We do love a gloriously funny poetry collection and it's been an absolute delight to reacquaint ourselves with the fabulous work of Elli Woollard.

In "Perfectly Peculiar Pets" by Elli and Anja Boretzki, find poems on all manner of subjects from the scaly to the fuzzy, the stripy to the multi-coloured. From animals to birds, fish and some distinctly strange species indeed, Elli tickles our funny bones with a selection of perfect poems for little ones to enjoy.

Just about every animal and bird gets a look in from awesome armadillos, fidgety flamingos and umbrella birds to crazy quokkas and irritable iguanas.

A colourful new Cbeebies show and now a fantastic range of books for teeny tinies, let's meet the Olobobs!

Time for more rhyming fun now, and a rather charitable young goat who thinks of others before thinking of himself...

Now here's a book we can REALLY relate to, after all nothing worth doing is worth doing by halves is it?

Books that deal with children's anxiety issues in a thoughtful and sensitive way are so valuable as part of a child's early years...

Ah, the course of true love never runs smoothly.

At least for Stick Insects. My earliest memory of "School Pets" was a tank full of these weird blighters. For some reason, they were deemed the most interesting pets for a classroom of kids who (certainly in primary school for me at least) had no real experience of animals other than dogs and cats.

Our heroic lovelorn figure in "I Love You, Stick Insect" by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros has fallen head over heels in love.

That wouldn't be such a bad thing, love is a fine thing and worth fighting for after all. Only Stick Insect's perfect new partner is...er, a stick.

No not a stick insect, a real honest-to-goodness stick.

The story hinges on the perfect awkwardness of seeing someone so blissfully happy in their ignorance that their friends don't know if it's the right thing to do - to break the spell, to tell the poor lovesick individual the truth. You know what it's like when you're the friend of someone who is so recklessly intent on their love that they do not see disaster ahead.

Needless to say, Stick Insect's story DOES actually have a happy ending (which we won't spoil for you). It looks like 2018 is kicking off with a truly original picture book that steps sideways away from the norm, offering up a beautiful story with heart. Oh, and sticks.

C's best bit: Stick insect's perfectly blissful ignorance.

Daddy's favourite bit: A hugely original idea this, though there is a lesson for us all here about unrequited love and the value of your friends giving you the odd wake up call from time to time. Nicely done Chris, nicely done!

"I Love You, Stick Insect" by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros is out now, published by Bloomsbury (kindly supplied for review). 

We're not quite finished with diggers and dinosaurs today, here's the first in a series of new 'make and play' books from Bloomsbury, "Dino Diggers: Digger Disaster" by Rose Impey and Chris Chatterton...

You've heard the expression "As cute as a bug" right? Well this is cuter than that!

What on earth IS a Yeti and do they actually even exist? Young Henry seems to think so, and he's determined to prove they're out there once and for all...

Four of the naughtiest baddies hatch a plan in this deviously delicious new picture book...

Our third entry in the Booky Advent Calendar has a lovely wintry feel and features our favourite bird, the adorable Robin...

We're kicking off our Booky Advent Calendar for 2016 with a book that shows a lot of cheek - and (almost) quite a few other bits too!

I was a little surprised when, one evening, it was a "Quick Book" late bedtime for Charlotte and she picked this one out of the bookshelves...

The 6th of October is definitely a red letter day for fabulous children's picture books. Bloomsbury Publishing have three new arrivals popping up on that day so come along and say hello!

Tom (Herman's Letter) Percival once again delivers a deliciously brilliant picture book future classic in "By the Light of the Moon" - a gentle story that will help any child dealing with the upheaval and uproar of a house move.

Little Ivan finds his new house strange and can't sleep. His old house was warm, familiar and friendly and this new place definitely is not! Little Owl isn't at all pleased to hear that there's a baby owl in the egg Mummy has laid. So Mummy pretends it might be a baby penguin ... or crocodile ... or even an elephant!  Goodnight ice and goodnight snow,

With exquisite timing, here's a new book that will definitely compliment your upcoming obsession with all things "Strictly"...Meet Sir Dancealot!

Bloomsbury Publishing have some picture book perfection lined up for you in August and September, with three new titles to tickle your fancy.

First, the follow up to the awesome "Beastly Pirates" in John Kelly's new book "Munch, Crunch, Pirate Lunch!"

The Beastly Pirates are the scourge of the seven seas - they keep eating all the swashbuckling buccaneers that cross their path!

Pirate leader Heartless Bart has had enough of losing his best pirates, so he comes up with a dastardly plan to rid the seas of those foul creatures once and for all.

Donning an impressive suit of armour, Bart reckons he's more than a match for sharp teeth, death squeezes and rhino charges. But has Bart forgotten that it's not just brute strength that can outwit a dimwit. Sometimes a dose of brain power works wonders too!

