What are YOU reading? #214

What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.

Read

Chocolate Porridge by Margaret Mahy and Terry Milne

Children's, 5 years +

10E/10E

(Only a special someone can eat this type of porridge!)

Magic Trix Magic Mansion by Sara Grant

Children's, 7 years +

10E/10E

(Desperately hoping this isn't the last in this delightful magical series!)

The Legend of Frog by Guy Bass

Children's, 7 years +

9/10E

(Quite a hilarious and unbelievable tale...)

The Scruffy Puppy by Holly Webb

Children's, 7 years +

10E/10E

(A sweet read with lots of touching moments...)

Fairy Princess Holiday Sticker Activities

Children's, Activity book

10/10E

(I'd have loved this when I was little!)

Fairy Princess Party Time Sticker Activities

Children's, Activity book

10E/10E

(Best book in the series!)

The Quirks in Circus Quirkus by Erin Soderberg & Kelly Light

Children's, 7 years +

10E/10E

(A hilarious read about a strange and lovable family...)

My Little Box of Springtime Stories

Little Tiger Press

Children's, Picture books

10E/10E

(This set of 5 books are cute and funny!)

Model Under Cover: A Crime of Fashion by Carina Axelsson

Children's, 10 years +

9/10E

(Axelle becomes a model to solve a crime which changes her life forever...)

Watched

Casualty

Drama, English version

8/10E

(Hey, I vaguely remember the episode! Good story about people who are different to the norm, whatever that is...)

Waterloo Road Season 3

Drama, English version

10E/10E

(Great school melodrama makes anyone's life look sane!)

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Season 3

Anime, English version

(I found out how Twilight gets wings - SHE IS NOW A PRINCESS!!!! So looking forward to season, which I hope is out in a year...)

Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream

REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version

10E/10E

(Aira is so lovable with her clumsiness...)

Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live

REWATCH!  - Anime, Japanese version

10E/10E

(Constantly watching this!)

Craft/games

Played some of Diner Dash Grilling Green - just a few levels but slow and steady wins the non existent race...

Worked lots on the surprise birthday gift blanket!  Start of weekend shot...8 white rows....

....and my after weekend shot...14 white rows!

Done a bit of sewing too!

And a bit more of the tricky 500 piece puzzle.  Here's me trying to get the pieces together...

....took far quicker than expected to make it a complete edge!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear and Other Nursery Rhymes by Steven Lenton (Children's, Non-Fiction, 10E/10E)

 September 2013, Little Tiger Press, Boardbook, 24 pages, Review copy

Themes: nursery rhymes,

 

Content: humour

Summary from Little Tiger Press

Introduce your toddler to nursery rhymes with this beautiful
board book with a squishy cover. With many treasured classics, including “Little
Jack Horner” and “Polly Put the Kettle On”, little children will love the soft
illustrations bursting with warmth and cheer.

Nayuleska's thoughts

I make it no secret that I'm not a poetry fan, despite reviewing several collections. However, somehow nursery rhymes skip the poetry issue in my mind. I love nursery rhymes. Maybe it's because I learnt them off by heart when I was little and have the tune of them set in my head. There are probably several tunes you can saying nursery rhymes to, no doubt someone somewhere has investigated this!

I'm enjoying seeing old favourites like Polly Puts the Kettle On and London Bridge in this book. Some still seem as stupid now as they used to be like What Can the Matter Be? and Three Little Kittens where they are deprived a meal for losing some mittens-that's child abuse! I enjoyed the title nursery rhyme because not only did the sweet rotund bear do all the actions he also had his own little cute bear in bed! 

It was a mega awww fest when I saw the rabbit for the Hot Cross Buns nursery rhyme. The new to me nursery rhymes include Rain on the Green Grass with a sorrowful owl in a tiny bird house, Turtles with cute turtles (that was obvious, wasn't it?) and Five Fat Peas which I suspect was said at night before a child went to bed so they could have their feet tickled. I'm going to finish with a new to me poem which spoke volumes for all of it's 16 words, and which apply to my view on kindness and kind deeds.

Kind Hearts

Kind hearts are gardens

Kind thoughts are roots,

Kind words are blossoms,

Kind deeds are fruits.

Suggested read

I've recently a book about a nursery rhyme which is now my favourite, Little Bo Peep by Charles Reasoner (Children's, Picture/Board book, 10E/10E)

Nayu's News #121 I'd like to say...

