Axel Scheffler's awesome "Flip Flap Frozen" is the latest - and most appropriate for the season - version of his cackle-worthy mixed up animal series yet.

Even tetchy 11 year olds will laugh out loud at the crazy combinations of animals, birds and fish you can cook up in this crazy book - with awesome rhymes to jolly things along even more, and of course a touch of snow as most of these animals enjoy the colder climate to be found in the extreme south and far north of our planet, and all the other environments where snow and ice reign supreme.

It's a giggle a minute! What do you get if you cross a narwhal with a reindeer? It's a nardeer, of course! And how about a penguin with a beluga? Why, that's a penuga! With over 121 possible creations, silly names and strange noises to make you giggle, this new Flip Flap book is perfect for preschoolers and ideal for animal fans.

"Flip Flap Frozen" by Axel Scheffler is out now, published by Nosy Crow (kindly supplied for review). 

The tale of an unlikely friendship will be this year's big Christmas animation, so despite the fact this story isn't really a seasonal one, we thought we'd drop it into our Booky Advent Calendar anyway, as it's likely to be another superb piece of animation from Magic Light Pictures.

"The Snail and the Whale" by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler wasn't actually one of the J & A books we read to C as a tiny tot, but we re-read it to review and love the positive message that underpins Julia's gently rhyming story, replete with Axel's amazing colourful illustrations as we've come to expect from this amazing duo.

Snail is a seasnail and he's bored with sitting on his rock. He wants to see the world, and amazingly his wish is granted by an unlikely ally - a giant blue whale.

Soon they begin to cruise the oceans together, taking in the amazing sights and sounds - but when Whale is temporarily confused by some daft humans in their speedboats, he ends up stranded on a beach.

Can a tiny snail possibly help a gargantuan mammal back into the sea and safety once again?

A fab story of friendship, determination and one tiny mollusc's bravery, this is sure to find an appreciative audience in both book and animated form this Christmas.

"The Snail and the Whale" by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is out now, published by Macmillan Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

The Gruffalo? The Gruffalo? It's 20 years old, don't you know!

Wow, is it really 20 years since Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's gigantic behemoth of a book redefined our expectations of what a humble children's picture book could turn into. The book sold by the bucketload, has been translated into many, many languages across the world, spawned a hugely successful animated film as well as a colossal tidal wave of book-related merchandise.

And it all began 20 years ago with a collaboration that has stood the test of time. Julia Donaldson's pitch-perfect rhymes and singsong story complimented perfectly by Axel Scheffler's bold bright and colourful artwork has ensured this mighty book's success for the last two decades.

It's a book that was one of the first titles we loaned from the library, before I finally relented and bought copies of "The Gruffalo" and "The Gruffalo Child" for C, just so we had our own copies to hand.

We've read it again and again, though in later years C hasn't demanded it as much. Perhaps there's room in the market for a Gruffalo middle grade book or two?

It's the story of a humble but extremely clever mouse, who uses his brains rather than his meagre brawn to successfully trick his way out of being eaten by various forest dwellers such as a fox, an owl and a snake.

Added fun with the anniversary edition as the cover slip folds out into a cardboard play scene. How awesome!

The looming threat of the mythical Gruffalo is enough to see off his attackers - until the delightful twist in the story that turns things completely upside down as The Gruffalo turns out to be very real, very big but thankfully pretty benign.

Kids love this book, parents love this book, and I'm pretty sure the publishers love its mighty sales too! One of the most important and influential picture books ever written, arguably and the 20th Anniversary Edition (with its fantastic cardboard play scene and new process drawings) is an absolute must.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A gigantic steamroller of a book that helped define what we've come to expect from modern picture books with a fantastically clever story, brilliant illustrations, perfect rhymes and a cast of awesome characters.

"The Gruffalo" (20th Anniversary Edition) is available today, published by Macmillan Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

If ever you're asked to name a dream pairing working in children's books today, you'd definitely have to mention Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler for sure...

Oh now THIS is a genius idea, in fact we're surprised no one had thought of doing this AEONS ago!

Yes yes, I know we've reviewed "Stick Man" many, many , MANY times before in our Booky Advent Calendars but he's about to make the leap from book to screen for the BBC's fabulous festive animated feature this year.

More from Julia and Axel on the blog this week as we take a look at the fabulous Acorn Wood series. Printed in a neat mini-sized hardback format, these pocket-sized and charming tales are adorable and fun - and regular readers of the blog will know just how much my curious 6 year old loves lift-the-flap books.

