With ease, Luke Pearson's "Hilda and the Bird Parade" pulls the hat-trick of nailing our "Book of the Week" slot again. Call it favouritism, call it rampant fanboism if you will - but these books are absolutely flipping fantastic, even more so now that Flying Eye have reissued them in gorgeous new hardback covers - highlighting how important a comic series this is for young children (and adults too).

We're used to Hilda's fairly amazing and carefree lifestyle. Living out in the wilds (technically - as you'll know if you've read "The Midnight Giant" she's actually not living "in the middle of nowhere" though!) and having amazing adventures. But here, Pearson asks "What if you took the girl (and her mum) out of the environment she knows and loves and put her slap bang in the middle of a bustling city?"

Moving to Trollberg (love that name, I would love to live in a city called Trollberg), Hilda finds life succinctly different - and we're never given the reason for the move, but the "Hilda" series takes a distinctly dark turn as life in the city proves to be anything but exciting and adventure-filled. No strange animals fly past her window, trolls stay well away from the city limits, and Hilda's mum becomes protective and worried as Hilda fails to grasp what a dark and dangerous place the city can be.

Making new friends at school, Hilda's mum has to let go of the apron strings as Hilda accompanies her pals on a roam around the city. What city kids find exciting and exhilarating is a little bit - well - dull for a girl who's used to meeting mountain-sized giants or trolls. But is the city devoid of adventure? What happens when Hilda is lost in the sprawling metropolis and just what is the mysterious "Bird Parade" really about?

Reading through this with Charlotte prompted so many questions, what happened to Hilda and her mum to prompt the move? What happened to The Woodman? Why were the kids so mean to animals?

As you'll see from my wife's brilliant blog we do as much as we can to give Charlotte as much of an interest in the great outdoors as Hilda has. We spend practically every weekend out in the wilds if we can, and so this thrummed a deep bass chord with us - a story where essentially Luke Pearson has taken his mini blue-haired heroine out of her comfort zone and placed her in unfamiliar surroundings to see whether city life can erode all the things that make her Hilda (I really loved the bit where she's playing Postman's Knock and a sweet old lady answers the door!)

We're sad too. This is the Hilda book that had previously eluded us, and there's no sign of any more from Luke Pearson yet. Surely though with the success of these reprints, and Hildafolk like us clamouring about how brilliant the series is from the rooftops, there absolutely has to be more from her. I don't think we could bear it if this was all there was going to be.

Charlotte's best bit: Twig to the rescue! Oh and an utterly fantastic map (Tove Mountain!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Dark in tone, a real change to previous books but we actually both think this is the best Hilda yet. So many brilliant little bits to love (hilarious daydream about big fat muscly legs). Hilda remains a series that we will always champion, it is just so good.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bounce Marketing / Flying Eye Books)

Our book of the week this week was one I expected to get a fairly mediocre reception from Charlotte. She's had her fill of brave knights, and there seem to be so many books around where characters don their clanking armour and rush off to rescue brave princesses from towers.

Oddly, we'd had a discussion about books with Mark from Mostly Books - and Charlotte had told him that her favourite type of book was "Books about a princess locked in a tower" (and we'd both thought "Rapunzel" in response).

So how about a book that flips everything on its head. Brave Sir Mouse is a girl, for starters. Brave Sir Mouse's best friend is a lovely dragon. Brave Sir Mouse doesn't rush off to rescue the princess from a tower, in fact Sir Mouse spies a Prince locked up in the tower, and he's a bit of an irritating character. Instead of actually asking to be rescued, he merely hangs out of the window looking sorry for himself and shouting "Help help!" in a rather pathetic voice.

Sir Mouse wonders whether rescuing the prince is such a good idea, but with the aid of her dragon friend she is soon on the case and has some very stern words for the prince once he has been rescued. Words along the lines of "Pull your socks up, stop being so silly and instead of shouting "Help Help" shout something slightly more useful!"

Broken up into a series of mini stories, "Sir Mouse to the Rescue" is a real breath of fresh air. Female protagonists clad in armour not taking any nonsense, finding very level headed and brilliant ways to deal with nasty bullies (like an armour-clad cat who thinks everyone's there to be fought with). Sir Mouse even takes umbrage at her friend Dragon from time to time, as we find out in one story.

We particularly like how this little collection wrapped up. Taking all the usual fairy tale rules and smashing them on the rocks, to create something that feels original and wonderful, and hugely positive for girls who rather think they'd be far better at being knights of yore than the boys are. Utterly, utterly wonderful. If you've get to experience Book Island's brilliant catalogue of books, this is definitely one of the best places to start, it's fab!

