Read It Daddy!

The King of Quizzical Island

2012-02-09T14:13:00.004Z

The King of Quizzical Island is an incredibly inquisitive chap. Wondering what lies at the end of the world, the King sets sail in his ship and discovers faraway lands of mystery and magic. In Gordon Snell's book, rhyming couplets map out the King's intrepid voyage, encountering Vertical Land and Puzzle Land before ending up at a surprise destination at the end of the book.

At first I thought the way the book ended was a bit of a cheat and a cop-out, but as promised there is a sequel - so don't be downhearted if your little ones clamour to know what happens next.

David McKee's illustrations are as whacky as ever (though largely monochrome in the book, they're still stamped with his trademark style). We now look forward to finding out what happens next!

Charlotte's best bit - Puzzle island

Daddy's favourite bit - The quizzical king's expert eye in draughtsmanship.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

R.I.P Samuel Youd (AKA John Christopher, Author, 1922-2012)

2012-02-07T10:36:00.000Z

For a generation of adults, the BBC's adaptation of John Christopher's book 'The Tripods' was chilling TV entertainment. Yet very few will know that Samuel Youd (John Christopher's real name) penned a massive library of science fiction books for adults and children under a series of pseudonyms.

The Tripods Trilogy is probably his most widely recognised work, but it was another JC book - "The Guardians" that first brought him to my attention. It's been covered elsewhere in the blog (as one of the books I can't wait for Charlotte to read) but it's worth mentioning it again, a book that feels as original and fresh now as it did when it was written back in 1970.

It's the mark of a great science fiction book when you read through and hear the references to Christopher's dystopian future vision, and see something there that's uncomfortably recognisable. The division between city folk and country folk may have been rather graphically interpreted, and the harsh, heavily enforced class system rather chillingly represented - but it's a fantastic thrilling read, and one that deserves greater recognition.

It won the (aptly titled) Guardian Award in 1971 and was also made into a German TV series.

Christopher's legacy lives on. A new movie adaptation of The Tripods is still in production, and other works have been filmed (for instance "The Death of Grass" was filmed as the disturbing sci fi movie "No Blade of Grass" by Cornel Wilde).

R.I.P Samuel Youd. You were a fantastic inspiration.

Dougal's Deep-Sea Diary

2012-02-06T15:00:00.001Z

Wow, what a treat for the eyes! Simon Bartam is a master of acrylics, producing some of the most stunning illustrations in Children's books today. He's also a dab hand at producing something a little out of the ordinary, and in Dougal's Deep-Sea Diary, Bartram uses the diary style to tell the story of Dougal - a bored 9 to 5er who can't wait for his deep sea diving holiday.

Each day's diary entry is accompanied by a sumptuously detailed picture of Dougal's exploits. With so much detail packed into each page, it's quite easy to get distracted from the story and lose yourself in the wonderful illustrations.

We loved the way the book ends and will definitely be hunting out more of Simon Bartram's books.

Without a doubt, a well deserved book of the week

Charlotte's best bit - Hunting for mermaids (and dinosaurs) throughout the book.

Daddy's favourite bit - Absolutely stunning artwork

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars, book of the week

My Phonics Kit from Oxford Learning Tree / Oxford University Press

2012-02-03T08:57:00.001Z

With the introduction of the new Phonics Tests due to be rolled out to six year olds later this year, parents have been presented with a dizzying array of different phonics resources. For a while we've been visiting the Oxford Owl website (http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/) which contains both reading and maths resources, fun games and some of the best presentation I've ever seen on a children's website.

Through this site we've become familiar with the adventures of Biff, Chip and Kipper (and of course Floppy the dog) so it was great news when we were contacted with an opportunity to review the new Phonics Kit from Oxford University Press.

The kit, which is on sale for £9.99, contains three activity books, a glossy "Floppy" activity poster and a CD ROM (which is compatible with PC and Mac). Though it's aimed at older children than Charlotte, it's still an excellent way to kick off your child's interest in reading, the recognition of words and sounds, and taking their first steps towards literacy.

We started with the CD ROM (installed fine on Snow Leopard / Mac OSX). The lively and bright graphics follow the designs of the Biff, Chip and Kipper books.

Menus are fairly easy to navigate (even for tiny hands just getting used to a mouse) and various stories are presented in e-book format, all read through the program's self-contained viewer. Children have the choice of reading the books themselves or listening to the audio tracks to help them through the difficult bits.

Each e-book is complimented by a range of activities designed to back up what they've just read with useful exercises and tasks to complete.

The CD ROM was a massive hit with Charlotte, in fact it was extremely difficult to convince her not to race through all the books on offer in one go!

Also contained in the pack are three phonics workshop books, one each for Biff, Chip and Kipper. These books are beautifully laid out and presented with fun activities, stories and stickers to reward a child's efforts. Complimenting the workbooks is a large glossy fun poster featuring Floppy the Dog. As children progress through the workbooks, they can find additional stickers to stick on Floppy's chart. As any parent knows, stickers are a great way to reward a child and provide the incentive to engage with phonics or other learning activities (and this is definitely something that's widely recognised in schools too).

For an inquisitive (nearly) four year old who hasn't yet learned to read, the kit is still worth picking up simply because parts of the kit present something that children can go back to again and again as their levels of literacy improve. The only drawback (and it's not really a criticism as such) is that once the stickers are all used up and the Floppy Wall Chart and workbooks are completed, children might lose interest in revisiting them. However, there are a multitude of ways around this, like making your own wall charts and progress sheets or diving onto the Oxford Owl website's "Fun Ideas" section for more brilliant resources.

Without a doubt, this is a top quality product and even if children haven't met Biff, Chip and Kipper before, they're sure to become huge fans of the books - and once they engage with the stories and characters, you'll find they'll become hooked in no time.

Charlotte's best bit - Floppy's activity wall chart

Daddy's favourite bit - Simple installation of the CD resources, and superb presentation of the kit throughout

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars

Testing out the Dynamic Views on Blogger

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000Z

Hi Folks...

I'm testing out the new Dynamic Views on Blogger so bear with me. Views can be swapped with the menu at the top of the screen. If you really prefer the old style, let me know :)

ReadItDaddy

When Witch's Wands Won't Work

2012-01-27T09:07:00.004Z

More spookiness, this time in the shape of a couple of witches with a slight problem, their wands no longer work. And what is a witch without magic? Well she's a slightly grumpy and warty old lady with a smelly cat - that's what.

While on holiday, Rattle, Ricket and their cat Rum suffer a luggage malfunction and end up wand-less. In this sequel to "Which Witch's Wand Works" the hapless pair try their best to conjure up their magical powers. Bernatene's tongue-twisting text might cause you to wrestle with your words a wee while, but his artwork is stunning and though the book didn't quite catch Charlotte's eye as much as other Witchy books (she still loves Winnie the Witch best, with Meg and Mog coming a close second), it's still fairly spooky stuff.

Charlotte's best bit: Rum!

Daddy's favourite bit: Rum!

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The Ghost Train

2012-01-27T08:56:00.003Z

I completely missed out on the "Funny Bones" books as a kid but I'm reliably informed by my lovely wife CanIWalkMummy that they're children's classics.

Allan Ahlberg is pretty much a legend in children's books (both as illustrator and author) and Andre Amstutz's haphazard, chaotic but wonderfully comic illustrations are great fodder for young minds who don't mind "spooky" as long as it's not too scary.

The Ghost Train tells the story of a polite pair of skeletons (and their skeleton dog) who decide to take a trip to the Ghostly Seaside. Along the way they meet various spooky folk, enjoy the sights and sounds of the spooky seashore and generally have a high old time.

As with all the best children's books, it's not so much what goes on in the foreground that matters as what's happening around the central characters and the storyline. Amstutz delights in adding in strange little shadowy figures and spooky creatures in the background and these are always great to spot for youngsters.

There's a huge range of "Funny Bones" books available and I'm quite surprised we've never seen them before at our local library. We'll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for more.

Charlotte's best bit: The spooky monster baby

Daddy's favourite bit: Amstutz's effective use of shadowy forms to suggest menacing figures waiting in the wings

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Biscuit Bear

2012-01-26T11:43:00.001Z

Oh how we love Mini Grey's books. They're usually bordering on the surreal, they're always exquisitely illustrated and are undoubtedly amongst the books we take out of the library the most.

This is the second outing for Biscuit Bear for us, and I could've sworn I'd reviewed it before (Blogger Search Says "No"). Nevertheless the tale of a young lad, his lump of dough, and the biscuit bear he makes one day is effortlessly charming and amusing (you know, I'm sure given half the chance Charlotte would probably do terrible things to lumps of dough just like the little chap in this story - though we'd draw the line at letting her press it around the loo seat as the little boy did on one page, EEK!)

Biscuit Bear is smart and canny though and doesn't want to be alone. So he makes some new friends in the only way a biscuit bear can. By baking them!

It was a tough choice between this and "Paint the Whole World" for book of the week, this comes a really close second (though I'd love to have seen a few more pages at the end of the book when Biscuit Bear finds his calling in life) - it all seems to end a little flat. You'll see what I mean.

Still a superb book. Now where did I put my pastry cutter?

Charlotte's best bit: The naughty dog and what he does.

Daddy's favourite bit: The absolutely perfect expression of guilt on the dog's face.

Rating: 4 (and a half) out of 5 stars

Where's Hello Kitty?

2012-01-26T11:17:00.004Z

I'll admit it. I don't really understand the appeal of Hello Kitty, yet the fervour surrounding any HK merchandise is crazy. You name it, it's been "kittified" and the latest addition to the range of products is the "Where's Hello Kitty?" book.

"Where's Wally" was the original "find a skinny scarf-wearing needle in a giant haystack" book and the Hello Kitty version follows the same tried and tested formula, punctuated by 'activity pages' for giggly girls (and boys, yep boys too) who love Hello Kitty's unique fashions and friends.

The book is fairly tough going for youngsters who don't quite understand the subtle differences between the Kitty you're asked to spot, and the many many very similar looking Kitties dotted all over the searchable pages.

One for older children, or slightly mad Hello Kitty-obsessive adults perhaps.

Charlotte's best bit: The "Friends quiz" halfway through the book

Daddy's favourite bit: N/A

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

If I Could Paint The World

2012-01-26T11:08:00.000Z

Painting, a subject very dear to my heart, and something that I'm happy to say my daughter loves a lot too (though she's far far better at it than I am). Watching a child paint, and watching how they expertly take a white space and turn it into their own little world is fascinating.

Sarah Massini's book tells the story of a little girl who challenges the way we look at the world, re-imagining it in all the colours of the rainbow. What if grass were pink? What if we could have blue ketchup on our crimson fish fingers?

Expertly illustrated (yep, another writer-illustrator with such a fantastic amount of talent that I'm green with envy!) and beautifully paced, "If I Could Paint the World" fully deserves to be our book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit: Imagining what Barbie Washing Hair would look like with mint-green locks

Daddy's favourite bit: Massini's beautiful ink and colour illustrations

Rating: 5 out of 5, Book of the Week

Goodnight, Baby Bat

2012-01-26T10:59:00.003Z

Bats aren't exactly the first creatures you imagine when you think "cute and cuddly" but this snuggly bedtime story from Debi Gliori might just change your mind. Going through bedtime hell at the moment (another one of those things that seem to happen just as your child turns 4) so we identified with the simple story of a mummy bat trying to get her fidgety fusspot child to sleep.

With lift-the-flap pages and some quite spooky illustrations, Goodnight Baby Bat is one of those books that will have mummy or daddy yawning along with their children.

Lovely, quirky and original, just the way we like 'em at ReadItDaddy

Charlotte's best bit: Tucking Mr Snail up in his shell for the night

Daddy's favourite bit: Saying "Close your eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes" to Mr Spider.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Ten books I can't wait for my daughter to read - The CanIWalkMummy Mix

2012-01-19T10:26:00.000Z

As promised, I thought I'd ask my lovely wife CanIWalkMummy for a slightly more female-centric list of books she can't wait for Charlotte to read.

She came up trumps and here's her list.

1) The Famous Five (various books) by Enid Blyton

Though my memories of this book have been mercilessly altered because of the excellent Comic Strip Presents parodies, I definitely remember reading The Famous Five as a kid and wondering how that ragtag gang, Julian, Dick, Anne, George (and of course Timmy the Dog) managed to thwart so many (useless) criminal masterminds. Blyton's books might have fallen slightly out of favour (claims of political incorrectness, even veiled racism often surround any mention of her work) but she provided the model for putting children front and centre as the focal point for the stories. Fantastical situations, and lashings of ginger beer. Though they may seem a little old fashioned, they're still extremely entertaining for young readers.

2) The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

Unfairly, Edith Nesbit always seems to play second fiddle to Enid Blyton but you could probably argue that she's the better writer. Though most people will probably more readily remember the Film and TV adaptations of The Railway Children (I shall not mention the massive crush I had on Jenny Agutter as a child and for quite some time as an adult!) nor shall I make mention of the fact that I still find that scene where the daddy comes back really hard to watch on TV (I've got something in my eye, honestly) but the book is interesting and nicely paced, perfect fodder for a young enquiring mind.

What strikes me most about the book is that despite its setting, it feels like a contemporary situation described in a non-contemporary way. Children taken away from familiar surroundings, needing to cope with adverse conditions, and letting their imaginations provide the portal out of their situation into something more desirable. Heroic acts and strong characters underpin a fantastic book.

3) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis

As per my previous list

4) The BFG by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl books belong in anyone's top ten children's book lists. The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is one of Dahl's best loved books and it's easy to see why. Introducing children to the giant, who in any other circumstance would be quite a scary character, but showing him as heroic, cuddly and full of knowledge to impart is a stroke of genius. With the little girl (Sophie) and the giant allegedly based on Dahl himself and his grand-daughter, the feeling that the book was written with love and with great care and attention to the relationship between the giant and the child shines through.

Along with Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (of course!) and a brace of other Dahl books, The BFG is deservedly a timeless classic.

5) Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

Recently updated with a bunch of new cover art, it's surprising how Malory Towers seems to feel more modern and contemporary than any of Blyton's other books. Despite the various updates to things like Noddy and The Famous Five over the years, the updated versions still seem to feel relatively old fashioned and twee. Malory Towers retains all the elements of a young girl's trials and tribulations at her new school, with subjects and situations that any young school starters will identify with (well, obviously it depends on the school they're going to, but the feelings and emotions definitely carry across even if some of the 'private school-centric' ideas don't).

6) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

As my wife points out, it's sometimes hard to remember if you have strong memories of childhood books, or the films that were spawned by them. One such book is The Secret Garden. I definitely haven't read it but I'm familiar with the story of a young girl who finds a wilderness growing behind a secret ivy-covered door in the sprawling grounds of her uncle's estate. Like many successful children's books where the protagonist is taken away from all they know and love and placed in unfamiliar surroundings, part of the Secret Garden's appeal is the character taking something and making it their own, bringing back a little something to their lives that was previously missing.

If the movies or TV adaptations are anything to go by, it's an enchanting book with great characterisation. I'm now sorely tempted to read this just so I can give a better and more balanced opinion of it.

7) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Despite the 'Disney Effect' of the book being robbed of its identity (and quite a lot of its dark surrealism, even despite a movie adaptation by the master of dark surreality, Tim Burton), Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass are astonishing works that arguably became the template for so many other children's books and authors to follow. Lewis Carroll perfected the art of underpinning the ordinary everyday familiar world with nonsensical characters and situations that feel dream-like and bizarre, but tap into a child's imagination in a way that ensures the book will be well loved and well remembered. So many adults have pored over and analysed the book's content, either looking for something slightly sinister to say about Carroll's obsession with Alice Liddell, and the various caricatures of Dodgson's (Carroll's) influences and familiars. At its heart it's pure fantasy and nonsense (underpinned, if you get the best version, by John Tenniel's absolutely sublime ink drawings of the characters - that thankfully haven't been eroded at all by Disney's attempts to standardise them).

8) The Diary of Anne Frank (Abridged Children's Version) by Anne Frank

A compelling, often hopeful and at times disturbing look into the psyche of a young girl in war torn Europe, The Diary of Anne Frank is probably one of the most familiar and most often read descriptions of how children cope with war. Hiding out in the back-rooms of a printer's shop, the Frank Family and other refugees eke out an existence against the backdrop of Nazi occupation and persecution.

There are so many myths and stories surrounding the book, Anne herself, and her father Otto Frank (who was accused of producing the book himself at one point) but it remains an incredibly strong work with a powerful message. As with some of the books I mentioned in my top ten list, books on the subject of war and children's experiences of war make for compelling reading and are still (quite rightly) staple fodder in schools. It's important to tell these stories and keep them alive, and no book does a better job than this

9) Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

My memories of this are really only of the 70s TV series but my wife has read the book (or had it read to her) and regards it as a classic. The near-legendary character of Beauty, a horse that becomes the centre of a series of adventures throughout the book, aided and abetted by a young girl.

There are several versions of the book, and the one shown is a heavily abridged "children's" version (a children's version of a book that was originally written for children - heavily sanitised and removing all elements of suspense and danger) so be careful which one you go for. Hunt out Sewell's original if your children aren't sensitive types upset by fires or danger.

10) The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton

Though one could technically argue that Enid Blyton was being a bit cheeky here, reusing the idea of The Famous Five and just adding a couple of extra kids to the mix, The Secret Seven books follow the tried and trusted formula of putting children front and centre in a series of heroic tales plays things safe. They seem to have had something of a comeback lately (probably because they've often been 'contemporised' to provide more modern-audience-friendly fare.

There are quite a few books in the series and if children like serial books with the same characters running through them, they'll probably lap these up.

And that's the list. Quite a few good choices there and my wife also mentioned Roald Dahl's 'Boy' book, as fascinating a tale about his young life as any of his fictional works provide. She probably won't want me to mention The Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder but it'd probably be in there somewhere too.

Ten children's books I can't wait to introduce my daughter to..

2012-01-17T09:24:00.004Z

When I was a wee whippersnapper, I remember our school having a "Book Newsletter" type thing that allowed parents to buy (cheaply) a different book every month for their child. The scheme is probably still going on (and the Bookstart scheme is fantastic) but I remember it for a lot of reasons, mostly because it was how I was introduced to some of the best books of my childhood.

I also had an extremely good primary school Teacher (Miss Cox) and of course my mum to thank for turning me into a bookworm. Something I'm trying to pass on to my daughter (and it seems to be working!)

Now she's getting to the stage beyond the simple picture book, I'm starting to think of the books I loved as a child - some of which are now (quite rightly) modern classics in their own right, some were even classics when I was young. So here's a list of the ten books I can't wait to read to Charlotte (or better still, can't wait till she can read them herself).

1) The Giant Under the Snow - John Gordon

One of the spookiest, most atmospheric and most influential books I have ever read. I spent a good 25 years or more hunting for a copy of this and was lucky enough to find one (with this original cover, and its nightmare-inducing illustration) at a car boot sale. I was almost in tears as I handed over a quid (the price was 25p but I was so grateful I just forked over a quid) and took it home.

It's the story of a young girl, Jonquil Winters, and her two friends who embark on a journey of mystery surrounding the return of The Giant - a long-buried figure of malice who once again stalks the earth through dark magic, ready to rise again and enslave humanity. It reads very well, and it's chock full of descriptive characters including Jonquil herself. It struck such a chord with me as a child that I could readily draw the leathery skeleton characters and the giant himself from memory. It's scary and a bit spooky so it will probably be quite a few years before I'll be allowed to let Charlotte anywhere near it but if you're ever lucky enough to grab a copy, do so, it's astonishingly good

2) Stig of the Dump - Clive King

The original - with its superb illustrations by Edward Ardizzone, is a standout children's classic. The notion of finding a lost caveman scraping out a living in a dirty smelly old dump, making his home from the rubbish he finds there, is quite enchanting. Like most tales of anachronistic characters fetching up in the wrong time, Stig of the Dump spends a lot of time building up a sense of wonder around familiar things. I can still remember thinking how cool it was to have a house with an old car door as its front door, or bottles stacked up as a window.

Before the urban sprawl took over, there were a lot of places where, as a child, you could go and explore (probably places that would turn a modern parent's hair white overnight) and live out the fantasy that you might find a remnant of the stone age scrabbling around in the discarded rubbish.

Awesome and imaginative.

3) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Bit of a cheat this one as Charlotte has already had quite a bit of this book read to her, but I look forward to one day doing it proper justice (and hopefully getting Charlotte over her fear of Violet Beauregarde changing into a giant blueberry girl). The movies (both old and new) have sullied the book a bit (oddly enough I liked the new movie at first but it really can't hold a candle up to the original book in any shape or form - something you could say about most of Tim Burton's movies).

Above all, the powerful imagination of a child can produce far better (mental) images of Willy Wonka's fantastic concoctions, and a far better impression of how horrid some of the children who accompany Charlie on a tour of Wonka's factory really are and how delicious their comeuppances are when they finally happen.

A timeless classic, like most of Dahl's books

4) The Owl Service by Alan Garner

Another spooky book this, and another book chock full of atmosphere. Alan Garner's "The Owl Service" was passed around at school (the school's library copies never seemed to be "in" whenever I wanted to borrow them) - but we were lucky enough to study the book during English lessons and I was hopelessly hooked from the word go. Telling the story of three teenagers coming to terms with family upheaval, and encountering an all-too-real welsh legend that threatens to sweep them up in its grasp, it's a multi-layered and quite complex book (even for an adult) that really strikes a chord with anyone who grew up in a single-parent family.

As others have said elsewhere, it could well put you off family holidays in Wales forever. Spooky, imaginative, descriptive and absolutely essential reading for young teens.

5) The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall

Another book that was studied at school, The Machine Gunners tells the story of a young lad coping with the Blitz in World War 2. Fascinated by the ever-encroaching war, a downed German plane provides an opportunity for the boy's imagination to let fly.

It's been a very long time since I read the book but I remember the way Robert Westall builds up the levels of tension throughout, until the quite shocking and wholly unexpected end.

There's no easy way to help children understand the importance of the sacrifices their grandparents and great grandparents (and great great grandparents) made for their country in wars, but Westall's book offers both an insight into these, and also an insight into how easily influenced a child's mind can be.

Dark and disturbing at times, sometimes tragic but with a strong clear message, it's timeless stuff.

6) The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier and Jane Serraillier

Another book touching on the impact of war, this time with a driven message of hope threaded throughout an expertly written story of children fending for themselves in war-torn Poland, embarking on an epic journey to be reuinted with their parents. The symbolic 'Silver Sword' of the title is their almost mythical belief that something other-worldly can protect them on their hazardous quest.

Never holding back harrowing descriptions of the impact of war, The Silver Sword is probably one of the best books written for children about the impact of WWII on Europe - but more than that, it contains some of the strongest messages of self worth and self belief a child can read.

7) The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

Does this book fall in and out of favour every few years or so? Or is there a perception that Tolkien's works are slowly being eroded by other fantasy novels, more modern fare that suits the contemporary palate better? I'll argue that The Hobbit - the perfect introduction to Tolkien's (sometimes unapproachable) works - is a book that paints vivid pictures of the world of Middle Earth far more effectively than the most expertly produced CGI, more effectively even than Tolkien's own scribbly ink illustrations. I was first introduced to this book when I was 5 - which might seem a little early (and might make me sound a little precocious) but thanks to my teacher at the time (Miss Cox, take a bow) and the project she wove around this book, I've loved it ever since and it made me want to read The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion just to dip back into Tolkien's imaginative worlds.

With all the interest surrounding Peter Jackson's new movie, The Hobbit will undoubtedly find a whole new audience. I'd urge anyone who hasn't read it to get in there before the movie is released though (even though it's looking quite spectacular).

8) The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

It would be unfair to include J.R.R. Tolkien's works in this list without also including his fellow Inkling's works. C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles, in particular The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe have been analysed, picked over and compared to everything from religious chronicles, allegories of the second world war and even linked to the signs of the zodiac. But from a child's perspective, C.S. Lewis did exactly what any successful children's author does to ensure success - put the children firmly at the centre of the book as the heroes, and made every child believe that these ordinary everyday children were almost superhuman in their ability to become more than just kids.

In essence, a tale of good versus evil. When you scratch the surface there are so many stories and sub-stories woven together that even the slightly old fashioned notions and scenarios in the book still hold up as entertaining and involving. Again a book that has been slightly eroded by the movie treatments but they're extremely well done, so serve as a jumping off point for when children are ready to tackle the quite lengthy and sometimes slowly paced / slightly repetitive books.

9) The Guardians by John Christopher

It's tough to choose just one book by John Christopher that you'd put on a child's reading list. One of the most underrated science fiction authors of the last century, Christopher is probably more widely recognised for "The Tripods" than his other works but oh my, The Guardians is an absolutely incredible book.

In a futuristic dystopian society, a boy becomes an orphan overnight. Driven by memories of his mother, and her tales of the mythical "Shire" (the countryside), the urban boy ends up at a terrifying boarding school. Ill treated and bullied, the boy decides to escape to the Shire.

As his situation becomes more desperate, he ends up under the protective wing of a youngster from the shire who vows to try and pass him off as shire-born.

With more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing, The Guardians constantly changes the reader's perception of what is normal, and what is comfortable. Underpinning the whole story is the terrifying notion that everything the young boy understands about his world is wrong, and that dark forces are the guiding hand behind both the shire and the urban sprawl he is familiar with.

Rivetting stuff. Quite dark, and probably not quite what people would expect from a children's book but again Christopher places a seemingly normal young boy at the centre of a set of circumstances that will push him to his limits.

10) Chocky by John Wyndham

When I was a kid, children's television dramas were absolutely incredible. With tiny budgets, very little in the way of special effects (certainly no CGI!) but dedicated production crews producing astonishing work, they are often still very well remembered. One such series was Chocky (and its successor, Chocky's Children). Adapted from the books by John Wyndham, Chocky was around long before E.T and certainly did not try to draw a sugary sweet portrait of a young boy's encounter with an alien life form. Wyndham weaves a tight and often quite disturbing tale of the questing mind of an alien trying to reach out and understand humanity through the mind of a young boy. For many, the clear messages in the book of how our own perceptions of 'different' and 'alien' are drawn up from an early age are often challenged in Wyndham's taut tale.

With the list, where possible, I've tried to avoid spoiling the plots and content too much. I've read, re-read and loved each of these books and there are probably dozens and dozens more I could easily add to the list (and probably will). I can imagine a time when Charlotte grows out of Disney Princesses, gets bored with Charlie and Lola, and passes up Peppa Pig in favour of at least one or two of these (I hope!).

At some point though I'll definitely have to sit my lovely wife down and get her to produce a ( perhaps more girl-centric) list, most definitely!

Banana Skin Chaos!

2012-01-12T13:42:00.000Z

Were you ever told not to drop banana skins on the pavement as a kid? Did you often secretly wonder what would happen if you did turn into a banana litterbug? Well this could be the book that proves your parents right. There's a very good reason you should never drop a banana skin, as the young miscreant at the centre of this story finds out.

Like a disaster movie in slow motion, all the tiny little events in "Banana Skin Chaos" unfold slowly but satisfyingly as we see a young boy drop a banana skin, and watch what happens while his bigger (and wiser) sister gently tells him off.

Cars crash, people get covered in paints, pigs get loose, Nuns take fright and clamber up lamposts. Part of the immense satisfaction of Lilli L'Arronge's disaster tale is spotting all the tiny little moments of chaos that build into a gigantic crescendo.

There's a ton for youngsters to do (other than read the book or laugh at the pictures) and lots of interactions for children and their parents driven off the story's relatively simple premise. For that, it rightly deserves the first Book of the Week award for 2012. Sublime stuff.

