Barbapapa has been a brilliant rediscovery for me, and a whole new joyful discovery for Charlotte - who really can't get enough of Barbapapa's wonderful adventures. The shape-shifting seventies icon is back in the third of the re-issued stories from Annette Tison and Talus Taylor, courtesy of Orchard Books.

In this tale, Barbapapa, his beautiful wife and their 7 children are feeling a bit squeezed and cramped at home in the quaint little house in Francoise's garden. It's time to move out but where can a shape-shifting blob and his family move to?

An old abandoned house just round the corner from Francoise offers a temporary respite, but developers soon move in to squish the old houses - erecting a sterile block of flats in their place. Boo hiss!

A cramped apartment is no better for a huge Barbapapa family than Francoise's old shack, so it's time to move on again.

Here's the bit we both loved (and the bit I remember from childhood - I SO WANTED to live in Barbapapa's house!) Barbapapa starts to build a proper Barba-house in his own inimitable fashion. A blobby, rounded and gorgeous dwelling that has a room for every purpose and a purpose for every room. Somewhere for Barbabravo to lift his weights and for Barbabeau to stare at the stars.

All too soon though, those pesky developers and their crunching munching cranes and diggers are on the warpath once again. Will Barbapapa's new home be spared?

Barbapapa books are so dreamy and fun, we loved Barbapapa's house the most but we loved the spirit of the book and in particular Barbapapa's gentleness and approach to conflict (you'll see what we mean later in the book once those diggers reappear).

Don't miss our reviews of "Barbapapa" and "Barbapapa's Voyage" - and we really can't wait to read "Barbapapa's Ark", also coming very soon from Orchard.

Charlotte's best bit: Barbapapa's rather novel way of building his new house, Barbapapa style

Daddy's Favourite bit: LOVE Barbapapa's house, reminds me of Cesar Manrique's place in Lanzarote, built into volcanic bubbles. So cool!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Books)

So we've already established that the surreal 70s charm of Barbapapa was a HUGE hit with Charlotte when she received the first of the newly reprinted Orchard Press versions of these timeless classic stories.

If anything, the second book to be reprinted is even more popular with her. Read on and you'll find out why.

Barbapapa is looking a little under the weather, and Francoise is worried about his shape-shifting chum. An animal doctor takes a look at Barbapapa and finds him in perfect health. The problem isn't physical, it's emotional. Barbapapa is lonely and needs a Barbamama!

Francoise and his best friend decide to embark on a journey to find a Barbamama. With Barbapapa accompanying them, they soon jet off around the globe to find Barbapapa a soul mate. They search in London, they search in India, they scour the US but sometimes the very thing you're looking hardest for can be right under your nose!

Charlotte's excitement at finding out that there was a female counterpart to Barbapapa was amusing - more so when she realised that Barbapapa has an entire family too (this isn't really much of a spoiler since technically you'll meet them all in the end-papers of both books which is, in itself, a bit spoilery). Charlotte loved Barbamama (who always reminded me of a hippy and groovy chick) but loved the Barbababies too (particularly the very lucky little long haired fellow!)

Now we know that more reprints are scheduled for early next year we can't wait to read more of Barbapapa's adventures. This is a really sweet little tale so prepare to meet the Barba-family!


Charlotte's best bit: Barbapapa and Barbamama's amazing children who pop up from seeds in the ground. Pop!

Daddy's Favourite bit: An awesome road trip with a shape-changing hero, we truly can't wait for more Barbapapa from Orchard next year!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Press)

Wow, what a trip down memory lane. I'm almost ashamed to admit I'd entirely forgotten about Barbapapa, or should I say I'd misplaced memories I had of the original books and the TV series which were around when I was a kid. Barbapapa was always one of those "after school" cartoons that was just the right side of surreal and whacky to be a great distraction from homework or whatever the school day had thrown at me.

So when two Barbapapa books came through our letterbox, and I'd seen excited tweets about them, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Charlotte. You see, previous forays into nostalgic and excited showings of stuff I'd loved as a kid haven't always gone well. Pigeon Street was a huge success (note to publishers, get in on that action!) - yet "The Herbs" sank like a lead balloon. As for Issi Noho, the very mention of keeping a Panda in a wooden crate for long-distance travel was met with shocked silence.

Charlotte instantly wanted to find out more about Barbapapa as soon as she saw Orchard's reprinted covers. Diving in, we learned all about Barbapapa's origins, how he sprang from the ground in young Francoise's back garden one day, and became the talk of the town.

Francoise's parents obviously couldn't find house room for a huge, yet rather cute pink blob so poor Barbapapa is shipped off to the zoo. It's there that he realises he can change shape, mould his body into any form possible - including a skinny creature that can easily escape through the bars of a zoo cage.

Barbapapa soon finds that other animals don't understand him, and that the zoo isn't exactly chuffed that he can escape so easily, so the poor thing wanders the streets with nowhere to go, nowhere to call home.

But shape-changing creatures with a stout brave heart soon find opportunities to turn things around.

We'll leave you to discover the rest of the story.

Charlotte has demanded these books on a daily basis since we got them (we also received "Barbapapa's Voyage" which we'll review very soon too!). I rather unkindly referred to the current trend for reviving old stories, books and characters as "Bracking" (Book Fracking) but some characters are so timelessly appealing that they're as big a hit with our children as they were with us.

A brilliant and timely revival of a character I'd almost forgotten, but now we're reacquainted I realise just how brill an idea Barbapapa was.

(HiT, please resist the temptation to remake the TV show featuring Barbapapa as a CGI 'down wid da kidz' backward-basedball-cap wearing dude though, I beg you!)

Charlotte's best bit: Barbapapa expertly emulating other animals in the zoo

Daddy's Favourite bit: Proof positive that some characters we loved in our childhood can be successfully revamped and passed down to our children to fall in love with too. Wonderful!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Books)