One of our readers, Rochelle, wrote to us a little while ago asking whether we could recommend any bookends for her baby daughter’s bedroom. I’m always on the lookout for cute bookends for children, and had lots of fun compiling this list…

I do love the Roebuck Studios bookends, which we have stocked in our store in the past, and often have as part of our display on our stand at Magnolia Square. Unfortunately, I’ve just heard that Roebuck Studios is closing on September 6 2010 – get in quick if you love these ones as much as we do.

Love these silver elephant bookends from Moroccan design company Zid Zid Kids, available in Australia from Little Living.

The Coocoon Couture bookends are ubiquitous these days, but with good reason – awfully cute and a perfectly natural look. Available in Australia from Bebe.

For older kids, I like the look of these ‘Flight to Mars’ bookends from These Creatures, spotted by Ohdeedoh at the New York International Gift Fair last week.

The jury’s still out for me as to whether leather or fabric bookends are REAL bookends, but there are certainly lots of gorgeous examples.

Leather artist Sandy Vour makes an array of bookends – I think her mice are my favourites. The Elephant is from MoMA.

There seems to be an owl theme! Fabric owl bookends from Etsy’s Aprilfoss and Li’l Magoolie pointed me in the direction of the leather owl – available in Australia from Urban Baby.

And speaking of owls, it’s taking some serious effort to resist this stunning set of bookends by Mexican designers Neko! The bookend’s vertical is magnetic and holds the owl and branch, making it look like it is suspended…

Let us know if you know of any other bookends for a child’s room!

Unpersuaded by my alternative suggestions, Rowan was determined to have a superhero theme for his 4th birthday party. I admire parents who can persuade their 4-year-olds to have a party theme of an adult’s choosing… Thus far, I’m not one of them.

At least I get a say over the cake…

Inspired by Harry and Horsie, first blogged about by Lou right here.

Of all the superheros, Harry might just have to be my favourite. Katie Van Camp and Lincoln Agnew capture the spirit of little boys becoming super heros and cleverly sidestep the fighting and guns, with a ’super duper bubble blooper’…

(Did you know Harry is a celebrity baby of sorts? I just discovered this.)

It was very wet and very cold on the day of Rowan’s party, and despite four-year-old energy levels and being cooped up in the garage for most of the party, Rowan and his friends were absorbed by a reading of Harry and Horsie.

The costumes were calling out for a photo, a la the cover of Play All Day.

But the highlight? A patch of sunshine and a good half an hour of ’superhero flying’: jumping off the slide and into the beanbag.

Magnolia Square was so much fun as always – could it have been the BEST EVER?! Nic and her team created such a gorgeous display – the stage was like a scene from Narnia, complete with silver birch trees, and the most breathtaking props. So many amazing retailers – having a stand next to Michel’s Fine Biscuits was way too tempting and opposite our stand was the gorgeous Ohme Ohmi – we LOVED their new vintage toy T-shirts.

We also went a bit vintage with a new look for our stand…

How stunning is this bedspread with Golden Book characters – can you spot the Saggy Baggy Elephant and the Tawny Scrawny Lion? It’s an original and belongs to a lovely friend of mine – how lucky is she?! Underneath is the most gorgeous Little Jack Horner lamp found by Lou – which also got lots of comments from our customers.

The Womble night light was from my childhood…

Lou makes some gorgeous vintage book bunting, which you can see up top, and I framed some of the Charley Harper Memory Game cards for the wall.  The furniture and some vintage hat boxes were thrifted and found in storage, a gorgeous handmade quilt, vintage suitcase, another lamp and toys were borrowed from another very lovely friend – once we got started it all came together…

Another Magnolia Square has been and gone – the good news is there’s just 11 weeks until the next one – we’re starting our countdown already!

One of our readers emailed us this week, asking us about reading nooks. She says:

My daughter’s 2.5, and I’m wanting to create a cosy reading nook in her room.  At the moment we read on her bed a lot but I’d like to differentiate between our massive-daily-reading-jags and reading-at-bedtime. I’m contemplating a kind of storage bench/toybox with covered cushions for the top; or a bean bag; or floor cushions; or armchair for that corner, but wondered if you might have any resources or suggestions about how to go about getting it all together?

Needless to say, we were inspired… Over the years, we’ve seen so many GORGEOUS book nooks out there. So here’s a collection of ideas we’ve seen…

Playrooms and bedrooms are obvious spots for book nooks, but hallways can also be a great way to make the most of otherwise blank walls. This book display with benchseat is in a hallway,in between children’s bedrooms. Found at the mecca of children’s interior design, Ohdeedoh.

