Category Archives: People

The Cube by Strictly Briks Review

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Frost loves The Cube. It is a brick building set and storage container. You just put the pieces together to make your cube. Once you have your cube you can use it as a container, or, even better, use it for lego or mega blocks and build, build, build. It works with pretty much any brand name building bricks and is perfect for children and adults alike. Such a brilliant idea.THE CUBE by Strictly Briks. This Brick Building Set and Storage Container has 6 Interconnecting Double Sided Large and Small Peg Plates sized 6.5″ x 6.5″ x 6.5″.

Introducing a totally new way to play. “The Cube” by Strictly Briks, allows “kids” young and old to build in all directions without limitations by creating 3 dimensional scenes! The Cube plates are interchangeable, allowing for endless creativity! For big “kids”, add some fun to your desk! Use The Cube for storage and organization of bricks, toys, or other items.

Strictly Briks® classic building bricks play nice with other toys and are 100% guaranteed to be compatible with all major brands. Our classic size products are a guaranteed tight fit with any standard size building bricks, no matter what existing brand of building bricks or construction brick sets your child already owns.

THE CUBE by Strictly Briks is available to buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £15.99

THE BUSINESS OF READING: JANE CABLE TAKES A HOLIDAY WITH A FEW GOOD BOOKS

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I’ve just been half way around the world on holiday, but visiting Cambodia and Vietnam it actually felt further than that. Intense heat, spicy food, incense drifting from temples and a recent history which shocked and disturbed me. Strange or inevitable then, that my choice of holiday reading was firmly fixed back home in Cornwall.

For a long while I’ve been promising myself I’d read some of Winston Graham’s Poldark novels. I can barely remember the 1970s TV series starring Robin Ellis and I’ve never watched the current BBC dramatization, but I wanted to read the books. And I was entranced to find that they were set exactly in my part of Cornwall, and in the limited gaps between excursions, I devoured the first three.

But the first book I read, at the beginning of the holiday, was Cornish writer Liz Fenwick’s latest and it was anything other than what I was expecting…
Jane Cable’s review of One Cornish Summer by Liz Fenwick.

Book marketing can sometimes be a slightly disingenuous thing. The cover and the blurb promise one thing, but the story inside delivers quite another. Sometimes this can lead to disappointment, but at others the opposite is true. And this is very much the case with Liz Fenwick’s latest novel. It isn’t a light and fluffy holiday read – it’s brilliant and challenging and altogether so much more.

To me it seems a shame that the publisher wasn’t entirely as brave as the author. The blurb describes Hebe as having ‘a life changing diagnosis’ and ‘memories slipping away’, but shies from actually mentioning the ugliness of Alzheimer’s.  From very early on in the book it’s clear Hebe has early onset dementia. And what’s more, she is written in the first person, something only a truly accomplished writer like Fenwick can pull off.

Hebe is every inch a full and rounded character, and one I sorely missed once I’d finished the book. To chart the cruel descent of her illness in such a way as to carry the reader with her must have been a serious challenge and I asked Liz Fenwick why she chose to do so.

“My best friend’s sister has early on-set Alzheimer’s and it has been sitting in the back of my mind waiting for me to find the story to write…in a way so that I could work through my own grief. And that leads into research…first hand, reading a great deal through the various support groups and finally my mother is in the early stages…so although not the same I was living it.”

One Cornish Summer is actually set over the course of a Cornish autumn and winter but the title is not a misnomer, even if the cover image might mislead. Hebe and her niece Lucy’s days in the damp and draughty ‘Hell House’ are contrasted with the former’s memories of a bright and colourful summer just the previous year when she was able to share Cornwall with the love of her life before her memories of it completely dissolved away.

As Hebe’s condition worsens, parts of the book are heart-breaking to read, for example when she answers the door without her trousers on. But there are thoroughly heart-warming parts too, as ‘Hell House’ reveals its secrets and Lucy, at least, is finally able to move forwards. Thought-provoking and ultimately life affirming, One Cornish Summer is an excellent read.

