To support National Anti-Bullying Week (18th-22nd November) we thought we'd devote this week's #ReadItMD13 Theme Week to this very tough and sensitive subject.

As someone who was bullied at school, I know first-hand what it feels like to dread going to school, dread playtimes and lunchtimes - and sometimes even dread the journey to and from school too. When I was a child, methods of tackling bullying were wholly ineffective - reactive rather than trying to get to the root cause, punishing the bullies (if any action was taken at all) rather than trying to work out why it was happening.

Things have changed a lot, and with national initiatives in tackling bullying - and the brilliant efforts of schools themselves to more effectively present a culture where bullying isn't tolerated but is also sensitively dealt with really feels like a huge step in the right direction.

Bullying is a prevalent subject in children's picture books. Often characters associated with bullying are shown almost as grotesque caricatures, or in books where anthropomorphised animals are the key characters, bullies are often shown as predatory powerful animals who you'd normally associate with picking on the weak.

"Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe" by Brian Moses and Garry Parsons. T-Rex Trouble!

In "Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe" by Brian Moses and Garry Parsons, the "Bully" is a fearsome T-Rex with a rumbling tummy who storms into the Dino Cafe one day and causes trouble. He's hungry for fresh meat and instantly picks on three other dinosaurs dining there, with the aim of polishing them off.

In the book, a wily trouble-shooting Triceratops - a bit of a tough nut himself - stands up to the bully, and with the help of the other three dinosaurs they biff, bash and tickle the T-Rex into submission.

When we first reviewed this book, we thought it was a bit of harmless fun - but re-assessing this book with a bunch of like-minded booky folk made me think again about its content and whether it does more harm than good. There is the positive message that standing up to bullies collectively is a strong action to take, but there's the mixed message that violence and submission - or indeed using sheer weight of numbers to turn things around - is a laudable action. With "Victorian Parent" sitting on one shoulder and the rather more carefree "Don't be so wishy washy" parent sitting on the other, it's a tough call to make, but the subtlety of books that deal with bullying is something to truly consider.

"Mine's Bigger than Yours" by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds

In "Mine's Bigger than Yours" by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds, the big monster relentlessly pursues and picks on the little monster, chasing her down and constantly harassing her for her lolly. All through the book the big 'bully' monster denigrates the little monster, until the very end when the big monster bully gets his comeuppance. Again though this book demonstrates the sort of outcome a child would like in a book about bullying, it sends the wrong message - that "Justice" is meted out at the end and everything turns out OK.

Again and again in children's literature, stories that feature bullying often end with the bully coming a cropper. Though even classic stories that deal with the issue can be spun around and given a more positive ending.

"Three Billy Goats Gruff" from Child's Play

In Child's Play's version of "Three Billy Goats Gruff" the usual end where the troll is knocked into the middle of next week by the biggest goat is passed over for something rather more satisfying, and certainly more of a 'fit' with what we'd like to see more of in books that deal with the issue of bullying.

There's no violence, instead there is a showdown - but resolved by Big Goat handling the situation fairly and evenly by standing up to the troll firmly. It was a very pleasant surprise to read a version of the story that worked from both the bully's and bullied parties' perspectives.

We'd really welcome feedback from you our lovely readers on this tricky subject. Have you read an anti-bullying book that really felt like it was a step forward in how bullying and bullies are portrayed in children's literature? We'd love to hear about it so please do leave a comment below or tweet us @readitdaddy

Please also take a moment to visit the National Anti Bullying Action website where you can find a huge amount of useful resources and information on the subject

"The Bear Under the Stairs" by Helen Cooper. A regular favourite in our roundups.

"We're going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. If this isn't in your child's book collection, WHYYYYYYY NOT?

"Zephyr Takes Flight" by Steve Light. The sort of female flying hero we utterly adore!

"Zephyr Takes Flight" by Steve Light. Pioneering piloting!

"Pigs Might Fly" by Jonathan Emmett and Steve Cox. Supersonic!

"A Day At The Airport" by Richard Scarry. Busy busy Bratwursts!

