Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books

As Parragon Book Buddies we receive books to review, and our latest set are two Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books; Disney Princess and Frozen.

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books are designed for kids and adults to colour in – I often like to switch off and colour, and even better, it’s big enough to do with H.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on

H says “these are interesting. I like the patterns and how each page is different, you could colour in every day and you would still have loads left to do”

I would agree – with over 100 designs in the Disney Art Therapy Colouring books there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Given H currently seems to dislike Frozen, I’ve claimed that one! I like how the patterns and pictures are geared towards older children and young adults – and they’re not obvious Disney patterns either, yet within the pages you’ll find things you’re familiar with.

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books Disney Princess and Frozen

The book for Frozen is still a hit with H. While she can pick out some of the Frozen things in there, she said “some of them don’t look like they’re in the film. They look a bit complicated but there are also some which look easy and fun to do. The castle picture looks quite tricky – there’s quite a lot to colour in on it, and lots of small bits. I like the patterns a lot!”

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books

With no shortage of pens and felt tips for colouring in, I know these books will last us a while – there’s plenty to do in there. I’d recommend these Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books for children aged 7 and up – though if your child is patient and younger it would definitely be suitable!

Ultimately, the books are a hit in this house!

The Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books are available now, with a rrp of £9.99.

We were sent the books for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own! 

Human Body Factivity Box Set

As Parragon Book Buddies we are sent a different book every month for H to read. This month was a Human Body Factivity Box Set – and it’s excellent!

Human Body Factivity Box Set

The Human Body Factivity Box Set has a book inside – part of the Gold Stars range, ‘The Amazing Human Body’. With H only being six she hasn’t got a lot of knowledge about the human body, so she found this box and book fascinating – and here’s why.

Introducing Elvis the Pelvis (her name).

Human Body Factivity Box Set Skeleton Model

Inside the box you get 20 pieces of plastic bones to put together to form your own skeleton on a stand. H found it fascinating. “Do I really look like this?!” she queried, I asked her to stand and she felt all the various bones she was able to feel. It was a huge eye opener. As she’s starting to get older and to be more aware of herself, it was good to point out parts of her body and where they are on the model.

Inside the Human Body Factivity Box Set is the book of course, which has loads of activities within. No topic (other than periods really) is skipped – farts get featured (always funny for six year olds), and I’m liking the section on ears which is good for showing H where she sometimes gets infections too.

You know when a book opens up someone’s eyes and they start to discover a brand new world? This is it – it’s definitely age-appropriate and is something H will continue to learn from as she progresses through the book. She’s definitely more of a reader than someone who does activities in books, but has already come out with several facts she has picked up.

Human Body Factivity Box Set Hiccups page

There are hundreds of facts in The Amazing Human Body too – so plenty!

It is also the first book we own which covers hiccups. Whenever H laughs too much she gets them, and hates it – she’s had this since she was a baby. It drives her mad – so reading what it all means was fascinating for her.

The Human Body Factivity Box Set is available now – including from Amazon (affiliate link) and comes highly recommended by us!

We were sent the book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

Disney – The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

We’re Parragon Book Buddies and receive a book to review every month. December’s book was The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee.

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is the first illustrated novel in the Zodiac Legacy series, and is also Disney related thanks to it being written by Marvel Comics former Chairman and all-round comics genius Stan Lee (and that’s really underplaying who he is). The stories revolve around an African-American teenager, Steven. He has to master strange powers and unlock the mysterious powers of the zodiac.

Characters (and their Zodiac signs) he’ll meet along the way include Steven the Tiger, Jasmine the Dragon, Kim the Rabbit, Duane the Pig, Liam the Ram, Roxanne the Rooster, Carlos, Maxwell the Dragon, Josie the Horse, Malik the Ox, Nicky the Dog, Vincent the Monkey, Celine the Snake and Thiago the Rat.

In The Zodiac Legacy Convergence, Steven’s school trip to China doesn’t go quite as expected when he stumbles upon ancient pools of liquid filled with powers connected to the Chinese Zodiac.

After receiving the powers of the Tiger, complete with super strength and killer reflexes, Steven joins a ragtag group bent on stopping the Vanguard: a corrupt organisation that will stop at nothing to use the Zodiac powers to get anything – and everything – they want. Steven may be a quick-thinking fourteen year old who can punch through walls, but the might of the Vanguard is unlike anything the world has ever seen. Or so the Vanguard would like to think….

Stan Lee, the author helped create the Marvel Universe, which explains why this is a Disney book – as Disney now own Marvel (see Big Hero 6 as a prime example).

I feel that The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is possibly a little bit too old for H (but she’ll definitely be ready for it in a year or so) as it is targeted at 8-12 year olds. I love the illustrations that accompany the story too – they make the book have a comic-book feel without it actually being one.The Zodiac Legacy Convergence by Stan Lee

The Zodiac Legacy Convergence is available now in hardback, paperback and audio CD formats at Amazon. Stan Lee’s website is here and there is also a Disney Zodiac Legacy website where you can find out your sign (I’m a dog)!