Charlotte's best bit: The nun being scared by a pig, and the snake eating a pig

Daddy's favourite bit: Superman flying in to the rescue.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week

Mr Bloom is Back!

2012-01-12T11:07:00.002Z

If you've got toddlers (or tiddlers) it probably can't have failed to catch your attention that Mr Bloom's Nursery is back with a new series on CBeebies. Though this is primarily a children's book blog we're also interested in other forms of communication, and Mr Bloom is one of those rare children's programmes that is broadcast (seemingly) without the agenda of being attached to toy licensing, or with any major message hammered home (other than it's cool to grow things, and it's OK to get dirty while doing it!)

The formula of the show hasn't changed much (and why should it, why try and do what the idiotic production company behind Waybuloo did, and break a formula that works by trying to be clever with it). Ben Faulks (Mr Bloom) is still as energetic and enthusiastic as ever (and it was good to see him get a slice of the limelight with CBeebies' Christmas Panto - Strictly Cinderella).

Let's hope the series continues to get recommissioned, it's a massive hit with us and judging by the sheer amount of children's birthday cards that fetch up featuring Mr Bloom during the CBeebies Birthday slots, he's massively popular with everyone else too.

Robot Dog

2012-01-12T09:29:00.002Z

Robots are cool, dogs are - well OK I'm a cat person but dogs CAN be quite cool. So putting the two together in a book is a stroke of genius. Mark Oliver's tale tells the story of a robot pup who ends up on the scrap heap. It's not the end of the world though, as he soon makes friends with the other rejects from the robot factory.

But what any dog, Robot or otherwise, wants more than anything else is an owner. Human owners like shiny, perfect robot dogs, not rusty dogs with wonky ears. So will the little dog ever see his dream come true?

Mark Oliver's book has beautiful retro-styled visuals that are absolutely perfect, harking back to those cool 1950s robot designs you'll have seen before.

The story is also nicely written with a great ending to warm the cockles of your (robot) heart.

Charlotte's best bit: The little robot dog's friends

Daddy's favourite bit: The superb styling of the robots in the story. 50s junkbots win!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Wanted: The Perfect Pet

2012-01-12T08:04:00.003Z

For our first review of this year (Sorry we're late, work piles up after the festive season n'all that) we're kicking off with another Fiona (after our last review being a book by a Fiona, why not continue with a different Fiona for this one :)

Fiona Roberton's book "Wanted: The Perfect Pet" neatly addresses one of those rites of passage all children go through - when they finally decide what animal would suit them best as their first pet.

The boy in this story has his heart set on a dog. They're loyal, intelligent, cute and can learn fantastic tricks.

High on a windy hill elsewhere though, a lonely duck hatches a plan to convince the boy that dogs aren't all that, and that a duck is actually far better. Even if it means disguising himself as a dog to prove it...

It's a cute, effortlessly charming book with a novel approach to storytelling (a lot of children's authors seem to be adopting the style of dropping in things like newspaper ads, or factual analysis of animals - it's good for enquiring minds and children who say "why" a lot, so it gets my thumbs up).

Charlotte's best bit: The duck saying "woof" and tracing the duck's long journey to the boy

Daddy's favourite bit: The boy's list of duck benefits

Rating: 4 out of 5

Happy New Year - What's coming in 2012?

2012-01-03T14:39:00.000Z

Hello all! We're back after the Christmas break and soon it'll be time to delve into the book bag to see what's new.

Plenty of books dropped down the chimney courtesy of Santa Claus so we'll be covering those in due course (thanks to my sister for buying Charlotte some absolute belters including one from our pre-christmas wish list).

Hopefully you'll stick with ReadItDaddy in the new year and forgive us our lapses from time to time, things are getting very busy :)

Thanks to all our followers and visitors who graced us with their presence in 2011. Look forward to seeing you all again this year.

ReadItDaddy and Charlotte

The Boy Who Cried Ninja

2011-12-09T14:30:00.001Z

There are a ton of books for children that feature pirates. Tons more feature dinosaurs. Still more feature cute and cuddly animals but have we had many children's books that feature Ninjas? No we haven't so it's good to see Alex Latimer redressing the balance and giving the black-suited stealth experts their time in the sun (or the dark, dark shadows).

Young Tim is a boy who spins tall stories and makes terrible excuses for his wrongdoings. But when Tim decides to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, things go from bad to worse.

The Ninja (in the title) steals into Tim's house one day to snaffle the cake (with an expert kick and a flick, it's gone in a trice). That's just the beginning of Tim's woes, as a whole host of other characters make his life a misery. Will everything be set right in the end? You'll have to read the book to find out but it looks like Alex Latimer will be a children's author and illustrator to watch in the future, this book is absolutely fantastic.

Charlotte's best bit - The schoolbag-eating Octopus

Daddy's favourite bit - The characters being made to rake up the leaves (and, er, smelly piles of doggy poo)

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars

King Ocean's Flute

2011-12-09T14:22:00.001Z

Every now and again we spy a book in the library that has such an eye-catching cover that it just has to be investigated further. King Ocean's Flute by Lucy Coats and Peter Malone is one such book. Peter Malone's painted illustrations throughout this story are absolutely stunning (and very tasteful, despite frequent nudity, it's worth noting!)

King Ocean's Flute is the story of a young shepherd who decides to learn the flute after being given one as a gift by his grandfather. At first he is absolutely terrible, and can only make a wailing shriek. But as he travels, and listens to the advice of the birds and other animals, he becomes quite adept on his chosen instrument - so much so that a passing mermaid hears him and decides that he might be the very person to challenge King Ocean - the undersea king and flute maestro.

The story borders on the surreal but it's so beautifully illustrated and so engaging that you may find it impossible to resist its charms.

Charlotte's best bit - The puffer fish

Daddy's favourite bit - Malone's various methods of sparing the mermaids their blushes.

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars

Cottonwool Colin

2011-12-09T14:15:00.001Z

Dynamic Duo Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross can always be relied on for a good yarn, and Cottonwool Colin's relatively simple central theme - about an over-protective mum - might ring a few bells with some of you.

Cottonwool Colin is the smallest mouse in the mouse family. His brothers and sisters are all bigger, and his mum worries about Colin a lot. After a throwaway comment from Granny Mouse, Mother Mouse decides that the best way to protect Colin from the outside world is to wrap him up in cotton wool.

Poor Colin struggles on with his life until a revelatory series of events show Colin, and his mum, that being wrapped up in cotton wool will only get you so far.

It's such a simple idea but so beautifully executed by Willis and Ross. Superb reading and Ross' trademark scratchy colourful drawings really help to bring the simple tale to life.

Charlotte's best bit - Colin being mistaken for a snowball

Daddy's favourite bit - Poor Colin being mistaken for a meringue by a hungry swan.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Stuck

2011-12-08T12:20:00.001Z

A new Oliver Jeffers book? Sign us up! We love Oliver Jeffers' superb art and simple eye for a good story that's wrapped around a (usually) surreal central theme.

A boy loses his kite in a tree one day, and rather than do what any normal person would do, the boy proceeds to find as many objects as he can to throw at the kite to dislodge it.

If you remember the nursery rhyme "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" you'll see what Jeffers has done here, but it's so beautifully presented, utterly ridiculous and charmingly done that you'll forgive him a bit of creative thieving.

An excellent addition to Jeffers' near-legendary output. Simple but beautifully effective.

Charlotte's best bit - The inquisitive whale

Daddy's favourite bit - The house across the road

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

The Usborne Book of Christmas Art Ideas

2011-12-08T12:12:00.001Z

It might've just slipped your notice that Christmas is coming and the month of December seems to have gone into hyperdrive, swinging towards that day when all children wake up at 3am wondering if Santa has been.

Taking a look at a few seasonal books over the last few weeks, one stuck out as a particularly valuable resource - particularly when you're trying to think of interesting Christmassy makes for your children to make then send to family and friends.

The Usborne Book of Christmas Art Ideas by Fiona Watt is chock full of really simple but beautifully effective ideas for christmas decorations, wrapping paper, or fun festive pictures. Each idea is clearly illustrated and the list of required items can mostly be found around the house (if your house is anything like ours, and seems to be bursting at the seams with glitter glue, PVA and odd scraps of coloured paper).

We've made quite a few items from the book already, and it's a clear winner with Charlotte. I'm quite looking forward to doing the massive Snowman montage finger painting.

Charlotte's best bit - The crazy santas made from torn up coloured paper and newspaper

Daddy's favourite bit - The simple but effective christmas lanterns

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week

All I Want For Christmas...is Books!

2011-12-02T10:20:00.001Z

When we asked Charlotte what books she'd like for Christmas, she came up with a list of various books - some with a christmas theme, and some without.

Here's the top ten books on Charlotte's christmas list. She probably won't get them all, but you never know what Santa might pull out of his sack.

In no particular order:

10) The Art of Pixar - 25 years of Animation (Chronicle Books)

A fantastic book rounding up the last 25 years of Pixar animation, and containing plenty of artwork and scripts from some of Charlotte's favourite films. Glossy and beautifully presented, this would probably be quite high up my present list too.

9) Aliens Love Panta Claus (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Claire Friedman and Ben Cort's "Aliens / Underpants" series are always popular, and this is fantastic. Aliens don't steal underpants at Christmas, they give them away and enlist the help of Panta Claus to make sure everyone has a nice snug warm pair of briefs in their christmas stocking.

8) The Illustrated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Pop Up Book (Puffin Books)

Roald Dahl's timeless classic, in conjunction with Quentin Blake's fabulous scratchy drawings bring Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to life in a whole new way. A gorgeous and luxurious hard backed pop-up book that the whole family can enjoy. Forget the movies, this is the definitive way to enjoy the sweetest, tastiest, yumscrumptious children's book ever written

7) Barefoot Books World Atlas (Barefoot Books)

A beautifully illustrated educational atlas presented in the trademark Barefoot Books way, with so much to look at and absorb it deserves to become a definitive children's resource. Nick Crane and David Dean have gone to town producing something that has fold-out maps, tons of information on each continent and country, and plenty of activity ideas to fire up your child's imagination. Absolutely perfect.

6) Goodbye Mog (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Given the choice between the various Mog books Charlotte doesn't already own, she chose Goodbye Mog. An odd choice, a book beautifully written and illustrated by Judith Kerr that deals with one of the most difficult subjects a parent has to tackle, the death of a loved one. As with all Kerr's books, it's timeless and wonderful and deserves to be read again and again.

5) Richard Scarry's Best Christmas Ever (Sterling Books)

Richard Scarry's fantastic anthropomorphised animals have set the standard for donkeys years for cute cuddly animals doing the things we humans love to do - including celebrating Christmas! Enjoyed for generations, Richard Scarry's Best Christmas Book Ever is back in print, and the colourful panels and illustrations are full to the brim with detail. Absolutely every childhood memory you have of a perfect christmas is jam-packed into this book. A must-buy

4) Tangled - Storybook and CD (Parragon Publishing)

Disney's latest animated feature, and newest addition to their Princesses, is a massive hit with Charlotte and there are a ton of books based on Rapunzel available this christmas (as well as dolls, hairbrushes, Barbies and a whole lot more. We chose the Tangled CD and Story Book as it follows the movie more closely than some of the other available books. Illustrations and panels from the movie compliment a simplified abridged version of the Rapunzel story. Movie sound effects and music are used to good effect on the accompanying CD too.

3) Usborne Illustrated Fairy Tales (Usborne Children's Books)

Probably one of the best anthology collections of classic children's fairy tales. This big thick luxurious hardbacked volume is one that children can come back to again and again at any time of the year, not just Christmas. Though Disney might lay claim to a lot of the characters and stories you'll find in this book, these are the original tales and are beautifully illustrated without a lot of that Disney cuteness tacked in.

2) The Strictly Annual 2012 (BBC Books)

Oh dear, how did this get in here! Two things rule the roost at home at the moment - Strictly and Take That (I blame CanIWalkMummy entirely!). Saturday and sunday evening are entirely consumed by Strictly fever (Charlotte wants Jason to win, but I think CanIWalkMummy is voting for Harry). The Official Strictly Come Dancing 2012 annual is a glossy, glitzy catch-up with the stars and professionals from the 2011 series. If you just cannot get enough Strictly, keep dancing down to the shops to pick up a copy of this

1) A Dose of Dr Dog (Red Fox Picture Books)

Without a doubt, one of the biggest "hits" of the year with Charlotte was Babette Cole's Dr Dog. Here's a little more Dr Dog as our favourite medical canine looks into all sorts of cures and potions to test out on the hapless Gumboyle family. Dr Dog was so popular I think it has spent more time at home than in the library this year, so this quite rightly goes straight to the top of Charlotte's "wanted" list.

Time to dig out the moth eaten wallet and see how many of these we can grab. Of course, if any publishers are reading - with promotional copies just sitting there gathering dust.... :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from ReadItDaddy, Charlotte and CanIWalkMummy

We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog

2011-12-01T14:37:00.001Z

I have this little girl, Charlotte. She's small and very funny - and seems to be slightly obsessed with Charlie and Lola. In "We honestly can look after your dog" Lola takes centre stage as usual, and aided and abetted by her best friend Lotta, offers to help look after Sizzles.

Those of you who've seen the TV programme will probably know that Sizzles is the cute and rather clever (and extremely hungry) sausage dog belonging to Marv, Charlie's best friend. While Charlie and Marv have a game of football, Lotta and Lola look after Sizzles (poor Sizzles ends up with a rather fetching bow on his head, and hair slides attached to his ears, owch!)

Needless to say, Lola can't quite look after Sizzles as well as she expected and when not one but TWO sizzles end up vying for her attention, things get out of hand.

Any of you with children who constantly clamour for pets might easily identify with the message in this book. With Lauren Child's superb art work and montages, it's a winner for fans of the show.

