The Talkative Tortoise by Andrew Fusek Peters and Charlotte Cooke (Child's Play International Ltd)

I'm pleased to note that children still love traditional animal stories, including Aesop's Fables and also the rich cultural stories of animals that are gathered from around the world. Child's Play produces a range of these stories, retold by poet Andrew Fusek Peters, and lovingly illustrated by Charlotte Cooke.

"The Talkative Tortoise" is a traditional Himalayan folk tale that tells us how tortoise ended up being a rather quiet, rather slow little fellow with a crusty cracked shell. He wasn't always like that, you see. Once, Tortoise was the life and soul of the party, a complete chatterbox with the most beautiful polished and shiny shell you've ever seen.

Tortoise loves his two best friends, two extremely patient geese. But when the geese have to migrate for the winter, Tortoise starts to worry that he'll be left behind, lonely and forlorn.

We'll let you discover the rest of the story for yourselves but it's an amusing retelling of a traditional folk tale with great characterisations and some real laugh out loud moments.

Charlotte's best bit: Tortoise having a HUGE tantrum when he realises his friends are going to migrate and leave him all alone.

Daddy's favourite bit: Trying to explain to Charlotte what a Yurt was. Much scrabbling around in encyclopaedias to try and find another picture of one but we managed it in the end, phew!
(It's a wood-frame felt-covered and rather large tent btw).

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Child's Play International)