Bike Lights in the Fruit Bowl

Book review: the Rurbanite

I have a confession to make...I can't read more than about 5 pages of a novel, or other book without pictures, without falling asleep.  I think the last time I finished a novel was about 4 years ago, just before I realised I needed all my spare energy to finish my masters degree thesis before little M arrived or risk throwing away 4 years of work!  These day's I'm a big fan of books you can dip in and out of for inspiration and momentary escapism.  The Rurbanite by Alex Mitchell, my current favourite, is great for both of these things.

Apparently, if "you eye up that derelict patch of ground on the way to work and dream of turning it into a vegetable garden" and display other similar behaviour, you're a Rurbanite. 

If grabbing a little sage from a flower bed near the local bus stop for a stew and wondering if there's room to pop a nice rosemary plant in to see if it grows better than in your small, shady and slightly damp 'garden', then I'm definitely a Rurbanite!  

Acording to Alex, "city people don't have to move to the country to meet nature head on".  OK, so you sometimes have to look a bit harder and think a bit creatively to get your countryside fix - The Rurbanite has great ideas to help.  I completely agree that "it is a relief, [that we don't have to leave the city] because the coffee's better here" and I'm a sucker for a nice cafe...and so is little M for that matter! 

The book has loads of handy advice on things like how to be a considerate guerilla gardener, what to plant in communal growing plots to foster good relationships with your fellow wannabe rurbanites (no scrapping over the three lonely ripe strawberries); and top tips on looking after our resident bee populations.  A great idea if the taste of the local Stoke Newington honey is anything to go by.  Soil testing, seed saving, mini-green roof making and all sort of other handy stuff including making the most of worms in the city (another sign that we're wannabe rurbanites?).

I also love the introductions to real life 'rubranites' doing interesting, inspiring and quirky things in cities around the world.  I'm seeing evidence there are plenty of Rurbanites at work here in Brooklyn where we're currently on holiday before heading to a family wedding near Washington (more on that soon!)

And of course, the recipes...

In reality my attempts to grow veg and create an urban oasis in the yard behind our flat suggest I'm a novice rurbanite at best...but perhaps with inspiration from this book there's hope yet!

Book of the moment: The Bear Snores On

This lovely book has been a favourite this week - just right for reading while we have such icy cold weather. A great one for snuggling up with your little bears and enjoying!

It's such a lovely story about a cosy party, slowing gathering pace as woodland animal friends shelter from the icy winter weather around a slumbering bear.  It's chock full of simple things in life to enjoy - warmth, friends, sharing foodie treats and hot tea.  

I enjoy the story and the delightfully playful way it's written so much that it has only just occurred to me that it's ideal for teaching little ones about nature in winter! Little M has been intrigued by different types of birds this week, asking about the wren and raven in the book and the robin in today's advent calendar window.

I stumbled upon these tips on using this book for pre-school education - appears there's a sequel The Bear Wants More - definitely going to hunt this down. There are printable colouring pictures and even more Bear books here.

 

WOW! Said the Owl

WOW! Said the Owl by Tim  Hopgood

There are loads of colours books out there for kids. The first one we bought was picked up from the local charity shop for 50p when little M was less than a year old, fodder for a mammoth train journey to a friend's wedding near Inverness. "Wow said the Owl" knocks the socks off it, and off most other ones I've seen.

I fell in love with this book as soon as I saw it, tucked away in the corner of a National Trust shop we visited on holiday this summer. I suppose little M is a bit old for it really, she's known her colours since she was about 18 months. But, this book is more about appreciating all the beautiful colours in the world around us.  A lovely thing for people of any age! (Alright, I try to pretend I'm not sometimes, but really I am a bit of a tree-hugger!). The illustrations and the simple concept are beautiful.  It has inspired little M and I to do some colour spotting out and about this week - a great time of year for it.

You can admire the beautiful illustrations for yourself on the publisher's website here. Or get yourself a copy for a beautiful (and short!) bedtime read. And being a board book it can cope with a bit of enthusiastic grabbing from little L too.  Little M particularly likes to wear the owl mask we got her to accompany the book (which was a birthday present) when we have this as her bedtime story - a successful present combo!

Also, I had to write about this  book so that in years to come I'll look back and be amused by the fact we have an owl trend right now. How bonkers is that?!

Lots of other lovely books on Tim Hopgood's blog here.

