What I Read In March 2017

Here's what we've been reading this month!

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fiction, 1999. This is a modern classic for a reason! Very easy to read, fun to listen to, and a lightly done message about brains beating brawn.

The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fiction, 2004. A worthy sequel and another really fun read. I like that it paints the Gruffalo as a more sympathetic character too, showing children that we all have many aspects to our lives and personalities.

Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fiction, 2007. I didn't like this one - the writing and art is fine, it's just that the central message didn't sit well with me. Not everything has to be cutesy and heartwarming, true, but I wouldn't read it to my toddler again all the same.

mor hyfryd yw'r byd (what a wonderful world)

mor hyfryd yw'r byd by Bob Theile
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fiction, 2014. Lovely illustrations and bilingual lyrics to the song.

Are the Kids All Right? Representations of LGBTQ Characters in Children's and Young Adult Literature by B.J. Epstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Non-Fiction, 2013. Interesting study of 60 LGBTQ children's books and the kinds of messages being disseminated to young people. I don't necessarily agree with all of Epstein's assertions - I felt the case against 'issue books' was somewhat overstated, given that a lot of the sample texts were explicitly written for the purpose - but the work as a whole certainly highlights the continuing scarcity of LGBTQ themed children's books in general, and the lack of intersectionality within them.

To help you get started with your reading for April, I have a copy of Enid Blyton's Five Go Adventuring Again to give away. Just fill out the Gleam widget below to get up to five entries.

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Free Magazine Scans

Click the pictures below to find full cover guides to various teen magazines (primarily collated to make scale miniature magazine covers but I figure they'll also be useful for collectors and anyone into media history) and scans from my own magazine collection. I've also got a couple of kids' books I didn't want to part with - The Squirrel and Little Owl Book of Pets . The unwieldy size of my bookmark folders convinced me I needed a reference post for online magazine archives. Or, more accurately, free online magazine archives. Whether you're looking for leisure reading or research avenues, you're bound to find something useful in this list. :) ☆ Archive for the Unexplained - UFO mags galore. ☆ The Magazine Rack - over 140,000 digitised magazines! ☆ Lantern - thousands of vintage film magazines. ☆ FANZINES - a number of online archives now exist for these including FANAC (SF), ScoTpress (Trek), Sandy Herald Collection (media fandom, major

Free Fabric Samples x 200

Choosing upholstery and soft furnishings can be a nightmare - especially if it arrives and isn't quite what you expected. Fabric samples are a great way to avoid costly mistakes, as well as providing a fab source of material for your crafts box. Here are over 200 places offering completely free fabric samples in the UK:

Guide to Sindy Houses

As far as 1/6 scale doll houses go, Sindy's Super Home is fairly ubiquitous. It's a good size, it isn't made out of pink plastic, and you can pick one up on eBay for under £50. But the Super Home wasn't Sindy's only foray into property ownership. In fact she had numerous different houses, caravans, stables, and other buildings... 1970 Sindy's Town House Though this was advertised in the 1970 brochure, it doesn't seem to have ever made it into production. 1973 Sindy's House This one apparently made it into limited production, but was flimsy and was soon replaced. According to the Sindy Museum , it had four rooms, decorated as a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and lounge. You can see part of the house used for photos in the 1974 catalogue . 1974 Sindy's House Existing examples appear to have been competition wins, so it is unlikely this house was ever on general sale. You can read more about it HERE . 1975

Simply Cook Review

I kept seeing ads and deals for Simply Cook everywhere, so as there was a special offer on at OhMyDosh! Rewards (£3 for the box and £3.50 cashback) I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a try. What Is It? Recipe kits packed into boxes which fit through your letterbox. The usual price is £9.99 for a kit of 4, with each one serving 2-4 people depending on your serving sizes. All you need to do is buy the fresh ingredients required and follow the instructions. Here is Simply Cook's own helpful diagram: Does It Work? For me, as the person just eating it, it was awesome. Everything tasted great - the mushroom penne in particular was so good I went back for seconds - and I liked that the sauces weren't as rich as Anthony would usually make them. For Anthony, who cooked them, they weren't as impressive. He complained that the food was bland and that it was actually quite a lot of faff, as Lidl didn't stock everything we needed which meant another trip ou

Welsh UFO Sightings 2016

Welsh UFO sightings from 2016. For sightings from other years please click HERE . UK UFO Sunday 3rd January, 01:25 Gwent Witness saw a 'typical space ship' through their bedroom window. It had blue and red lights, and appeared to be moving towards them. They watched for a few minutes and the next day reported the sighting to UK UFO. FM: " I was up really late and i needed to use the bathroom so i got up and my side of the bed is by the window, so i had a look out. i saw an object shaped like a typical space ship would look, but it had blue and red lights and appeared to be coming towards me. i watched it for a while and then left to use the bathroom and by the time i had returned (5 minutes later) the mysterious lights had almost disappeared into the distance. " SUFON Tuesday 5th January, 09:20 Bevan Close, Waunarlwydd, Swansea Broken cloud. Brian Harry was at home in Bevan Close, Waunarlwydd and had just let his dog out the back

Babi a Fi

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