There's no such thing as a cute monster, a sweet monster. At least that's what the central character in "Don't Call Me Sweet" would have you believe, but I'm afraid to say that we thought the little monster fellah was extremely sweet with the sort of face that little old lady monsters just want to tweak and plant a big sloppy kiss on.

Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Angela Rozelaar's fantastic little book details how Little Monster wants to be taken a little more seriously. He has a scary roar, just listen! ROARRRR! He can stomp and growl and stalk with the best of them. But what happens when a bigger, badder more monstrous beast comes calling? Will Little Monster be brave enough to stand up to the biggest hungriest troll in the land?

A monster tale with a difference, packed with humour and fun.

Charlotte's best bit: The lovely wibbly old monster ladies. Mwah!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A neat and nifty monster tale of bravado and rumbling monster tums. Just make sure you don't end up in one, sweet or otherwise!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Press)

From time to time we manage to spot books in our local library that have been read out during Cbeebies "Lunchtime Hour". Various Cbeebies characters and presenters come along, snuggle up in a comfy chair and read a children's book and some weeks back we remember Andy (tall lanky bloke, terrible hair but jolly and happy) reading out a "Littlest Dinosaur" tale. 

We grabbed this one on the basis of that, and it's excellent fun. A tiny squirt of a dinosaur is the last egg to hatch, and the poor little beast is soon finding life hard in a dinosaur filled world where everyone else is gigantic. 

His brothers and sisters trample the poor little fellah into the dirt when they play games, the neighbours point and laugh and soon the little mite feels completely useless. 

As we all know though, the biggest hearted heroes in children's stories are often those tiny little creatures who are folorn and neglected, and soon the Littlest Dinosaur gets the chance to prove his bravery.

With Charlotte being on a massive dinosaur kick at the moment (see my wife's excellent blog post about the superb Woodstock Museum in Oxfordshire) the littlest dinosaur is a fab family friendly book with great illustrations and one of a series featuring the scrawny but brave little scrap. 

Charlotte's best bit: Commenting on how odd the poor little dinosaur looks when he finally emerges from the egg

Daddy's favourite bit: The Long Neck

Rating: 4 out of 5

Diamonds aren't a girl's best friend, dogs are! Fran's friend is a lovely little tale about a girl and her dog. Her poor pooch is feeling a little left out, as Fran becomes absorbed in a very important activity. Fran doesn't want to play ball, doesn't want to go for walkies and doesn't even seem to want to take her dog outside at all - but the story wraps up with a lovely little ending that should make pooch owners smile. 

Short, sweet and nicely illustrated. 

Charlotte's best bit: Cutting out and sticking down


Daddy's favourite bit: The dog's various comments on Fran's busy activities

Rating: 3 out of 5

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This must be every pre-schooler's ultimate fantasy, surely? What would they do if the teacher got stuck in a climbing frame for the day? Not quite Lord of the Flies but certainly chaos ensues when just such an occurrence happens, and the children decide to do exactly what they want all day. 

Great rhyming text lays out the story of the gradual descent into toddler chaos, with the poor Nursery teacher powerless to step in. Naturally the children soon realise that taking over the nursery for the day isn't quite as great as it sounds but there's a great conclusion to the story and with Sue Heap's child-like but detailed illustrations underpinning the rhyming couplets here, this is a super little story. 

Charlotte's best bit: Millie sitting on Lily, and Tilly sitting on Millie. 

Daddy's favourite bit: The kids going crazy with paints.