We've often been lucky enough to interview authors and artists and sometimes we sneak in a very unfair question. "Which do you prefer? Cats or Dogs?" As part of our #ReadItMD13 theme week all about awesome animals we thought we'd take a look back through the ReadItDaddy archives and turn the question on ourselves. Are we predominantly cat-obsessed or are we canny about canines instead?

It was a tough challenge. When you're faced with some of the greatest characters in children's picture books, how can you possibly choose favourites?

On the cat side, our favourite characters (amongst others) include:

• Mog (the forgetful cat from Judith Kerr's peerless books)
• Mog (the witch's cat in Meg and Mog)
• Chester (From Chester's Back)
• Splat the Cat
• Moonpie, Andre and Tiny (from "There are / aren't cats in this book by Viv Schwarz)
• The Tobermory Cat
• Ginger (from Charlotte Voake's excellent books)
• The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat
• Wilbur (from the Winnie the Witch books)
• Red Cat and Blue Cat (and Yellow cat too) from Jenni Desmond's book of the same name
• Six Dinner Sid
• Amazing Mr Zooty
• The Cat in the Hat
• Backstage Cat (again from Jenni Desmond with Harriet Ziefert)
• Keith (the cat with the magic hat)
• Tootsie (from "Please don't torment Tootsie" by Margaret Chamberlain)
• Holly (from Ruth Brown's book of the same name)

Even rats can be cuddly and cute!

"The Stray Kitten" by Judy Waite and Gavin Rowe

"Rabbityness" by Jo Empson. The most perfect animal-based picture book.

"I Am The King" by Leo Timmers. Animals behaving badly!

For our ReadItMummiesAndDaddies 2013 theme week encouraging dance and movement, Simon Tuck (who penned the  groovy and stomach-churning "Dwaine Pipe" books we featured a while back) has come up trumps once again with a great rhyme to make up a groovy coconut-cracking dance to (I'll apologise for the image I scribbled to accompany it - but Sy's rhyme rocks!)

Try this out on your tiddlers, and see what sort of crazy moves and dances they can come up with (great activity for a first day back at school for Wake up, Shake up sessions!)

Take it away Sy!

Pick The Coconut!

Pick the coconut
Pass the coconut
Catch the coconut
Crack the coconut
Slurp the coconut
Burp the coconut
Climb the coconut tree

Push the pineapple
Pull the pineapple
Slice the pineapple
Dice the pineapple
Munch the pineapple
Crunch the pineapple
Climb the coconut tree

Three bananas
Four bananas
My bananas
Your bananas
Steal bananas
Peel bananas
Climb the coconut tree!

A blissfully wonderful panel from "Oliver Button is a Sissy" by Tomie dePaola

For our #ReadItMD13 theme week, we issued a plaintive cry on Twitter for books that feature dance and movement - and in particular include boys. There's no reason why the boys should feel left out when it comes to dance and movement (Charlotte's school has some amazing street dance classes that are well attended by boys who have picked up on fab performance artists from stage and screen).

The wonderful Zoe over at Playing By The Book put us in touch with the equally wonderful Kerry Aradhya who has put together the definitive source of dance and movement-based books on her brilliant blog "Picture Books and Pirouettes".

If anyone would know where to look for books about dance and movement that show boys needn't feel left out, Kerry would - and she came up trumps with a fantastic set of recommendations.

Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola (Harcourt)

"Oliver Button is a Sissy" by Tomie dePaola is a great book with a strong message. Oliver prefers books, painting, drawing and also tap dancing - yet he is ostracised and teased about these things by children at school who think boys should be into rough-and-tumble play and sports. Empathising with Oliver, this is a book I feel duty bound to hunt out as soon as I can - though it's fairly old now, it's amazing how relevant the book's content and message is even today. It is still in print (hooray!) and available from Harcourt Publishers.

"Max" by Rachel Isadora. So full of energy it practically leaps around your tabletop!

Next on Kerry's recommendation list is "Max" by Rachel Isadora. As you can tell from the fabulous cover, it's an energetic book featuring a brilliant and engaging character - that will have you hooked from front cover to back. Max is a baseball fanatic but when he wants to warm up for games, rather than stretches and running about, Max discovers his sister's dance class is the perfect way to get fit and enjoy movement.

