we would read the story while on facetime like we have done other times.
Grandpa is the designated reader while we are on Face Time calls and nanny does the "Guess What I'm drawing today!" and we both do the jigsaw puzzles and the hunt the bear round out house and the other games we play.
We have loads of things that can be easily enjoyed together in these posts
10 Easy Ideas for Face Time with Kids
10 Easy Games to Play on Face Time with Kids
So Grandpa got himself comfortable in the chair at the kitchen table with the iPad on the table and lifted the book.
If a book is meant for that young age group then it should be tested with children of that age.We had planned to visit them and sit on the comfy couch with them snuggled in beside us and have them make the big hard decision of
"Who do you want to read this book to you today?"
But then 3 out of that family of 5 took sick with a nasty cold and so the visit was off.
I had told them we had a new book for them!
What were we going to do - once they know we have got something new for them they are always looking forward to seeing what it is.
Now any children find it hard to wait and this gang were already disappointed that we were not coming to their house so we decided we would read the story while on facetime like we have done other times.
Grandpa is the designated reader while we are on Face Time calls and nanny does the "Guess What I'm drawing today!" and we both do the jigsaw puzzles and the hunt the bear round out house and the other games we play.
We have loads of things that can be easily enjoyed together in these posts
10 Easy Ideas for Face Time with Kids
10 Easy Games to Play on Face Time with Kids
So Grandpa got himself comfortable in the chair at the kitchen table with the iPad on the table and lifted the book.
At the time of writing this we have 3 grandchildren Matthew almost 5 years old, Ruby is 3 yrs and Sarah will be 1 in 2 weeks time but she was with her mum and not listening and watching with us this time.
So Matthew and Ruby were ready on the iPad for Face Time and ready to watch as grandpa read to them.
Well back to testing out the book.
It is an "off for an adventure" kids book with some lovely phrases for the kids to repeat after grandpa has read a page.
one of my favourites was the
thick, icky, sticky mud
can we all say that one quickly???
Can you spot it in the pic below?
We enjoyed the rhyming parts of the story as well as the bright, bold illustrations with lots of detail which means that the children will enjoy coming back to the book for further readings as they will not have remembered everything of the story or the pictures from this first reading.
You can see from the pictures above that this book is very bright and colourful.
But what you don't know yet is that the illustrations are funny and there is a lovely character named "Thinkerbell" on the Big Red Bus. (There is a glimpse of her in the picture below)
Grandpa is as mad as me sometimes and really got into the swing of the story - that's why the kids have a hard job deciding who reads to them.
Here is the front cover of the book.
I love the details on the bus:
- Reg GR4N for Gran but there has to be a number on a reg plate.
- Seaside Park, Zoo Playground - destinations for the story
- Gransville - town location
Here you can see the back cover of the book
I just would have loved to have seen a picture of Sonia (the author) here but that's more from a grownup's perspective, kids probably aren't interested in this at the younger age.
Now the surprise in this book is that there are actually two adventures (practically 2 stories in one!)
So I have told you about this fun book which I believe would make a great gift for any family to read together but more especially where grannies and grandpas can enjoy it together with the grandchildren as we did.
Maybe our having to do it over facetime made it even better because it was a special treat just between us and the grandchildren.
This book is written by Sonia Beldom and is also illustrated by Sonia and all this completed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proceeds from this book are going to bus-related charities due to help with the fact that all private hire vehicles were off the road for a prolonged period of time.
You may also be surprised to find out that Sonia drives heritage London Routemaster double-decker buses at weekends (in between her other normal jobs).
So Deciding thought on this book?
Yes it's a big Tick from me and Fred and the grandkids.
Disclaimer:
I was given a free copy of the book to read and write an honest review but no other compensation.
The views expressed here are completely my own.