ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 23rd May 2014 - "Sir Scallywag and the Deadly Dragon Poo" by Giles Andreae and Korky Paul (Picture Puffin)

Goodness me, poo really doesn't ever go out of fashion in children's books does it! Here's the brilliant sequel to "Sir Scallywag and the Golden Underpants" which was released back in 2012. Back again are the dream team of Giles (can rhyme his way out of a concrete overcoat) Andreae and Korky (Has scratch pen, will travel!) Paul with another adventure for the brave but slightly scatterbrained knight, Sir Scallywag.

King Colin and his Queen are rich beyond their wildest dreams, and spend all their lovely loot on sweeties (amazingly, they have lovely teeth considering how much sugary stuff they cram in). But trouble is on the horizon. As the King, Queen and all their royal subject get fatter and lazier, The dreaded Baron Greedyguts hatches a plan to steal the King and Queen's amazing sweetie-making machine. A plan so dastardly and foul that we can barely bring ourselves to type it. The Baron will use deadly stinky dragon poo to lay siege to the King and Queen's castle, forcing them to give up the goodies!

Sir Scallywag, brave knight and the only one who hasn't stuffed his face full of sweetie goodness, must come to the rescue once again - Braving torrents of dragon doo-doo to turn things around just in time for a slap-up feast around the banqueting table. But can Sir Scallywag brave such a dirty rotten campaign and defeat the Baron before it's too late?

We'll leave you to discover the answer. Normally we are pretty fussy about poo-based books (yes, OK, we'll admit it, we do snigger at the odd one or two though). This is brilliant though and if your kids are going through a phase of loving tales of knights of old, brave and bold, they are absolutely going to love this to bits.

Giles' rhymes are pitch perfect, flow beautifully - even when he's dealing with the fairly stomach-churning subject of dragon droppings. Korky Paul's illustrations are as brilliant and detailed as ever - and we really loved the cameos from his other books (we will leave you to find them all but Charlotte's absolute HERO is here in all his whiskery black-furred green-eyed glory, can you guess who we mean?)

"Sir Scallywag and the Deadly Dragon Poo" is out on the 5th June 2014. Reserve your copy now from Picture Puffin.

Charlotte's best bit: The sweetie machine looks so yummy, but a certain cameo by a bewhiskered hero really made her day!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Children's picture books truly don't get much better than this, it's fun, hilarious, beautifully illustrated, has the tightest and most accomplished rhymes - and even if you're not a huge fan of poo, you will love this!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Picture Puffin)