Charlotte's best bit: Sir Mouse giving the prince a right royal telling off for being so pathetic!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sir Mouse's awesome skills at dealing with a nasty bully.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Book Island)

This book dropped through our letterbox like a tiger-striped whirling dervish, stunningly beautiful and yet with such a simple winning story that it's great for a wide range of ages.

Mr Tiger, the top-hatted and polite city gent, is bored. Passing the time tipping his hat to ladies, or discussing the weather with his peers, he's bored, bored, BORED!

Of course, when the humdrum mundanity of the day gets to you, there's really only one thing to do. Go wild! So that's exactly what Mr Tiger does.

(on that note, I really COULD NOT shake Bow Wow Wow's brilliant song "Go wild in the country" while reading this. It's such a great song but a word of warning, do not go looking for youtube videos of the band performing the song on top of the pops - the guitarist had a very interesting line in T-shirts you really wouldn't want your youngsters to see!)

No more tipping hats, no more politely opening doors, it's time to go ape-crazy and shock your neighbours with feats of derring-do and lots and lots of loud roaring.

Naturally, polite society won't stand for such shenanigans, so Tiger's friends and neighbours politely suggest that Tiger takes himself off to the wilderness to conduct his proclivities.

"WHAT AN EXCELLENT IDEA!" roars Mr Tiger.

...and we'll stop there before we ruin too much of the story. Mr Tiger is fab, and Peter Brown's book is an instant classic with utterly beautiful illustrations, and a cheeky amount of chaotic fun spliced with polite victorian values.

It's great advice you know. Every now and again, take yourself off into the countryside and go wild. It may just keep you sane and it'll certainly stave off the boredom!

(Oh and one more thing - do something we usually never do if you pick up the hardback edition of this lovely book. Very carefully remove the dust jacket and look underneath. How cool is THAT!)

Charlotte's best bit: Mr Tiger indulging in impromptu naked fountain paddling. Eeek!

Daddy's favourite bit: The stiff upper lipped animals who are shocked at Tiger's erratic and most ungentlemanly behaviour. Love it!

(Mr Tiger Goes Wild is released on September 5th 2013 from Macmillan Children's Books, who kindly provided us with a copy for review)

Wow! What a lovely book! We haven't come across the Copper Tree Book Series before but are so glad we did.

This week's book of the week from legendary children's book author Hilary Robinson, and super-talented illustrator Mandy Stanley, is from a series designed to help children and parents tackle tough and sensitive issues in a way that is both engaging and comprehensible to children of all ages, even the very young.

Dealing with adoption, "Help a Hamster" tells the story of Alfie and his classmates who have a pet hamster called Henry at school. When Henry unexpectedly gives birth (!), Alfie - who was adopted as a baby - comes up with a great plan so that the hamster babies, including one tiny and sad little one they name "Alfonzo", all go to a loving and caring home.

When we read books that deal with difficult subjects, the best part often happens when the book is closed and discussions spring from the subject matter. Here, Charlotte wanted to know about adoption and of course wanted to know more about one of the most difficult questions the book raises - why Alfie's mum would give him up when he was a tiny baby.

Hilary Robinson handles this and many other questions with sensitivity and care. Alfie has a book all about his life, and his adopted mother shows this to the class - giving them the idea to make a book for Alfonzo (with possibly the cutest photo of a baby hamster you're ever likely to see!)

For me, the best bit of the book came when we went home with Alfie. His mum decides that they should adopt Alfonzo, and so they take him home to introduce him to Alfie's family including his brothers and sisters. That double-page spread is utterly wonderful but I'll leave you to find out why.

For Charlotte, the book achieved its aim and then some. Knowing a little bit more about adoption, and having questions of her own (including some that, as a parent, are really tough to answer - for instance how would you handle the question "Who would adopt me if anything happened to you and mummy?") we could refer to the book's story and talk it all out.

We're now very interested in the rest of the Copper Tree range, particularly a book that talks about old age and loss (Christmas Surprise) and also the one that tackles a very tricky subject that's never far from the headlines at the moment - food banks.

It's a fantastic range, a fitting book of the week, brilliantly written and illustrated. Do not miss it!

Charlotte's best bit: Learning all about adoption and cooing at the lovely photo of baby Alfonzo.