Charlotte's best bit - Sizzles' expression after being "made over" by Lotta and Lola

Daddy's favourite bit - Sizzles one and Sizzles two reacting differently to the "Sit" command.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Captain Gamma - Mission to Mars

2011-12-01T14:30:00.001Z

Coming across like a slightly more bullish and mean version of Buzz Lightyear, Captain Gamma is the first human to set foot on mars. Claiming it for earth, Captain Gamma doesn't realise that he might not be alone up there.

An amusing little tale that makes you wonder how we'd react to meeting an alien species for the first time. Captain Gamma's bullish and rather greedy ways are soon put in check when he meets his match in a pint-sized blue alien who doesn't take too kindly to being captured for display in an earth zoo.

Charlotte had previously seen this book at her preschool and jumped at the chance to grab it from the library and it is an excellent book for kids obsessed with all things spacey.

Charlotte's best bit - The alien's blue bottom sticking out from behind a rock while playing hide and seek

Daddy's favourite bit - Captain Gamma's comeuppance for his greedy and avaricious ways

Rating - 4 out of 5 (shooting) stars

Whoops! But it wasn't me!

2011-11-15T08:20:00.001Z

Charlie and Lola are two of Cbeebies' best loved characters and it's easy to see why children readily identify with this brother and sister duo.

"Whoops! But it wasn't me" tells the story of Charlie's new rocket model. He's spent days making it, he's used three cereal boxes and 127 sweet wrapper. It's very fragile! But can Lola resist playing with it when Charlie's not looking?

A sweet little book and made all the better by the appearance of the legendary Soren Lorensen (who is pretty much the REAL star of Charlie and Lola - Lola's imaginary friend that only she can see).

Sometimes though, you've got to wonder how many hours she's going to spend in therapy in later life... :)

Charlotte's best bit - Little Unhappy Elephant

Daddy's favourite bit - The fact that Soren Lorenson is like the little red devil sitting on Lola's shoulder, urging her to do bad things.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

The Highway Rat

2011-11-15T08:12:00.001Z

A new Julia Donaldson / Axel Scheffler book is pretty much a gigantic event in children's publishing. They are consistently good, pretty much an unbeatable team. The Highway Rat is no exception, using Julia Donaldson's trademark rhyming couplets to tell the story of a nasty, mean and very hungry rat. Like a miniature food-obsessed Dick Turpin, this rat has a bit of a sweet tooth but doesn't care what he steals from the hapless animal characters who make their way along the road he travels.

The rat steals clover from rabbits, nuts from squirrels, even leaves from ants. But it takes a brave and rather smart duck to outwit this yellow-toothed hooligan.

As ever, it's a seemingly simple tale turned into a cross between a morals lesson and an entertaining story, and though there's a jarring about-face at the end of the book (you'll see what I mean), it's still worthy of our book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit - Gruffalo Biscuits!

Daddy's favourite bit - Great animal characters from Axel Scheffler

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars, book of the week.

The Hill and the Rock

2011-11-07T08:56:00.005Z

We've raved about David McKee on ReadItDaddy before (in fact it's still extremely difficult for Charlotte NOT to bring "Not Now Bernard" home every single week from the library). The genius behind well loved children's characters from my era (Mr Benn, King Rollo) to my daughter's (Elmer, Two Can Toucan) can usually be relied upon for excellent books filled with life lessons and moral tales.

The Hill and the Rock is no exception. It tells the story of a couple with a very desirable residence, a lovely cottage at the top of the only hill in the region. It's perfect - apart from one thing. A rather large rock that partially obscures the view from the kitchen window.

After several rather persuasive arguments with his wife (Nagging? Who mentioned nagging?) the man of the house decides to do something about the rock.

Unfortunately for the couple, it's all downhill from there. Quite literally.

It's fantastical nonsense weaved into a compelling story in David McKee's trademark "70's trip-out" style. I love his character drawings (and I love the fact that Mr Benn-type characters seem to pop up in cameo appearances in most of his books dealing with human characters), love the daft premise of this book and Charlotte might well have a new favourite to displace Not Now Bernard as her favourite McKee book of all time.

Charlotte's best bit: The house sinking

Daddy's favourite bit: That sneaky appearance by a bowler-hat-wearing pinstripe-suited businessman type. Who probably dresses as a Knight or an Astronaut at weekends

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week

I Want a Friend!

2011-11-07T08:46:00.003Z

The Little Princess is back in another book from Tony Ross' superb series. It's the Little Princess's first day at school, and now her little brother no longer wants to play with her, our titular hero is feeling a bit glum.

Snobby kids at school don't want to play with her either, and soon the Little Princess wonders if she'll ever find any friends at all.

Luckily she's not the only one in the same boat.

A great book, particularly if your children are off to school for the first time and are more than a little apprehensive. As ever, Tony Ross' skills are in telling a story using a familiar character dealing with unfamiliar situations, setting children instantly at ease by showing that the big bad world isn't quite as big and bad as it first appears.

Charlotte's best bit: The Princess making lots of new friends without knowing it

Daddy's favourite bit: The subtlety of TLP not actually letting on she's a princess at school. Very clever that.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Does the Queen wear her Crown in Bed?

2011-10-28T16:38:00.002+01:00

When Charlotte visited Buckingham Palace recently with CanIWalkMummy and CanIWalkMummy's Mummy, she was bought this rather glossy and fantastic book all about The Queen.

It's filled with lots of questions young children put to the queen, either in letters or directly and has been written and illustrated in conjunction with the approval of Her Majesty.

A friendly footman shows two children around Buckingham Palace, and shows insights into the Queen's life from a child's perspective. The two characters in the book are inquisitive and love exploring the palace and hearing all about the fascinating facts surrounding our monarch.

When I was a child, the Ladybird books on royalty were the be all and end all, but books like "Does the Queen Wear Her Crown in Bed" update the core ideas of giving us "common folk" an insight into royal life in a more contemporary and accessible way.

This book is available via the internet, or from any Royal Souvenir shops.

Charlotte's best bit - Reading about the Corgis

Daddy's favourite bit - N/A

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Harriet Dancing

2011-10-28T16:21:00.004+01:00

Harriet the Hedgehog is a joyful little soul. On her way to visit her best friend, she is so happy that she starts to dance. Spotting some butterflies she wants to join them in their dance but the butterflies are mean, and don't want to dance with a silly little hedgehog.

This is a lovely heart-warming tale of how Harriet manages to convince those mean butterflies to change their mind. Infectious characters, simple but effective illustrations and a nice moral lesson for children are all wrapped up in this stylish little book.

Charlotte's best bit - Harriet covered in flowers.

Daddy's favourite bit - The mean butterflies changing their mind.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland

2011-10-28T16:14:00.003+01:00

This book is about as girly as it gets, which is fortunate as Charlotte is a very girly girl. It's a bit like a fairy-filled version of the "Where's Wally?" books. Each page is filled with objects, and children must find (and count) all the listed things on the side panels of each page.

It's not as easy as it sounds (for adults like me at least, some of the pages are so exquisitely detailed that you could spend all day looking for 12 unicorns!) but it's pink, sweet and fluffy - a bit like a fairy marshmallow.

Charlotte's best bit - Finding the most complicated things

Daddy's favourite bit - N/A

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

Peg Leg

2011-10-28T16:08:00.000+01:00

Fulfilling my promise to pick up one or two 'proper reading' books for Charlotte in our weekly library visits, I grabbed Peg Leg from the Reading Corner Phonics series.

There are seemingly a million and one phonics-based books on the market, and so many to choose from that all seem to use different standards but the Reading Corner Phonics series use simple repetition, easy to understand words and fantastic illustrations to help your child to learn character and word recognition, as well as making them giggle with entertaining tales.

Peg Leg is a pirate (and what kid doesn't love pirates?) On a hunt to find treasure, Peg Leg press-gangs his cabin boy into digging up a sandy island looking for loot.

Peg Leg wants cash, but all Peg Leg seems to find is other people's rubbish. Does the wooden-limbed pirate get rich? Find out in this engaging early readers book from a very well established series.

Charlotte's best bit - The poor cabin boy making Peg Leg angrier and angrier

Daddy's favourite bit - Rather good use of repetition, memorable phrases throughout and of course an engaging subject for kids.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Goat and Donkey and the Noise Downstairs

2011-10-28T16:00:00.004+01:00

Goat and Donkey are best friends. Goat is rather nervous, but Donkey is super-brave. In this little tale we find out what happens when Goat hears a mysterious noise in the middle of the night. Is he brave enough to go and find his friend Donkey and investigate?

Goat sums up all his courage and does exactly that. The twist in the tale is lovely, but what makes this book rather special is the sumptuous colourful illustrations by Russell Julian. Goat and Donkey are great animal characters and children will be on the edge of their seats (or their beds) wondering what will happen at the turn of every page.

Lovely stuff.

Charlotte's best bit - Goat hiding under the covers

Daddy's favourite bit - Midnight feasts!

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

Oops!

2011-10-28T15:54:00.004+01:00

We've reviewed Colin McNaughton's excellent Preston Pig adventure "Suddenly..." here at ReadItDaddy. Here's another book in the series, and once again the Big Bad Wolf would like nothing better than to make a nice bacon sandwich out of our witless hero, Preston Pig (who is always renamed "Merlin the Happy Pig" by Charlotte for some unknown reason).

Preston has been rather naughty at home, breaking a precious piece of his mum's china, so he's sent on an errand to visit his poorly grandmother with some goodies.

The tale takes a rather familiar twist, and even the hapless wolf tries to remember where he's heard of a story where someone wearing a red hood goes to visit their grandmother with a basket of goodies - and of course what happens in the end.

If only wolves had better memories eh? Oops!

Charlotte's best bit - Preston's Grandmother Pig

Daddy's favourite bit - Sly stealing of a classic story and turning it into something hilarious.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears

2011-10-28T15:49:00.000+01:00

Here's a very odd children's book. Can you imagine all the things a mouse might be afraid of? No? Well here's a handy pre-chewed reference book that not only has a really unique layout and set of illustrations (with a very mousey feel throughout), but a book that teaches children the long and convoluted names of various phobias.

Musophobics (those scared of mice, not music!) might not like the rodentine flavour of this tome but it's sparklingly original, very informative and quite fun when you watch your children trying to wrap their tongues around the various words within.

Charlotte's best bit - The rather neat Dog / Cat monster

Daddy's favourite bit - Lovely scratchy, scritchy ink artwork by Emily Gravett

Rating - 3 out of 5

(Please note - Publishers - Amazon seem to have removed publisher details from many of their book listings. Campaign to get them put back on!)

YUCK! That's not a monster!

2011-10-28T15:41:00.002+01:00

I have it on good authority from my beautiful and wise other half that I have been neglecting my blogging duties. Work has got in the way once again but now I've got 5 minutes free and a full cup of coffee for my afternoon break, I'll dive back into our recent stack of books from the library and resume reviewing duties.

"Yuck! That's not a monster" is a delicious little book full of, well, monsters obviously - but one monster in particular is a little different from the rest. When Mr and Mrs Monster have a clutch of three eggs, two hatch into nasty spiky little beasties but one contains a rather sweet, fluffy little creature the proud parents name "Shock!"

Shock is shy, shock doesn't like stamping on worms or scaring people like his brother and sister. In fact his brother and sister have to tow him around in a cart with a tarpaulin over him to save their embarrassment at having such a wet and weedy little brother.

However Shock gets the chance to prove himself. How? Well obviously you'll have to read the book but it's rather sweet and funny with some cracking illustrations courtesy of Alison Edgeson.

Charlotte's best bit - Shock is a bit soppy, let's put it that way!

Daddy's favourite bit - Parenting tips, monster style. Breathe stinky breath on your kids and then wail to them!

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Mike the Knight coming soon to CBeebies

2011-10-20T10:01:00.001+01:00

Coming soon to CBeebies is a new adventure series from the makers of Bob the Builder, HiT Entertainment.

Mike the Knight is a CGI animated series all about the adventures of a young lad who just happens to be a medieval knight, living in the mythical land of Glendragon. Mixing dragons, sorcery and plenty of knightly antics with a whole host of interesting new characters, we were fortunate enough to take a look at three episodes of the series ahead of broadcast beginning on Halloween (Monday, October 31st 2011).

The main characters in the series are:

Mike - The young man in question and a brave soul able to throw himself into any task, but often needing a little help from his friends

Evie - Mike's sister, a little girl with a touch of magic about her. Evie often helps Mike in his adventures.

Galahad - Mike's trusty horse

Fernando - The hispanic bard, always on hand to provide a tinkling tune or sage rhyme or two.

Queen Martha - Mike's mum, who offers timely advice (and a cuddle where needed!)

Sparkie and Squirt - Mike's trusty dragons, one breathes fire and the other breathes water.

The animation on the show is top notch, as you'd expect from a HiT Entertainment show. Charlotte's favourite character was Evie (naturally, good to have a girl-friendly character in a series that you'd imagine was aimed squarely at boys - but actually has a fairly universal appeal). We rather liked the various gadgets and of course the "Big Book for Little Knights" which gets Mike out of trouble on several occasions.

The only minus point was the theme tune (argh, my ears!) but you can bet by christmas you'll be hearing children up and down the land saying "Be a Knight, Do it Right!" as this looks set to become an extremely popular addition to the CBeebies programme schedule.

Keep a keen eye out for Mike the Knight and the Smiley Treasure, the first episode airing on October 31st and the other 9 episodes following on Tuesday November 1st, Thursday November 3rd and thereafter.

Now all HiT need to do is get the Mike the Knight merchandise in the shops before christmas, as a toy line based on this show would definitely end up at the top of most children's christmas lists.

Charlotte's best bit - Evie and her spellcasting and she also loves Mike's Mum, the Queen

Daddy's favourite bit - Loved the animation on the titles (cardboard cut-out style backgrounds and lots of medieval styling) but noooo not the theme song.