John Kelly's brilliant swashbuckling sequel once again dishes up a seriously tasty stew of pirate funnies and crazy animal antics. Guaranteed to have your little ones shouting "Ar HARRR!" at every turn of the page.

"Munch, Crunch, Pirate Lunch" was released on 11th August 2016.

Next, blog favourite Sam Lloyd is back with a new book, a soothing and adorable tale to help little ones with their first day at school.

Sam, creator of the awesome "Calm Down, Boris" and many many other fab books now invites you to enjoy "First Day at Bug School", an entertaining and funny new rhyming book for your tiny tiddlers.

For tiny bigs, going to "Bug School" may seem daunting at first.  But don't be nervous, as there are new friends to be made, new lessons to learn and a whole lot of fun to be had.

Sam's brilliant rhymes and fab illustrations make this a delightful romp. Guaranteed to make you smile and giggle!

"First day at Bug School" was released on 11th August 2016.

Last but not least, a picture book debut for a much-loved CBeebies character, this time exploring the fun of splishing, splashing and sploshing!

In "Watch out for Muddy Puddles" Ben (Mr Bloom) Faulks teams up with Ben ("Aliens Love Underpants") Cort for a glorious celebration of the art of splashing around in wellie boots in big dark murky puddles.

This rollicking sing-song rhyming book is brilliantly entertaining as little ones are encouraged to get on their fave pair of boots and splosh around in the great outdoors. But watch out for hidden perils. No one wants to come a cropper because of a sneaky crocodile!

It's a fab debut and we see great things ahead for Ben and Ben! A truly talented team!

"Watch out for Muddy Puddles" is released on September 8th by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Oh how I miss TV programmes like Take Hart and Art Attack. Encouraging children to get involved with doodling, drawing, sketching, painting - whatever it takes to bring out their creative and imaginative sides - is something we're hugely interested in.

So it's lovely to see a fantastic new book that's full of brilliant art ideas.

"The Arty Book" by Nikalas Catlow and David Sinden has just come out, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Perfectly timed to stave off boring long summer days, it's full of neat little doodle projects to keep your little ones entertained.

Better still, the centre of the book contains a huge fold-out sheet of stickers to embellish their brilliant creations with. Awesome!

We've enjoyed the mini projects in here, more suited to younger ages but still a lot of fun for us both. You're never too old for a doodle, after all!

"The Arty Book" was released on 11th August by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Silence is golden, and so is this adorable little story from Salina Yoon...

Like a crazy game of chinese whispers, a simple shopping list gets way out of hand in "I Went to the Supermarket" by Paul Howard...

We're completely hooked on Lottie Lipton's adventures in the awesome series of mystery chapter books written and illustrated by Dan Metcalf. Previously we've read and enjoyed Lottie's first two outings - "Secrets of the Stone" and "The Curse of the Cairo Cat". Lottie's next two adventures are now available, so get your magnifying glass and hieroglyphics-decoding notebook and be prepared for excitement, adventure, puzzling and suspense. We love these books because they're completely absorbing and atmospheric, and Charlotte loves them because we often call her Lottie - and she'd definitely love to imagine herself as a puzzle solving girl detective herself!

In "The Egyptian Enchantment" Lottie and her slightly dotty but hugely knowledgable Uncle Bert are once again taking a look at some intriguing new exhibits at The British Museum.

Lottie inadvertently causes complete chaos when she reads a mysterious spell out loud, and brings to life a whole gang of Egyptian Shabtis - throwing the museum into complete disarray.

What is a Shabti, I hear you ask...

Egyptian Shabtis. Tiny little ornamental figures often buried alongside mummies

They're tiny little figurines and they love nothing better than causing trouble. Lottie, her Uncle and Reg the Caretaker must track those mysterious and mischievous little figures down before the whole museum is completely destroyed!

"The Egyptian Enchantment" is available now.

The fourth title in Lottie's adventure series is "The Scroll of Alexandria" which may just prove to be Lottie's trickiest case yet!

This time, the British Museum's precious ancient book collection is under threat as the unscrupulous head Curator of the Museum, Sir Trevelyan Taylor, wants to sell off these precious assets to the highest bidder.

The Scroll of Alexandria is vital - as it describes just why those books must stay exactly where they are. Is Sir Trevelyan quite what he seems, and what will happen if those books fall into the wrong hands and are removed from the museum forever!

Egyptian scrolls were often filled with beautiful and detailed illustrations as well as Hieroglyphics

It's up to Lottie to track down the scroll and save the day!

"The Scroll of Alexandria" is available now. Both books are published by A & C Black Childrens and Educational Books.

(Kindly sent to us for review by A & C Black)