#Booky100Keepers Day 22: "The Princess and the Pony" and "King Baby" by Kate Beaton (Walker Books)

Who is Kate Beaton? Well she's the genius behind a series of pant-wettingly funny (and er, really only for Grown Ups!) web comics where she pokes raucous fun at everything from history to romantic literature and popular culture.

So a shoe-in for someone who could produce the most brilliant, hilarious and pant-wettingly funny children's books? You betcha!

...and so she did, with two utterly brilliant entries in our #Booky100Keepers list.

Starting with "The Princess and the Pony" - Kate's take on what it's like being a little bit small, but with mighty ambitions! The Princess in this tale isn't some prim and proper little madam who is obsessed with dresses and going to the ball with a prince. She's a mighty kick-ass little warrior Princess who is a bit fed up with getting cuddly sweaters for her birthday. What she wants more than anything else is a mighty horse to charge into battle with.

Her parents relent - only the "mighty horse" is actually a small boss-eyed pony who has a rather farty bottom!

Nevertheless the Princess gets ready for the big bash, where all the local warriors meet in a mighty arena for a good old ding-dong. Will the Princess triumph? Or will she (and her dumpy little charge) get stomped into the dirt?

We love books that are funny. Not "oh ha ha how amusing" funny but "OH MY GOD I HURT MYSELF" funny, and this is just so brilliant - particularly if you're the sort of parents (like us) who cannot stand all those gooey-eyed princess books.

Kate's next children's book was equally brilliant, this time a sharp bit of observation about what it's like to be the centre of attention.

"King Baby" was written / produced before Kate became a mum herself, but it's spot on. "King Baby" is a benevolent ruler but without a shadow of a doubt, the real "boss" in the household.

Again it's just so funny, particularly Kate's gift of illustrating the most manic facial expressions for her characters - often accompanied by brilliantly placed sound effects (usually emanating from her character's bottom areas!)

King Baby has it all - but wait, what's this? WHO IS THIS USURPER WHO WANTS KING BABY'S CROWN?

Yep you can probably guess what happens when King Baby gets a sibling!

A perfect book for kids who are expecting a new bro or sis soon, but also tons of fun for parents who will absolutely recognise their own King or Queen babies in this book.

We really hope Kate makes a triumphant return to kidlit real soon, we miss her a lot and if she does we might even come out of retirement just to review her next masterpiece!

Original Review Links: 

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 21st August 2015 - "The Princess and the Pony" by Kate Beaton (Walker Books)

Booky Advent Calendar Book of the Week - Week Ending 16th December 2016 - "King Baby" by Kate Beaton (Walker Books)