July's book of the month - Florentine and Pig by Eva Katzler

[RachelMumsnet]

Our July book of the month, Florentine and Pig Have a Very Lovely Picnic is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Eva Katzler. She devised the partnership of Florentine and Pig as a way of encouraging children (and adults) to rediscover the joys of making things together and includes recipes and craft ideas from the story so that children can make their own picnics a-la Florentine and Pig. The story is brought to life by the wonderful illustrations of Jess Mikhail who uses mixed media by scanning fabrics, scribbling, blobbing, mono-printing and photographing.

Visit our July book of the month book of the month page for more information about the book, a video of the duo in action and details about how to claim a free copy.

We have 50 copies of Florentine and Pig to give away this month. The application form will be open from tomorrow, 3 July at 10am until 10am on Wednesday 4 July. All winners will be notified within 48 hours of closing the form. Read the book with your DCs and share their thoughts and your own opinions. All Mumsnetters who join in the discussion this month will be entered into a draw to win a £100 voucher for Hobbycraft.

I absolutely adore the concept of a book that is a story and also links to real activities to do with your children. florentine and pig have a lovely facebook page too to follow so it actually feels like you can be their best friend too!

Gosh, the book has just arrived and I am sooo excited! It looks gorgeous. Can't wait to pick up DDs from school so we can read it and make shopping lists for all the lovely recipes. And plan our picnic, ofcourse. :o

Mine came today too. I've just read it to dd and she has gone to chalk a Florentine and Pig picture on her blackboard while I feed the baby. It is a lovely story.

Received my copy this morning and must say I am very impressed! Big colourful pictures that kept my sons attention and recipes at the back which I definitely intend to try when we have some older children round to play (8 months is a little too young for some of the recipes!). Brilliant book, definitely has potential to be a favourite as Isaac grows up!

Book arrived today and i found myself far more excited than the kids to receive it! After seeing such rave reviews I was wondering just what the wow factor was going to be...was it an amazing story? was it hysterically funny? was there something special about the pictures?...I can't quite put my finger on quite what the wow factor is, yet it does have it! It certainly IS a really delightful concept (recipes / crafts and story) and a REALLY Delightful book and i think the special factor is actually that is has that little sprinkle of magic that reminds us of the simple things we did when we were young, the absolutely timeless appeal of a play picnic (and being able to do it with real food), and most importantly spending time with our children...after all, so often children spell love as T-I-M-E and this book encourages us to spend that special time with our kids. I'm looking forward to more stories from Florentine & Pig to remind us of the fun we can have getting creative with the kids.

I have just read this book and it is totally adorable. It will be a birthday gift for my 7 year old neice. The illustrations are lovely and the picnic recipes at the back of the book are very original and add a little something to the book.

By the way if you like their page on FB they have a competition running at the moment :)

Have just read it again at bedtime with the addition of the 5 year old and it has gone down a treat again.

I won this book through Mumsnet.

I just want to say what a stunning,different children's book. Here are my thoughts on "Florence and pig have a very lovely picnic".

The illustrations are bright,cheerful and simple as well as pleasing to the eye, done in a very similar style to Charlie and Lola. The story is written in small writing and perhaps the language and concept is a little hard for say a two year old but this would make a cracking read for a three/four year old.

It is fundamentally a book on friendship with the running theme of 'by working together you can achieve something lovely' aka a scrumptious picnic. I feel this is a good moral for our children to have especially in a society where sitting on Facebook equates to friendship, which in my opinion it doesn't, purely because you are not doing any thing together or sharing experiences or fun.

They have an almost mouth watering selection of food that the two friends wish to prepare for their feast and not only is one friend, pig, sent off up a tree to gather ingredients for cinnamon and apple muffins but they then bake them, can't fault these friends for seeking the freshest home grown produce!

At the end of the book, apart from Florence and pig enjoying a picnic fit for a king, the author has also contained recipes for every thing in the basket including cooking times, there is also craft ideas for making picnic bunting.

A stunning book, a new interesting concept in book set out for children, lets hope more Florence and pig books await my son in the future, a must have for your child's book shelf.

SunnyCarrie x

We received this book a couple of days ago (thank you, mumsnet) and my son (4) was keen to read it right away.

The idea of the story is very sweet - two friends having a picnic, but the tasks they have to go through to make it happen. It really encourages a positive sense of teamwork.

Providing the recipes at the end is a lovely touch - we haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but I think we are going to make some this weekend.

The pictures are very nice - bright, clear and fun. Both me and my son though Pig was very cute.

I asked me son questions as we went through the book, which he answered showing he was able to follow the story.

I asked my son what he thought of the book and he said 'it was great'....I guess that sums it up nicely.

I was really impressed with this book. It was just a bit different from the usual children's books available. I liked the illustrations and the story but the best bonus was the recipes and the bunting tutorial at the end so that you could make your own picnic. Dd1 loved it too, she's desperate to bake the recipes in the book and have our own picnic (hoping for a miracle some sun ) and she was very impressed that there was so much bunting in the book (she's a little obsessed with it atm).

We were very impressed.

Iv seen them on twitter must check them out

If you've read Florentine and Pig today is the last day to post your feedback up on this thread. Everyone who joins in the discussion thread will be entered into a draw to win a £100 voucher for Hobbycraft. We'll announce the winner tomorrow.

A lovely book - I really like the recipes which are all very child-friendly to make. There's some really nice writing too - especially the bit in the kitchen where they are making all the picnic food. The illustrations are very sweet. DS1 is 3.11 and wavers between really liking it and pronouncing it 'boring' but then he does that with pretty much everything at the moment!

Do we know who won yet?