Atmospheric and lovely - two good ways to describe "Home in the Rain"...

Now here's a really amazing idea for a children's book, and one that serves a noble cause too. "Silver Buttons" is a story that feels like hitting the pause button on the whole world, as Bob Graham's book expertly captures a moment. 9:59 on a Thursday Morning to be precise, just as young Jodie is putting the finishing touches to a rather natty painting of a duck, wearing a top hat, with silver buttons on his boots.

The book unfolds events around this fairly insignificant event as Bob Graham pans around the town, capturing scenes of everyday life from every angle and aspect. We see Jodie's little brother taking his first faltering steps, we see a young wife and child seeing their soldier husband / father off on a tour of duty and the more we delve into the cityscape, the more detail is revealed.

Bob Graham's art style is beautifully uncluttered but at the same time so rich and varied in detail that with each turn of the page, a new scene unfolds or an event is added to as the clock crawls towards 10.00.

As we read this, we felt like birds soaring above the scenes, imaginations soaring and picturing what would be happening in our own town on a precise single moment like this.

Charlotte's best bit: Jodie's rather cute brother as he wobbles and teeters taking his first steps

Daddy's Favourite bit: A great message here, to savour the ones we love, and live in the moment. Beautifully told and wonderfully illustrated as you'd expect from Bob Graham

(Kindly sent to us for review by Walker Books)

I'll be the first to admit that we really didn't like "I'm Number One" at first, and truly believed we were stricken with some sort of virus that made us miss the point of ever single Michael Rosen book except "We're going on a Bear Hunt".

But on re-reading, and discussing, "I'm Number One" wraps its lesson so tightly up with its little set of toy characters that it's quite hard to see past the thoroughly unlikeable clockwork soldier and his behaviour, through to the message the book is conveying.

The Toy Soldier loudly proclaims that he is Number One, and once his friends wind up his clockwork mechanism, the soldier proceeds to criticise, bully and berate them.

Why? Because as number one, the top of the tree, he believes he's better than anyone else. But of course there's one thing he just can't quite do on his own so when he starts to run down, the soldier realises that being Number One is all well and good, but being part of the gang is better!

It's a neat and subtly delivered message and I tried to draw out of Charlotte how she would deal with someone who behaves like this. Interesting discussions about rude and overbearing behaviour from a five year old are wholly enlightening and from an adult perspective, it's quite interesting to hear how children deal with the delicate balance of power in the classroom or at play and how different they handle things compared to us 'grown ups'.

Rosen's poetry is super, his storytelling is sometimes a little bit too self-assuredly 'clever' for its own good (yes I know, that's tantamount to children's-book-treason but I still don't rate Happy Harry's Cafe, nyaaah!), but stick with this book and you'll appreciate its theme and subtle delivery of said theme too.

Charlotte's best bit: When the soldier realises that the gang should really have all their lovely things back.

Daddy's favourite bit: The amusing parallels between the interactions of this tiny gang of toys and the social and political machinations at the workplace!

When a new family moves into a house next door to a huge sprawling rambling and overgrown wreck of a place, it's not long before the neighbourhood kids tell young Rose the story of Mr Wintergarten, the creepy old guy that lives there.

He is mean, he's nasty, he will never give you your ball back if it goes over his (very high and very unwelcoming) garden fence. He has a massive dog that eats children and he lives in the dark eating bugs and grubs. Ew!

It doesn't take long before Rose's little brother has his ball taken by a mean kid, and kicked over the fence so Rose (along with her mum) bravely decides to knock on Mr Wintergarten's door...

This is a tale that feels very familiar (a bit like The Selfish Giant) yet it's told in a rather nice and cosy way, with a positive message about how young people interact with their elderly neighbours and relatives. We won't spoil the end but this is actually a very happy book despite the slightly menacing looking image on the cover.

Bob Graham's delightful illustrative style is brilliant, lending the book a classy air and Rose (the very brave little girl) was a character Charlotte could easily identify with and like straight away.

Charlotte's best bit: The very last frame in the book which is rather joyous and celebratory. She also loved Mr Wintergarten's dog (which doesn't actually eat kids after all!)

Daddy's favourite bit: Again, loved the last frame and the message that runs throughout the book. Treasure your elders, they won't be around for ever and they always have the very best stories to tell.

Don't get too excited, this book has absolutely nothing to do with a certain vampire-hunting femme fatale, it's all about a rather charming little dog called Buffy. The talented sidekick of a rather mean magician, Buffy always steals the show every time he's on stage. Eventually when he's kicked out by the jealous magician, Buffy undertakes a journey across the world to find his place, and hopefully find a family that will love and adopt him.

Bob Graham's book is full of warmth and cuddliness. A bit of an obscure classic, but very welcome nonetheless.

Charlotte's best bit: Buffy the busker

Daddy's favourite bit: The honky tonk family of musicians

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars