To celebrate Martha and the Bunny Brothers' glorious return in Clara Vulliamy's "I Heart Holidays" - Here's a lickable list of our fave lollies!

We're sort of getting away from book reviews for a moment to dish up a tasty treat. One of our favourite bits in "I Heart Holidays" is the awesome lollies that Martha and her brothers get to choose from.

We thought long and hard about our favourite lollies and decided to come up with a list (old and new) of the best of the best. Do you remember these?

In no particular order....

1) The Funny Feet Lolly

Why on earth would anyone want to eat a lolly shaped like a foot? Ah yes but nothing's cooler on a hot day than munching on a huge strawberry flavoured chunk of ice cream. Apparently these are coming back too, we can't wait.

Pictured is the classic version without the red toenails the later ones had

Charlotte rating: 2/5
Daddy rating: 4/5



2) The Tangle Twister Lolly

Difficult to describe this one, a miasma of flavours ranging from lime to strawberry and pineapple - all in a lolly absolutely impossible to lick without a big smile on your face. Warning though, the very last bits are very hard to eat without the whole thing dropping off the stick onto the floor. Boo hiss!

Charlotte rating: 5/5
Daddy rating: 3/5





3) The King Kong Lolly

A blast from the past, a really gooey banana and toffee flavoured lolly covered in gorilla sprinkles (at least I think that's what they were). Gorgeous!

Charlotte rating: 0/5 (way before her time!)
Daddy rating: 5/5 (sickly as heck but I loved them!)








4) The Red Devil Lolly

LOVED the character on the wrapper of this one, and the lolly was yummy too. Basically a bit like a strawberry split but with extra enjoyment provided by a play stick or a quiz stick. Yummy!

Charlotte rating: 0/5 (though she does love strawberry splits)
Daddy rating: 4/5 (I could never solve those puzzle sticks though!)







5) The FAB


A true lolly icon! So glad that they still make these today, and they really are as fab as ever. Strawberry and vanilla ice creamy stuff with a big dollop of faux-choco topping and a ton of sprinkles. It's a design classic though we have a sneaking suspicion that these have shrunk a lot since the 1970s!

Charlotte rating: 3/5 (she ALWAYS loses the choco bit!)
Daddy rating: 4/5 (yum, you really can't just eat one!)





6) Haunted House Lollies (with magic 'horror' reveal wrapper)

These were awesome! A white ice cream lolly that had a horror design revealed only when you peeled off the label, picked out in blood-red strawberry sauce. Gruesome but delicious!

Charlotte rating: 0/5 (Why do you keep picking all the old ones, daddy!)
Daddy rating: 5/5 (genius idea!)







7) The Smarties Pop-Up Lolly


I love these more than I'm willing to admit (as does Charlotte and Mummy too!) They are lovely and there's a real challenge to extracting those little mini smarties hidden in the lolly handle at the end (assuming that you haven't ended up with ice cream all over your chops!)

Charlotte rating: 5/5
Daddy rating: 5/5





8) The Dracula Lolly

Oooh it's scary, it's spooky, it's - Wait a second it's black, and hidden in its black heart is the gooiest red jelly you've ever tasted. Actually I seem to remember these being pretty gross and disgusting but Charlotte is clamouring for their return, she rather likes the idea of a lolly with jelly in the middle!

Charlotte rating (assuming they do make a comeback): 5/5
Daddy rating: 2/5 (Neat idea though!)






9) The Fizz Bang

I thought I'd imagined this one, but have vague memories of it - and this is the only image I can find of one. The Fizz Bang was the equivalent of licking the battery terminals of a 9v battery, chewing an anchovy and then drinking a pint of guinness. So utterly fizzy, sour and unpalatable that it became a playground favourite with kids egging each other on to see if anyone could finish one without being violently ill. I think I only ever had one of these and lived to regret it!

Charlotte rating: 0/5 (That sounds completely gross, daddy!)
Daddy rating: 2/5 (purely for the kudos attached if you ever did finish one!)




10) The Mr Men Lolly

We thought we'd better get at least one booky-style lolly reference in here, and these are awesome - in fact I might be imagining it but I'm sure they still make these (either that or we keep finding them in newsagents that have kept them in their freezers since the 1970s!) - Awesome and refreshing, pick your fave!

Charlotte rating: 3/5 (because she would eat a Mr Bump one!)
Daddy rating: 3/5 (Mr Noisy for me!)


That's our lickable list! Please do comment below with your faves, we'd love to hear about them!

Hope you've enjoyed our lolly round up! Don't miss our review of "I Heart Holidays" by Clara Vulliamy, and please do join the rest of the lovely booky folk for the rest of the book tour (see below)