Again, it's an oldie but a goodie (first published back in 1984), again with plenty of relevance for today's young readers.

What's next Kerry?

"Ballerino Nate" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and R.W. Alley (Dial Publishing)

How about a balletic wolf with a style all his own? "Ballerino Nate" (Nate the Ballerina) is a fab story about Nate the wolf, who absolutely wants nothing more than to become brilliant at ballet. Despite his older brother's teasing, Nate sets out on a determined path to prove everyone wrong - and once and for all show that boys CAN enjoy ballet too!

That's just a small selection of the books that Kerry recommended. If you're interested in dance and movement, and want to find the planet's best resource for children's books on the subject, you really need to visit "Picture Books and Pirouettes" as it's utterly chock full of brilliant content, with regular roundups and recommendations from Kerry and other bloggers. Come join the fun!

"Rumbelow's Dance" by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake. Not a TV in sight!

As kids head back to school, and as the summer slowly mellows, there's still plenty of time to join us to celebrate this week's #ReadItMD13 Theme Week. We're taking a look at children's books that feature dance and movement. Balletic bouncing, energetic exercise - even yodelling while you Yoga!

Our header image is from the wonderful "Rumbelow's Dance" by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake (Andersen Press). These two esteemed gentlemen know exactly how to imbue a book with whizzing energy and bum-wigglingly frenetic movement. Quentin Blake's artwork always looks like it's about to leap off the page and dance a merry jig across your table top so it's a very good place to start!

In a similar vein, and with artwork that's eerily reminiscent of Quentin Blake's fabulous work, it's also worth checking out "Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat" by Stephen Michael King (Allen and Unwin).

"Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat". Join them for a carefree and merry jig!

Beautifully illustrated again with the sort of movement in its characters that children will love emulating, it's a lyrical and lovely story that says it's perfectly okay to be different - in fact it's bloomin' marvellous! The hornpipe-dancing cat is so awesome, we love 'im to bits.

"Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat" has made the leap to the stage - and here's a clip of one production.



We've always loved Child's Play's range of books that celebrate dance and movement - in fact you can start your little ones off as early as you like with the board book range to sing and jiggle along to.

"Hop a Little, Jump a Little" by Annie Kubler (Child's Play). Starting out with movement and motion.

Matching nursery rhymes to actions is a brilliant way to build children's confidence in movement and expressing themselves. Most children get used to 'performing the actions' to rhymes like "Incy Wincy Spider" and there are some fab "Baby Gym" books in Child's Play's extensive range for the really tiny.

Barefoot Books are also keen to see your children stretching, moving and showing off their funky poses.

"My Daddy is a Pretzel" by Baron Baptiste and Sophie Fatus (Barefoot Books). Can you be a tall tree?

We picked up "Yoga Pretzel" cards when we first visited Barefoot Oxford's fantastic new store in Summertown, and have also recently loved the "My Daddy is a Pretzel" story book, which had the three of us at home twisting and flexing (and probably doing ourselves all sorts of mischief) as we attempted to turn ourselves into human pretzels. Seeing Charlotte managing to touch the top of her head with her foot made me wonder if I was ever that double jointed (probably not) and made me vow to continue scoffing cod liver oil capsules like they were going out of fashion. Yoga is brilliant for parental bonding (really, trust me on this) particularly with some of the exercises that require co-operation and trust. Give it a try, it's not as hard as you'd think.

With a young ballet obsessive in the house, we have seen (and loved) quite a few ballet books on the blog.

Ballet Kitty Ballet Class by Bernette Ford and Sam Williams (Boxer Books)

"Ballet Kitty - Ballet Class" by Bernette Ford and Sam Williams (Boxer Books) continues the adventures of Ballet Kitty as she begins her first ballet class along with her two best friends. Ballet Kitty is initially a bit fussy about Ginger Tom joining in. He wears trainers, he hasn't got the right kit but nevertheless he's enthusiastic and can't wait to join in! A great book that gets boys used to the concept that dance and movement isn't just a 'girl thing'. 

Marks and Spencer "Bright Sparks" First Writing

Continuing our #ReadItMD13 theme week of "Back to School" we thought we'd revisit an excellent range of early years teaching books that really don't feel like 'learning' to a child - more like a fun set of activities and puzzles that they can enjoy but at the same time support early years foundation stage / key stage school curriculum programmes.

