ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week, week ending Friday 18th January - Our Big Blue Sofa by Tim Hopgood (Macmillan Children's Books)

It's an absolute pleasure when we discover a book like this nestling in the library stacks. Something we haven't seen before, shot through with effervescent energy and thoroughly dipped in a good strong tonic of imagination. Tim Hopgood's "Our Big Blue Sofa" is a celebration of two very important things - that lovely comfortable thing you spend a lot of time resting your bum on (the sofa, the SOFA!) and the wild and wonderful imaginative time you have during your childhood.

You see a sofa isn't merely a sofa. It's a luxurious limousine, or an ocean-going submarine, or the smartest den you've ever seen. Also, when mummy and daddy are out of the room, it becomes the world's best trampoline!

The two children in this story spend a lot of time with their beloved sofa (which, in the book, feels luxurious and lovely thanks to some beautifully textured fabric-loaded pages) until one thorough training session for the great sofa olympics sees the poor thing finally give up the ghost, ping its springs and collapse in a sad looking heap.

OH NO!

Mum has had enough. Despite the children's pleas to repair the big blue sofa, Mum orders a new one instead.

What do the children (and more importantly, the cats!) think of the new sofa?

Find out in the book. It's fun, it's brilliantly told and illustrated and it's just the thing to make you feel all invigorated and energetic on a cold and snowy January day, particularly when the sofa (under a duvet) would be a VERY nice place to be right now!

Charlotte's best bit: The cats! They're so funny, the little things they do in the background throughout the book - Oh and of course, sofa bouncing is fun!

Daddy's favourite bit: Special mention for the end papers, the hilarious lists on both end papers of things that were found in the treasure trove under the sofa cushions!