Raynor Reads Stuff

Category: Children’s books

  • REVIEW: The Firework-Maker’s Daughter

    My final book for February (yes I know it’s mid March but I am still catching up) was another children’s book. I’ve been buying up books from charity shops that I loved as a child and have lost along the way. These have included books like The Didakoi, Wind in the Willows, Carrie’s War, The…

  • How Michael Morpurgo writes tough stuff for kids

    I may have mentioned before that I love children’s literature and I still read many children’s books. Among my favourite children’s authors is Michael Morpurgo. Now here is an author who knows how to spin a good yarn but what I really admire about his books is that there is no shying away from very…

  • January reading round up

    I set myself a couple of reading and writing goals for 2023. Nope, they weren’t New Year’s resolutions because I gave up on those a very long time ago; they’re just goals for the year. Among them were to read 200 books and attempt to write reviews for every book I have read, to read…

  • REVIEW: The Wombles

    Everyone has heard of The Wombles right? Most people can probably sing the theme tune to the television series too. I loved The Wombles as a child but before I wax lyrical about the book, I’m going to tell you a story. About 20-25 years ago I was on the island of Alderney, one of…

  • REVIEW: Adventures in Moominland

    I came across this beautiful boxed set of Moomin books by Tove Jansson, published by Puffin, in a charity shop last year. This collection was published in 1975 and the set of eight books cost me £7. To say I was delighted is a huge understatement. I read the majority of them last year and…

  • REVIEW: Stairway to Doom

    I feel as though this is a big, fat cheat… but it’s a book and I read it so it is going on the list. When I noticed the other day that I had read no authors with surnames that began with Q or U last year, I called up the Wikipedia page with an…

  • REVIEW: Michael Rosen’s A to Z

    I’m getting in quick this year with some poetry, as I only read two poetry books during the whole of 2022. Michael Rosen’s A to Z: The best children’s poetry from Agard to Zephaniah, also counts as an anthology, of which I read none last year. So ticks in two reading goal boxes already. Published…

  • Why I still read children’s books