The Nut Stayed Shut by Mike Henson (Templar Publishing)

You know exactly what it's like when you're enjoying a lovely handful of tasty pistachios and you come across that one, that awkward one that just won't open...
No one ever has such a thing as a nutcracker in their house any more, so you're either forced to risk busting your teeth trying to gnaw the thing open, or end up resigning yourself to the fact that you're going to lose out on that gorgeous green nugget of nutty goodness.

In "The Nut Stayed Shut" I'm pretty sure Mike Henson was inspired by just such an occurrence.

A squirrel faces his toughest opponent yet, the titular hard nut. Despite the canny squirrel in this story using brains and brawn and all manner of far-fetched solutions to try and crack that shell, the nut stays shut.

There are inventive solutions to the problem, some involving rhino poo (!)

Ew, I don't fancy eating that now...

Karate doesn't seem to do the job, alas!

Time to bring in the big guns. Fetch me my massive hammer!

No tool seems to be able to break through the rock-hard shell of this thing!

Whappow indeed!

But the story teaches the art of patience, and there is at least a satisfying pay off at the end - before the story (rather abruptly) leaves you to fill in the rest of the squirrel's story using your active imagination!

It's a fun and action-packed book for little ones, and definitely one that will make a few nut-loving parents smile in recognition.

Charlotte's best bit: The scene-stealing bird pal, chronicling each attempt doomed to failure

Daddy's favourite bit: An awesome and original idea for a story with tons of engagement and action through awesome action-packed illustrations.

"The Nut Stayed Shut" by Mike Henson is out now, published by Templar Publishing (Kindly supplied for review).