This one also looks like a hallway space, eeked out between a doorway and a window. You can see more of the beautiful children’s spaces in this house on Ish and Chi.

As I collected my list I realised that there a couple of things that distinguish a really inviting book corner – making the most of the shape and space of the corner you are using, using colour to unite the elements, and having a way to display the books face out.

If you are lucky enough to have spacious wardrobes that you can spare, you could put your reading corner inside! These two gorgeous spaces have been made from a wardrobe closet space:

4-year-old Max’s bedroom closet has space for a reading bench and photoboard, more details in the feature on Ohdeedoh.

Little Lulu has this little space in her closet – you must read this post on Wondertime to find out how Lulu’s dream of running her own library has been made a reality by her mum – complete with old-fashioned index cards that can be stamped by Lulu as she checks out library loans! There are more images on Ohdeedoh.

Soulemama shows how you can create a reading space even when you don’t have a lot of space, and without new fittings or furniture. This book nook at the top of her stairs uses cushions, a throw, a quilt and a small wooden tub to create a unified space that’s very inviting to curl up in.

Similarly, this space is a borrowed corner of a living room, but has been made into its own distinct vignette’ through placement of wall art and the selected colour palette. For more photos, see Ohdeedoh.

Minigaga featured this creative corner from The Happy Home blog – so simple and effective – and best of all seems completely achievable – it’s inspired me to make some of these a purchase on my next visit to Ikea.

Finally, if money is no object, this concept makes the nook a part of the bookshelf. More background on the idea and the designer found in this article in the New York Times.

Have you seen any other book nooks you love? We’d love to hear about them!

It feels to me like we’ve had a particularly cold Winter this year. It puts me in the mood for reading a book just like this one… Singing Away the Dark. I adore Julie Morstad’s illustrations. And with this book, she got me at first sight of silver birch trunks on a dark teal background…

Sadly we have to wait until the Northern Hemisphere Winter to see it. But meanwhile, these gorgeous sneak previews can whet your appetite…

||Julie Morstad’s Flash cards and previous books are available in the We Heart Books store||

I finally had a chance to do some baking with some of our fabulous Moomin Cookie Cutters. As usual, the batch got eaten before I had a chance to ice them, and while these two probably aren’t the finest specimens, but I was lucky to rescue them for the photo.

The characters of course come from this book. Magical, whimsical, philosophical – and universally acknowledged as a great read-aloud – Finn Family Moomintroll is perfect for snuggling up with to read together… I really love this production too – check out these beautiful endpapers and the exquisite drawings by Tove Jansson.

The We Heart Books store also has limited copies of this stunning Moomin picture book – the first published by Tove Jansson.

The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My has recently been re-released by uber-cool Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. Luxuriously thick pages have beautiful die-cut pictures, tantalisingly revealing a hint of what’s on the next page. This is one of those books that’s so gorgeous that you want to use as a display piece on a shelf or mantlepiece!

||All these treasures are available at the We Heart Books store.||

A friend asked me a while ago if I remembered the Barbapapa books and where she could get some… Of course I do remember this lovable family of characters, who are absolutely quintessential 1970s fun.

Originally published in French by Parisian couple Annette Tison and Talus Taylor, they were published in many languages. The French editions are still in print, but the English ones are not, to the benefit of eBay sellers! It’s hard to score a copy of one of these small staple-bound volumes here for under $40… I was lucky to pick up this copy of The Egg and Barbazoo recently for less – but a lot more than the price on the cover of 10c!

A Netherlands cartoon version of the Barbapapas was also produced and these days the characters have been wholeheartedly adopted in Japan, I found lots of gorgeous merchandise when I was there.

Barbapapas are blob-like shapeshifters. Each member of the family has a different passion and can turn themselves into all manner of useful shapes in line with that passion:  Barbalala loves music, Barbabeau loves art, Barbalib loves books. And Barbazoo? Well he loves animals! And in this story he finds some eggs.

He can’t find who they belong to so he changes himself into a chicken to sit on the eggs… Barbabelle features too…

Simple stories, somewhat quirky text and the brightest of naive illustrations contribute to the overall happy feel. The Barbapapas are also attributed with an environmental messages well before their time. Perhaps this is why they are such sought-after collectors’ items now. Anyone have any copies lurking in their shelves??

For some lovely Barbapapa links, check out these crochet cuties on Meet Me At Mikes and an AMAZING craft project building a house for the family on Playing By the Book.