One of my [Stephanie's] favourite parts of parenting so far has been getting to discover great new books together with my son. Even before he was born, I’d started collecting some of my old favourites from my own childhood, but for this post I wanted to talk about three books we discovered together and both love. The linking theme is independence: all three of these books feature characters going out into the wide world without their parents, dealing with strange adults and facing the unknown, just like every little kid eventually has to do.

I’m Not Scared by Jonathan Allen


Baby Owl ventures out into the woods at night, carrying his stuffed owl with him. He’s not scared…or at least, he won’t admit he is, despite all the interfering adults who keep on startling him by popping up out of the darkness to worry about his feelings.

My son and I laugh and laugh when we read this book. The writing is sharp and funny, the pictures are hilarious, and I love that at the end, when Papa Owl whispers: “It’s okay to be a little bit scared of the dark,” feisty Baby Owl immediately says to his stuffed owl: “He means you, Owly.” Baby Owl is not about to learn any silly moral lessons himself…but his story is wonderfully reassuring, as well as funny, for little kids to read. (And as a parent, I’m intensely grateful for picture books that make me laugh on the hundredth re-read!)

There’s an Ouch in my Pouch! by Jeanne Willis and Garry Parsons


Poor little Willaby Wallaby hasn’t left his mum’s pouch on purpose. He was kicked out by a terrible ouch! He leaves in disgust to find a better pouch to live in, but none of the other animals he meets have suitable pouches…and it’s only his good bouncing skills that save him when Ma Dingo tries to trick him into visiting the “pouch” in her mouth! In the end, he returns to his own mum (and the baby sister who dislodged him) but realizes that he doesn’t need a pouch any more – he’s a big boy who can happily bounce at his mum’s side instead of hiding in the shelter of her pouch.

My husband and I both love reading this book to our son because of the incredibly bouncy, dance-able rhythm of the text, as well as the humour of the story and the pictures. We cursed the tongue-twisting nature of the words the first few times we read the book, but our son loved it right away, and we both came to love it too – once you’ve got the knack of the text, it rolls off your tongue and is sheer fun to read, in a very tactile way.

Piglet and Mama by Margaret Wild and Stephen Michael King


When Piglet wakes up and finds herself alone, she’s scared but determined. She sets out to find her mama and won’t let anyone stop her – not even all those well-meaning adults who try to distract her by offering to play with her themselves. Sometimes, no one but Mama will do – and when Piglet finally does find her mama, her joy shines off the page.

I can’t imagine any little kids who couldn’t identify with Piglet from time to time – and the lovely ending of this book is perfectly designed to elicit real-life cuddles for the mamas (or daddies) reading it. It would be worth reading for that benefit alone, even if it weren’t so sweet and well-done.

Every little kid has to face the world without their parents from time to time. Whether it’s in the care of a relative, a childminder or a nursery teacher, it can be an awfully scary feeling. These three books are reassuring as well as funny and smart. I can’t think of a better combination.

I (Zoe) will be tracking all of these down! J is very keen on asserting her independence at the moment (“No Mama, me can do it!”) and I think she’d love every one of Stephanie’s choices. We have I’m not cute by Jonathan Allen and both girls think it’s extremely funny so I can well imagine that I’m Not Scared will also be a big hit.

Some songs that might go with these books include:

Some crafty projects that could be fun after reading these books include:

Thank you Stephanie for a wonderful selection of books today! If you’d like to find out more about Stephanie you could visit her website, say hello to her on her blog, or read the first chapter of her new novel. And if any of you have suggestions as to other books that would work well alongside these, please let us know via the comments

Photo: Longhorndave

Billy’s Bucket by Kes Gray, illustrated by Garry Parsons is both a wonderful celebration of the power of imagination and a warning to parents who do not take their children’s creativity seriously!

All Billy wants for his birthday is a bucket. Not a bike or a computer game. Just a bucket. His parents try unsuccessfully to persuade Billy otherwise but eventually a trip to Buckets-R-Us takes place. Billy returns home utterly delighted. He fills his bucket with water and so begin hours of play.

Every time Billy peers into his bucket he sees different watery worlds – crabs, sharks, divers, perhaps even a mermaid play in the water, and Billy is mesmerised by it all. His parents, on the other hand, are dismissive. They start off by humouring Billy (“What’s in your bucket now, Billy?” giggled his mum. “Seven sea lions and a walrus,” said Billy. “Of course there are, Billy,” laughed his mum and dad.) but soon they can’t resist teasing him a little; they try to persuade Billy to lend them his bucket so that they can use it for some household chores. Billy refuses. He loves his bucket and the worlds it contains. Indeed he goes to bed that night very happy – his bucket is “the best present in the world.”

The following morning Billy comes down to the kitchen to find his bucket missing. Although distraught it is Billy who ends up having the last laugh – it turns out his Dad borrowed the bucket to wash the car…and, well, let’s just say Billy’s Dad is now left looking somewhat foolish for not believing in Billy and the power of his imagination.

Please try to find a copy of Billy’s Bucket – the story is a fantastic testament to the power of imagination and a gentle reminder to those of us who might at times be far too sensible to believe in a little bit of magic. Kids will love it that Billy was proved right – there were, after all, marvellous sea creatures in his bucket, and parents will share a wry smile of recognition at the behaviour of Billy’s Mum and Dad. I also love the story for its delight in a simple birthday gift – a bucket – not a Wii or a trip to Disneyland – and in this respect it reminds me of Katie Cleminson’s Box of Tricks (which I reviewed here). Another book which could work well along side Billy’s Bucket is Polly Dunbar’s Penguin (which I reviewed here). All three are lovely birthday-themed books which rejoice in a child’s ability to imagine and create personal narratives.

The illustrations in Billy’s Bucket are bold and bright – J particularly enjoyed them. And whilst I don’t think they have the artistic flair of Katie Cleminson’s or Polly Dunbar’s illustrations they are nevertheless great fun to look at and an important part of why this book can hold the attention of both M (5) and J (1) at the same time.

To go with Billy’s Bucket we made our own buckets filled with sea creatures – but these were no ordinary buckets – their contents became our pudding one evening….

We used:

M made the gelatin as per the instructions on the packet, and simply added some blue food colouring for the “water” to go in the “buckets”. Jelly/Jello might work just as well, if you can get it in a blue colour . Once prepared, M poured the blue gelatin into the buckets where we left it to set for about an hour – just enough time for the gelatin to start firming up, but not for it to become too firm.

M then used a fork to push the sealife sweets into the water. Because the gelatin was already partly set the sea creatures appeared to float in the water and not sink all the way to the bottom.

Once the buckets were full of sea water and sea creatures they were left in the fridge to fully set.

Am I really showing you a photo of the inside of my fridge?? This is not at all what I anticipated when I started blogging…

Here’s our final collection of buckets full of wriggly sea life:

Here are the girls enjoying their buckets after dinner!

Billy’s Bucket:*** (3 stars)

And here’s the music we’ve been enjoying alongside Billy’s Bucket:

And just to show that some of my music is a little bit more up to date than the trio above we’ve also been listening to Ocean Night Song by Laura Veirs!

Other crafty activities which could work well alongside Billy’s Bucket include: