"Nine Lives Newton" by Alice McKinley (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Being merely the 'blog minion' half of ReadItDaddy is sometimes tough. For example the conversation that began when Alice McKinley's hilarious and fantastic "Nine Lives Newton" arrived for review went something like this.

"Yeah but dad we don't review picture books any more, they're for BABIES!"

(Parental note: Dads of the world, there will be a day when you will cease to be Daddy and you will become Dad - and then weirdly you might revert back to becoming "Daddy" later on, no I can't figure it out either)

I dug my heels in...I am good at that.

"Yes, but this one's GOOD! It's really funny, and the art is excellent!"

So for once I managed to win a board room argument, and we sat down to read "Nine Lives Newton" - which as I said, is exceedingly funny, looks brilliant, and feels fresh and original.

Devil may care when it comes to a bear? Rare!

Sharp-eyed amongst you may have already spotted that there is a cat on the cover of this book - and a large floppy-eared and rather daft looking dog. Newton is not the cat, which may - along with the title - give you an indication of how the story begins to unfold. After completely misunderstanding a pair of billboard ads, Newton (the dog, just to underline that) believes he has nine lives. Not one, not two, but NINE whole lives - which is like learning you're practically immortal and can throw caution to the wind.

Newton's best buddy, a well-meaning moggy, tries to point out Newton's error but it's too late. He's hell-bent on testing out his newfound powers of indestructibility in a hilarious number of different life-threatening ways.

I think this is our fave spread, just because it reminds us of the fab natural history museum in London (and the one just down the road from here too!)

Will Newton's purry pal prevent him from perilous pulverisation? Well we're obviously NOT going to give away the ending - but I'm glad I stuck to my guns, and recognised a great picture book from the outset - and you know what, even my grumpy boss had to agree that this is hilarious and brilliant stuff.

Sum this book up a sentence: Like all the best situational comedy, Newton's misunderstanding about the number of lives dogs have leads to absolute chaos and hilarity, beautifully brought to life in this fantastic picture book from Alice.

"Nine Lives Newton" by Alice McKinley is out on 3rd March 2020, published by Simon and Schuster Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).