A little post to catch you up

The time has flown but we have been spending it wisely, and I'm relieved to say we made it through the Princess Poppy years and bypassed the Rainbow Fairies completely and we're now deep in to little a discovering her own books to read and even better recommend to me.

So here goes on a whistlestop tour of the books we've loved reading since last we met, in no particular order except for how I managed to balance them in that huge pile ...

I think top for me and the best surprise has been rediscovering graphic novels, and realising that little a is old enough to share them with me. It began with The Encyclopedia of Early Earth which I discovered thanks to a rave review at the London Book Fair by inspirational booktuber (video book reviewer to you and me) booksandquills. (watch the review from 3:50, she says it so much better than me). I was reading it, and little a kept stealing it, and I think it was the first book we have really shared in that just readers who've loved a book kind of a way.

It led us on to read Persepolis which again we both loved, and broached subjects for us to talk about that I would never have known how to go about introducing. We have book two waiting on the to-read pile and I have my eyes open for more - any recommendations gratefully received.

Little a is still definitely very much a visual reader, but what I'm learning is that doesn't mean 'simple' either in content or in writing style. She responds to humour and wit, and has devoured the ususal suspects of Wimpy Kid, Claude, Horrid Henry, as well as delighting in some wonderful discoveries we made on a trip to Australia that have yet to hit the UK: The Treehouse Storey series and Weirdo by Australia's self-nominated 'happiest refugee' Anh Do. She already has that book-lovers relish in being the first to discover something new and wonderful and wanting to spread the word. Perhaps a little too much sometimes - her friends are hoping that her current How to Train Your Dragon craze is soon to pass.

We still love full on illustrated picture books too. We were lucky enough to see Oliver Jeffers speak - and teach us how to draw a penguin - at the Hay Festival, and through the recommendation of a friend discovered the gem of Jackie Morris, who showed us her absolutely beautiful sketchbooks and early workings in a quiet event tucked away in a side tent at the end of the day. The wonderful Yellow-Lighted Bookshop yielded The Mighty Lalouche, with illustrations by Sophie Blackall of Ivy and Bean fame, and just this week I ordered specially a copy of Magic Beach from Daunts: an Australian picture book classic, in theory far too young for either of us but we revelled in the way it captures all the different magic that a trip to the seaside can bring.

We're discovering the wonders of non-fiction too, starting to unlock the secrets of science and nature, and finding the answer to What Goes On In My Head? (I still don't know but I'm hoping that giving little a an early start will help ...). Chineasy is a wonderful visual approach to the beautiful characters of Chinese. Not hothousing but I guess it's like Persepolis because it's so much better to show than tell, for there to be an element that little a is discovering things for herself and for me, that's what books can do. They're a distinct unit of experience, unlike the internet, where I can leave her free to wander by herself and bring her own interpretation. Sometimes we talk about what she's reading, sometimes not. And it feels like the first step towards sending her out in the world.