An English Year by Tania McCartney, Tina Snerling, and Emma Perry (Children's, Picture book, Non-fiction, 10/10E)

 September 2015, EK Kids (Australia), 32 pages, Hardback, Review copy

Content: traditions, some humour 

Summary from Exisle Publishing
Meet Aman, Victoria, Amelia, Tandi and George — English children representing a multicultural blend of culture and race that typifies our beautiful country. They will take you through a year in the life of English kids, from celebrations to traditions to events, to our everyday way of life and the little things that make childhood so memorable. They are our English childhood.

Nayu's thoughts

As we get close to a new year starting this book feels very relevant! I can't stress how much awesome this series is! The title gives it away: this book look at all things English, like the Queen, tea drinking, and some new ones too. Month by month the year is explored, with adorable illustrations which I kept going back to look at. I learned some more about my own country: here are some of the things I enjoyed - these weren't quite taken in order, sorry!

 For obvious reasons I was delighted to see a girl knitting! (*cough Nayu's Crochet Dreams cough*), since I like getting crafty with yarn in crochet and knitting, and thread (cross stitch).

 This reminded me of when I was younger and didn't have an issue with the cold like I do now, so was able to go to bonfires with friends. I adore the style of these illustrations, especially the clothes - aren't the leggings funky?!!!

I don't see many robins, and not a lot of squirrels but I feel it important to point out that at least in England there are more grey squirrels than red squirrels. I don't think I've seen a red squirrel, definitely seen plenty of greys!

 Never done leaf diving, although I adore the reds, oranges, yellows and browns as nature winds down for winter. However, the reason I really liked this page is because of the colour combination of the girl's outfit - it looks like the nameless heroine from the anime Amnesia! (like I could leave out such an important anime mention!)

 This felt like such a relaxing, summery image. I remember all the times when I was little and annoyed the sun was still up! These days I go to bed later ^o^ 

There are lots of old cottages close to where I live. Old houses are part of the English heritage. 

I remember dancing around the May pole at primary school  (Kindergarten) - plus I like the girl's outfit!

I can't remember going with him but one of my grandfather's always used to go fishing and bring us salmon or trout. (Plus it's the Amnesia combination outfit again!)

Haiyaaa! To the left, not in the picture, there are scouts and brownies. I went to brownies and remember getting to try different sports, athough not quite Judo or gymnastics - don't the girls look cute?

Wheeee! Amnesia girl again! I do remember getting to skip school due to snow - being in a little village meant access was trickier than in a town, although it was possible to walk to school! 

 This made me smile because both my mother and grandmother (when she was alive) grew herbs when I was little, and there are still some although they are in the garden rather than on the window sill.

I made loads of these! Lots in our garden, and also at school because we had limited supply of daisies in the playing field. I say limited because they either got mown or they were used for daisy chains! Or, as the boys did, the daisies + dandelions + clumps of grass = great safe things to throw at people!

Amnesia girl again! Tree houses are something I've read about often, but never been in. Haven't liked heights since I was little, and didn't have a tree in my garden. However, we did have a ground level tiny hut (less than 2 metre square) which I played in with my older sibling for hours. It got demolished with garden renovations in September.  

This happened to be the last picture for me to talk about - seems appropriate as the weather is getting colder. I'm desperate for snow: I know it causes chaos here but I truly love crunching on it, looking out for my cat's tell-tale paw prints, as well as the benefits of snow days! Although when I was employed I had to use holiday for snow days (occasionally we got a generic one), but now I'm self-employed I can go play in the snow and enjoy it! We haven't had it for over 2 years so we are due some. *looks longing at the sky* 

I hope you've enjoyed this slightly different review - it's truly an awesome book so go read it! There's so much more which I didn't photograph, it will keep you occupied with memory lane for hours!

Find out more on Tania's website.