Day 45 (Week 7, Day 3) - Tuesday 14th February 2017

Day 45 (Week 7, Day 3) - Tuesday 14th February 2017

We always aim to read at least three books for the Picture Book Challenge per day, but sometimes tiredness sets in and we settle for two. Those two books this evening though have taken us to our first big milestone - 100 books read! One-tenth of the way there!

I would have liked us to have gotten there sooner, but that's just how it goes with busy lives and illnesses. We'll pick up the pace again soon I'm sure, and hopefully get to reading more than three a day regularly, to up our numbers a bit.

What an excellent first 100 books it's been!

1) Toad and I - Louise Yates


This highly imaginative tales takes us to the secret world of the forest through Toad's treehouse, and the disruption it faces when Kitty accidentally bounces her ball too hard, creating mayhem in it's path. It's exactly the kind of adventure that I can see the children creating out in our local woods if they were to imagine playing with all the animals that might live there, and they laughed a lot at the problems the animals faced thanks to Kitty's errant ball. Josh in particular loved the fact that the ball gets burst on Hedgehog's prickly behind (it's not difficult to make him laugh where bottoms are concerned!)/

It's colourful with its illustrations, and they perfectly capture the fun fantasy world of this forest, and the mishaps that befall its residents. A lovely tale of adventures amongst the trees that will inspire any children to beg for an outdoor trip in the near future!

Chris says: I've always enjoyed stories about animals in forests, so this is perfect for a bit of a nostalgia trip, and for inspiring that feeling of excitement about going to play outdoors.

Josh says: I love when the ball burst on the hedgehog's bottom!

Xander says: Can we play outside, Daddy?

2) Harry and the Jaggedy Daggers - Jan Fearnley


First things first - this books comes with an immensely detailed pull out map! It's fantastic just for that fact alone! Seriously, anything like that gets me incredibly excited, and I think we spent as long looking at the map itself as we did reading the actual story! What better way to lead you on an adventure than a map?!

The story itself is one about the dangers of the sea, and the heroes that brave the dangerous waters to rescue those in need. It had Josh and Xander cheering by the time Harry had completed his mission to get all Samina Songbird's eggs to safety, away from the storm and the Jaggedy Daggers (the awesome name for the dangerous coastal rocks). The illustrations are beautifully detailed and chockful of action, and did I mention that it it came with an amazing map?

Chris says: I'm going to say it again, but I LOVE that map! Seriously, seriously good way of getting you all excited about a story if you can see a proper layout of where everything is!

Josh says: I liked the Jaggedy Daggers.

Xander says: Boats!

So, to summarise Day 45...

It might be a slightly shorter evening of reading tonight, but we've hit the 100 books read mark! Hooray! Two lovely books to get us there as well, and particularly one INCREDIBLE map! Simply marvelous!

Let's see now if we can't get to the 200 book mark a little bit quicker!

Books Read; 100/1000 (10%)