Thank you!

...to everyone for being so understanding and lovely about my grandad's illness and recent death. I'm usually more on top of things review wise, and I've been a little all over the place. I really appreciate your support. 

I've needed time to get my head around everything

Not having to worry so much about the blog has been a huge blessing. So thank you! God willing tomorrow (barring illness) reviews will start up again - whoohoo! I'd planned to schedule one for today but going through emails took longer than anticipated. I'm relaxing lots too!

Bye for now!

Winners of Evie Brooks is Marooned in Manhattan by Sheila Agnew announcement!

It's time to announce the 3 winners of Shelia Agnew's Evie Brooks is Marooned in Manhattan novel! The winners are...

Catherine! 

Mary Preston!

Kulsuma! 

Many congratulations to you all, I'll be emailing you shortly regarding your prize. 

There's still time to win a translated Polish Picture book!

Plus more competitions coming very soon. Have a great day! 

Winner of Wanita May's books announcement

 Squeeeee! I'm so excited about announcing the winner of W J May's Radium Halos plus several other of her books competition as she is an awesome author! (Psst, her first book, Rae of Hope is out in audio book - yes I'll be listening to it as soon as my audible credit is available).

*Ahem* Right, time for the point of this post. The winner is....

Aurelia! 

Many congratulations Aurelia. I've sent you an email regarding getting the books. Thanks to all who entered - I hope you're able to check out Wanita's books at some point because they are ace! 

There's still a translated Polish picture book to be won,

 and at least one more competition is being launched this week too! Yay! 

Nayu's News #120 Life

 Whatever your dreams are, go chase them. 

Chase them with all your heart like Naru in the anime Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live does

Whoever you care for, let them know.

Families can be small or large.

Friends count too!

My sick elderly relative died yesterday afternoon. It was an exhausting 9hr long day at the hospital. It's a relief that it's all over now. I'm resting up to recover from it all, which was exhausting mentally and physically. Reviews will probably be back here tomorrow Thursday (at the very least the latest competition winner announcement) as I do well with routine, for today I'm just sticking with the usual Monday meme (done by my lovely friend, GMR). Enjoy life, it's too precious not to. 

Rinne from the anime Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live both flies and spreads joy to others

What are YOU reading? #213

What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.




Read

Butterfly and the Birthday Surprise by Mandy Archer and Kirsten Harris-Jones

Children's, Picture book

10E/10E

(Birthday plans for Butterfly start to go haywire but her friends save the day!)

Me and My Mummy book set

Children's, Picture book, Activity book

10E/10E

(4 mega cute picture books, a card for a mother and stickers are included!)

Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon

Young Adult

9/10E

(Bake club at school changes Lottie's life...)

Watched

Aikatsu

REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version

10E/10E

(As well as continuing my rewatch I saw one of the latest episode's song which is by Mizuki!!! She is back as an idol!)

Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live

REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version

10E/10E

(In a nice way I'm finding this less intense second time through despite the issues being addressed getting rather deep emotionally...)

Winx:  Season 5

Anime,  French version

10E/10E

(I'm glued to my dvd player as my favourite magical girls do their best to help others....)

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic:  Season 3

Anime, English version

10E/10E

(Still annoyed this is only a 12 or 13 ep but the ponies are so funny I forget about the number of episodes and just enjoy watching it!)

Holby City

Drama, English version

10/10E

(Jac was on top form; I hated both Jonny and Dom for what they do in this episodes...)

Casualty

Drama, English version

8/10E

(It's been a busy week and I can't remember what happened!)

Waterloo Road: Season 2

REWATCH! - Drama, English version

10E/10E

(Fab melodrama to get away from the craziness of life...)

Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream

REWATCH! - Anime

10E/10E

(I'd forgotten just how much I adore this show! Aira is still fairly clumsy at this point and Mion isn't on the scene...)

Craft/Other hobbies
Tada! Behold a finished lap blanket for me, or, as my family corrected me, for my cat who frequently sits on me.

Another finished piece, this time with many pieces fitting together is this jigsaw puzzle which I've borrowed via post from a friend.

...and of course after finishing THIS one, I had to start another....

I've started this blanket for a different friend for her birthday. I'm fairly certain she doesn't read my blog so the secret is safe here!