Book Review: Chu's Day

When Chu Sneezes bad things happen. How bad? So bad that his parents always ask Chu with great concern if he is going to sneeze.

We got the Bean the latest of the great Neil Gaiman's books, which was illustrated by one of our favourite artists Adam Rex; Chu's Day for her Birthday gift. She thinks making pretend sneezes are the ultimate in comedy.

The book was a smashing (or should I say nose tingling success at the first ahh ahhh ahhhh... and since then we have read it to her multiple times a day. Until today; when the reading wasn't at nap time or snuggle time but when the Bean pushed herself between me and the kitchen counter where I was doing kitchen things and demanded Chu Day Chu Day! and like all Moms of a just starting to speak child I looked at her in bafflement and said "what is that you want today?" and she replied with "Chu Day!" and I said "yes it is Today" and she looked at me with infinite patience (which in a two year old is a miracle in and of itself) and said again "Chu Day" and then the light bulb of comprehension kicked in.






The Bean was demanding that I stop and read her a book. A specific book, the book we got her for her birthday and the book that in the deepest part of my heart I had hoped she would adore so much that I would be reading it over and over and over. Wish granted.

In case I've not been clear We love this book. It's short and sweet and so lushly illustrated that we can look into the art and tell more stories to each other based on the characters in the pictures. The tale of the snail for example. So I read it to her and then I read it again and I recorded me reading it to her and though I'm not Mr. Gaiman I think it went well and the bean is watching the video and shouting Achoo achoo so it's a keeper.

If you would like to read Chu's Day to your little one click on the picture above of Chu with his father at the diner and you'll be transported to Harper Collins where you can find your very own copy.

The things that run through my mind

when I'm breastfeeding the Bean.... (but before we go any further make sure you enter into teh Melissa and Doug Seaside Sidekick giveaway )

Well, mostly I read. I'm nearly done the Orange Prize Short list with a handful of the long list already crossed off but tonight I finished Wendy Law-Yone's The Road to Wanting and found myself with no books within reach so my brain did a little wander and I found myself thinking about the first book I remember reading as a child which led to a short list of books that I remember from childhood.

On the top of that list is Dr Seuss' One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I remember my Dad reading this book to me and my sister when we were little and giggling when we got to the part where the narrator says "I don't know go ask your Dad"

OK, if I'm going to be honest the first book that popped into my head was the Hobbit. I first picked up the Hobbit when I was eight or nine and I've read and re-read it over and over and over ever since.

The third book that popped into my head was a book that I didn't even read when I was a kid. In fact I've never read it at all. It was a book that was read out to us during a story time session in our school library and for some reason I never managed to get it out of the library to finish it but If I was ever to come across the book I would totally be reading it. So the name of this book that made such an impression on me? Roger Wolcott Drury's The Finches Fabulous Furnace. A book about a family who moves into a house that is heated by a tiny volcano.

We've been reading to the Peanut since she was the Bean's age and the books that have made an impression on her are Ted Dewan's Bing Bunny books and Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The ones that have stayed with me are Sam Mc Bratney's Guess How Much I love You and Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl

So what books do you remember from your childhood? Which books do you read to your child (if you have one) that will always remind you of story time) that most lovely of moments in each day?