A plucky crew of animal pals come up with a brilliant idea - they're going to stay up in the snowy woods and wait for the big man himself. "Waiting for Santa" by Steve Metzger and Alison Edgson...

A fabulous lineup of authors, some sumptuous illustrations by Alison Edgson, and a wondrous collection of stories that are absolutely perfect as the temperatures plummet and you need something snuggly and warm to cuddle up with before bedtime.

"Moonlight Tales" gathers together talented folk like Penny Dolan, Holly Webb and Michael Broad to tell a collection of short but wonderfully sweet tales featuring children's favourite animals as they all prepare for winter.

The beauty of anthologies is that for early readers, or children who are just moving on from picture books to chapter books, you can read a story or two each night before bed and slowly work through this wonderful book.

If you're looking for something wintry and wonderful to stick in a stocking this christmas, this is definitely worth investigating!


Charlotte's best bit: The Brave little Beaver story!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A superb little collection, perfect for yuletide storytelling!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

Call us complete softies (you're complete softies!) but we cannot resist Alison Edgeson's warm, fuzzy, cuddly and devastatingly cute animal characters - particularly her bunnies. In "Dear Snowman", the cutest bunny of all is the star - and one snowy winter's day he builds a fabulous snowman to be friends with. Dressed in a jaunty woollen hat and scarf, he's absolutely perfect and great fun to play with.

Sadly though, one morning our little bunny wakes up to find his best friend has completely disappeared! Where has he got to? Thanks to a rather lovely mum, who explains that Snowmen often go on their travels when it's not wintry and snowy, Bunny keeps in touch by postcard and learns all about the fabulous adventures his snowman pal has in distant countries. Riding on a camel through the desert (which is quite perilous when you're made of snow!) or having his hat stolen by cheeky monkeys in the rainforest. Snowman sees lots of interesting things but is always careful to mail a postcard to his best friend, who knows that once the winter snow returns - so will Dear Snowman!

This book gives us such a warm cuddly glow and though there's no snow on the ground, we can imagine how great it's going to be when it snows - and when we can snuggle up in front of the fire in the lounge, wrapped up in a lovely cuddly blanket with a huge steaming cup of hot chocolate and this book - before we build a dear snowman of our own.

Charlotte's best bit: Snowman riding a camel. "I've done that!" she squealed (and she has too!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Warm, cuddly, cute and sweet, a wintry tale that's absolutely perfect to read to your little bunnies as they snuggle up on a cold winter's evening.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

This festive collection of awesome animal stories demands to be read while cuddled up under a snuggly blanket with a cup of hot chocolate (and, Charlotte says, at least 6 marshmallows). Gathering together some of the best writing talent in the business (like Holly Webb, Penny Dolan and Michael Broad) to spin tales of young animals and their first experiences in the coldest parts of the world certainly suits this time of year beautifully.

We learn how a young husky pup dreams of pulling his first sled, and how a snow goose learns how to fly in formation. Even how a young narwhal uses his fantastic spiral tusk to catch a star.

Each child (and adult of course!) will find their favourite story amongst these and they're just the right length to fit into a bit of bedtime reading before your youngsters snuggle under the duvet.

Charlotte's best bit: The Arctic Fox (who was afraid of the dark, awww!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The husky tale, and the general atmosphere of each story. Really beautifully told.

(kindly supplied to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

Imagine what it must be like to never have seen snow or galloped around in the lovely crunchy white stuff? I distinctly remember the first time we had real proper snow and Charlotte's reaction to it, one of those childhood expressions that can only be brought about by something as wildly different to a youngster's perceived view of the world as a fall of snow.

The little bear in "When Will It Snow?" pesters his mum about it until she reveals that as winter comes, bears must think of hibernation, tucking up snugly until spring. But little bear just wants to stay awake with his friends, to learn what snow is really like.

He stares to the sky and wishes, but all too soon it's time to go - and the poor little bear worries that his friends will forget all about him while he sleeps.

What happens in spring? You'll have to read the book to find out, of course.

Fitting in nicely with our festive round of reviews, "When Will It Snow" delights youngsters with a gentle story of wonder and friendship and how the world changes once the first snow arrives. Once again we tip our hat firmly to Alison Edgson (who doesn't in fact have 8 arms, just two very fast-working ones - or so she told us on Twitter!) and to Kathryn White for weaving such a cuddly tale perfect for those chilly winter nights.

Charlotte's best bit: The end of the book (which obviously we don't want to spoil)
Daddy's favourite bit: A story that deliciously describes friendships and how even a break from those you love and cherish doesn't change how they feel if they're true friends. Lovely!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

Oh my, there are only 35 sleeps to go until Christmas and by now, your busy little bees (just like Charlotte) must be hopping from foot to foot with excitement.

