A while ago I was tagged in a game of sevens by Sandra who compiles the gorgeous and stylish Pass the Parcel. Sandra featured the seven books that inspired her as a mother and given that We ♥ Books is all about books and children I thought I’d copy.

My pile features:

Minus nine to one: The Diary of An Honest Mum by Jools Oliver – My beautiful blog partner and friend, Katie, lent me this book when I first had Ned. Jools, wife to Jamie, wrote this incredibly frank and funny book about her pregnancy and birth of their first child Poppy. Just like I had enjoyed having Kaz Cooke by my side while I was pregnant, I found Jools’ book so comforting as she writes about all the things I was feeling as a first time mum. There is a part in the book where she has just had Poppy and she talks about feeling like she is the only person in the world to be up in the middle of the night. She and a girl friend who was also a new mum decided that if they sent each other text messages while they were both up that they would feel a lot less alone. Katie and I also began to have VERY early morning text message conversations and I will never forget how that made me feel semi normal at such a strange time.

The book is also so beautifully published with gorgeous pictures of Jools, Jamie, Poppy and Daisy throughout. There are also some recipes in the very back. If you can, find the hardcover edition, it really is a very special book.

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule – The SouleMama blog has always been a favourite of mine because of the simple ways Amanda uses to bring creativity into her home and family. I’m not a big sewer or have any real creative bent and part of this book and her blog is sewing but I like it more for the crafts and ideas she gives you for connecting and enjoying with children. I particularly love the chapter on ‘living’ where she provides ideas for sharing nature with children, about seeking and finding and fairies – all things Ned loves and I love even as an adult.

Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali - I love being a mum and I have a gorgeous boy however like most of my friends I worry about being inadequate- in motherhood, in my career/business and as a partner. I have only just bought this book recently and keep dipping into it. It’s so easy to read and see the benefit in her advice. I have long been interested in Buddhism and find that there is so much to learn from Buddhist teachings about so many things in life.

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease – I have used this book as a reference for a long time. I first picked it up when I worked for children’s specialist bookshop The Little Bookroom about 16 years ago and at the same time used it for Uni in my children’s literature classes. This book is a classic, it is one part guide to reading to children and getting them to enjoy books and second part treasury of more than 1,500 titles from picture books to novels that are the best to read aloud. I have always held storytimes where I have worked previously in bookshops and have always delighted in and seen the impact reading aloud has on children. This was even more apparent I found when I worked in the UK because of the reaction I had from the children to my accent, it really showed me the power of varing your voice while reading and how it captures children’s imaginations. Now I read this book as a parent and it reminds me to be in the moment when I read to Ned. 

How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson – This book is stunning just like Nigella herself. I’m not a very good cook  as many will testify to but I do love to bake. Cakes and desserts are what I’m best at and cupcakes are my all time favourite. This is the cookbook that I always return to. A really good investment.

The New Useful Book by Playschool – Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima and Humpty where all a huge part of my childhood. My little brother and I didn’t watch much television but my mum knew that she could trust Playschool to be educational and I continue that trust today. This book like the TV show is brilliant. It is packed with craft ideas (easy ones), games and song lyrics – which is really handy for when you forget a rhyme or the actions that go with it. And as a bonus the illustrations are by one of my favourite illustrators, Bob Graham. This is an absolute gem of a book.

We Love Foodby Kirsty Manning-Wilcox and Peta Heine – You will see from the photo I took that I actually only have this in manuscript form. This great book has just been published this month by Hardie Grant. As I mentioned I’m not the best cook and this is one thing that does make me feel pretty inadequate. I love this cookbook because it is easy, the food is interesting and it is all really nutritious. I enjoy using this book which is encouraging to someone who doesn’t enjoy cooking. The recipes are interspersed with pages that explain and ingredient, with notes on how to grow and harvest it. I have seen the published book and it is beautifully presented and photographed. It is a down to earth, everyday reference and the beef stroganoff is fantastic.

