If your childhood was like mine then a highlight of every term was the Scholastic Book Club Catalogue of dreams. Full of colourful and exciting books at reduced prices, my parents always allowed me to choose a book and the day the delivery came was something very special.


I've worked with Scholastic now for over 3 years and all of the children's books in this post were sent to us by Scholastic for review over that time. There are some excellent books from some amazing authors...


Nowadays we don't have to wait until the new catalogue release, we can buy from Scholastic online all year round. All of the books are available at prices that are discounted from the recommended price by up to 70% and they've been specially selected by Scholastic, so you know they'll be good.

Secret Science: The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes is a new release from Scholastic Books. Written by Stand-up Comedian, Mathematician and Scientist Dara O'Briain, it's like taking a foray through his head as he goes about his every day life, and if you know him from TV like I do, you'll read it entirely in his voice.


Subtitled The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes, in this book we don't see the world as we would normally, we are shown the science behind everything we take for granted, from sleeping to flying to building sandcastle, and it is fascinating.

Simple Science is full of interesting illustrations by Dan Bramhall and they work perfectly. The whole package is incredibly funny and witty, with plenty of dry humour, but this is also an intelligent book.

World Book Day may have been delayed all over the country due to snow, but Scholastic were on time in releasing their special World Book Day Book Club catalogue. Including over 400 carefully chosen books from more than 70 different publishers and a host of amazing authors, the price of  everything in the World Book Day Club catalogue is also heavily discounted by as much as 70%.


To help promote the Spring catalogue and celebrate World Book Day, Scholastic have a fabulous #KeepReading competition with a chance to win £30 of books for your child AND their school or nursery. Scholastic are inviting children to send in a video or written review of a book that they have recently enjoyed. There are three different age categories, 0-6, 7-11 and 11+, with one prize for each category. It doesn't have to be professional, and it doesn't have to be a particular book - but it does have to be the child's review, not yours!

The three winners will be able to choose £30 worth of books for themselves and nominate their chosen school or nursery to receive a £30 credit to their Scholastic account, which can be exchanged for free books. Entries need to be received by midnight on Thursday 29th March 2018.

Scholastic have also offered one of my readers an awesome bundle of books from the World Book Day Book Club, and it seems only appropriate that I got my 8 and 9 year old boys to give their thoughts...

I'm often asked which books are good for children of various ages and I give my answers, but what does an actual 9 year old think? My own 9 year old is a voracious reader and it took him precisely 23 seconds to choose 9 of his favourite books - and here they are...


1.Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling
Everyone has heard of J.K.Rowling's student wizard and all of our children worked their way through the series of books with gusto. They are a fantastic natural progression with your child, as the books get longer, stories more complex and subject matter slightly more mature gradually from book 1 to 7.
My son says his favourite of the whole series is the 7th and final book, and he's read them all twice.

2. Nelly The Monster Sitter series by Kes Gray
There are several books featuring Nelly, a girl who has a part time job offering her services as a monster sitter. As you can imagine, looking after monsters isn't always the easiest job, but it's usually the funniest.

The Stink Before Christmas is an especially festive book release from Scholastic. Written by Children's TV presenters Sam And Mark (Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes) and illustrated by Tom Knight, it is of course a retelling of Twas The Night Before Christmas - with just a little tweaking of the storyline. In Sam and Mark style...


We were sent a bonus item - a whoopee cushion. I never thought I'd pretend 'I don't know what I'm about to sit on' so many times in my life. This is child no.7, I can spot a whoopee cushion from the next room.

A Book Advent Calendar is a great way to get into the Christmas mood and spend real quality time with your child doing something they'll remember forever. Forget chocolates and windows, your child can open their imagination every day in the run up to Christmas.

Scholastic have put together 2 fantastic bundles of 24 books for advent 2017 and I'm truly delighted to be able to give away one of each. If you bought all of these books individually then they'd cost over £145rrp, but Scholastic are giving everyone an early Christmas gift and this Advent Pack of 24 books for age 0-7 is available to buy for only £29.99 while stocks last.


Scholastic Books are responsible for my earliest memories of loving books, I waited for the Scholastic Books leaflet each term with a great deal of excitement as I was allowed to choose a brand new book for myself. It gives me great joy to be working with Scholastic on such an awesome Christmas giveaway.

A Book Advent Calendar is a genius idea and something I wish I'd thought of years ago. Opening a new book each day during December with your children will create fabulous warm memories that you'll all remember forever.

This year Scholastic Books have put together 2 fantastic Advent Calendar Bundles and I'm delighted to be giving one of each away. Both bundles contain 24 specially chosen books and have an rrp of over £145 - but while stocks last they'll be on sale for only £29.99 for the pack.


Over 90 years after they started, Scholastic are still bringing great literature to children and this bundle of 24 Young Fiction books for younger independent readers aged around 7-11 contains some real gems.

This is our second review for the Scholastic Books Laugh Out Loud Awards, or the Lollies for short. My Gym Teacher Is An Alien Overlord by David Solomon is one of the 4 finalists in the 9 - 13 category, and my newly 9 year old and I have both read this separately.


This is the sequel to My Brother Is A Superhero, but it works perfectly well as a standalone book. It stars a young lad named Luke and funnily enough, his brother is a superhero.

The shortlist for the 2017 Scholastic Books Laugh Out Loud Awards - or the 'Lollies' - has been selected by Michael Rosen and a panel of expert judges, and my 7 and 8 year old boys are reviewing a couple of the nominees, starting with Future Ratboy and the Invasion of the Nom Noms by Jim Smith.


Before you even open this 240 page book, you know it's going to be quite different. It has a comic book style which is really accessible to the 6-8 year old intended age group. Perfect for newer independent or reluctant readers, with short paragraphs of text and plenty of illustrations.

Scholastic release a new Book Club catalogue every 2 or 3 months, and my 7 and 8 year old boys were given their choice to review from the latest edition for World Book Day. They chose Dog Man Unleashed, Batman's Guide To Being Cool and Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond.

There are tons of awesome goodies out there for fans of the Harry Potter series, and the release of Fantastic Beasts has only added to the merchandise available. We've been sent a host of goodies to take a look at - Christmas came a little bit early...


Our children have all grown up with the Harry Potter books and movies, the older ones introduced the 2 youngest to Hogwarts long before they could read. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them may be a little darker than Harry Potter (and the youngest 2 might have to wait a while before I let them watch it), but J.K.Rowling's world of Wizards and Muggles is a fantastic shared interest for all of our children from 6 to 22...


The Harry Potter Hogwart's Crest Light from Paladone runs on either USB or 3 x AA battery power and has 6 LED's which shine through the slot-in crest, giving an awesome glow. The supplied USB cable is an impressive 5ft (1.5m) long.