Phew! That's a tall order, and the range comes from somewhere you probably might not expect. Marks and Spencer have several book ranges but we're huge fans of the "Bright Sparks activity books, covering a diverse range of numeracy, literacy and science subjects but in fun and exciting ways.



"First Writing" mixes wipe-clean pages with stickers and activities for children just learning to write and form letters on their own.

The exercises are probably quite familiar to children who may have encountered similar writing exercises in class, but coupled with reward sticker sheets, wipe clean pages so you can use the book again and again, and some brilliant bold colours and clearly laid out spreads, these really are fantastic - and very reasonably priced (the book pictured is £2.80 which is brilliant value).








Moving on to books for slightly older children in the Bright Sparks range...

For children aged 5-7 there's the "Big English and Maths Workbook" which again uses a combination of exciting puzzles, exercises and reward stickers to make learning fun.

We have recently dug out our own copies of the Bright Sparks books we've bought to get Charlotte back into the swing of things before school starts back up. Though we had school work plans and sheets sent home for the holidays, they're quite often bulk printed in black and white whereas the Bright Sparks range are nice and colourful with less of that "school" feel to them.

We often find it quite tough to get Charlotte in the right mood for tackling exercises and class-set stuff but we have the exact opposite experience with the Bright Sparks books, in fact we often have to try and rein her in a bit as she loves them a bit TOO much and would probably happily stay up till midnight completing them.

M & S also do a fantastic range of early reader storybooks.

"First Readers - Let's Start Reading" books again support the national curriculum and present a series of well-loved fairy tales and fables, with brilliant illustrations and key word panels to encourage children to read on their own and gain reading confidence.

Picking familiar stories and characters and giving them an early reading 'tweak' without resorting to dry phonics-style exercises, these books have been a massive help in boosting Charlotte's reading. Again we often struggle with class-set texts (as much as we love the Biff, Chip and Kipper range - they're instantly identified as school books and it can be quite tough to get Charlotte to engage with them and complete them for her homework assignments.

These are great as they're fairly short (so attention spans don't wander), perfect for bedtime reading (subjects and content are familiar and 'comfy' for children) and the word pick panels allow children to easily read, pick out and then recognise key words throughout the stories.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a particular favourite but just about all the classic fairy tales are covered, as well as traditional folk tales and stories from around the world.

They're nicely written and illustrated and the price is very reasonable too (these retail for around £2.40 which is ludicrously good value).

So next time you're popping into M & S for a new pair of undies, check out the children's book section and you'll be pleasantly surprised. We really do recommend the Bright Sparks workbooks as they're great to take away on holiday, or to grandparents so that children can settle down and boost their brain power without feeling pressured.


Check out our previous reviews of the Early Readers range

Bear and Rabbit in "I Want My Hat Back". Both enter, only one leaves...

The Witch of the East. Fairy-scoffing and darkly decadent.

Mog in the Dark. Stay away from those wild mushrooms, Ms Kerr!

Play dress-up with the extensive Usborne "Sticker Dolly Dressing" range (including "On Holiday!")

While the sun still blazes away in the sky (and the inevitable mumbles about 'it being the rainy season soon' rumble around like gathering grey clouds) it's the perfect opportunity to kick off our next #ReadItMD13 Theme Week - Holidays!

The long school summer holiday is here for most of us (we've actually been 'in it' for the last two weeks but a lot of kids broke up last friday) and there's always time to cram in a stack of summer reading and activity books for children.

Let's start with the Usborne sticker range, particularly the "Sticker Dolly Dressing" books. These are staple fodder at home, and with hundreds of stickers and brilliant illustrations, they're great for keeping kids occupied for a while. We recently looked at the fabulous "History" range with the Edwardian Costume book, and we've also been enjoying "Sticker Dolly Dressing - On Holiday" too.

The Usborne Holiday Activity Book - Makes, puzzles and stickers ahoy!

Usborne do quite an extensive range of activity books including the above holiday-themed one, and our recently reviewed "Summer things to make and do". They're very reasonably priced so stop by your fab local indie and pick up one or two.

Reading wise, we're aiming to tackle a few lengthier books over the summer as well as our usual picture book fare.


The Strolling Mum and Charlotte have recently been thrilling to the antics of those fabulous Rescue Princesses. Written by the wonderful Paula Harrison and published by Nosy Crow, the 2nd adventure "The Wishing Pearl" has been very well received at home with Mummy and Charlotte chipping away at it a chapter a night, which is a great way to supplement short and sweet picture books with early chapter reading for children who are just beginning to shrug off the need for illustrations with their text. Paula's Rescue Princesses, and her new range of Faerie Tribes books are hugely popular and thrilling so we're always ready for a new Princess or Faerie adventure.

Faerie Tribes by Paula Harrison - Edge-of-the-seat fairy-based stuff, awesome!

Our early chapter-based book list is rapidly growing and also on our stack is Mo O'Hara's latest giggle-a-thon "My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish 2 - The Sea-Quel" serves up a tasty seaside batter-covered duo of stories that are sure to tickle the funny bones and the tastebuds of your discerning mighty mites.

My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish - The Sea-Quel by Mo O-Hara. Do NOT look into his eyes!!

It's great fun and the bonus horrifying flip-book corner is ace!

We'll be back later on in the theme week with more summer book recommendations to tide things over during the holiday. In the meantime, please drop your favourite holiday or summer-based book recommendations into the comments below, tell us what YOU'RE reading!

Tweet! FC in his rather groovy antigrav cage

Awww already cute!

Hey ladies!

The retainer at the top of the cage showing the shape you'll need to cut

Still a bit wobbly at this stage. Time for a needle and thread!

Lovely!

For this week's #ReadItMD13 Theme Week we'll be taking a look at various aspects of making and crafting in conjunction with children's books. To kick off though we'll take a look at some of the making and crafting books we've enjoyed, as well as some of the ones that have slipped through our net.

For us, the best make-and-do books are the ones that offer feasible (very important that) and engaging makes, that perhaps stretch things a little beyond just sticking two yoghurt pots together and calling it a butterfly.

Last Christmas we were very impressed with Lion Hudson's range of christmas-themed crafting books (yes I know it's the middle of the summer but it's never too early to start your christmas shopping and making, haha). With all sorts of activities ranging from simple christmas card makes, through to some quite spectacular Rudolf Red Nose truffles (which we make even when it's not Christmas because they're so yummy).

(There is a slightly less girlishly pink one available too)

DK are pretty much THE go-to for make books. They produce absolutely stunning books with clear diagrams and photography, and a whole host of brilliant ideas.

The Fantastic Rainy Day Book (Dorling Kindersley)

"The Fantastic Rainy Day Book" is probably quite hard to get hold of but this is definitely a book chock full of brilliant makes and ideas for art.

Make a hat!

DK also publish a range of Mr Maker themed books (and everyone loves Mr Maker...don't they? What do you mean "We would if he ever let the kids on his show have more of a go!")

Mr Maker - Let's Make It! (Dorling Kindersley)

Children's Making and Crafting books come in all shapes and sizes, covering a massively diverse range of subjects. We particularly like Origami at home, and this is one of the best Origami books we've seen...

Easy Origami by John Montroll

 Unlike most, it's very easy to follow and you can genuinely make all of the models in the book without getting your fingers tangled. Origami is a really easy and satisfying activity and the end results can be really beautiful.

Last but not least we had to mention Usborne's amazing crafting and making range.

"Summer Things to Make and Do" from Usborne Activities. Perfect for the British summer!

We've been taking a look at this one recently and it's absolutely perfect for the British summer - when you need to find lots of things to do indoors because it's nearly always raining (actually it's been boiling hot for most of the weekend but even so, you can drag a crafting mat out into the garden and do all your summer making in the beautiful sunshine too!). With lots of stickers for your crafting projects (vitally important to a busy 5 year old like Charlotte), it's full of fantastic ideas to get your summer started properly.

These few books we've covered just offer an insight into a tiny tiny fraction of the huge market for children's activity, make and crafting books. If you've got a favourite we haven't covered, why not leave a comment below and tell us which book you like to dip into for makes and crafting!