We were sent The Zodiac Legacy – Convergence for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

4000 Stickers Christmas Book

As Parragon Book Buddies, we’re sent a new book every month to review. This month is the very apt 4000 Stickers Christmas Book – guaranteed to keep H busy (which is a good thing).

4000 Stickers Christmas Book

The 4000 Stickers Christmas Book from Parragon isn’t just a sticker book, mind. There are loads of activities – and when I say loads I mean LOADS. From puzzles to mazes, to spot the difference to just adding stickers to scenes to make them your own. There’s a lot of choice.

Right now H is loving Spot the Difference puzzles, and indeed appears to find the one pictured “easy peasy lemon squeezy”  – in fact, my main problem is reminding her not to mark the puzzles so she can go back to them in a week or two from doing them, forgetting what the solutions are!

4000 Stickers Christmas Book Spot the difference

The 4000 Stickers Christmas Book has a fine selection of stickers – everything you would expect is in there, and oh my, there’s so many. Add to that all the puzzles and activities inside and you’ve got a great addition to any stocking for a child – this is the kind of book that would keep them busy for a while!

The stickers aren’t big, but then with 4000 of them you wouldn’t expect it to be. There are just lots of them – but that means there’s plenty of places you need to find to stick them!

4000 Stickers Christmas Book stickers

At £10.00 it isn’t cheap, but there are so many pages full of activities, with bright fun illustrations, I would say it’s worth getting. This isn’t a book which will be used once or twice – it’s one your child would keep going back to. Also, I’ve spotted The Book People are selling it for £2.99 at the moment – so worth considering.

We received this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set

As Parragon Book Buddies we’re sent a different book every month, targeted at older readers. This month’s book is the Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set.

Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set box

The Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set consists of the kind of puzzles you occasionally find in Christmas Crackers – you know the ones. You have two pieces of metal and you have an objective – to get them to link together in a certain way.

The set also comes with a 16 page booklet explaining how the puzzles are solved, as well as 30 Insanely Baffling Puzzles – and they are too! Some are obvious, and some take a bit of thinking about. Try this one – ‘A man sits by a window reading. No light is switched on in the room, there is no moon outside and he has no torch, lamp or candle, yet he can still see to read – how is this possible? I got this one straight away (phew, I’m not losing my common sense just yet then!).

Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set open box

I like that this isn’t just for kids – the puzzles can be just as tricky for an adult, and I have to be honest, I’m the kind of person who ends up going to the solution when it comes to the metal puzzles – and the Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set has six of them!

I know this is the kind of activity book I’ll be getting out when I want to make sure H stays off the Wii U or her tablet – I like that it makes you think about things, and that you can recreate some of the puzzles too (the kind where a shape is built from toothpicks, and you have to remove two to create another shape, sort of thing). Definitely one which will be living on the games shelves and will be getting a lot of use!

Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set book and shapes

The Professor Murphy Metal Puzzle Set has a RRP of £6.99 and is suitable for age 6 and upwards.

We were sent a copy of the book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.

My Big Book of Monster Fun

My Big Book of Monster Fun is the latest Parragon Book Buddies book, which we received recently.

My Big Book of Monster Fun

My Big Book of Monster Fun is timed well for Halloween – with lots of monster themed activities such as ‘finish drawing zombies in the graveyard then colour them in’ – H enjoyed that one (she always enjoyed watching me play Plants Vs Zombies, so she knew which colours to do) – and as well as that there are plenty of colouring in pages.

The book is broken up into chapters – Scaredy Boo! which is a 25 page poem – I like it as it’s fun, and H likes it as she enjoys reading poems, so this was a good one for her. After that we have Monster Activities (where the previously mentioned Zombies live), followed by Monster Colouring.

After that, there’s a dinosaur section – T-Rex Terror, a cartoon style story strip, Dinosaur Activities and Dinosaur Colouring. At the end there are answers to the various questions throughout the book.

I did say Halloween, but actually, if your child likes monsters and finds the kinds of activities inside fun, this is definitely the book for them. The poem and comic strip make this targeted for older kids (definitely ones that are reading), whereas the puzzles would definitely work for younger kids.

H loves My Big Book of Monster Fun because she can dip in and out of it, and doesn’t have to do it in order.

I like it because there are word search puzzles and a maze, which are two of H’s favourite things to do puzzle-wise. As the back of the book says, it’s a bumper collection of monster fun!

My Big Book of Monster Fun is available now from all good bookstores, with a RRP of £7.99 – and is available from Amazon here.

We were sent the book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own! 

The Isle of the Lost – A Descendants Novel

We’re Parragon Book Buddies, and received The Isle of the Lost – A Descendants Novel by Melissa de la Cruz for our book this month.

