Review & Giveaway: Children's Book - Sir Scallywag and the Golden Underpants

Big congratulations to @BlueBearWood you are the lucky winner.  Please DM or email me your address details.  Many thanks, Michelle

There is a new favourite bedtime story in our house right now.  The girls are just loving this new book we have been sent. Sir Scallywag and the Golden Underpants is marketed as being perfect for boys aged 3 - 6 years and I think they are right, boys will adore the silly poetic verses in this story.  However, equally so two little 4 year old girlie girls are enjoying it as well.

'Read it again Mummy', 'Why has the King chopped his head off and flushed it down the loo?'.  Oh yes, I have been getting all sorts of questions and fielding those can be fun!  As you can tell from the questions there are a couple of bits in the book which I found a little questionable, not rude enough that I would not read the book but just a tad silly, the sort of thing that young kids love.

I felt the storyline carried a similarity to David and Goliath from the bible, in that just because someone is small does not mean they cannot conquer, which of course is a really nice message to give your kids.

The award winning author Giles Andreae was also the creator of Purple Ronnie, which made me smile as I have not thought about that little stickman for a few years. The illustrations in the book are outstanding as you would expect from Korky Paul, the man responsible for illustrating the Winnie the Witch books. In all the poetic wording and superb drawings join together to make a fabulous book, which is great lighthearted fun and a really easy read.

So how do you fancy winning your own copy?

How to enter:

• Mandatory - Leave a comment to let me know how I can contact you - twitter ID or email.
• Additional entry - tweet ''I want to #win a Sir Scallywag & the Golden Underpants book from @puffinbooks & @michelletwinmum #giveaway http://bit.ly/wASURx'

 Terms and Conditions of Entry:

• The winner will be chosen at random
• Open to UK and Ireland residents only
• Giveaway closes at 12 noon on Thursday 9th February 2012
• The winner will be contacted within 3 working days of the competition closing
• The winner needs to contact me within a week of my announcing the winner or I will draw again
• The prize is not transferable and there is no cash alternative
• The DVD will be sent direct from Penguin Books

Disclaimer:  This is a review post.  Many thanks to Penguin Books for this book.

Review: The Polar Express DVD

I don't think I have quite accepted yet that Christmas is over! Whilst I am enjoying being back to normal and having the chaos cleared out of my house I still love to watch Christmas movies.

So I had a very enjoyable 96 minutes a couple of days ago in bed on my own, watching The Polar Express. I had not watched this film before so when I received it as part of a Christmas present bundle from Warner Bros. I was super pleased! It is a G for general viewing and I can imagine all five of us sitting down next year to watch it together in the run up to Christmas.

It really is a very magical film. The animation is amazing and so different to many other animated films that have been released in recent years but in a beautifully mystical way.  I cannot even start to explain how much the film captivates you and draws you in, making you want to watch it the whole way through. An animated Tom Hanks is the conductor on board the Polar Express, which is a magical train that rides to the North Pole each Christmas Eve loaded with children. The four central children characters are excellent with their own very prominent and unique personalities and you watch them grow and change as they take this roller-coaster journey.

If you don't believe in the magic of Christmas before this film you certainly will afterwards.  I will happily recommend this as a family movie which will appeal to the adults just as much as the children (maybe even more so!). This is not your typical Christmas feel good film full of humour and pranks but that for me was a welcome change.

Amazon have some great deals on The Polar Express now and there is even a 3D version on Blu-ray too, which you could buy for £14.99.

Enjoy!


Disclosure:  This is a review post.