Find out more at http://www.miketheknightonline.com/about/

(PS - Site owners, you need to fix your broken link to the 'Characters' section)

Dr Dog

2011-10-20T09:06:00.003+01:00

Feeling poorly? Nasty cough and cold? Then you need Dr Dog, the canine medical expert and the star of our book of the week this week. Dr Dog belongs to the Gumboyle Family, an unhealthy (and pretty gross) bunch who send for the poor pooch while he's on a lecture tour of Brazil.

Dr Dog soon gets down to the grubby business of curing the family's various ailments in hilarious style. Grandad's wind, Kurt's illicit bike-shed smoking and Baby's absolutely disgusting habits are all tackled in good stead by Dr Dog.

Babette Cole's book is a mixture of fantastic wobbly cartoon drawings, true facts (rather gross true facts, it's fair to say) about the human body and all the horrible things an unhealthy family do to it. Like all children's books that err on the side of being slightly unpalatable, this has been a massive hit with Charlotte - so much so that the other 7 books we got from the library have been swept aside in favour of reading and re-reading this little gem. Deservedly our book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit - Grandad farting the house down (!)

Daddy's favourite bit - Dr Dog's cure for his own stress.

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars - Book of the Week!

Old Tree Stump

2011-10-14T14:34:00.003+01:00

The Oxford University Press "Reading Tree" series of books are used in schools for early readers and are published in "skill sets", grouped by a child's reading age.

Old Tree Stump is a contemporary spin on the classic "Giant Turnip" children's story. In this book, a young lad tries to help his dad move a bothersome tree stump from the back garden. It's too big a task for the pair of them, so they enlist the help of various characters from their neighbourhood.

Like most of the Reading Tree books, Old Tree Stump contains repetition and plenty of easy to identify / easy to read words for young readers. Great illustrations help young readers along with their reading efforts. They're a great series of books and should definitely find their way into your child's library if they fancy getting a head start before starting school.

Charlotte's best bit: The end of the story and what happens to the stump!

Daddy's favourite bit: The same.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Barefoot Books Studio, Twining House, Summertown

2011-10-10T10:07:00.002+01:00

As promised, Charlotte, Mummy and I dropped by the Barefoot Books launch weekend for their new studio space in Twining House, Summertown (it's about the prettiest building in Summertown, and harks back to the turn of the 20th Century).

If you've been wondering what those mysterious footprints are that have been springing up on Summertown's pavements, wonder no more. Though the studio has been open for a week or two as a 'soft launch', the opening weekend marks the studio going fully operational in grand style.

Stepping through the doors, Charlotte's face lit up as you're instantly plunged into an amazing environment packed with interesting colourful decoration, and of course lots and lots of Barefoot Books (don't worry, you aren't required to take your shoes off but I guess you can if you really feel the need). The inside space is on two levels. On ground level you have the Barefoot Books shop, the amazing Barefoot Cafe, and lots of cosy little corners and areas for a bit of spontaneous book reading (we sat down to read "Shopping with Dad" and were a bit surprised to be filmed / photographed, but didn't really mind). Charlotte was most taken by the huge throne in the corner of the room. I get the feeling that throne is going to be fought over by lots of children who visit the space.

The Barefoot Cafe sold some extremely yummy looking cakes, excellent coffee and various meals tailored for adults and children from locally sourced organic ingredients.

The studio's upper level contains another story and activity space, and the swish Oxford offices of Barefoot Publishing (somewhere I'd give my right arm to work, such an amazing looking office space!). The glass front means that you can curiously peer at the extremely busy folk. They don't mind, honestly.

Our incognito ReadItDaddy visit didn't last long - we were recognised as we browsed the store but it was lovely to meet Trude and get some more background information on the launch and the future plans for the studio (we'll be covering some of the events coming up in a very packed Barefoot Books calendar).

After a bit more browsing and a timely purchase of the excellent Yoga Pretzels cards (Charlotte is an absolute Yoga diva!) we left feeling like it'd definitely be somewhere we'd be coming back to frequently.

Charlotte's best bits - The throne in story corner, the superb mobiles and the wonderful world map at the back of the store

Daddy's favourite bits - The amazing looking studio space, the yummy looking cakes on sale at the cafe, and the intense aroma of that coffee.

Mummy's favourite bits - The mobiles and the amazing world map.

Barefoot Books Official Launch Weekend

2011-10-07T12:24:00.001+01:00

It's all go down at Barefoot Books new studio on Banbury Road, Oxford. Though Barefoot have already moved into the snazzy building (see my previous post) that used to be the old Grocery Store, this weekend marks the official launch of Barefoot Books new studio with a party tonight, and an official family friendly open weekend this weekend.

The place looks utterly fantastic (I pass the studio on my way to pick up my daughter from nursery) and Barefoot seem to have settled in to their new home nicely.

Check out the Barefoot Books Blog for more information on the launch weekend, and more photos from the Studio.

http://blog.barefootbooks.com/?s=oxford

We'll be dropping in tomorrow around 11 am to give it the ReadItDaddy once over so look out for us!

The Queen, the Mice and the Cheese

2011-10-06T16:23:00.003+01:00

Learning to read must be one of the most daunting things a youngster has to take on. So much to learn, so much to remember and the increasing pressure on youngsters to learn to read at earlier and earlier ages makes the whole thing 100% harder. Doubly so if you're a parent who wants to give their child the right start with reading on their own.

There are so many early reader books out there, and this week we went back to basics with our Library choices, selecting 4 books that are designated early reader books, and 4 books I can read to Charlotte.

First in the pile of early reader books was "The Queen, The Mice and the Cheese" by Carrie Weston. Described as a "Blue Level 2 Reading Corner" book (with an extremely complex stage diagram to explain exactly what that means), it's actually a fairly humorous and comic take on a classic fable.

The cheese loving queen of the land has a mouse problem. Her love of cheese has brought the nation's mice to her door and in a desperate bid to get rid of the mice, the queen consults her trusted aides to help her. They suggest cats, lots of cats which succeed in getting rid of the mice. But who will get rid of the cats? Hilarity ensues as the whole book describes the houseproud queen and her attempts to remove her unwanted animal guests with a neat little circular twist in the tale at the end.

For early readers, text is well laid out, repetition is used to reinforce the words used in the book, and the clear comic illustrations help to give children something to help them memorise the words, the characters and the plot.

If your child is truly right at the beginning of their reading life then it's best to start off with something far simpler than this, but if they're advanced enough to recognise letters and words, this is a short and sweet little book that is interesting enough for them to want to visit and revisit.

Charlotte's best bit - The lazy cats

Daddy's favourite bit - Trying to imagine the pong in the queen's cheese-infested palace

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Crispin, the Pig who Had it All

2011-09-30T15:25:00.005+01:00

Crispin is a bit of a spoilt brat, truth be told. Every week he gets a huge wad of pocket money from his dad, and every christmas and birthday he gets present after present after present. Usually his toys end up folorn and broken, until one Christmas, Santa leaves Crispin a rather unusual present. A huge empty box.

Upset and annoyed, Crispin goes on a voyage of discovery learning that his imagination and his friends are worth more than a Teddybot 6000 or a PigStation with all the games.

A fantastic book that serves up a morality tale without shoving it too hard down your throat, Crispin: The Pig who had it all is fantastically written and beautifully illustrated (in fact you could read and re-read this again for all the tiny little details Wilson Gage puts into his beautiful painted panels in this book).

Deservedly our book of the week and thoroughly recommended.

Charlotte's best bit - The sad fate of Crispin's box in the rain, aww.

Daddy's favourite bit - The rather fetching costume Mrs Pig wears to do her aerobics in. Buns of steel!

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars, book of the week

Cactus Annie

2011-09-30T15:17:00.002+01:00

First days at school are stressful enough (we've got that to look forward to next year!) but when you're enrolling at Cowgirl School and you don't know your lasso from your saddle pommel, you're in serious trouble.

Cactus Annie struggles to fit in with her class of talented cowgirl classmates, and ends up running away. Only to find that in a crunch, she's actually the rootin' tootin' cowgirl she'd always dreamed of being. Foiling the plans of a bunch of dastardly rats, Cactus Annie wins the day.

This charming and idyllic view of the wild wild west is deliciously presented by Melanie Williamson. Great characters, great baddies (c'mon, every children's book needs a great set of baddies!) and a nice satisfying end to a cute little tale that should win the hearts of little girls (and little boys) everywhere. Hooray for Cactus Annie!

Charlotte's favourite bit - The nasty rats and their cheese-making machine

Daddy's favourite bit - That machine, it's a work of Heath-Robinson-esque genius

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Teatime in Space

2011-09-29T14:38:00.002+01:00

After 2 weeks in a self-inflicted tech blackout (avoiding all things computery is blissful if you manage to do so for even a few days!) ReadItDaddy is back with a whole stack of new books to sort through, and new reviews to publish. So let's kick off with 'Teatime in Space' by Caroline Castle.

Pete is an ordinary everyday kid but one day Pete's ordinary everyday life is turned upside down by the arrival of an alien spacecraft in his back garden. Its sole occupant needs help, and Pete bravely steps in to fix the broken spaceship - inadvertently landing himself in all sorts of hot water at the same time.

'Teatime in Space' is simple non-taxing stuff, beautifully illustrated and would make an excellent early reader when your children advance past the 'Here is spot. here is a ball' type stuff. Any child fanatical about aliens, space or spaceships should find plenty to giggle at, and Pete's a very easy character for kids to identify with.

Charlotte's best bit: The strange shaped cutlery on the alien planet

Daddy's favourite bit: Odd alien food

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Barefoot Books moves into Summertown

2011-09-09T08:28:00.000+01:00

Back in 1905, the beautiful building on the right of this photograph of Summertown was the Twinings Grocery Shop. Now it's about to become the latest "must visit" destination for anyone interested in children's books.

Barefoot Books have set up an interesting mixture of shop, Storybook Cafe and events space in this fantastic location. The aim is to provide the feeling of stepping into a story book when you walk through the door.

The Storybook Cafe will be run by Michelin-trained chef Vladmir Niza (who previously worked at Raymond Blanc's cookery schools and also Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons). As well as plenty of treats for your tummy, there are books, books and more books (we've already enjoyed plenty of Barefoot Books' range including "I Dreamt I was a Dinosaur" by Clare Beaton and Stella Blackstone).

The new studio will stay true to Barefoot Books' philosophy of producing fantastic books for children that break away from the all-too-familiar commercialisation and branding that seems to be increasingly pushed at kids from an early age.

An Open Weekend will take place on October 8th and 8th 2011.

For more information on this exciting new venue, visit http://www.barefootbooks.com

The Barefoot Books Studio is at Twining House 294 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED

Opening hours are 8.30am to 5.30pm, 7 days, with late nights on Wednesdays to 8.30pm.

See you there!

Small Potatoes - The Album

2011-09-08T09:40:00.003+01:00

A while ago, I remember making a comment on a CBeebies interview with Josh Selig, the creative brain behind Little Airplane Productions and CBeebies hits "3rd and Bird" & "Small Potatoes" that it was a shame the soundtracks for both shows weren't available.

Lo and behold, what dropped through my letterbox the other day? The Small Potatoes album - and it's been riveted into Charlotte's CD player ever since.

Available for preorder now on iTunes for £1.79 (£5.99 later) and released on the 13th September 2011, the album has 12 tracks taken from the hit show.

Oddly, the 'Small Potatoes' theme tune isn't here. Probably because it's fairly short, but it would've been a neat addition in my opinion. What you do get though are recognisable songs such as 'Imagination' and 'This is my Family', which are great little singalong songs.

The talented spuds, Ruby (the Diva), Nate (the artist), Olaf (the caretaker) and Chip (the cheeky little scamp and the smallest potato of all) sing their hearts out and if you're familiar with the show you'll know to expect tuneful child-friendly stuff (that will drive most parents quietly mad if this is demanded on long car journeys).

The best way to describe the album is "short and sweet" but hopefully it'll sell well enough to prompt another volume, or even a full '3rd and Bird' album from the same folk.

A must-have for fans of the show (and there are a lot of you out there judging by how high up the 'favourites' list episodes of "Small Potatoes" feature on the BBC's iPlayer) so get those preorders in to snap up a bargain.

Charlotte's best bit: I Just Want to be Me

Daddy's favourite bit: Small Potatoes Mash Up

Rating: 4 out of 5

(This item was sent to us for review)

Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe

2011-09-06T14:32:00.004+01:00

There's real trouble in store down at the Dinosaur Cafe. Big bully Tyrannosaurus has dropped in for tea, and he's only got one thing on his mind. Meat. Mainly Dinosaur meat. Not great news for the rest of the peaceful veggie dinosaurs who just want to get on with their swamp pies, milkshakes and salads.

There's only one thing for it, call on Triceratops - the trouble-shooting tough guy who will wade into any situation and kick some serious dino butt!

Brian Moses / Garry Parsons take a 50s kitsch diner, give it a dino slant and weave a rhyming tale of giving a big noisy (and smelly) bully what for. The bold artwork is lovely, the text is entertaining and it made Charlotte giggle a lot. Thumbs up!

Charlotte's best bit: Flicking between the front inside picture, and the back inside picture in this book (Clean, dirty, clean, dirty!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The Dino Elvis picture on the diner wall. Uh huh huh!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Meet the team

2011-09-05T07:51:00.001+01:00

Welcome to all the new readers directed here from the excellent Abingdon Blog. We recently met the blogger chap for the first time, doing good deeds in Abingdown Town Centre for the Heritage weekend. Dressed in our weekend scruffies, he took a photo of us to put on the blog:

So that's "Can I Walk Mummy" and the terrible twosome behind "ReadItDaddy" (I'm the far less hairy one). As usual Charlotte is doing her diva thing of never looking directly at the camera (we think she's got a bright career ahead of her in fashion photography).

Many thanks to The Abingdon Blogger for the links and a good natter.

There are cats in this book!

2011-09-02T16:42:00.002+01:00

There most certainly are. Cats in this book I mean. And how. This playful and mischievous little tome captures the essence of moggy-dom perfectly and it's blindingly obvious that not only does Viviane Schwarz know exactly how cats behave, she knows exactly how busy and fidgety little toddlers behave around cats.