Although I should tag some others to play, I thought I might just say to everyone to please write us a comment and let us know the books that you value as mothers.

We’re very excited that We Heart Books was mentioned on Romona Koval’s The Book Show on Radio National on Monday…

Romona was discussing with Gideon Haigh and Andrew Wilkins (Director of Wilkins Farago Publishing) the standard of literary reviewing in Australia. Gideon Haigh has recently been published in the new journal Kill Your Darlings, which claims that the book pages of Australian newspapers and magazines have become ‘hodgepodges of conventional wisdom and middlebrow advertorial.’ They discussed the future of reviewing and the role that blogs may have…

Here’s what Andrew had to say:

The positive thing from my point of view is that there are now communities of people saying this isn’t enough and we can actually set up our own thing… The cost of setting up anything on the internet [means] you can actually produce a vibrant, interesting, blog – I’m thinking of Inside a Dog which does Young Adult fiction for example, We Heart Books, which does kids’ literature. These are people with no budgets, negative budgets, and yet they’re able to get good quality material out online and build a community of people who actually care about similar things.

We’re quite chuffed! You can listen to the whole interview with Gideon and Andrew here.

I just had to share this sweet illustration by Trafalgar  Square on etsy.

I adore the little rabbit perched on the arm of the chair. Trafalgar Square is illustrator and mum, Kit, she also has a rather lovely blog here. Check out her etsy stores section called Book Love for more sweet illustrations of readers.

Caught this on Sesame Street this morning. How gorgeous is Jake Gyllenhaal?

I think I still enjoy Sesame Street today as much as I did when I was little. Let’s hope that Sesame Street goes on for another 40 years teaching little ones the meaning of ”the word on the street – SEPARATE’.

Afternoon tea with a copy of the new edition of Shop 4 Kids, what could be better?

And this edition is even more super exciting because We Heart Books has been included as one of the sites that Shop 4 Kids LOVES – how cool is that!

There is also some of our most beautiful books included as well as all the best clothes, toys and essentials for babies and children and a really great feature on art for kids.

Beautiful heart garland made by Alarna from Little Jane St. out of  vintage storybooks. Stunning and perfect for today.

My beautiful book eating boy has just turned three and reveled in celebrations this week with a stamina that has been hard to keep up with.

I still have a fair way to go in terms of party organisation but I did manage to make some cute bunting for decoration out of some old Golden Books….

We have recently moved house and I found a great local OP shop that has a large collection of Golden Books all shelved together. They were in varing degrees of quality, some with sticky pages and others with scribble, so I didn’t feel to bad cutting them up for flags. As Golden Books are all pretty much the same size and format they are very easy to cut from one template and then I glued them onto some yellow ric rac.

We also had Ned’s favourite food – popcorn in these gorgeous bags I ordered from Etsy seller HeyYoYo 

and cute little tiger and panda decorations ordered online from My Poppet… 

And of course he did get some fabulous books which I will tell all about soon.

I came across this awesome poster while reading one of the best mummy blogs around - Babyccino. The post, written by Parisian Emilie is about a kid’s nightclub party organised by So Chic Kidzin Paris.  The poster is instantly recognisable as being by one of our fav illustrators Marc Boutavant. What could be more fitting for a funky party, in a PARIS nightclub!!! Wish I could have gone.

I have always said that the gorgeous Charley Harper flash cards would be perfect for wall art and neglected the Charley Harper Memory Game. Then I came across this spectacular photo and post on the awesome blog Made By White

These memory cards are so beautifully made, on strong, durable card and the reproduction of Harper’s art is so vibrant that they just beg to be used like this.

Thank you to Kelly from Made By White for the permission to use her photo.

Isn’t this ring by illustrator and photographer Nan Lawson just beautiful, I just bought it! I’m excited, I love her illustration of Max with his wolf ears sticking out from the top of his crown. Check out Nan’s Etsy store where you can buy prints of this Max image and she also has a very beautiful blog.