Though we said we were taking a back seat with the app reviews and e-book reviews, we could not possibly resist the lure of the mighty Babette Cole and her new series of iBooks, developed and published by Inky Sprat.
"The Trouble With" series is absolutely chock full of all the things we love about Babette's books, and as a bonus you get to see (and hear) the wonderful lady herself narrating her own works. What's not to love? (We can't get enough of Babette's groovy outfits!)
So in "The Trouble With Gran" we find out what happens when a young lad accompanies his Gran and her friends on a day away. Not to a lovely sunny holiday destination but to a fairly grotty seaside town. Ew!
There is definitely something different about Gran though. In truth, she's not the quiet mild mannered old lady she seems. She's actually....AN ALIEN!
Gran's not at all happy with the choice of day-trip destination, so in true Granny style she starts to misbehave (oh how we identify with this. My lovely 92 year old Nan may not come from Planet Koosbain but she knows how to play up!)
Sneakily morphing into her true form, manipulating objects and folk with her magic powers and generally ensuring the day is made a little more 'interesting' throughout, Gran eventually tires of the whole thing and performs one last act of alienesque rebellion!
We'll let you find out what that is. We sometimes struggle with the iBook format - keeping Charlotte's attention on e-books of any kind on the iPad is always tricky - but this was absorbing and engaging, and as fans of Babette's fantastic books we just couldn't get enough.
The lady herself is busy beavering away on the next Doctor Dog picture book - so stay tuned for more from her very soon. In the meantime, check these out, they're ace!
The Trouble with Gran (from Inky Sprat on iTunes for iPad)
(See the rest of Babette's awesome iBook range here!)
Charlotte's best bit: Gran's rather ooh-la-la behaviour at the glamorous granny competition
Daddy's favourite bit: So awesome to see and hear Babette narrating these books. She rocks!
(iBook code kindly provided by Inky Sprat for review)