Full of interesting and cool page layouts, lift-the-flap sections and boxouts to the previous or next pages, it's an absolute masterpiece of design never forgetting its target audience.

Charlotte couldn't wait to go right back to the start and begin again once we'd finished. About ten times. So with that, it's a 5 star book of the week!

Charlotte's best bit: 'Throwing wool' at the cats

Daddy's favourite bit: Moonpie. Just too cute!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week

Day of the Diesels - The Movie Story Book and Sticker Activity Book

2011-09-02T14:20:00.002+01:00

Our triple-header of Thomas the Tank Engine reviews continues with the Day of the Diesels Movie Story Book. Released by Egmont Books as an accompaniment to the Day of the Diesels DVD / Blu Ray, the book uses stills from the movie and illustrations to weave the tale of Steamies vs Diesels, and how friendships are worth fighting for through thick and thin.

As with Egmont's other glossy softcover books, this is a fantastic book at an attractive price which is a great addition to any Thomas fan's library.

Also from Egmont:

Yep that's right, there's also a sticker activity book to go with the film - chock full of stickers, colouring challenges, puzzle games and lots of glossy backgrounds and illustrations to stick that bumper bunch of stickers on. Nice to see that handy page number guides are given with the sticker sheets (why oh why more publishers don't think to do this is beyond me) though as with most sticker books, a way of liberating the sticker sheets from the book without damaging / ruining it would've been nice (perforated lines on the sticker sheets that go under a book's staples perhaps?)

All in all though, both books are of extremely high quality.

Here's a couple of Amazon links to both:

(These items were sent to us for review)

Day of the Diesels (Blu Ray / DVD)

2011-08-30T13:58:00.000+01:00

ReadItDaddy temporarily switches over to WatchItWithDaddy for a moment or two. Thanks to the good folks at HiT Entertainment, we've been given a preview copy of Thomas the Tank Engine's latest movie - Day of the Diesels - to review.

Charlotte has been a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine for quite a while, mostly because she's inherited a lot of her uncle's "Railway Series" books and has seen a few episodes of the HiT Entertainment "Thomas and Friends" series airing on Channel 5's "Milkshake" segment.

Those who remember the cute Thomas stop-motion stuff from the 1980s may already know that Thomas and the Island of Sodor are all now rendered in CGI. What's important though is that this hasn't changed a thing - the little engine and the rest of the characters are as great as ever they were.

"Day of the Diesels" introduces us to some new characters that viewers of the TV show won't have seen before. There's Belle, a fantastic engine who can fight fires along with her friend Flynn, a rail-going fire engine as happy on the road as he is on the tracks.

Then there are the diesels. They're dirty, they're rude and if truth be told, they're more than a little bit devious.

Without spoiling the movie too much, Day of the Diesels is more about Percy the little engine than it is about his best friend Thomas. In fact Thomas plays second fiddle to most of the characters in this movie but there's a good reason, as the movie weaves quite a purposeful tale of friendship, misunderstanding and what can happen if you fall in with a bad crowd.

Diesel 10 - the silver-tongued (and slightly sinister) main miscreant in "Day of the Diesels" takes Percy under his wing. But is his friendship genuine, or does Diesel 10 have a rather sinister ulterior motive...?

Any engine with a gigantic claw on its roof can't be trustworthy, surely?

The film runs for just over an hour and despite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, managed to keep Charlotte rivetted to the spot. She found some of the diesels a little bit scary (as I said, the main 'baddie' having a huge snapping claw on his roof was a bit scarier than the average TV episode) but thoroughly enjoyed the movie and wanted it straight back on again for a second viewing as soon as the end credits rolled.

The bonuses on the Blu Ray (and DVD versions) were excellent too. Simple animated sequences to show exactly how Steamies and Diesels both work. There are also "guess the character" games, and two of the very catchy songs from the movie are also available with full sing-along lyrics.

The movie will be released on DVD and Blu Ray on September 26th, 2011 - Here's an Amazon link.

Thomas & Friends - Day of the Diesels [DVD] [2011]

Charlotte's best bit - Belle the brave fire-fighting engine

Daddy's favourite bit - The Diesels going absolutely loopy at the Steamworks

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

(This item was sent to us for review)

Zog

2011-08-23T07:51:00.000+01:00

Now this book is an oddity. Charlotte usually heartily approves of just about anything that the sublime team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler turn out. But this book? Barely registered on the Charlotte Richter Scale - so what's wrong with it?

Zog is a young dragon, enrolled in Dragon School and learning about all the things that dragons need to know to set them up in life. Breathing fire instead of snow, flying loop the loops and kidnapping princesses from castles.

Zog's a bit of a clumsy chap, but with the aid (and extensive medical knowledge) of a young girl, he soars to the top of the class and comes out with top honours.

I've tried to put my finger on why this doesn't float Charlotte's boat (or mine, for that matter). Perhaps it's a little bit too much like other Donaldson / Scheffler books. Perhaps the rhyming text isn't quite as tight or as memorable as in books like The Gruffalo or even Tiddler. But this book swiftly sank straight to the bottom of our library haul this week which seems a shame because it looked like it could be extremely entertaining.

Charlotte's best bit: Dragons breathing snow instead of fire

Daddy's favourite bit: The knight at the end. Tell me he doesn't have ulterior motives for shacking up with the medic princess!

Rating: A rather shocking and unexpected 2 out of 5

Can you see Sassoon?

2011-08-19T16:26:00.000+01:00

If your children are a bit too young for the "Where's Wally?" books, then "Can you see Sassoon?" might make a nice little substitute. Sassoon is a slinky, sneaky snake who likes to hide in pictures. In each panel he's sneakily tucked away amongst ordinary everyday objects, and your toddlers will enjoy trying to find his stripy body and peeping eyes each time.

Some great ideas in this book, though sometimes it's a bit teasingly unfair. Nevertheless, once your children learn where Sassoon is in each page, they'll enjoy it all the more.

Charlotte's best bit: Sassoon holding up a balloon

Daddy's favourite bit: Sneakily wrapped around a present

Rating: 2 out of 5

Kimberley's Scary Day

2011-08-19T16:19:00.001+01:00

Wolves are often cast as the 'bad guys' in children's stories, but foxes aren't far off the mark either. Sneaky, charming (in their own way) and often with a rumbling tummy, Kimberley's Scary Day shows what happens when a trusting (and rather silly) Guinea Pig named Kimberley falls for the charms and wiles of a fox in disguise.

It's a very short and sweet book, and there's a nice little cameo at the end that most children will delight at. Great artwork from Ross Collins (who knew that Guinea Pigs had iPods?) and a nice twist on a fairly familiar tale.

Charlotte's best bit: Foxy shadow on the wall

Daddy's favourite bit: Ross Collins' description of his love of fine Guinea Pig cuisine

Rating: 3 out of 5

Who's in the loo?

2011-08-19T15:50:00.000+01:00

There's a stage* that most toddlers / preschoolers reach where the funniest jokes in the world revolve around pooing and weeing. If your children have arrived at this stage, then here's a book that will have them rolling around on the floor giggling like lunatics.

"Who's in the Loo?" by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds is the tale of a couple of inquisitive children standing in a very long queue for the loo. Who is in there? And why are they taking so long? Cross your legs, wait a while and you'll find out right at the end of the book after first going through a funny rhyming story full of kid-friendly toilet gags.

*Yes alright I'll admit it, you never really grow out of this stage.

Charlotte's best bit: "Is it a Wombat who wanted a widdle?"

Daddy's favourite bit: The frozen penguin. Owch.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Suddenly...!

2011-08-18T14:03:00.000+01:00

Back home at Maybe Towers, we've got a bit of a problem. A pig, by the name of Merlin, a happy little fellow, is in constant demand by Charlotte. The big problem is that Merlin (the Happy Pig) exists only in my imagination and Charlotte often shouts "Read Merlin!" at inopportune moments. Reading Merlin usually means making something up on the spot, usually a story about Merlin getting his pocket money, buying loads of sweets, not brushing his teeth, getting toothache and then having to visit the dentist the next day.

So it comes as a joy to find that Colin McNaughton's "Preston Pig" books work quite nicely when I sneakily substitute the name Preston for the name Merlin.

So in "Suddenly" we see Preston, er I mean Merlin, going through his normal day. Unbeknownst to him he's being stalked by a rather large, rather scary and rather hungry wolf.

Preston..er Merlin is a lucky chap though and just as you think he's suddenly going to end up as a Wolf-sized entree, he manages to escape by the skin of his teeth.

Colin McNaughton's book is excellent and I look forward to reading more in the Preston Pig series - even if it means that I'll have to do more sneaky character substitution.

Charlotte's best bit - Preston (I mean Merlin) cuddling his mummy.

Daddy's favourite bit - The bully getting his rather nasty comeuppance half way through the book.

Rating: 5 out of 5 - Book of the week

Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Missing Treasure!

2011-08-16T14:52:00.000+01:00

Produce a kid's book with pirates in it and you're on to a sure fire winner. Produce a kid's book that has pirate DINOSAURS in it and it can't fail, surely?

Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs is the sequel to the original Captain Flinn book. In it, a busy and inquisitive boy named Flinn finds a secret cupboard at the back of a museum after a raid on the collection's famed pirate horde of gold coins.

On the way Flinn meets Grumbleguts, and leads his friends on a daring mission to recover the stolen booty, and defeat the awesome Gigantosaurus.

It's a fizzing, busy book full of neat little panels and drawings. The story's pretty standard fare but still worth a look. After all, it's not every day you get to combine two awesome forces like dinos and pirates, is it?

Charlotte's best bit: Grumbleguts the Pirate being covered in Ketchup

Daddy's favourite bit: The superb comic-style panel cutaway of the pirate ship at the end.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Perfect Prince

2011-08-16T08:22:00.000+01:00

Life's not easy when you're a Princess. The constant pressure of your parents trying to marry you off to Princes who are too fat, too skinny, too boring or too smelly. Definitely takes the shine off an otherwise perfect life.

Princess Isabella decides that this isn't the life for her, and in a twist on "The Princess and the Frog", strange and magical things happen when the regal lass snogs a warty pond-dweller on an afternoon walk.

A little too close for comfort to the Disney film "The Frog Princess" in some places, The Perfect Prince nevertheless manages to be a fun read with some wonderfully quirky artwork (I'd love to know where Sue Mason and other artists source all their weird photogravure clip art from. I can never find any by googling for the stuff, durn it!)

You'll see the twist at the end coming a mile off, but don't worry, it's a croaking good read all the same.

Charlotte's best bit: An odd toy floating in the castle moat (!)

Daddy's favourite bit: Froggy antics at the end of the book

Rating: 3 out of 5

Mine's bigger than yours!

2011-08-09T07:49:00.000+01:00

If there's one thing that makes me angrier than anything else as a parent, it's bullying. Even at preschool age, you can see the seeds of bullying growing in certain kids, who push the boundaries of what's acceptable behaviour, becoming pretty nasty little characters.

This book deals with the issues of bullying in a rather light hearted way, but the message is the same. Bullies tend to make a lot of noise and fuss, but the end result is usually the same even though it might not seem like it at the time.

In Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds' book, little monster is continually harassed by big monster for her lollipop. Big monster chases her all around monster island until she's had enough and hides. But there's a rather nasty surprise waiting for big monster - who gets his just desserts in the end.

Fair enough, you can't expect all bullies to meet the sticky end that big monster does in this book, but if your child is being bullied, even from an early age, do as much as you can about it and make as much fuss as you can - it just shouldn't be tolerated in any shape or form, even monster-shaped.

Charlotte's best bit - Little Monster climbing trees to escape

Daddy's favourite bit - the pay-off at the end.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Aaaarrggh! Spider!

2011-08-09T07:39:00.001+01:00

After a fantastic reading on the Cbeebies Lunchtime Hour by the gangly Andy, we knew we had to seek out Lydia Monks' "Aaaarrgghh! Spider!" for ourselves.

Having previously enjoyed the very similar "Eeek! Mouse!", we enjoyed this book for the same reasons. Great fun and colourful panels mixed with a humorous story about a poor lonely spider who just wants to be a family pet. Despite trying all sorts of tricks and impressive stunts to win the family over, the poor spider seems destined to spend its days being thrown out of the house (or washed out!)

Of course, everything turns out OK in the end. A great little book and fully deserving of its book of the week status.

Charlotte's best bit - "Look at me, watch me wash!"

Daddy's favourite bit - Look at the little girl's foot at the very end of the book. Oops!

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars

Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions (revisited)

2011-08-02T14:12:00.000+01:00

We originally reviewed "Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions" back in October last year. Like a lot of our local library's books, Charlotte often picks the same books out of the stacks again and again, and this book is no exception.

Since the original review, Charlotte has become less obsessed with "the doctor lady" and more obsessed with her furry sidekick Chip, a guinea pig (Charlotte loves guinea pigs more than baby rabbits now, and she also finds Chip's name quite amusing. "Is it because he eats a lot of chips?")

The story of the Professor's lazy and rather nasty assistant Enzo, his attempts to steal the Professor's magical potions, and of course the method by which Enzo gets his come-uppance is an excellent tale - competing easily with the other Korky Paul Illustrated books featuring a certain Witch called Winnie (in fact I'm still a bit sad that Winnie didn't crop up in this one, particularly as she had a couple of neat little cameos in Sanjay the Baker).

Still, Professor Puffendorf is excellent (even though she spends the majority of the book absent) and it would be great if Tzannes / Paul could do at least one more book featuring her antics (and Chip's, of course!)

Charlotte's best bit - Counting to 5 as each potion weaves its magic on the poor hapless Chip

Daddy's favourite bit - Yeah you've guessed it, still in love with Korky Paul's scratchy art style

Rating - 4 out of 5

Tati's Hotel - Magic Muddle

2011-08-02T08:38:00.000+01:00

In the second of an occasional look at kid-friendly games and apps, ReadItDaddy was fortunate enough to be sent a promo of Tati's Hotel - Magic Muddle. This kid-friendly app once again assumes that you, as a trusting parent, don't mind your youngster pawing your favourite smartphone (or iPad) to play a distracting game while mummy or daddy juggle the housework, drive the car or push the shopping trolley around.