 

Frost Loves LittleLife Backpacks

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Children seem to come with a lot of paraphernalia. Even when they are out of nappies and off to nursery. No parent wants to go out without a snack and some crayons. Frost loves the LittleLife Toddler Backpack. Fun and fabulous, they also come with a detachable Parents Safety Rein. The backpacks make your tot feel independent but the reins and the great handle on top give safety. This brilliant backpack is a rather cool unicorn. There are other styles available. Frost recommends.

Unicorn Toddler Backpack. Ideal for both nursery and family days out and about, the Unicorn Toddler Backpack doubles as an approved British Safety Rein, perfect for helping mini-explorers to find their feet.

 

The ultimate choice for unicorn-mad children (and their parents!), the magical new backpack features a pretty rainbow and star pattern paired with a special, sparkly silver horn and fluffy pink wings. Retaining all of the much-loved features usually found in a LittleLife Toddler Backpack, the bag has a 2-litre zipped compartment that can be used to store toys, an extra layer or a snack for days out and about. A name and address label on the interior of the backpack means it is less likely to go astray at pre-school or nursery.

 

Designed to comfortably fit children aged between 1-3, the Unicorn Toddler Backpack features fully adjustable and padded shoulder straps in a striking ice-blue colour. These are combined with a pink chest strap that can be tightened securely to prevent the backpack from slipping off little shoulders. Offering parental security without impacting on your toddler’s newfound independence, the backpack comes with a detachable Parents Safety Rein that transforms the fun bag into a BSEN-approved set of reins.

 

The Safety Rein can be clipped on when greater control is needed, yet detached to allow them to toddle free when desired. For even greater practicality, the backpack has a top grab handle – perfect for balancing children as they learn to walk.

 

For more information about the Unicorn Toddler Backpack visit  www.littlelife.com.

 

Monkey Pop-up Track by Hape

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hape-pop-up-monkey-track

This little track add-on can be used to extend your original Hape train track or can be played with on its own – which it was – and much fun was had by my testers aged 4 and 18 months. The little one loved the monkeys and happily watched them pop up as the banana train triggered the connectors. She gathered them up and they were quickly handed over to grandpa for a repeat performance. Much laughter and delight followed and it was returned to again and again throughout the day.

hape-pop-up-monkey-track

A bright, fun addition to an already well used track set, sturdy and well finished and beautifully designed for little hands.

Another winner from Hape

Not suitable for children under 18 months

Includes 7 pieces

www.hape.com

Strictly Briks: Dream, Create, Grow

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Strictly Briks are Strictly Brilliant. What a fabulous add on to all those building bricks you have in the toybox. Strictly Briks enables children to create multi-storey platforms quickly using the baseplates and Stackers. And we all know how impatient small children are.

The various sets of Strictly Briks allow for plenty of creative play and are a fabulous extension to all of those other branded brick sets that almost all of us have played with at some time or another. Memories of Christmas morning building forts and castles come to mind. Happy Days.

Strictly Briks Trap & Gap™

I was really impressed with the Trap and Gap™ pack – the kids are going to have so much fun with this – Hadley pushing his cars up and down the ramps and Huxley using them as an ark for his animals. Who doesn’t love a trap door! Perfect for wizards and fairy godmothers to appear from.

The Trap and Gap set contains:

Trap and Gap™   Baseplates

Set includes 2 Trap and Gap™ Baseplate 10″ x 10″

2 Stackable Baseplates 10″ x 10″

15 Stackers™

£21.99 at Amazon

Strictly Briks – Brik Tower

The Brik Tower set makes building multi platforms quick and easy. Using the stackers children can soon build a tower – much easier than putting together small bricks to create varying levels on a building. Perfect for castles, garages, houses and any other building your child can imagine.