Rabbit is sleepy, and all she wants to do is take a nap. But try as she might, rabbit just can't get any peace and quiet, other animals are being FAR too noisy!

Little ones are encouraged to investigate what's keeping rabbit awake as each page spread has hidden flaps to lift and explore. The book's sturdy construction can stand up to a fair amount of punishment even under the most fidgety little fingers - it also means it's the perfect book for little ones to take away with them on holiday or to read in the car.

The Acorn Wood range are utterly charming (we absolutely adore Fox's Socks too). They're short and sweet so perfect to read one or two before bed (and let's hope your little ones get to sleep quicker than poor Rabbit!)

Charlotte's best bit: She adores the lift-the-flap books, particularly the fun in investigating what all those noisy little animals get up to as Rabbit wants to snooze

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun pocket-sized tales, perfectly pitched and presented - absolutely adorable for quite a wide range of ages

(Kindly sent to us for review by Macmillan Children's Books)

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

Fox's Socks by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb

We couldn't really have a Christmas roundup without one of our all-time favourite Christmassy books. In fact, I think this is actually our favourite Julia Donaldson / Axel Scheffler collaboration - yes we prefer this to both "The Gruffalo" and "The Gruffalo's Child" (which might be tantamount to children's book heresy to state in public, but there it is!)

So why is it the perfect christmas tale?

Oops! Santa never makes the most graceful entrances does he?

It ticks all the right boxes, featuring adorable characters, Santa, crisp freshly fallen snow - and it tugs at the heartstrings a bit. The story of a noble stick man who is separated from his family by accident, and spends almost an entire year trying to get back to them by hook or by crook. Stick Man falls foul of nasty drooling dogs, and even ends up as the arm of a snowman!

Does he make it back in time for Christmas?

For all the effort put in to the marvellous TV adaptations of both Gruffalo books, it stuns me that Stick Man didn't get similar treatment as it really is a magical tale with a goodly dose of festive cheer. We don't get to read it nearly enough as it can really make me quite tearful but then I am a big softy.

Charlotte's best bit: Stick Man's perilous journey on the river, eeks!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sublime story with a touch of christmas, and almost a tear jerking end that had me reaching for my hankie. Delicious!

Surely there's no mightier team working in children's picture books than Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler? A new book by this dynamic duo is always a huge cause for celebration, doubly so when a wedding is involved. You have an exclusive invitation to the wedding of Betty O'Barley and Harry O'Hay but first there's lots of preparation to be done.

A wedding dress is required of course, made of the finest goose feathers. Bright sparkly rings are also needed - and also flowers, lots of pink flowers.

Harry O'Hay sets off to pick up the last item on the wedding list, and that's when disaster strikes. Enter to many boos and hisses one Reginald Rake, a foul usurper, a thoroughly rotten cad who steps in and flirts outrageously with poor Betty O'Barley while her fiancee is off on his slow and painstaking quest (never, ever ask a snail for help if you want anything doing in a hurry!)

Reginald Rake is suave, sophisticated, fiendishly charming and can even drive a tractor (or a Gruffactor - bit of a forced bit of fan service there but C loved that little cameo!)

Reginald Rake also smokes hideous cigars but the smoke is too much for him, and he drops the foul thing right at Betty's feet!

(As an aside, it was a bit of a shocker to see a character smoking in a children's book but the whole plot would unravel like a poorly woven loom-band if it wasn't there so we'll have to let it slide!)

As flames leap up in the tinder-dry field, Betty is in mortal danger! Can Harry O'Hay possibly save the day?

As ever, Julia Donaldson's use of rhyme and repetition make this a sing-song of a book to read aloud. Axel Scheffler's sublime artwork is beautiful, colourful and the utterly perfect accompaniment to Julia's writing. The story is charming, perilous and exciting - in fact the book is so highly polished you're almost blinded by its dazzle.

Every bit as good as you'd expect it to be, plus a little bit more! It's not book of the week material for us (I think we'd rather like to have seen Reginald Rake be a bit more fiendish and dastardly - oh and get his comeuppance too!) but your younger readers are going to absolutely love it to pieces!

Charlotte's best bit: Going for a scary ride on the Gruffactor

Daddy's Favourite bit: Buffed to the highest sheen by two of the most talented folk working in children's books today. Absolutely guaranteed to wow your little ones.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Alison Green Books / Scholastic)

Claude is on the case (Images © Alex T Smith)

Discover Story's "The Big Write – Stories Remixed" festival opens this week. Starting on 6th March and running till the 16th, you can join in with a fantastic set of events during March.

