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Book review: Pudsey Annual – BBC Children in Need

If you have young children then they will love this Pudsey Bear Annual from BBC Children in Need.

The annual includes games, puzzles, recipes, crafts, activities and stories. There are plenty of activities varying in difficulty from pre-school to young school aged children.

The annual is themed with Pudsey Bear and Blush throughout and includes ideas for fund-raising and examples of where the money raised is spent. This is a great way to teach a child about charities and to get them involved in supporting worthwhile causes.

Disappointingly the 3 stories are the one aspect of the annual that doesn’t have any reference to Pudsey or Children in Need. These are classic stories that are likely to be on many children’s bookshelves already (eg. The Gingerbread Man). It’s a shame that they didn’t create any specific Pudsey stories or even incorporate Pudsey into the classic stories, but they at least provide a few bedtime stories for anyone that doesn’t already have them.

Children in need - Show your spots Let's raise lots T-shirtsFor each annual bought £6 is donated to BBC Children in Need which is an impressive 75% of the purchase price.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t find the Pudsey annual at any of the high street stores. In fact I’ve not seen very much Children in Need merchandise in many high street stores this year, except for Lakeland and B&Q. Perhaps I’ve missed them or they are waiting for the last week before the TV show, but I would have thought that they would have been prominent by now (about 2 weeks before the show on the 19th November 2010).

Although the Pudsey Annual is being sold as a 2010 annual it’s was actually published in 2009. There is not much that is specific about the year, the main thing being a reference to the date of the show towards the back. In the annual it says Friday 20 November whereas it is 19 November in 2010. My guess would be that they are having difficulty getting this noticed as it appears to be only available to purchase online.
The annual is worthwhile, my children love it and I’m sure would be very popular if it was more widely available.

If you have ever thought about getting your children involved in fundraising then this is a great starting point with ideas for organising your own fundraising activities. If you’re more the sort of person that likes to sit back, watch TV and donate to Children in Need then this Annual is just as good for that too. Just buying it is benefiting BBC Children in Need so what are you waiting for?