Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: holidays

  • You Can’t Take an Elephant on Holiday

    You Can’t Take an Elephant on Holiday

    You Can’t Take an Elephant on Holidays; but why not? Perhaps he is too big and will eat all the ice-creams leaving nothing for anyone else. In the fun filled pages created by Patricia Cleland-Peck and David Tazzyman, all the other animals also want to get to go on holidays as well. But why can’t a Cheetah drive the campervan, or Orangutans hit the waves on your surf board?

    Armadillo wants to help with the sandcastle building but somehow things may all fall down if he gets his way. Paddling with the Piranha fish could prove interesting just as Lion becoming the tour guide and roaring to get attention could create such a scary fuss.

    As the large, colourful pages turn all the creatures who would love to go on holidays except for one thing or another or other stopping them, are out to entertain while they figure out a fun way to spend the day.

    Once again the team of Cleland-Peck and Tazzyman are out to enchant and entertain with their latest adventure You Can’t Take an Elephant on Holidays which is perfect for spending time with little ones who just love to laugh out loud at the animal antics as well as adding a few of their own to the list of Elephant adventures and other fun things.

  • Maeve Binchy’s Treasury

    Maeve Binchy’s Treasury

    What an absolute joy it is, to be reading Maeve Binchy again in Maeve Binchy’s Treasury and to have a great holiday book to enjoy. Sadly, this wonderful storyteller passed away in 2012, so it was quite unexpected to be given this book.  It contains many short stories which are grouped together in related subjects.

    As always Maeve has a sharp eye for human behaviour and a great sense of compassion. Her stories are non- judgmental, but characteristics of people are so keenly observed often the reader will relate to them in a story. As older readers, we are familiar with the natural flow of life, where children grow up, leave the nest, and then return home far wiser than we could ever be! There are life lessons to be learned by reading Maeve, as she often has her character solve family problems in the most unusual way.

    Always realistic, the author does not shirk from the issues surrounding Christmas. The expectations that everyone seems to have whipped up by the media and shopping malls, of a blissful and joyous Christmas, never come to complete fruition. The Yuletide stories show a grumpy grandparent, or a disapproving relation and how this affects the celebrations. One must laugh when this is revealed in other families.

    Maeve Binchy invades her writing with a sense of reality, but also a sense of hope. Rarely is there no solution or no decision than cannot be made to sort out problems. Life continues, we make mistakes, learn from them and move on. It is so good to come back to positive and pleasurable reading.

  • The Anti-boredom Book of Brilliant Outdoor Things To Do

    The Anti-boredom Book of Brilliant Outdoor Things To Do

    Once you get past the very, very, very long title and open the first page you really do ‘get it’ as far as not being bored at all during your holidays. In fact there is so much to do that perhaps you may not want to go back to school at all ever, ever again

    The very best thing about all the ideas in the book are that there are ideas for summer, winter, when it is snowing and when it is not, as well as things you can do in your own back yard or out in the park or a conservation area on a picnic.

    Everything is achievable and everything is fun. Also along the way you will learn so much that you maybe knew, or though you knew, or maybe never wanted to know, but it is all fun and part of the campaign to achieve anti-boredom.

    In fact you will have so much fun being anti-bored with your friends may not want to go home.

    There are a few things you must always remember when you are discovering anti-boredom in the great outdoors, even if it is only in your own backyard, and that is always to be safe, not silly.

    If you are going out and about, make sure you have an adult with you, take water with you for drinking because having fun outdoors a can be very thirsty work, always watch out for traffic if you are near a road and if it is summer time, make sure you wear a hat and sunscreen.

    If it wintertime make sure you are well rugged up and have on warm clothes for your adventures, as well as taking your water bottles with you. Yep, even when it is cold you still need to drink plenty of water.

    So get cracking with the search through the pages to find all the fantastic things that you would like to try out or have a go at doing. Don’t forget to research the fact pages as well as there are some very interesting facts to learn about the many different things that may be involved with your journey into the brilliant outdoors.

    Happy holidays!