The festival includes a spectacular programme for all ages with authors, illustrators, visual artists, popstars and comic makers joining us for all that is best and brilliant about writing and stories.

Some of the big names in this year’s guest events include Korky Paul (Winnie the Witch), Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo), Nadia Shireen (Good Little Wolf), John Hegley (I am a Poetato), Cerrie Burnell (CBeebies) and Guy Parker–Rees (Giraffes Can’t Dance).

You can also create a pop song with Boogaloo Stu and enjoy a pop gig with Catherine Bennett Live!

Discover Story's fantastic events programme runs throughout 2014. More details can be found on the Discover Story website.

www.discover.org.uk

Check out some of the brilliant event pics below:

Axel Scheffler (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

Codename Comic Maker! (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

The divine Sarah Mcintyre (Photo: © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

The Big Write! (Photo © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

Troll-taming genius Adam Stower (Photo © Discover / Tim Mitchell)

We've made a point of trying to read as many of Julia Donaldson's books as possible, particularly when she teams up with Axel Scheffler for an entertaining story romp. With the usual pitch perfect rhyming, here JD celebrates stories as several crash together in a rather novel way. The story begins with one Charlie Cook reading his favourite book, and as he reads all about pirates, the pirate captain is reading all about goldilocks...who has fallen asleep reading a book all about a brave knight...who in turn reads a book about an awesome frog...and so on, and so on.

I initially thought the idea was quite a good one, flowing stories into one another in this way - but it didn't really strike as much of a chord with Charlotte as I expected it to.

Perhaps in some ways it's a little bit too clever for its own good and children prefer something that doesn't dance around several different themes before looping back on itself at the end.

Still thought it was quite entertaining to read nonetheless, thanks in no small part to Julia's ability to wring a rhyme out of the trickiest situations with consummate ease.

Charlotte's best bit: Is that a Gruffalo picture on Charlie's wall?

Daddy's Favourite bit: Immense fun to read aloud, as are all JD's books!

Every year we wait to see what the BBC are going to do for their big animated festive adventure. We've seen the Gruffalo, the Gruffalo's Child and Room on the Broom but WHY OH WHY NOT STICK MAN?

We love Stick Man far more than we love either Gruffalo books, and it's so steeped with festive atmospherics that it doesn't seem to make much sense that it always gets overlooked (perhaps the toy market is the reason - a plush 'stick man' probably isn't as cuddly as a metric ton of Gruffalo toys, and how on earth would you fit your sandwich box inside a stick man rucksack or trunki?)

Stick Man is the tale of a man - who is a stick, and one day the poor wooden fellow is wrenched from the life he knows - ending up being used for a multitude of different things.

A dog quite fancies playing fetch with him. A boy builds him into a snowman - and that's not the least of poor Stick Man's woes. With each and every embarrasing stick-y situation, the poor fellah is taken further and further away from his stick-thin wife and his twiggy children. At christmas too. It's enough to make you cry.

Thankfully, even though the snow lays deep and crisp and even, Stick Man will not be defeated. Summoning all his sticky strength and courage, he begins the long journey home but will he make it in time for Christmas?

Julia Donaldson's pitch perfect rhymes, and Axel Scheffler's fabulous artwork have never been better in our opinion. BBC, do yourselves a favour and stick Stick Man on the box next year, g'wan!


Charlotte's best bit: Poor Stick Man being snaffled by a mischievous dog

Daddy's Favourite bit: I love the end. It brings a tear to a stick-fellah's eye

Happy Birthday Discover! (Image by Axel "Gruffalo" Scheffler)

Our favourite story destination Discover is celebrating its 10th birthday with a free weekend of amazing and new activities!

Talking to my sister over Christmas, she couldn't believe that we'd somehow missed out on "A Squash and a Squeeze" on our book travels. Thanks to Macmillan's timely republishing of the very first collaboration between the (now) legendary duo of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler we've finally caught up with it and it's as good as she said it would be.

"A Squash and a Squeeze" tells the tale of an old woman and a rather wise man. The woman bemoans the fact that her cottage is so tiny, always a squash and a squeeze so the old man gives her a brilliant idea how to better appreciate what she's got rather than expanding the size of her quaint little cottage.

First the woman invites a chicken in, then a pig, then a goat and finally a cow - and she soon finds out how cramped things can get.

