Blog Tour: Children’s Book Review: Barty Barton: The Bear That Was Loved Too Much
Today I am part of the blog tour for Sue Wickstead’s children’s picture book Barty Barton: The Bear That Was Loved Too Much. I really enjoyed this on and I am sharing my 5 star review. For those of you in the UK there is also a giveaway going on!
Book Description:
What happens when we outgrow our teddy bears?
Should we let them go?
Thomas loved his teddy bear, but over the years, Barty had become tatty and old.
However, Barty was no ordinary teddy bear, and he wasn’t about to give up on being loved.
Title: Barty Barton: The Bear That Was Loved Too Much
Author: Sue Wickstead
Illustrator: Jo Anne Davies
Published: October 27, 2020
38 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: June 10, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Jessica’s Review:
Barty Barton is just the cutest children’s book! We all had that most favorite toy when we were kids, but what happens to said toys when we grow up? This is the question that Barty Barton faces as his owner Thomas grows up and starts a family of his own. Is Barty to worn out from Thomas’ love as a child for the new and upcoming generation? The answer is no if Mum/grandma has anything to do with it!
I really enjoyed this short children’s book and thinking about some of my favorite toys growing up. I really enjoyed the illustrations that are well done. I liked how the illustrations show a toy pillow bus, which references Wickstead’s picture book series about various buses. Both children and adults will enjoy this picture book for different reasons and will leave a smile on your face.
There are pictures of the **real toys** that the toys in the book are based off of. We also get to see pictures with Mum (the author herself) her son ane his young child. I always enjoy seeing how Wickstead’s stories seem to come from actual people, toys, buses, and events.
Wickstead’s picture books are recommended!
Purchase Links:
Website (UK)
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Waterstones
Barnes and Noble
About the Author:
Sue Wickstead is a teacher and an author and writes children’s picture books with a bus theme. She has also written a photographic history book about the real bus, which is where her story writing began.
Sue once worked with a playbus charity based in Crawley. This led her to write the photographic history book about the project. The ‘Bewbush Playbus’ book was published in 2012.
Sue then began to write a fictional tale about the bus. ‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus’, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name and has now been followed by more picture books (ten to date) which all indeed have a bus connection as well as links to her teaching journey.
Gloria is the most recent bus book and is based on the summer play-schemes which operated during the school holidays providing a safe place to play and to meet other children. (published 2020)
‘Barty Barton; the bear that was loved too much’ was also published in 2020. Barty was written for both her son and grandson.
Some of Sue’s books have been entered and shortlisted in ‘The Wishing Shelf Book Awards’, her book ‘A Spooky Tale’ was a silver medal winner in 2019. It is a story written with her class in school and is aimed at the younger reader.
Contact Sue:
Website
Twitter @JayJayBus
Instagram @jayjaybusbooks
Facebook: Playbus Page
**UK Only Giveaway**
Win a Lego bear and some teddy bear colouring sheets, plus a few more goodies.
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Blog Tour: Daisy Daydream The Nursery Rhyme Bus
Today I am part of the Blog Tour for Sue Wickstead’s children’s picture book Daisy Daydream The Nursery Rhyme Bus! I am sharing my 5 star review. For those of you in the UK there is also a giveaway going on!
Book Description:
Daisy was a happy red bus who loved travelling the busy streets of London. When newer and shinier buses came along, the older buses like Daisy began to disappear.
Would Daisy become one of the forgotten buses, or was something else planned for her?
Author: Sue Wickstead
Published: September 30, 2018
40 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: September 2, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Jessica’s Review:
Similar to the Jay-Jay children’s books, Daisy Daydream the Nursery Rhyme Bus is also based off of a real bus. Daisy was a red bus and those buses started being replaced with more modern buses. Daisy was worried what was going to happen to her. She did not want to become a forgotten bus! That was not to be her fate as her driver and conductor took care of her and gave her a new life like Jay-Jay! Jay-Jay even makes a welcome appearance.
Daisy’s new name and paint job made her even more special, as they consist of nursery rhymes. I hope Daisy and Jay-Jay appear together in future books! If your kids have read and enjoyed Jay-Jay, be sure to introduce them to Daisy! They will surely enjoy all of Wickstead’s children’s books.
