Well just buying someone and amazon voucher or something off their gift list may seems a little dull. In some ways you may as well just give them money (mind you most book lovers and certainly I am delighted to get something off my wish list or a voucher) But what is you want to be a bit more ambitious than that. A bit more quirky?

Well I have been looking at Discovery Online Limited and I have found some gorgeous gifts for men (including those who love to read.)

First up was the inflatable beanie chair. Looks super comfy and is easy to store as you just deflate it. Extra seating is always handy plus of course if the sun is shining you can easily move this outside, £17.95

How about a super sized mug so you can read without having to keep making more tea!   £7.95

For all that sitting around a massaging chair cover is a must , you dont want them o get back ache form sitting still so long do you? £39.95

I absolutely love these fun and retro vinyl coasters for cups of tea at £9.95

and the USB rechargeable torch for when they are reading undercovers after lights out !  £4.95.Gosh its a few years since I have done that but my son does it and I often find him asleep book grasped in hand with a torch shining. Hard to tell a child off for reading though isn’t it. There are so many worse things they could be doing.

So just because someone loves books you don’t have to buy them a book. you can think outside the box a little and make their reading time even more special.

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We’ve talked about some of the best places to shop for books—both for yourself and for your kids. There are so many different places that you can buy them these days, especially if you are a fan of shopping online. But what if your budget is tight and you can’t afford to buy your kids a bunch of books every other week?

The Library is Your Friend!

This tip is first because it’s the most obvious. The library is a fantastic place to find books for your kids to read without having to spend a single cent (unless you return them late and have to pay a fine). This is a great place to find the books that your kids love and actually do want to read over and over again—which saves you money when you shop. You can buy books you know will be beloved and get your money’s worth.

Buy Age Appropriate Books

Babies love books with bright colors and fun textures. They also like to chew on things. This is why, while your kids are still babies, it’s good to buy only those books that will be resilient. Paper pages won’t last long in an enthusiastic baby’s hands! Look for board books or cloth books. These are books that your kids can chew on and toss about without your having to worry too much about replacing them. They are also easy to fix if your baby has a “hulk smash!” burst of strength and accidentally rips one apart.

The number of board, cloth and even bath books that are available now has grown exponentially. Some of the best are books by Sandra Boynton, and Eric Carle. Maisy is also a popular character (one who appears in picture books and early readers as well, so you can use that character to help your kids advance from baby books to “real” books).

Learning Books

As your kids get older, it’s good to buy books that educate as well as entertain. A lot of the children’s educational companies publish lines of great books for kids to pore over and learn from. The Eyewitness books, for example, are really popular and fun (and good for ages 6+). The best thing about these books is that most of the companies who publish them will offer a wide variety of promo codes that parents can use to save money. Choose a subject with which your child is fascinated and load them up. They’ll treat the books well (so they’ll last longer) and they’ll learn something. You save money, they get what they want—everybody wins!

Note: If your kids don’t respond to straightforward books like the Eyewitness series, you might want to try series like The Magic Tree House or Encyclopedia Brown. If your kids are still too young to read these themselves, you can read the books to them!

There are so many different kids books out there and they are all so very tempting. Even as adult, kids books are fun to read and look through. And with these money saving tips, your children’s library won’t ever feel under stocked!

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When I was a child there was a little independent book shop at the local avenue. It was a little dusty and you had to be quiet and it had a peter rabbit figure in the window. Eventually a baragin book shop opened up nearby stole all the customers and the Peter Rabbit shop shut down. Then the big cheap shop book shop did too.

Much later when I was in my twenties another lovely bookshop opened up. It was rather wonderful it had a reading corner, a next day order service and staff you imagine could only work in a bookshop.I did my first ever book signing there when my book ‘How to afford time off with your baby’ was published. Lots of my family and friends came and it was a VERY special day. Sadly rent prices pushed this book shop out of town too.

As a treat nowadays I will head into the city centre and spend a morning browsing and buying books from Waterstones  ah indeed one of the pleasures of my life. It has a little coffee shop too and always good deals on 3 for 2′s and such a wide selection.

I largely buy books from Amazon nowadays. Give me an Amazon voucher and I am in book loving heaven. I buy my children many books form Amazon too and am always delighted to find a good voucher or promo code which increase my bargains. I also like to buy second hand books from Amazon which are often exceptionally good value.

Lastly and most convenient of all there are supermarkets whose share in the book selling market is ever increasing. How very simple to just pick up your books as you do your shop.

Using this Tesco promo code you would get an ever better price for your books and supermarkets tend to offer great prices in the first place. Always check for a good voucher or promo code wherever you shop!

Last but not least the humble jumble sales has provided me with interesting and unique books I would never have previously found for mere pennies.

Book shopping has changed but it is still great fun!

A Children’s Book Guide to Travel [Infographic] by the team at Cheapflights

We believe that when you put information and technology into the right hands, you give people the power to shape the world.

My own little books of prayers

This is a very sweet little prayer book form Lion Hudson by Christina Goodings. These are some old traditional prayers and a few new ones that are great to learn by heart, They contain simple themes that speak to children about being grateful being sorry and trying their best. The pictures are expressive and touching. A lovely book to introduce children to the wonder of prayer that relates to their usual lives.