Daddy's favourite bit: A sensitively written and wonderfully illustrated book that achieves its core aims beautifully, and leads to brilliant discussions about adoption and more.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hilary Robinson / Strauss House)

In line with this week's #ReadItMD13 theme week it seems only fitting that our book of the week should be one of the darkest traditional fairy tales. Little Red Riding Hood!

So how is Alison Jay's version of events any different to those that have gone before? For starters it's lavishly illustrated in Alison Jay's trademark "Craquelacquer" crackle-glazed style, lending the book an instantly classic feel. Sticking fairly close to a traditional telling of the story also helps, though here we really are in no two minds that the infamous big bad wolf is a nasty piece of work, hell bent on scoffing Little Red Riding Hood and Granny up without a pause for breath.

What really helped this become our book of the week was the joyous exclamations from Charlotte as she realised that this isn't just a Little Red Riding Hood book, it's a book that playfully lets you pick out any number of other nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters woven into the background as the story unfolds. A gingerbread man taking a stroll in the woods? Three little bigs keeping a very close eye on that wolf. Even Hansel and Gretel are in there, falling hook line and sinker for that delicious looking witch's cottage, and eventually winning the day and trapping the old crone in a cage.

In fact the background details are often quite distracting, and do take your little one's attention away from your story-telling skills so watch out for that one.

Despite this, it's an almost definitive telling of a story children will find extremely familiar by the time they're Charlotte's age, but are still entranced by - perhaps for all the reasons we've been exploring in our theme week this week. The darkest and nastiest characters always hold a child's fascination for numerous reasons, perhaps mostly because children love to see a bad egg come a cropper as a story reaches its exciting finale. That certainly happens here, though not in a gory manner so no need to hide their eyes once the woodcutter comes calling.

A beautiful book. We hate to look like we're playing favourites on the blog and Templar Publishing do seem to hit our book of the week slot with alarming frequency, but this is truly one of the best versions of Little Red Riding Hood that you can lay your hands on. A timeless story that always feels like it has something fresh to offer with a ton of brilliant observational things for your children to discover and enjoy. Superb!

Charlotte's best bit: Hansel and Gretel visiting the witch's gorgeous tummy-rumble-inducing cottage

Daddy's favourite bit: Sumptuous luxurious artwork and a great telling of the story that doesn't mess too much with a winning formula. Wonderful!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing Ltd)

"So beautiful - should've sent a poet" - Eleanor Arroway in 'Contact'

We're a family of complete space nerds. My wife (the lucky thing) has travelled with her solar scientist dad to the Kennedy Space Centre, and since Charlotte was born she's always been aware of space science and exploration.

When I first heard about Laika the Astronaut by Owen Davey, I knew this would be a book we'd have to obtain. I'd touched on the subject with Charlotte before but when the book turned up this week, we weren't quite prepared for how beautiful it is, how Owen has imbued it with such an emotionally powerful and celebratory vibe that we're left agog.

Laika was a true space pioneer. Lifted from the streets as a stray, she was trained (or some might say 'pressganged') into becoming the first living being in space. The Russian space programme had already successfully launched Sputnik 1, and by 1957 thoughts turned to the first manned space flight. But rather than risk a pilot, the Russians turned to the canine world and thus Laika became legend.

Owen Davey's book describes her story from wandering the streets, to her training programme, and through to the nailbiting launch. Laika blasts off and as space nerds like us will already know, things went awry and the spacecraft developed a fault just hours into the mission.

Laika in Training!

The book doesn't end there though but in true ReadItDaddy tradition we're not going to ruin the rest for you, suffice to say that Owen's end-of-book summary of Laika's story made me tearful, and Charlotte joyful.

If you want to see more sneaky peeks (we don't want to spoil it for you but it's truly truly gorgeous), hop over to Owen's website.

The hunt for the real Laika began

Laika in her Sputnik II Spacecraft. Heroic little dog, bless her.

Like most books that become "Book of the Week", what happens when the covers are closed is often why we choose the books we do. Laika the Astronaut had us hauling out ever encyclopaedia in the house, firing up the iPad and trawling the Internet to find out more about Laika. To Charlotte it was important that she knew that the book was based on a real story, and that the real Laika was "out there" - No not orbiting the earth but in the archives, in books, in our stamp collection even - and of course on many many websites.

Laika in her space harness. "Just like in the book, Daddy" said Charlotte.

Looking at the movies and photos of Laika is where things got tricky. As I said, we won't spoil the book for you but obviously most adults will know what really happened here - in fact when you're a space geek but also love animals and despise the thought that they're used in scientific experiments, it's quite tough to broach the subject with a five year old. Owen's choice was to tell the story his way and it's immensely successful and rather touching.

