Monthly Book Roundup - What we was reading in Janaury

It is a new year, which means a whole new set of books for me to read to Lily. Lily is a lot fussier with the stories I read her now, and she does go back to her old favourites a lot of the time, but I do get chance to introduce her to new books each month. Just don't get to read them as often as I would like. I think it is because she is getting older and the repetition of the same books doesn't interest her as much as it did when she was little. 

I still like to read 2 - 3 stories a night to Lily though. Usually we have one long one and 2 shorter stories.

You can read all my other book reviews Here

January I just let Lily choose a few new stories from her pile of books. We didn't have a particular theme to which stories we read.

Here is what we read in January -

1. Kiki and Bobo's Birthday Surprise by Yasmeen Ismail

Firstly this is a brilliant flap book. It has so many little flaps to open up with surprise pictures underneath. Lily loved opening them all to see what she could find. The story is all about Kiki finding out from Bobo that is is a very special day. Straight away Kiki thinks that it must be Bobo's birthday and so she goes and starts planning a party and starts to make him a cake. In the meantime, Bobo knows that actually it is Kiki's Birthday and he goes out to buy her a present. When he gets back she shouts surprise and Happy Birthday, to which he explains its actually her birthday. They then both enjoy the party together. It is a lovely Birthday surprise story. Lily asked for this one often this month. I was sent this book by Walker Books but you can pick it up from online.

2. Sugerlump and the Unicorn by Julia Donaldson 

Sugerlump is a lovely rocking horse who often gets played on by the children of the house. But one day he gets bored and wishes that he could be out of the house and become a real horse. The unicorn is magical and can grant wishes and so does this wish for him. But eventually Sugerlump isn't happy again, and wishes to become something new. He keeps getting bored of his new horsy lifes and eventually decides he misses the children, and so the Unicorn turns him back into his rocking horse. Unfortunately the children had by now grown up and so there was no one to ride him. This is where the Unicorn takes it upon herself to turn Sugerlump into a fair ground ride so he can be rode all day by lots of different children and so never get bored. The story I really enjoyed and I thought that it had a lovely ending. There was also some lovely little rhymes throughout the story which kept getting repeated and so made the story enjoyable to read. Some of the pictures are also covered in glitter which adds a magical touch. Lily was bought this book by a friend and it can be bought it most book stores.

3. The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson  

Lily asked for this story quite a few times this month. It is all about a little girl who owns some paper dolls and takes them on an adventure. She loves to play with them. One day a little boy tears up her paper dolls, but this is where the story doesn't end up sad, because the paper dolls get to go and play in a very special place, the little girls memory. I think the idea behind the story is to show children that they don't need to get upset about things that break or that are lost, because we will always remember them. The story also has some rhyming in it and is very nice to read. I would really recommend this story, especially if recently your child has encountered loss. This book Lily was bought by a friend, but it can be picked up online and in most book stores.

Which of the above books do you like the sound of the best?