Only slight niggle: the publishers do have some environmental policies but seem to have fallen short (based on a quick persusal of their code of conduct) of making any clear commitments about using environmentally friendly paper, card, or inks in their books. Bit of a shame really.

Holiday souvenir: 100 things to do on a train

I really needed this about four weeks ago!  

I found it in the childrens bookshop in Lewes, a day trip we made whilst on holiday in Sussex last week. The shop was one of the highlights of the day.  It didn't start off well.  Little M must have inherited her dad's ability to get extremely distracted by books.  Distracted to the point that the real world - and it's toilets - fades into insignificance. She got very excited in the shop and promptly wet herself.  I've never had to mop up wee in such a public space before - guess I've escaped pretty lightly!  Incident over we all had a good look around, little L got her first book to call her very own and little M got a little stash to provide entertainment for the journey back from holidays (and beyond!).

'100 things for little children to do on a train' is a box of 50 double sided, wipe clean cards with activities for children to do on trains (complete with marker pen).  I love the concept and little M has been quite enjoying having a go at some of the activities. Little M is nearly 3 and probably on the younger end of the age range this is aimed at.  Quite a lot of the activities are drawing related and a bit challenging for her.  She's not massively keen on colouring or drawing, partly because she finds them a bit difficult yet.  I think her mind tells her she should be better at them than she is so she starts off enthusiastically, then asks me to take over half way through when things are taking longer than she expects or are a bit tricky.  Interestingly she loved the wipe clean cards.  When she wasn't happy with what she had done she could wipe it clean and try again.  This meant she had lots more attempts at some of the activities aimed at developing pre-writing strokes than she would do if they were in a magazine.  I think the cards will get lots of use in months and years to come.

On the down side, I was slightly dissapointed with the amount of repetition in the cards: several spot the differences, spot the items, and draw a hat or face on type activities.  This could work well if you're travelling with more with more than one child, perhaps they could do similar activities or race to spot all the different items. I also expected a few more 'real' things to do - things that, like I spy, get kids involved in the world around them and vary depending on where you are.  All the activities are self contained activities using the pen and the cards.  Some could be extended into the real world -  I suspect the spot the mouse card was inspired by real-life rat-spotting on the London underground!

Whilst this kit might no be the perfect 100 different things to do on a train, it's been a hit so far and I have a feeling it's going to be a very useful travelling companion. These might be useful companion.

Book of the moment: An Outback Odyssey

Little M usually has a book (or a few) that is flavour of the moment, read most bedtimes for a few weeks until another jossles into pole position.  The Dog Detectives: An Outback Odyssey has had a bit of a revival in our house recently - definitely one of our books of the moment.  

This book was a gift from Aunty Helen when she returned from a trans Canada cycling adventure.  The authors are fellow cycling ethusiasts who have been travelling the world by bike with their two rescue dogs. Little M was only about 15 months old when we got this book so we expected the book would take her a while to grow into.  Katie the Kookaburra charmed her though with her "Koo-ka-ka-ka-kaa-kaaa-kaaaaa-kaaaaaa-ka" and comical stuttering over strategically placed words - like "loo-loo-loo-loo-look" - throughout the book.  It was an instant hit and we've kept returning to it ever since.  

Detective Jack and Deputy Poco Loco are the Dog Detectives, cycling around different countries - Australia in this case - solving mysteries as they go.  In 'An Outback Odyssey' they bravely rescue a didgeridoo from some sleepless dingos aided by William K. Wombat and of course the imfamous Katie the Kookaburra.  

Each time this book comes out little M starts to understand a bit more of the book and spots more details.  I was reminded when Martin read it 'properly' for her recently (a rare privelege for him - we're having a few "mummy do it" issues right now!) how I edit books as I read them, swapping just enough words for familiar ones to keep the story understandable and reintroducing words bit by bit as little M's language skills develop.  Apologies to the authors but it seems to work for us! 

This book has lots of rhyming and alliteration so it sounds great when you read it - I never change those bits even if I think they won't be fully understood!  Little M's really into rhyming right now thanks the the Rhyme Rocket, which could explain the book's current appeal.    It's one of those programmes that is so irritating for you as an adult that you know it has been carefully designed to be like cat-nip for kids - she loves it.  Strangely, after you've watched it 20 million times its annoyed edge disappears a little. I almost found myself bopping a long the the rhyme-hole rap "...a toe and a great big hoe" the other day. Lots of comedy moments to be had from small children repeating that rhyme in polite company!

 Tempted to to head off into the sunset on your bikes with kids in tow?  Check out these.