I'll admit that we've never heard of Tati's Hotel, a CITV show. Apparently I've heard that it's sort of like a child-friendly version of Fawlty Towers (the mind boggles!) and this app shows off some of the whacky characters from the programme.

Essentially it's an extremely simple puzzle game that lets toddlers press away at the screen in order to rearrange a muddled up picture of a character, restoring it to normal. It's as simple as that. Tap a block or swipe it to move it around the screen, and once you've completed the picture your best times on each puzzle are recorded.

Unlike most kid apps, this one doesn't kick you firmly in the wallet at 69p. Alas though there's so little to it, and even if your children love the show and the characters they might very swiftly get bored doing the same thing over and over again (and 'best times' are lost on most toddlers so there isn't even the competitive hook of getting a great score).

Charlotte's best bit - Easy to control

Daddy's favourite bit - Wallet friendly, unlike a lot of kid apps

Rating: 2 out of 5

Tati's Hotel - Magic Muddle on iTunes (Universal, 69p)

Mr Wolf's Pancakes

2011-07-29T08:43:00.002+01:00

This rather excellent book has such a neat twist at the end! Mr Wolf is a hungry little chap, not too bright but when he tries to enlist the help of his rather nasty neighbours (cameos from other popular nursery rhymes and fairy tales), Mr Wolf perseveres in his quest to make a stack of pancakes.

Jan Fearnley performs a neat trick here. First she makes the reader feel a fair amount of sympathy for poor Mr Wolf as he tries to work out what ingredients he needs, how to write out a shopping list and finally how to work out how much everything costs. Every time he asks for help, his neighbours rather rudely slam the door in his face.

Poor Mr Wolf. Readers might sense a touch of "Henny Penny" in the story but ah, Fearnley's next trick is to turn the story on its head. And of course, in true reviewer style I won't spoil the end but it made me laugh and made Charlotte laugh too.

Charlotte's best bit: Alas, I cannot reveal this. It would spoil the book

Daddy's favourite bit: Again, can't tell you. Go get the book

Little Princess: I Want to Play!

2011-07-28T08:22:00.000+01:00

Here at ReadItDaddy, it never ceases to amaze me just how children take technology in their stride. A tiny box that speaks, plays video or music is not magical in any way, in fact we've had experiences where Charlotte has actually looked for the 'on' switch on toys that were never designed to make any sort of electronic bleeping noise, or lull her to sleep with a song or two.

Naturally, when she sees me using my favourite iOS device, she wants to have a go - and thankfully there are a raft of kid-friendls iPhone apps out there for children to play with (I'm not quite nutty enough to buy an iPhone btw, I drew the line at an iPod touch).

In the first of an occasional series, we'll be taking a look at apps aimed at children. As we were given the opportunity to review the new "Little Princess: I Want to Play" app, we thought we'd christen "Play it daddy!" with it.

Developed by Jick Jack, the Little Princess app is actually four minigames in one. Fans of Tony Ross's superb books, and of course the Channel 5 / TV LoonLand Animated series will instantly know who the Little Princess is. She's a rather mischievous little royal madam, and gets up to all sorts of pranks and mishaps during the course of her interesting little life.

The app has been designed to appeal to younger children, and my fidgety three year old impatiently waited for the introduction scene to finish before diving straight into the first of the minigames, "Dressing Up".

Here you're given the opportunity to drag and drop clothes onto the Little Princess. Everything from a pirate hat and eyepatch, to some swimming togs and even a nurse's outfit.

Charlotte struggled at first with the drag-and-drop mechanism for this minigame. It is a bit fiddly, and the arrows for scrolling through the selection of clothes for head, body, accessories and feet could've been larger. Some tweaking is needed with the selection and dragging of clothes too, as it's all too easy to accidentally remove an item you've just lovingly placed. Though Charlotte said this was her favourite of the four games on offer, it was also the one she found most frustrating. From a parental point of view, the selection of clothes on offer for The Little Princess is in keeping with the show and the books, but is really on the stingy side. There could've been a lot more to choose from and also a little more care in the presentation, more sound effects perhaps? It all felt a bit too...quiet. It's a nice touch to allow children to take pics of their favourite Princess outfit and these are stored under your photos folder. Watch out for this though, you can very quickly end up with a device full of princess pics!

Moving on we next took a look at bath time. Here you're given the opportunity to bath the Little Princess' two prized pets, Scruff the pooch and Puss the cat. The 'gameplay' is essentially the same in both cases - a test to see how quickly you can soap up the hapless puss or pup, covering all their muddy bits, before popping all the soap bubbles that cover the screen afterwards.

Charlotte had a lot of fun with this and though it's extremely simple, she had a good few goes at it before wanting to move on.

We tried the Bunny Pop minigame next. This is probably the weakest of the games on offer, essentially a Little Princess flavoured version of "Whack-a-Mole" though in this case you're bopping bunnies on the bonce. Taking care not to whack Puss or Scruff by accident, the game is a bit unfairly punishing and seems to zero your accrued score if you do hit your pets by mistake. Charlotte found it a little frustrating, and often the similarity in colour and markings between the bunnies and the Princess' pets caused her to hit the wrong one by mistake and get a bit upset about it (of course, this is the aim of the game but not exactly an easy thing to explain to a three year old!)

Lastly we tried the Pairs game. A simple selection of cards is laid out on screen, face down and the player must match the pairs of Little Princess characters to clear the game. Of the four games on offer, this was the one Charlotte spent the most time on (being fairly familiar with 'pairs' from a real set of cards she sometimes plays with). Great controls, easy to pick up and with some spot effects to make things a little more interesting, Pairs was nicely done.

Taking a look at the app overall, the presentation was OK but could've done with a truckload more Little Princess assets in it. For the price (£1.99 is fairly steep for something this shallow when you consider that some of the best iPhone apps and games are 69p) the developers could've done a lot more to make it feel like good value for money rather than something a parent would probably buy simply because of the links with the programme and the hope that it will keep their little one quiet for a while (but then again you could level the same criticism at virtually any kid app on the iTunes store).

Visuals are in keeping with the books and TV show, so they're instantly identifiable to little fans.

The app probably works far better on the bigger screen of the iPad rather than the iPhone / iPod Touch screen, so perhaps the few niggles about the size of controls wouldn't be an issue for iPadders who are nutty enough to trust their youngsters with such a prized piece of kit.

Many thanks to Fiona Williams from Just Williams PR for the opportunity to review the app.

Charlotte's best bit - Dressing up the Little Princess

Daddy's favourite bit - Trawling through and deleting the reams of photos Charlotte took of the Princess' favourite outfits :)

Rating: 2 out of 5

Little Princess: I want to Play on the iTunes store (£1.99)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

2011-07-26T08:05:00.000+01:00

Like most classic children's fairy tales, Goldilocks and the Three Bears has been told and retold by countless children's authors, and re-drawn in many different styles by countless children's illustrators. Taking on both roles, Gennady Spirin definitely has a differerent approach with painted illustrations that look like classic renaissance paintings.

Of course, the story is pretty much the same. The three bears get out of their beds, make porridge, sit on their chairs, decide their porridge is too hot and go for a walk. What happens next? A rather naughty girl called Goldilocks happens next, and the eerie depiction of the troublesome golden-tressed mischief maker is quite odd in this book, but because of Spirin's deft touch at depicting human expression (which also gets transferred across to the bear characters in the story too, spookily!), children can more readily identify with this version of Goldilocks rather than a more basic depiction.

Sumptuous luxurious artwork is one thing, but a rather hacked up and bashed about version of the story is something else and unfortunately that's what you've got here. The text doesn't do the pictures justice, and though it's not an easy task to take a fairly basic children's story and dress it up in better text, the story seems to come to a rather abrupt end (and worse still, the blond miscreant doesn't seem to get her come-uppance! Tsk!)

Charlotte's best bit - Poor baby bear's broken chair

Daddy's favourite bit - Spirin's luxurious illustrations. Almost good enough to hang on the wall.

Rating: 3 out of 5

More Mr Bloom coming soon, boom boom!

2011-07-26T07:50:00.000+01:00

The first series of CBeebies show "Mr Bloom's Nursery" was a big hit with Charlotte, with its mixture of vegetable characters, insanely catchy songs (try getting the theme tune out of your head once it's in there!) and of course the rather personable Mr Bloom himself, wonderfully played by the series creator Ben Faulkner. Despite the original location and plot being 'recycled', the new show is now filming in various locations with new surprises in store for young viewers.

A new veggie joins the usual gang of Joan, Margaret, Sebastian, Raymond and of course everyone's favourite bean Colin. Compo (the composter) has also had a makeover so he'll be able to do a bit more and wow the kids.

The series kicks off with a few special episodes, set to air over the long summer holiday. If your children are still avidly watching the re-runs, news of a second series is certainly going to be welcome.

Knuffle Bunny Too - a case of mistaken identity

2011-07-26T07:43:00.000+01:00

Most toddlers have a favourite toy that they refuse to be separated from. My nephew is on his third (or is it fourth) Joe Jingles (though I think it's only the third or fourth because of some sneaky midnight swapping by his parents, and spun stories about Joe being 'reborn' every once in a while because the old one gets so manky!) Charlotte's current favourite is a singing unicorn (yes, it really sings, and if you've any experience with 'singing' toys, singing is a very loose description of what goes on).

The wee lass in this book is hopelessly and completely in love with her Knuffle Bunny (that's ker-nuffle, not Nuffle) and proudly takes it with her on her first day at school. Sadly, she soon realises that it's not as unique as she thought. Her evil nemesis at school, the terrible Sonja, also has a Knuffle Bunny (that's Nuffle, not Ker-nuffle) and after arguments and a mix up, the wrong bunny goes home with the wrong girl.

An amusing tale, with rather neat artwork (a mixture of bold drawn characters and surroundings mixed with photo montages), and a happy ending.

Charlotte's best bit - The classroom argument

Daddy's favourite bit - Fully identifying with the daddy trying to instil in his daughter the meaning of '2 AM'

Rating: 4 out of 5

Hello, is that Grandma?

2011-07-19T11:01:00.000+01:00

It's not often you get to praise a book for having pitch-perfect rhyming text, wonderful illustrations and a superb 'message' at the end of the book (which both adults, and given my recent experiences while on kid's days out, children will identify wholly with). "Hello, is that Grandma?" has all of these and has ended up being one of Charlotte's firm favourites.

Though this is a 'lift the flap' book it's more appealing to preschool toddlers than younger kids. Each 'reveal' introduces a new animal character or crazy antic, which helps the story bounce along with the rhyming text.

If your toddlers are anything like ours, they've already mastered the phone (and probably sneakily pinch your mobile for a bit of play acting from time to time) so this is definitely going to be a winner.

And to all those parents I see glued to their Blackberries, or their iPhones while they're listlessly wandering around at children's theme parks, farm parks or other activities - do what the mummy at the end of this book does and be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves!

Charlotte's best bit: The crocodile. You see, once again children love the baddies!

Daddy's favourite bit: The moral message at the end. Your rubbish phone call about your new shoes, what you ate for lunch or some other meaningless twaddle is not as important as giving your child your attention so DON'T BE SO RUDE! :)

Rating: 5 out of 5 - *Book of the Week*

Alice in Wonderland

2011-07-19T10:49:00.000+01:00

After enjoying the recent "Alice Weekend" here in Oxford, I have been on the lookout for a 'toddler' version of Lewis Carroll's classic children's book for quite some time. We finally spotted one and though it features some absolutely beautiful illustrations by Mauro Evangelista, the abridged text is far too choppy and disjointed to really give a flavour of the original book.

Carroll's nonsensical tale gets butchered, to put it plainly - to the point where even a forgiving child's imagination struggles to fill in the gaps. It's not an enviable task to take a well loved (and lengthy) work and make it appeal to a younger audience. I guess I'll just have to wait until I can show Charlotte the 'proper' version instead. A pity.

Charlotte's best bit: None

Daddy's favourite bit: Evangelista's artwork is sublime but can't save the book from being a bit of a mess otherwise

Rating: 1 out of 5

Dinosaurs Love Underpants

2011-07-19T10:32:00.000+01:00

What caused the Dinosaurs to die out? A massive meteorite? The Ice Age? Hacking scandals? No it was underpants, as every child knows - particularly after they've read the latest in the 'Underpants' books from Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. The team have successfully given us instant classic 'Aliens Love Underpans' and 'Santa Loves Underpants', now they turn their focus on the stone age and the most important invention since the wheel, the Y Front.

Dinosaurs covet mankind's invention, and lots of squabbling ensues. This delicious rhyming tale is a must for any dino-obsessed child, helpfully taking them through a few well known Dino species before their pants-based demise.

Bouncy fidgety storytelling at its best. Toddlers will love it to pieces.

Charlotte's best bit: The Diplodocus and his tiny briefs

Daddy's favourite bit: The Triceratops, of course.

Rating: 3 out of 5

I'm coming to get you!

2011-07-19T10:22:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, oh my! Once again the "No monster books!" rule has been swept aside, and letting Charlotte choose her own books from the library stacks has resulted in another monstrous tale being added to our weekly haul.

"I'm coming to get you!" by Tony "Little Princess" Ross is an ages-old tale respun with superb illustrations by a master of children's literature. The title sounds scary, the nasty monster on the cover is quite scary for youngsters - even his nefarious actions are fairly scary as he devours worlds, crushes civilisations and finally fixes his evil stare on a poor lad called Tommy on the twinkling blue planet of Earth.

Naturally though the end of the book has a neat little twist (which adults might see coming a mile off, but is actually a pleasant relief for children who've probably been cuddling up to you slightly apprehensively while you're reading this!)

Charlotte's best bit: Monster crushing the poor defenceless Banana People.