Laika's spacecraft Sputnik II on the rocket, ready for launch

We do urge parents to tackle the book the way we did. Read it, enjoy it (and oh boy, you will most certainly enjoy it) and take a voyage of discovery afterwards. Not just into Laika's story and history but also into the various space programmes that Laika paved the way for. Never stop being curious and with beautiful and thought-provoking books like this to spur your child's curiosity, being a space geek parent can be one of the best things in the world.

Looking at the publication date for the book I feel like I should apologise. You are going to have to wait until November for it? NOVEMBER ARRGH! But I urge you, beg you even, put a pre-order in for this because you truly will not want to miss out.



Charlotte's best bit: Happy Laika when she smiles, and the end of the book which is such a beautiful, beautiful moment (and made us want to burst into tears)

Daddy's favourite bit: I'm just blown away by how good this book is. It's not just amazing to look at, it's like lighting the fuse of that amazingly powerful force that is a child's imagination and curiosity combined. A sweet story woven around the facts, and a bittersweet ending that is just so wonderful. Aww don't set me off again please...(sniff).

We found a rather neat little movie (in spanish but worth a watch) telling Laika's story too.



(Laika the Astronaut was kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing)

“O Nature, and O soul of man! how far beyond all utterance are your linked analogies! Not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind” 

This week's book of the week hasn't left Charlotte's side since it arrived. There are lots of reasons for this:

1) It's a book she can happily read herself, all the way through, with no problem at all
2) It's silly and funny
3) It's a great book for learning lots of different nursery rhymes, then subverting them all by mixing them up (you got that from the title though, right?)

Hilary Robinson and Liz Pichon have built on the success of Hilary's previous 'mix up' book (with Nick Sharratt), "Mixed Up Fairy Tales" with more chaotic mash-ups featuring children's best loved nursery rhymes (but where oh where is Humpty Dumpty?)

Doctor Foster running up a hill to fetch a...plum? Wee Willie Winkie baking some tarts, stolen away by...a garden? There are hundreds of combinations you could come up with as you mix the start, middle and end of adapted versions of the rhymes (something that my wife didn't particularly like, but helpfully all the nursery rhymes are reproduced in their original forms in the inside covers of the book).

Charlotte has the Mixed Up Fairy Tales book at school and it's a classroom favourite. Having her own copy of this though has made her ridiculously happy and her infectious giggling (and her constantly showing us new combinations she's come up with) makes it a worthy and fun book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit: Old Mother Hubbard going to Gloucester, stepping in a...Pony?

Daddy's favourite bit: Initially I thought this book might be a bit 'young' for Charlotte, but the fact that she gets such a huge giggle out of it AND can read the easy-to-read text on her own is a huge bonus. Love Liz's artwork too.

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

We kept spotting glimpses of this book on the back of other Flying Eye titles, we kept hearing people whispering about how great it was on Twitter. Now it's in our grasp and we're definitely, positively not letting it go.

Emily Hughes "Wild" is beautiful, and the cover knocks your eyes out the minute you see it, but that's nothing compared to what's inside. The story of a feral child, lost in the forest but cared for by the animals - almost like she's supposed to be there, in fact.

Taught to talk by birds, taught to play by foxes, taught to fish by bears, the Wild Child leads an idyllic lifestyle until one day she's caught in a trap. A human trap. Soon people turn up to find out what they've caught and really don't expect to see a little girl wrapped up in the bear trap (caught by her beautiful green hair, owch!)

Perhaps well meaning but ultimately interfering, the hunters carry the child back to civilisation with them and she's adopted by a psychologist and his wife, who find life with a wild child is anything but easy. It's not her fault. To her, these 'animals' can't talk properly, they can't eat properly and most of all they really do not know how to have fun.

What happens next? You know what I'm going to say - I urge you, nay BEG you to discover this book for yourself because you really need to. It had an electrifying effect on Charlotte. I think she liked the fact that the wild girl looked a little bit like a pint sized version of Merida, from Brave - and lived a fairly carefree life before human intervention. What child could possibly resist a tale where a girl does exactly what she wants, has fantastic animal friends to play with, and can curl up snugly to snooze with furry creatures? Certainly not Charlotte, she loved this book to bits from the moment she laid eyes on it.

Comparisons are made in the press release to the works of Sendak and Scarry (which I thought was a trifle odd as this really is nothing like a Richard Scarry book and really only shares heritage with Maurice Sendak through the word 'Wild' in the title).