A bit like the little fellow in this book, a cute and cuddly puppy who wants to know why his household has suddenly gone completely crazy! There's a tree in the lounge, stockings are hanging from the fireplace and everyone's rushing around in a mad dash with no time to play with busy little puppies. Fortunately, Puppy's friend - the very wise and very laconic cat is on hand to offer advice and tell Pup what's really going on.

In "Puppy's First Christmas" Steve Smallman tells a cuddly yuletide tale that warms the cockles just as nicely as a glass of mulled wine. Little pup is such an inquisitive and energetic chap that you can't help but catch his enthusiasm. Alison Edgson (who we're beginning to believe has 8 arms and holds a paintbrush in each one, she is SO busy!) paints such beautiful christmassy scenes too.

The book has lovely touchable panels that are as warm and fuzzy as the book itself, so younger children will love exploring each page and panel to see which bits are textured.

Charlotte's best bit: Cat and Puppy stealing christmas food! Naughty!

Daddy's favourite bit: Lovely fuzzy touchable panels, a perfect book for babies and toddlers as well as children Charlotte's age.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

So many publishers, authors and illustrators often delve into the rich tapestry woven by classic fairy tales from the likes of The Brothers Grimm and others, for inspiration and perhaps a new spin on children's stories.

Child's Play's range of "Flip Up Fairy Tales" are a great example of how stories can be retold in innovative ways, and can also remove some of the more unsavoury elements without detriment to the original tale.

We took a look at four of the Flip Up Fairy Tales - with storytelling CDs included, to see how Child's Play's collection of fantastic authors and illustrators have built on the strengths of stories children probably already know and love.



First up, a fantastic version of "Three Billy Goats Gruff" by Alison Edgson (who must be one of the busiest illustrators in the business at the moment, I think I've lost count of the number of books that have passed through our hands with her name on them!)

Three goats start to run out of lush green grass to eat in their home field, so they look for pastures new. Unfortunately, between them and the sweetest grass on the hillside lies a bridge - and under that bridge lives a rather cruel, nasty and bullying troll...

You'll know the rest of the story like the back of your hand - at least you think you will, but Alison Edgson has rather neatly reworked the way the original story ends to provide a positive message, and a fantastic way to deal with bullies that (hopefully) children will understand and identify.

Next we looked at "The Gingerbread Man" - a rollicking version by Estelle Corke. This story is pretty much untouched and is easily one of Charlotte's favourite stories of all time. An old man and his wife bake a rather cheeky and mischievous Gingerbread Man for tea, but before they can tuck in, the gingerbread man runs off and is chased by the man, his wife, and just about everyone else in their locale. It takes a sneaky fox to teach the Gingerbread Man a (rather final) lesson, and I think secretly it's  great that the end is unchanged in this one as it's Charlotte's favourite bit! Eek!

(Having seen the way she deals with Pret's rather delicious gingerbread men, I can understand why).

We also took a look at the Flip Up Fairy Tale version of Cinderella. Again, largely untouched but with a rather more positive message throughout and a more satisfying end, Cinderella by Jess Stockham is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully told with the accompanying CD.

Last but by no means least we took a look at another of Charlotte's all time favourite fairy stories, The Enormous Turnip, retold by Cristiana Cerretti. An old man and his wife are master gardeners, their flowers, fruit and vegetables are the envy of their friends and neighbours. One year they grow a turnip that becomes so large that they can barely dig it out of the ground - so they round up their family and pets to help.

This book has some of the best (and most entertaining) flip up panels in it, as the couple lovingly sow their garden, then try with all their might to pull that lovely turnip out to eat for their tea. Again, a great and entertaining accompanying CD and a positive message threaded throughout the tale - but Charlotte was very sad to see that the dog, cat and mouse weren't included in the turnip feast at the end - OH NO! (Actually, have you ever tried to feed a dog, a cat or a mouse turnip? They're not massively keen!)

Child's Play's range also includes tales that your children may not be familiar with. We've previously reviewed their brilliant version of one of my favourite stories, "Stone Soup" and there are other world stories and folk tales like "Donkey Skin" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" to enjoy too.

The range is available in different formats (soft cover, hard back, or you can even just buy the story CDs to enjoy in the car or while out and about, collecting a few of the tales together on each). Check out the full range on the Child's Play website below

Child's Play Flip-up Fairy Tales

Charlotte's best bit: The cheeky Gingerbread Man getting his comeuppance.

Daddy's favourite bit: Great quality collection with superb storytelling on the CDs and the flip-up panels make them interesting even for younger children. Sensitive reworkings of some tales are also very nice to see too.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Child's Play International Ltd)