Daddy's favourite bit: Monster's choice of weapon at the end of the book

Rating: 4 out of 5

Winston the Book Wolf

2011-07-08T11:32:00.000+01:00

Remember the Incredible Book Eating Boy? He's not the only character who likes a nibble on a leaf or two from a classic tome - here's Winston the Book Wolf. Banned from his local library, chased by evil librarians and shunned by security guards, poor Winston finds a friend and discovers that books taste even better when read with the eyes.

Winston's girl friday soon hits on a plan to get Winston back into the library, surrounded by the books he loves so much.

This interesting take on Red Riding Hood / the Big Bad Wolf is superbly written and deliciously illustrated. Even though he's 'a big stinky wolf' (Charlotte's words, not mine), you can't help but feel sympathy for the poor wolfy chap. Luckily things work out alright in the end.

Charlotte's best bit: Winston being chased and Winston reading his own book

Daddy's favourite bit: The evil, vicious librarian (though our librarians are absolutely lovely)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go

2011-07-08T11:23:00.000+01:00

When I was a kid, the thing that attracted me to the Richard Scarry books was the plethora of different vehicles that appeared in his various works. Cars and Trucks and Things that Go collects them all together in a sort of rambling rolling 'story'. Just about everthing with wheels is included. Fire engines, ambulances, even a rather cool Pickle Tanker (you did know that pickles were transported in huge tankers didn't you? That were shaped exactly like giant pickles? Of course you did!)

Charlotte's best bit: The toothbrush / Toothpaste cars

Daddy's favourite bit: Spotting how many vehicles had 'faces' on

Rating: 4 out of 5

Room on the Broom

2011-07-08T11:11:00.000+01:00

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler can do no wrong with children's books, and Room on the Broom sees the 'Gruffalo' team back in action, tackling another beloved subject dear to children's hearts - witches.

Put it this way, if you're creating a children's book for the first time you could do no worse than pick witches as the subject. So for experienced folk like Donaldson and Scheffler, it's money for jam detailing the story of a warty old witch and her bulging broom.

Picking up stray characters as she travels the night sky, the witch's broom suffers a slight setback. But all is not lost, witches know a thing or two about spells and brooms so this tale has a nice happy ending.

For some reason, Charlotte didn't immediately identify with the nameless witch in this story as readily as she does with Meg (of Meg and Mog fame) or the peerless Winnie, but she rather liked the animal characters and of course the hint of danger midway through the story (which I won't spoil).

An instant classic to rack up alongside the rest of your Donaldson and Scheffler collection.

Charlotte's best bit: The frog's special bit on the new broom (no spoilers!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The rather large spot on the end of the witch's nose. She must use the same face cream as the Gruffalo!

Rating: 4 out of 5

I'm me!

2011-06-27T10:45:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the sporadic updates to this blog of late but Charlotte has been doing her best impression of a braying walrus. For those parents who have toddlers or youngsters with a chest infection, you'll be only too familiar with the horrible noise kids can make when they cough, and how horrible it sounds over a baby monitor in the middle of the night.

Thankfully she's coming out of it now and so I remembered that there was one book we didn't review in our last library grab - I'm Me.

This fun tale of a little girl called Imogen and her imaginative auntie is an excellent jolly little read. Imogen's auntie wonders what her niece would like to be today. A princess? A mermaid? A monkey swinging from a tree?

Margaret Chamberlain's illustrations are superb and sketchy and make every panel look busy and full of movement. Sarah Sheridan's text is fun and easy to digest for youngsters. It's a girl-centric book I guess, but whatayagonnado!

Charlotte's best bit - Definitely dressing up as a mermaid

Daddy's favourite bit - Yup, I'll agree on the mermaids though Auntie's coconut bra as a monkey was quite stunning too

Rating: 4 out of 5

Julia Donaldson is the new Children's Laureate

2011-06-07T12:22:00.000+01:00

Following in the footsteps of several other successful children's authors, the new Children's Laureate is Julia ("The Gruffalo") Donaldson.

Glasgow-born Donaldson is one of the biggest-selling children's authors for preschool books and her work features in just about every 'top ten children's books of all time' list you could care to name.

An absolutely fantastic choice, well done Jules!

What's that noise?

2011-06-06T14:54:00.000+01:00

A tiny puppy goes to stay at his Grandma and Grandad's house, kicking off a night-time adventure (and a cute story possibly reflecting exactly what happens when Charlotte goes to her Grandma and Grandad's house for the night).

Alone in a strange bed, the young pup listens to all the sounds that go 'bump' and 'clonk' in the night. Naturally the pup doesn't merely listen, but makes a huge fuss and noise all of his own every time he hears something.

A delightful little story and definitely one I'd recommend to any grandparents wanting to pick up a book for their grandchildren. Great fun and a rather neat little ending (which I won't spoil, of course).

Charlotte's best bit: Radiator noises

Daddy's favourite bit: Rather enjoying the fact that the pup in the story snores like a walrus (rather like Charlotte!)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Please don't torment Tootsie

2011-06-06T14:43:00.000+01:00

Oh dear. This book was clearly a case of a hit-and-hoper. Picked out as part of our library grab this week, "Please don't torment Tootsie" encourages children to be kind to their pets through a series of rhymes and illustrations.

I thought this would be an instant hit with Charlotte, who loves animals and seems to have completely fallen in love with some of the neighbourhood cats.

Alas it was not to be. She didn't get on with the book at all, and part of the reason could just be because it's not 'busy' enough for her (she seems to share my love of tiddly little details in books and illustrations).

Sorry Margaret.

Charlotte's best bit: A tiny tiny little glimmer of a smile about one of the dogs in the story

Daddy's favourite bit: Identifying with children who think their pets share the same 'bendiness' that their toys do!

Rating: 2 out of 5

Polo and the Dragon

2011-06-06T14:37:00.000+01:00

Reviewing a book without words is tough, but in the case of Polo and the Dragon, a book without words can often unlock a child's imagination in a more powerful way than something that has a clearly defined story.

The 'Polo' series of books by Regis Faller are cute comic-strip-style books that beg adults (and their fidgety toddlers) to make up the story as they go along.

Laid out like a set of proper 'funny comics' panels, Polo and the Dragon weaves a mystical tale of the dog Polo and an adventure on his cute little boat.

Getting stuck in the snow, Polo discovers a parallel world through a magic door. Searching the mystical land beyond it, Polo soon encounters a dragon. But is he friend or foe?

Lovingly drawn and an instant hit with Charlotte, it just goes to show you don't always need words to conjure up a fantastic story.

Charlotte's best bit: Making her own little stories up using the pictures as a reference

Daddy's favourite bit: Dragon-flamed Kebabs!

Rating: 4 out of 5

George and the Dragon

2011-06-03T08:26:00.000+01:00

Did you know that all dragons are secretly terrified of mice? This charming tale (with some absolutely stunning dragon artwork by Chris Wormell) reveals the deepest darkest secrets of the mythical creatures that once ruled the world.

The dragon in this particular tale is red, scaly and thoroughly mean (and of course children of all ages love a good rotter!) He burns down forests, he smashes castles and he kidnaps fair maidens to snack on between terrible deeds.

Of course all big bullies are all bluster and no courage, and this particular bully gets his comeuppance in the tiny form of a mouse named George, who moves in next door to the dragon's cave one day.

George only wants to borrow a cup of sugar, but with a tiny squeak and possibly even a cute little shuffle of his whiskers, George puts paid to the dragon's evil reign.

Masterfully put together with minimal text to interrupt the fabulous painted illustrations, a cracking book that's not too scary for a bedtime read.

Charlotte's best bit: The dragon peeking over the mountains, absolutely terrified

Daddy's favourite bit: Who doesn't love a damsel in distress?

Rating: 4 out of 5

Three Monsters

2011-06-03T08:17:00.000+01:00

I'm often chastised by my long suffering other half when I bring home books about monsters, but this tale doesn't set out to scare little girls and boys - rather teach them a valuable lesson about tolerance, and treating others as you would be treated yourself.

Adults will read between the lines of David (Mr Benn, Elmer, Two-Can Toucan, Not Now Bernard) McKee's book and instantly recognise the themes within. Two lazy monsters rule their habitat until one day an 'outsider' comes along, with a simple request for somewhere to live as his own land has been destroyed.

What follows is a rather neat moral tale that is as relevant now as when the book was originally written. Some readers have taken offence to this book, saying that the themes are possibly too grown up and rather too much to stomach for most children, but there's never a wrong time to teach your youngsters that we're all the same under the skin.

Charlotte's best bit: The magical island that Yellow Monster makes

Daddy's favourite bit: Blue Monster - the Daily Mail reader.

Rating - 5 out of 5

The Spider and the Fly

2011-06-03T08:08:00.000+01:00

"Step into my Parlour" said the Spider to the Fly.

Even if you don't know Mary Howitt's original dark poem warning of the dangers of falling for a silver tongued devil, you must have heard it paraphrased so many times in popular culture. This book takes the text of the original poem and laces it with some of the silkiest monochrome illustrations I've ever seen in a children's book. Tony DiTerlizzi has called on various artistic references and sources, but his work mostly seems to riff on 1920s and 30s Hollywood movies.

The spider is your typical brylcreem-haired moustachioed movie baddie, the fly a dainty and beautiful flapper. We follow their tale as Spider uses his charm and wit to tempt the fly to join him for dinner. Her last dinner.

Does he succeed? Does Fly come to her senses at the last moment? You know what I'm going to say - you'll have to read the book and if you do, you're in for a feast for the eyes. This week I let Charlotte choose 7 books from the library and in all but one case she opted for something slightly macabre or sinister (this book, 3 about dragons, 2 about monsters and one lonely book about a girl who wants to be herself - stay tuned for more reviews soon...!)

Charlotte's best bit - The Ghost Flies

Daddy's favourite bit - The artwork - so good you'd love it on your wall.

Rating - 5 out of 5

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs

2011-05-27T11:12:00.000+01:00

The rather cute pre-movie scenes on our blu ray copy of the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" made me want to pick up the original book. As it's extremely cheap on Amazon at the moment (and seems to drift in and out of print) I thought I'd grab it and see what all the fuss was about.

First up, it's worth stating that the movie was very loosely based on this book - so if you're expecting to see Flintlock Wood, the amazing Steve the Monkey (possibly the best sidekick character in any kid's movie of the last 30 years) or cute weather girls, think again.

This book is more whimsical, charming and fantastically illustrated.

Telling the tale of the sleepy town of Chewandswallow, a grandfather's tall story depicts a town at the mercy of food-shaped weather. The inhabitants of Chewandswallow don't go out for groceries, they step out of their houses and open their umbrellas to see what the weather holds.

I loved Ron Barrett's excellent depictions of the food storms. Delicate little strokes of inkwork to flesh out flying bacon or storms of stale bread. Everything looks good enough to eat.

So if you're a fan of the film, go grab the book anyway as it's a fine little bedtime story that isn't quite as manic and crazy as the movie, but definitely deserves a place in your bookcase.

Charlotte's best bit: Flying olives!

Daddy's favourite bit: What would health and safety say about kids being hit in the face with red hot pancakes?

Rating: 5 out of 5

I Dreamt I was a Dinosaur

2011-05-27T10:49:00.000+01:00

We're big fans of these rather cute and beautifully put together Barefoot Books. Stella Blackstone and Clare Beaton's combination of rhyming couplets and superbly detailed sewn felt pictures compliment each other perfectly.

In this tale of a youngster dreaming all about dinosaurs, the story gently takes us through various dinosaur 'breeds' and their jolly japes. Dappy about a Diplodicus? Partial to a Pterodactyl? Then there's plenty to see in this book, and let's face it, what kid of any age doesn't love Dinosaurs (except, as Charlotte points out, the robot dinosaur at the Natural History Museum in London - Far too scary!)

Charlotte's best bit: The Terrible T-Rex

Daddy's favourite bit: The superb sewn-felt pictures

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Ladybird First Favourite Tales)

2011-05-27T10:43:00.000+01:00

This traditional tale has been reworked for the Ladybird First Favourite Tales series, with child-like illustrations and easy to follow text.

Most adults will be familiar with the story of the three billy goats, the troll and the bridge. A time-worn tale indeed, but one that still tickles and entertains youngsters (particularly if, like me, you can't help but read these books while doing daft voices for all the characters).

Irene Yates has done a nice job of making the book approachable for early readers, but also entertaining for children being read to.

Charlotte's best bit - The troll (why do kids always love the monsters best!)

Daddy's favourite bit - The troll's well deserved demise.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The man whose mother was a PIRATE

2011-05-17T07:45:00.000+01:00

Let's see now. If you had to tick off on your ten fingers some of the most endearing characters children latch on to at an early age, you'd probably mention dinosaurs (check), maybe even monsters (though only friendly ones - check), fairies and other mythical folk (check) and a whole zoo full of anthropomorphized animal characters (check check check). Oh, and of course pirates.

It's easy to see the appeal of pirates to toddlers. They're naughty and they get away with it. They sail the seven seas in search of treasure. Oh and did I mention they're naughty and get away with it?

So in this book we find the rather whimsical tale of a rather boring accountant and his extremely vibrant and interesting mother, who just happens to be a pirate. They settle down in the big city. The man goes to work juggling figures but his mother yearns for the call of the sea.

Begging his boss for time off (so it's not just me then!) to take his mother to the seaside, the man embarks on a journey of discovery with his mum, and they meet several fascinating characters along the way.

There's a whopping great big message in this book that peppers the pages from start to finish. The ordinary, the everyday and the mundane should be shrugged off regularly in favour of something a bit more "derring do" and it takes a while for the accountant to figure this out (of course).

Absolutely loved the pirate mum though.

Charlotte's best bit: Pirate Mum's habit of shooting a silver pistol into the air when happy.

Daddy's favourite bit: The man's boss. The epitome of bosses everywhere. "Turn up in a week or we'll replace you with a computer!"

Rating: 4 out of 5