It's an entertaining tale and this special 20th Anniversary edition shows you how different the book could've been, and how much work went into that very first collaboration between Donaldson and Scheffler - two names who can now pretty much write their own cheques when it comes to children's picture books.

I liked the moral of this tale, and rather liked the insights into how Scheffler designs and perfects his characters (I'd love to see some of his early Gruffalo ideas, bet they were awesome).

Charlotte's best bit: The naughty goat. Never invite a goat into your house if you like your soft furnishings!

Daddy's favourite bit: The greedy pig! Help yourself why don't you!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Macmillan Children's Books)

Right alongside our app of the week is this week's book of the week, and again it's a book I can't believe we haven't reviewed before.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are, of course, the legendary author/illustrator team behind the phenomenally successful Gruffalo books but secretly I think we actually love Stick Man more.

A little twiggy fellow lives in a tree with his stick lady love and their stick children three (it's almost impossible to read this book or even review it without breaking into a sing-song voice). Through no fault of his own, and due to his rather 'sticky' nature, poor stick man embarks on adventures and mishaps that take him far, far away from home and his loved ones.

Poor Stick Man. He's not just a stick, he's a man after all! But his voice is lost as various animals and other folk all want to use Stick Man for one purpose or another.

You'll have to read the book to find out what becomes of our sticky chum. Beautifully written, superbly illustrated and pretty much as good as children's picture books get. Stick Man is most deservedly our book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit: Spotting the Gruffalo hanging on a christmas tree

Daddy's favourite bit: Poor Stick Man becoming the arm on a snowman.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week

Now this book is an oddity. Charlotte usually heartily approves of just about anything that the sublime team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler turn out. But this book? Barely registered on the Charlotte Richter Scale - so what's wrong with it? 


Zog is a young dragon, enrolled in Dragon School and learning about all the things that dragons need to know to set them up in life. Breathing fire instead of snow, flying loop the loops and kidnapping princesses from castles. 


Zog's a bit of a clumsy chap, but with the aid (and extensive medical knowledge) of a young girl, he soars to the top of the class and comes out with top honours. 


I've tried to put my finger on why this doesn't float Charlotte's boat (or mine, for that matter). Perhaps it's a little bit too much like other Donaldson / Scheffler books. Perhaps the rhyming text isn't quite as tight or as memorable as in books like The Gruffalo or even Tiddler. But this book swiftly sank straight to the bottom of our library haul this week which seems a shame because it looked like it could be extremely entertaining. 


Charlotte's best bit: Dragons breathing snow instead of fire


Daddy's favourite bit: The knight at the end. Tell me he doesn't have ulterior motives for shacking up with the medic princess!


Rating: A rather shocking and unexpected 2 out of 5

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler can do no wrong with children's books, and Room on the Broom sees the 'Gruffalo' team back in action, tackling another beloved subject dear to children's hearts - witches. 

Put it this way, if you're creating a children's book for the first time you could do no worse than pick witches as the subject. So for experienced folk like Donaldson and Scheffler, it's money for jam detailing the story of a warty old witch and her bulging broom. 

Picking up stray characters as she travels the night sky, the witch's broom suffers a slight setback. But all is not lost, witches know a thing or two about spells and brooms so this tale has a nice happy ending. 

For some reason, Charlotte didn't immediately identify with the nameless witch in this story as readily as she does with Meg (of Meg and Mog fame) or the peerless Winnie, but she rather liked the animal characters and of course the hint of danger midway through the story (which I won't spoil). 

An instant classic to rack up alongside the rest of your Donaldson and Scheffler collection. 

Charlotte's best bit: The frog's special bit on the new broom (no spoilers!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The rather large spot on the end of the witch's nose. She must use the same face cream as the Gruffalo!

Published by Macmillan Children's Books


The superb writing / illustration team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler can do no wrong. Bringing us the deliciously dark tales of the Gruffalo, they've turned out hit after hit book and the Acorn Wood series is no exception. 

This simple tale of a fox and his missing socks may look familiar if you've already read through "The Gruffalo" but the addition of lift-the-flap searching for poor old Fox's missing footwear means that children automatically engage with the book and its simple poetic text. 

Can't get enough of Axel Scheffler's artwork. Brilliant stuff. 

Charlotte's best bit: "Noddy" wearing a sock on his head

Daddy's favourite bit: The cross-dressing mouse who seems to have changed sex since The Gruffalo

Rating: 4 out of 5