If the intent was to compare this to the classic children's books that have become hugely well known and well loved, cited as hugely influential, and universally revered then that's fine - and if the intent was also to announce Emily Hughes to the world as a colossal talent fit to rub shoulders (figuratively) with the likes of Sendak, Scarry, Carle, Seuss, Bloy Graham, Keats (as in Ezra Jack) or any other legendary children's book creator then that's also mighty fine too. But this lady stands on her own two feet and if this is her first published book, you can only imagine how great she's going to be by the time she reaches her 5th. A star to eclipse the rest, mark our words.

Find out more about Emily on the Flying Eye Books website

Charlotte's best bit: Wild girl's eating habits once introduced to civilisation. Grarrr!

Daddy's favourite bit: This book is quite short (so perfect to squeeze in before bedtime), but it has a huge impact. Shades of Tarzan and The Jungle Book infused with one of the best female characters I've seen in a children's book in a long time. Beautiful art, massively impressive presentation, don't just stand there wide-eyed, go and get it now!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bounce / Flying Eye Books)

This week, as rain and sunshine fought
We read a lot, new books we sought
And hearing Charlotte's plaintive plea
To purchase something filled with glee.

And so here is "Green Eggs and Ham"
(I'm sure you like it, Sam I Am)
Familiar, loved by mums and dads
and grandmas, grandads, lasses and lads

"I do not want this as book of the week"
Said Daddy, with such barefaced cheek.
"I much prefer The Fox in Socks!"
"I love tongue twisting with Knox and Fox!"

"But Daddy!" Charlotte, hands on hips
With stern face and protruding lips
"It HAS to be Green Eggs and Ham!"
"For I'm in love with Sam-I-am!"

"I Love this book when in my den!"
"I love to read it again and again!"
"I'd read it in the bath or bed!"
"I cannot get it out of my head!"

And so the frank discussion raged
Till Daddy felt all tired and aged
And like most Book of Week Reviews
I succumbed to darling daughter's views.

I do rather like "Green Eggs and Ham"
The antics of that Sam-I-Am
Like a Betterware or Insurance Salesman
We cannot get enough of his tales, man!

So please forgive our rhyming text
We hope that it has charmed, not vexed
And give your kids some Dr Seuss
The dude abides, and that's the truths!

Charlotte's best bit: "Would you like them on a train? Would you like them in the rain?"

Daddy's favourite bit: "Would you like them in a boat? Would you like them with a goat?"

We've come to the end of our exploration of 'daddy' books to tie in with our #ReadItMD13 theme week of "Celebrating brilliant dads in books" and so it seems fitting to make our book of the week a book that we've enjoyed immensely since it arrived, and will dive into for years and years to come.

When I was a child, I remember story collections like Aesop's Fables, and big fat volumes of deliciously written and illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales. It's nice to see something of a revival in books like these, and this is no exception.

Amongst the familiar stories that you've seen told and adapted so many times, there are translated stories from around the world that are all new, utterly scintillating and just the right length to snuggle down with just before tucking your daughter (or son!) into bed at night.

We started with the stories we knew, like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Frog Prince" before exploring our particular favourite - "The Invisible Grandfather" which is a real belter of a tale full of twisting fortunes, supernatural happenings and with a solid moral underpinning the excitement.

This book has now been reprinted (it was originally published in 1997) and it's beautifully illustrated and presented.

Several folk have criticised its heavy reliance on standard fairy tale cliches, young women wowed by good looks and good fortune, evil step-parents, wicked magical folk but I feel that the stories were never meant to be a lifestyle guide - and you could argue that historically, our legends and tales passed down through generations will never really be pure to their source if we mess around with them too much and politically correct them at every turn.

As you'd expect from Barefoot Books though, you will find that each treatment of a traditional tale is sensitive, and always with the child who is reading (or having it read to them) in mind. The language is as vibrant and multi-hued, and multi-cultural as the beautiful painted illustrations and so this is definitely a book to treasure and keep, and tell and re-tell whether you're a dad, a mum, boy or girl.

Charlotte's best bit: "The Invisible Grandfather" and "The Bear in the Woods" - both very similar stories but each with deliciously rich character descriptions.

Daddy's favourite bit: Also really enjoyed "The Invisible Grandfather" and "The Frog Prince" (we came to the conclusion that the princess who married the frog was actually the baddie in the story, not the goodie!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Barefoot Books)

How would you feel if one day you found out that the seemingly ordinary world around you was actually anything but, and the simplest actions you carried out day to day had a massive effect on an entire civilisation of unseen folk.