Lion Hudson £4.99

Safe this night

This is a very sweet book of bedtime prayers for a little child. The pictures are dream like and beautiful and these are gorgeous prayers for a child to learn. For me safe this night is a prayer from my childhood. So beautiful and a prayer I say every night with my own kids. This is a lovely book.

Lion Hudson  £6.99

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A little boys gift

This is a little board book depicting the tale of the fishes and the loaves and a little boy who helped Jesus perform a miracle. It is bright and colourful and there are fun tabs to help guide children through the story and make this a tactile as well as visual experience.

Lion Hudson £3.99

My Bible Story Collection

This is a lovely book to introduce small kids to some of the best loved and best known of the bible stories. It cover s Adan and Eve through to the birth of Jesus. There are large pictures and just a few lines of text on each page. The stories are written simply and engagingly . Good for reading aloud or for a young reader to read to themselves.

Jumbo Bible Activity Book 4

This is a bumper book of activities for kids. All based on stories from the old and new testament there are dot to dots , hidden objects, colouring, mazes, spot the difference and more, Their are pictures to complete as well as speech bubble and lots of fun things to do. This is a great way to engage children with bible stories and educate them at the same time. A useful resource that will provide hours of inspiration.

Lion Hudson £5,24

I am a big fan of Priddy books which are strong and sturdy, engaging and bright and their new releases are simply fantastic. Here is my pick of the books I was sent to review

Dolls House

Dolls House is a cute board book from Priddy about 2 sisters Lily and Pippa who live in a dolls house.

The book has tabs so you can go straight to the page you want and it has sturdy life the flaps on every page.  Each double page shows a scene form the dolls house  and is full of details and colour. Its an absolute delight and perfect for children age 2+ Beautifully and robustly made as all Priddy books are   £6.99

My first colour and activity book

There arever 50 stickers in this lovely spiral A4 sized book. It’s full of matching puzzles, colouring. counting, faces to complete, spot the difference and more. Hours of fun to be had!  It contains pirates, dinosaurs, builders and more and its full of colour. A pink  (more girl orientated) version is also available.

My favourite of Priddy’s new releases is Sticker Doodle Do  an absolute bargain at £6.99 it has over 200 stickers and just so many fun activities. It is all about kids using their imagination to complete pictures  such as who is holding these balloons?  or design these nails. or make this traffic scene really busy. I love books that encourage children to draw and be creative and this one is fab!  It also has its own little  carry handle. Perfect for ages 5+ and promising hours of pleasure

Easter Activity Fun is a puzzle pad  packed to the brim with fun activities for 5-7 years olds,  all based around the Easter story. It has 64 fun packed pages including mazes, odd one out, dots to dot, copy drawings, puzzles, colouring and more. Great fun! and a lovely way to engage people with this special  story.

For £1.99 it’s much more fun than an egg and about the same price!  Lion Hudson

Busy Bees Easter is a lovely Easter activity book with over 100 stickers.It has simple crafts such as making a carrot holder or Easter cards. It has painting activities and lots of crafts and puzzles too. Some really unusual ideas here and I feel inspired to give them a go with my 5 and 8 year old. Full of simple step by step instructions this is an excellent craft /actvity book.

£4.99 Lion Hudson

Easter fun!

Easter Sticker Book by Candle Books is lovely! It tells the story of Easter in very straightforward terms. The story is  supported by large and colourful illustrations. It also contains 4 pages of stickers to really encourage the child to engage. The book is paper back and about 12 pages long and good for pre-school children up to about 6. My daughter is 5 and had great fin completing this book

£2.99 from Amazon

Another cute easter box of mini books by Candle, This set includes 6 Easter minibooks which in all tell the Easter story. Its called Easter and is a delightfull little gift set for a child to carry round with them. £3.99

My Own Little Easter Story by Lion Hudson is a lovely little book which tells the Easter story in a very simple straightforward way  with very sweet expressive illustrations. This  little board book is perfect for 3-5′s. £4.99

Pop up Little Lamb by Priddy is a pop up book of little lambs friends. It is full of cute rhymes of all things spring..lambs and flowers, ducks and bunnies  and fawn it is a delight to read aloud and to introduce the changing seasons. The pictures are simple, robust pop ups and pop outs in lovely bold colours.  Great for little hands and a strong chunky book as Priddy books always are.

At the minute I hanker after a  corner desk from John Lewis to write on . But sadly I have a scrappy little table in the kitchen where my PC is and it faces a wall.

I long to write overlooking the ocean in a glass walled house whilst my children play below me on the beach. The sea would inspire me and I would feel warmed by the sun and there would be a slight breeze coming in form the ocean. There would be white flowers everywhere and my desk would be glass and curved.

I would love to write by a big window in a conservatory overlooking a garden of flowers vivid and in full bloom. My desk would be old oak and I would have lots of drawers to keep all my bits and bobs. I would have a state of the art PC and lots and lots of pens and lovely fabric covered journals to write in.

I would like my own library filled with every kind of book. In the middle of the room would be a huge globe and comfy armchairs. A bit like in an Agatha Christie novel. I would have a strong solid desk there with an old type write on it. I would have real ink and a feather pen too!

Oh I can think if many wonderful writing spaces. Sometimes I write on the bus, in bed, under a tree in the park. Sometimes as I say just facing the wall. Sometimes I write whilst watching TV (but it’s often rubbish!) Where do you most like to write and where would be your perfect space.

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