Kindness can't be overrated. Kindness towards others, towards animals, there's a lot to be said for any book that makes kindness its central theme.

But there's a lot more than that to unpack in "Lula and the Sea Monster" by Alex Latimer.

This beautifully woven and illustrated tale begins with the titula Lula, who loves her seaside home.

Sadly her home won't last forever. Greedy developers are intent on flattening it to build a new coastal highway, and Arthur-Dent-Like Lula would quite like to stop them. But what can a little girl do against a crowd of bulldozers?

Consoling herself, Lula takes a seaside stroll, and discovers an odd little creature being picked on by a nasty gull in a rockpool. She rescues the little mite, and gives it a bit of her packed lunch, vowing to return next day to see how the little fellah is doing.

When she returns, she realises this isn't just any ordinary sea creature, this is something else. Lula's new friend grows and grows, and is soon polishing off the contents of the larder as Lula brings her new friend lots of food to make him grow big and strong.

But when her new friend disappears one day, Lula's blue funk returns and she realises that it's the day of destruction for the family home...however, someone else has other ideas - and Lula might just have found her initial kindness paying off in a big way. A colossal way in fact.

This is really lovely stuff, original and compelling storytelling for wee ones, tucking the message of kindness neatly between the folds so that it's not battering kids around the head too much, as so many 'message' books do.

Yes, we love this one.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A really original and beautifully told / illustrated tale of kindness and looking after others.

"Lula and the Sea Monster" by Alex Latimer is out now, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review)

Who's afraid of Woolf? No not Virginia, a half wolf, half sheep with the biggest heart you can imagine?

Way back in December last year, "The Boy Who Cried Ninja" by Alex Latimer was one of our "Book of the Week" good reads (and got 5 out of 5 stars back when we used to give books star ratings).

Quite understandable as it was a hilarious (and often irreverent) rejig of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" folk story. We loved it to bits, particularly Alex's rather groovy art style.

So it was great to see more from this talented fellah with "Penguin's Hidden Talent" - the story of a funky bunch of animal friends who all have more than a few party tricks up their sleeves.

All, that is, except a rather forlorn penguin. Try as he might to emulate Bear's expert juggling, Fox's (slightly gross) alphabet burping or even Rabbit's incredible disappearing act, Penguin just can't seem to do anything.

Soon the annual animal talent show comes around, and chaos ensues as no one can get things running smoothly. Is it time for Penguin to step into the spotlight?

Once again, Alex Latimer breathes life into a great little tale of friendships and discovering your own hidden talent with superb colourful artwork, memorable characters and brilliant scenes.

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte had a real soft spot for Penguin - "So cute! So sad!"

Daddy's favourite bit: Alex's characters almost seem to leap off the page, love the scenes of utter chaos later on in the book. More greatness, can't wait to see what Alex comes up with next!

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Picture Corgi)