The Isle of the Lost

The Isle of the Lost is a prequel to the Disney Channel film ‘Descendants’ – where all of the evil villains from Disney movies are banished from the Kingdom of Auradon to the Isle of the Lost. Now, by villains, we’re talking Maleficent (which I think the ‘Maleficent’ film itself would disagree she’s a villain, but hey!), Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen and more.

Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are their descendants, the children of the Isle’s characters who are now coming of age. They’ve been stripped of their magical powers and now live in total isolation, forgotten by the world.

To escape from The Isle of the Lost the children must find a Dragon’s Eye, hidden in the Forbidden Fortress – but only the cleverest, nastiest villain can find it.

Lots of Disney characters make an appearance in the book, and while H started to read it, I felt the content may be a little bit grown up for her, so we’re holding off for a little bit longer (she has only just turned six). Goodreads says its approximate age guide is around age 9-12 – so while the size of the book isn’t an issue, the content might be – so I’ll be having a read first!

The start of the book was enjoyable for her, and she did read a few chapters, but again, because of her age I’m going to be checking it carefully first.

With The Isle of the Lost being a prequel, it sets up the film well – anyone who is a fan of the movie will enjoy this, and I liked all the Disney cross references too.

The Isle of the Lost is available in all good bookstores now, including Amazon (click the image below to get there – affiliate link)

We were sent this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

Busy Busy Things That Go

Busy Busy Things That Go is the latest book we’ve received as Parragon Book Buddies – and it’s loads of fun. It has 2000 stickers and activities throughout the book.

Busy Busy Things That Go

Busy Busy Things That Go is a book packed full of stickers and activities to place the stickers on. The book says :

Get ready for the biggest, busiest sticker book EVER, with 2000 stickers.

Put the scoops on the diggers and the tractors in the fields. Get the machines to the construction sitee and the trucks on the road.

Make your own big, busy scenes with all the stickers!

Busy Busy Things That Go

Essentially, this book is your world. Make of it what you will – and if you leave a book like this with a five year old like H, then you get something like this:

It’s a great book when you need your stickers to have a purpose – for me it feels like the sort of book which would have been ideal when we flew to Australia, as you don’t have a set direction to go in, you can do whatever you want with each page – it’s not like you’ll lose what you’re doing.

Busy Busy Things That Go stickers

The stickers too – and there are many – from larger ones to small, so you need plenty of page space to fit them, and there is.

Busy Busy Things That Go stickers

Busy Busy Things That Go is available now with a RRP of £8.00, available from all good bookstores. You can find it on Amazon over here.

We were sent a copy of Busy Busy Things That Go for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs is the latest book we’ve been sent as Parragon Book Buddies, and is part of their Gold Stars range.

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs is a book packed full of facts and activities. In fact, had this been available when H started Year 1, it would have been the perfect accompaniment as dinosaurs was their Autumn Term topic. As it was, the book has only come out quite recently – but if you’re looking for something which works alongside learning, this may be your book.

As well as having facts about the dinosaurs, I really like there are sections which show you how to draw them. I have a very defeatist child when she really thinks she can’t do something and doesn’t want to try – Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs has step by step instructions on how to draw various dinosaurs – exactly what a child like H needs!

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs

Right now H is loving doing mazes and colouring, both of which are in this book – and there are plenty. While the book can’t cover all dinosaurs, it does cover the ones you’re likely to find in the school curriculum – the obvious ones. H enjoyed reading Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs as she enjoys factual books quite a lot at the moment.

The illustrations are nice and bright – the fonts are clear, and the facts are fun. This book is a winner as far as my five year old goes.

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of the Dinosaurs has a rrp of £7.99 and is available now! Follow this affiliate link to buy a copy of the book here

We were sent a copy of the book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

T-Rex Terror – A Dino Supersaurus Story!

As part of our Parragon Book Buddies we get sent a new book every month – I started out having cookery books which were fab, but found that there’s one true bookworm in our house – H. She gets through 200 page paperback books in a couple of days, and loves to read. I was excited when Parragon offered us ‘T-Rex Terror – The Supersaurus Legend Begins’ from their Dino Supersaurus range, as H has recently had dinosaurs as a topic at school and it’s something she enjoys to read about.

T-Rex Terror book cover

T-Rex Terror – The Supersaurus Legend is set out like a comic strip which makes it really appealing and fun to read – and in case you didn’t know, a Supersaurus is a cross between a dinosaur and a superhero. The book has already become one of H’s favourites.

New Dino City is a dinotropolis in dino-danger! The tyrant tyrannosaur T-Rex and his army of ninja raptors are trying to take over the city – and there’s only one thing which can stop them – The Supersaurs!

H reading T-Rex Terror

I really like that the front of the book lists the Supersaurs (and the Sinistaurs) so if you’re new to the series like we are, you get an idea of the main characters. One of H’s best friends loves the Dino Supersaurus series (and dressed as one for World Book Day) – so I know some book swapping will happen soon.

The story itself is fun, H enjoyed it  and at £5.99 it’s reasonably priced too.  You can buy T-Rex Terror from all good bookstores and Amazon too.