Smorgasbord Posts from my Archives – Previous Reviews from 2022 – #Children’s – Barty Barton: The Bear That Was Loved Too Much by Sue Wickstead

In this series I am sharing reviews that I posted during 2022 and I hope it will give the books another boost.

Good books deserve to be showcased on a regular basis and I hope that it might entice you to either move the books up your groaning TBR’s or add the books to its burden!

A book review from Februrary 2022… teddy bears are very special toys and loved by many children… sometimes into adulthood. Barty Barton: The Bear That Was Loved Too Much by Sue Wickstead.

About the book

‘What happens when you outgrow your teddy bear? Will you let it go?Barty was a special teddy bear. He was soft, cuddly and always made you smile.All the loving cuddles had flattened him over time, his nose bent to one side and his paws needed repairing.But he was too full of memories to be thrown away. Thomas had loved Barty but now he was grown up and going to be a daddy himself. Would he want Barty for his new baby?

My review for the book February 5th 2022

A lovely story about how even when old and worn out there is still love to be given and received. Very hopeful for those of us of a certain age, who like Barty Barton the bear, are showing signs of wear and tear.

Barty and his fellow stuffed toys have been rather neglected after their young owner grows up and leaves home to start a family of his own.

Luckily his mother comes to the rescue and Barty and his collection of friends go through several rejuvenating processes. They are a delight to read about, offering useful suggestions to those who have favourite worn toys that might enjoy being pampered, and passed along to younger members of the family.

As with all children’s books that I read, I like to see the underlying messages of kindness, love and hope being embedded in the story for a young reader to absorb.

The illustrations are perfect and any child reading, or having the story read to them, will be tempted to stop and discuss in more detail.

Highly recommended.

A small selection of other books by Sue Wickstead

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon UK – And: Amazon US – More reviews: Goodreads – Website/Blog: Sue Wickstead – Facebook: Stories Sue – Facebook: Teacher Page – Twitter: @JayJayBus – LinkedIn: Sue Wickstead 

 

About Sue Wickstead

Award winning books. Shortlisted in the Wishing Shelf Book awards.

Sue Wickstead is a teacher and an author and has written children’s picture books with a bus theme. In addition, she has also written a photographic history book about the real bus behind her story writing.

Her bus stories are about a playbus. Have you ever been on a Playbus?

When Sue’s two children were young, they attended a playgroup on a bus, but not an ordinary bus taking you on a journey, exciting though this is, but a Playbus stuffed full of toys to capture their imagination!

For over 20 years, alongside her teaching career, she worked with the charity, the Bewbush Playbus Association.

As part of the committee she painted the bus, worked in the groups, helped raise the profile of the project and its work and was part of the team involved in raising funds to replace the old bus with a newer vehicle. This led her to write a photographic history book about it.

‘It really was a fun journey to be involved in’, said Sue. The bus really got into her blood and became a work of the heart.

Having written the history book Sue soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. So, she decided to write a fictional tale, his number plate JJK261, gave him his name.

‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus,’ came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original project and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. From Fact to fiction the bus journey continues.

This story has now been followed by more picture books.‘A Spooky Tale’ and ‘The Christmas Play Rehearsal’ do indeed have a bus connection as well as links to her teaching journey.

Sue has undertaken events and author bookings and loves to share her stories, she is also proud to be ‘a patron of reading’.

The books have all received 5-star awards from ‘Readers Favourite’. Sue’s books have also been short-listed in ‘The wishing Shelf’ book awards. With ‘A Spooky Tale’ a silver medal winner.

 

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books… thanks Sally.