As with Jay-Jay books, the illustrations are bright, lively, and definitely add to the story. I wish there had been children’s buses like these in the USA when I was a kid. It seems like the kids really enjoyed these buses!
There are pictures of the real “Daisy” ( Bus JJK261) at the end of the book. If you have small kids, be sure to introduce them to Sue Wickstead’s books as they will surely enjoy them!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Waterstones
WHSmith
Foyles
Barnes & Noble
About the Author:
I am a teacher and an author and have currently written six children’s picture books with a bus theme.
For over 20 years, alongside my teaching career, I worked with a Children’s Charity, The Bewbush Playbus Association, which led me to write a photographic history book about it.
I soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. I decided to write a fictional tale about the bus, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name.
‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus,’ came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original bus and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. From Fact to fiction the bus journey continued.
This story has now been followed by five more picture books.
I also undertake events and author bookings and love to share the story. There are also a few more stories in the writing process, with links to real events and buses.
The story has been read in many schools in the south-East of England, where I teach as a cover teacher, it is always well received and certainly different.
Contact Sue:
Website
Twitter @JayJayBus
Instagram @jayjaybusbooks
**UK Only Giveaway**
Win 1 Paperback copy of Daisy Daydreams Bus Rhymes and Joke book
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
[Top]Blog Tour: Jay-Jay and His Island Adventure
Today I am part of the Blog Tour for Sue Wickstead’s children’s picture book Jay-Jay and His Island Adventure! I am sharing my 5 star review. For those of you in the UK there is also a giveaway going on!
Book Description:
Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus is not an ordinary bus taking you on a journey. He is a Playbus. Find out what happens when he is invited to an island where the children have never seen a double-decker bus – and certainly not one full of toys!
Author: Sue Wickstead
Published: March 20, 2017
44 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: May 19, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Jessica’s Review:
Like Wickstead’s first Jay-Jay children’s picture book, Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus I also enjoyed Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure. Jay-Jay’s story continues as he goes on an island adventure to see even more children who have never seen a double decker bus! You can feel Jay-Jay’s many emotions as he prepares for his adventure.
Jay-Jay definitely has an adventure before he even gets to meet the children: he has an injury which needs to be repaired. Everything is worth it as the kids love Jay-Jay and he stays there a whole week!
Again the story flows well and the pictures are enjoyable. The pictures seem like ‘watercolor type’ pictures, which is unique. If you have kids and they enjoyed the first Jay-Jay book, they will definitely enjoy them all!
There is also a page dedicated to the real Jay-Jay which includes some pictures of the bus.
Behind the Story:
Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure, was originally written for a Scottish book bus. ‘Play,Talk, Read’ was the project which visited remote areas if Scotland to encourage reading in the very young. It was a great success and the bus even visited the Shetland Islands travelling on a very small ferry. The children had never seen a double-decker on their island before and certainly not one to play on. However, the Scottish project was too busy with referendums and with the book ready and edited I changed the name of the bus from Benji, sending Jay-Jay instead.
The island on the cover of the book was based on a piece of mainland Spain which I have visited many times.
Cap D’Or is the promentory near to a little village of Moraira. The villagers in Moraira invited me to read this book in their library and local schools. The people in this little village were surprised to find that Jay-Jay was a real bus.
(Jay-Jay may not have got to Spain in reality but in my imagination he did and now all of the books are in the local library in both Teulada and Moraira.)
Purchase Links:
Website
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Waterstones
WH Smiths
Foyles
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository
About the Author:
I am a teacher and an author and have currently written six children’s picture books with a bus theme.
For over 20 years, alongside my teaching career, I worked with a Children’s Charity, The Bewbush Playbus Association, which led me to write a photographic history book about it.
I soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. I decided to write a fictional tale about the bus, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name.
‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus,’ came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original bus and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. From Fact to fiction the bus journey continued.
This story has now been followed by five more picture books.
I also undertake events and author bookings and love to share the story. There are also a few more stories in the writing process, with links to real events and buses.
The story has been read in many schools in the south-East of England, where I teach as a cover teacher, it is always well received and certainly different.
Contact Sue:
Website
Twitter @JayJayBus
**UK Only Giveaway**
Win Jay-Jay and the Carnival
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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