The Brik Tower set consists of:

12 Baseplates 6″ x 6″ and 80 Stackers™

£24.99 at Amazon

www.strictlybriks.com

Ages 5+

Due to small pieces not suitable for under 3s.

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FIRST, LAST, EVERYTHING – NOVELIST SANDRA DANBY

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What was the first writing advice you were ever given?

As a young English graduate longing to be a journalist, I chose a bad time to graduate. It was 1982 and publishers were closing their training schemes. Only two courses existed; one at the London College of Printing, the other at Cardiff Journalism School. Out of the blue I received a job offer on a new graduate trainee scheme run by business publisher Benn Publications. It was there in September 1982, sitting around the boardroom table in the impromptu Training Room, that I was given the piece of advice I still remember today and still use. Training editor Val Williams taught us Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who.” It has stood me in good stead whether writing a news story, a feature, a press release or a novel. And the journalist in Connectedness, Rose Haldane, uses it too when she gets stuck in her research.
What was the most recent writing advice you were given?

That’s easy, it is something that had never occurred to me before until my copy editor pointed it out to me during the editing of Connectedness. It applied to the name of a character, Maud Nettlebed. I realise now I chose Maud’s surname because of a liking for the word, Nettlebed, which goes back to my days as a reporter writing about a furniture company called Brights of Nettlebed. The name stuck. However Dea Parkin, my editor, said it was an unlikely surname that took her attention off the page every time she read it. And that, she said, is a cardinal sin. Avoid anything that distracts the reader from the page, which breaks their concentration, which returns them to the real world, which stops them turning the page and reading another chapter. I guess this is a subjective judgement, but it appeals to the journalist in me who dislikes embellishments and sub-clauses in long sentences. So, I changed Maud’s surname to Nettles.
What is the piece of advice you’d most like to pass on?

Listen to the advice you are given but do not blindly accept it or reject it without consideration. Evaluate it, then adopt or discard it. There is no ultimate template of how you should write, what you should write, the rules you should obey or break. But, and it is a big but, you must listen to the advice and consider it before rejecting it. You must know the rules, before breaking them. You will be a better writer for it. We are bombarded these days with writing advice, never have novelists been so vocal about how they write, when they write, at what time of day. There is no right way and wrong way; there is your way. Be true to yourself. Listen to feedback and suggestions, be polite, be prepared to offer positive feedback and suggestions in return, always give the person giving the advice the respect of considering it. I have participated in many writing classes – as student and teacher – and watched as some students, whose minds were closed to advice, simply did not hear suggestions that could help them. I’ve also watched other students writing copious notes about how their work should be changed and I worry they would subsequently make changes without analysing why. Knowing who you are as a writer, having confidence in what you write, is not easily earned. There is a truth in Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule.

 

Novelist Sandra Danby is a proud Yorkshire woman, tennis nut and tea drinker. She believes a walk on the beach will cure most ills. Unlike Rose Haldane, the identity detective in her two novels, Ignoring Gravity and Connectedness, Sandra is not adopted. Follow her on Twitter @SandraDanby

 

Perfect For Summer: The Thumbs Up Roller Wheel | Fun For Children

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fun for kids, roller wheel, rolling wheelFrost loves this roly-poly wheel that is perfect for summer. This inflatable kid-sized Roller Wheel has been designed with roly-poly fun in mind! It’s the perfect size for youngsters to climb through or roll around in and is suitable for use both indoors and out.
Complete with a collection of colourful balls inside that jiggle and bounce around as the wheel rotates, this interactive toy really captures kids’ imaginations. What’s more, because it’s made from durable inflatable plastic, it’s suitable for use both indoors and out – just be sure to use it on the grass if you’re outside to avoid any potential punctures.
As well as being brilliant fun, the Roller Wheel also helps children sharpen skills like coordination, cooperative play, physical strength, visual and auditory stimulation and more. Plus, because it comes with pump that makes inflating it easy, you won’t get out of puff before the playing begins!

 

  • Inflatable Roller Wheel is designed for kids to climb through or roll around in
  • Suitable for use both indoors and out
  • Holds up to 80 pounds (approx 5 stone 7pounds / 36kg)
  • 39 inch inner diameter
  • Do not use on or near public roads
  • Do not use on or near to water

The Thumbs Up Roller Wheel Costs £33.18 from Amazon.co.uk

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: RECOVERING, COMPLETING, REVIEWING, CHARTING

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ANGELA PETCH… RECOVERING

I spent time with my characters on their bench by the sea and they told me the rest of their stories. I’ve 95% finished the first draft of “Mavis and Dot” and very soon the editing slog will start. Beta-readers and illustrator are on board and deadlines are in place with blog tours and an author week arranged for mid-November. I’ve also booked a December 1st launch in Worthing (the location for my book) and contacted Cancer Research for support – (I am donating profits to this organisation, so fingers-crossed I make some.

In the midst of all this planning, I ended up in hospital with a warning. My memory disappeared for a few hours; a stroke or tumour was suspected. However, a brain scan revealed all was well (some would disagree!) I need to slow down. My writing is for fun – anything else is a bonus.

“If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream.”

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… COMPLETING

Hello. This month I finished my line edit and answered all those squirmy plot questions. Things are starting to gather momentum now. I’ve been told that my cover reveal will be happening on the Killer Reads page at 8pm on Sunday 29th April which is exciting! I’ve had a few days off as I wait for the copy-edit to arrive. Once that is finished the book will be in its final form.

Tasting freedom, I’ve been gallivanting in the Lake District and up visiting The Kelpies near Falkirk.

I’ve also started planning my blog tour with Love Books Group. It will start on 15th June when the book is released and last two weeks. I’ll need to prepare guest posts and Q/A’s for that. The day after it ends I’m off to a Greek island to stitch my shredded nerves together with my long suffering husband.


CLAIRE DYER… REVIEWING

So, after the launch and after the blog tour come the reviews!

I’ve long thought that writing is an odd thing to do. You spend a year or two writing a novel, editing it, rewriting it, editing it again, doing copy edits, checking covers, planning the PR and then there’s one glorious day when you hold the book in your hand and think, ‘Crikey, it’s a real thing and it’s going to go out into the world and (hopefully) be read by others.’ It’s a bit like hoping people will like your kids when they leave home and strike out on their own.

And, as much as we don’t like people passing judgement on our children, authors do need reviews of their books. I always do them for novels I’ve enjoyed and it’s a wonderful way to support authors and their publishers. Doing shout-outs on Twitter, popping up a 5* on Amazon and/or Goodreads is a lovely way to show support for the writing community. And, if I didn’t enjoy a book so much, I tend to keep quiet. Not because I don’t believe in freedom of speech, because I do, but because I don’t think giving a negative review is helpful. Reading tastes are so subjective, after all.

I would, however, like to thank all the lovely people who’ve left reviews of ‘The Last Day’ and who’ve messaged me privately to say they’ve enjoyed reading it. These are, naturally, the judgements I do like!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… CHARTING

It’s been a month of celebrating and being grateful for reader power. Amazon is only one of the online market places but it’s a useful measure. An eye-catching cover and a tantalising book blurb are essential, but reviews are a major influencer.

A reader apologised to me recently for the fact that she only writes very short reviews. Always five stars and a simple statement of appreciation. I wish I could have jumped through the monitor to hug her, because EVERY positive review is a blessing.

This month ‘The French Adventure’ soared up the charts and peaked at a dizzying #81 in the overall Amazon UK Kindle chart. Having passed that top 100 magical number before, I always wonder ‘Will the readers take me there again?’

As a reader, never underestimate YOUR power – your voice counts, so let your favourite authors know that and they will keep on writing.