In "Hilda and the Midnight Giant" we once again cozy up with Luke Pearson's utterly sublime golden girl. You may remember we reviewed Hildafolk a little while ago (and yes, that was also 'Book of the Week' with good reason) and swore we'd be back to visit her atmospheric and gorgeous bookworld again soon.

So here we are, and Midnight Giant is every bit as good as we hoped it would be - even better in fact.

As before with Hildafolk, Hilda and the Midnight Giant - and Hilda herself of course - feel like stories that were created to address the gaping hole in the market of comics that both children and adults can enjoy on an equal footing.

Perhaps it's because they work as standalone stories. Perhaps it's because Luke Pearson both illustratively and textually treats his audience as intelligent human beings rather than resorting to dumbing down and explaining scenarios piece by piece (something we do, thankfully, see in a lot of the children's comics we are currently hoovering up with great gusto).

Perhaps it's also because Hilda and the Midnight Giant has a delicious dark tinge, that doesn't use cheap scares or psychological trickery to put children ill at ease but dishes up whacking great big chunks of solid storytelling that keep you hanging on every page turn.

"The Midnight Giant" sees Hilda and her mum living a fairly idyllic existence until several nasty incidents occur. Someone is throwing stones through their window, wrapped in threatening notes. Something is deeply wrong and it takes Hilda to become the conduit between the petty acts of vandalism and an entire society who see Hilda, her mum and their house as a gigantic blot on their landscape.

With a little help from a certain little wooden friend (Charlotte really, REALLY loves the Woodman) and the magical involvement of the hidden folk who eventually (after much paperwork and bureaucracy) reveal themselves, Hilda embarks on a mission to try and achieve detente.

There is a story that segues neatly with this quest, and it's the story that gives this beautiful comic its name. Who is the midnight giant and why does he appear and disappear without saying anything? What is going on? With Hilda's gift for befriending magical beings, there's only one way to find out.

Touching, entertaining, brilliantly told and illustrated, it goes without saying that we have an absolute NEED to polish off the series with "Hilda and the Bird Parade" and I've a sneaking suspicion that Luke Pearson might well make it a 'book of the week' hat trick.

Charlotte's best bit: Aside from her utterly funny reactions every time the little wooden guy crops up, she had a favourite bit but I can't reveal it to you without spoiling the story massively (emphasis on the word 'massively' there). Go read! You'll see what we mean!

Daddy's favourite bit: I loved the digs at red tape, and the mayor's utter hopelessness in this (and of course the mayor's rather funky cat thing!)

This week's "Book of the Week" not only fits beautifully with this week's #ReaditMD13 theme of challenging gender stereotyping in books, it's just such an original and fresh theme that it's a joy to read and behold.

"Zephyr Takes Flight" tells the story of a young girl obsessed with all things aeroplane-shaped. She makes planes out of paper and junk, and she's the world's expert at a triple flip loop-de-loop, performed with much skill (well, a little skill) from the top of her settee at home.

Frustratingly, the adults in Zephyr's house (Grandma, Dad and Mum) don't seem to share her love of aviation and are always too busy to play planes. But after an accident, Zephyr makes an amazing discovery in her room - a tiny door that leads to another world, a world beginning with a dusty old room full of aeroplanes and complicated blueprints, leading to a land filled with flying pigs!

Steve Light's joyful book was an instant hit with Charlotte. She loved Zephyr, a sassy little girl who chews bubblegum and wears a cool pair of flying goggles, she loved the planes - not your cold aluminium tubes with wings but the fabulous cloth and string creations of yore (they reminded her - and me - of the movie "Porco Rosso" which is definitely one of our fave Studio Ghibli flicks).

We ate this up and as soon as we reached the last page we just dived back in for more. A thoroughly well deserved book of the week and we really must see if Steve's ever done any more with Zephyr. If not, why not!

Charlotte's best bit: The door - which reminded her of Coraline (but thankfully without the 'other mother')

Daddy's favourite bit: Mum doing the maintenance, fixing, woodcraft, dad cooking on the stove. Very much liked that, a good gender challenge and Zephyr is also just such a brilliant character with boy and girl appeal.

Ah the moon, the effect it has on our popular culture is phenomenal. Paul Simon once wrote "If you wanna write a song, write a song about the moon" but it also works for children's books too.

We're extremely lucky that the lovely Emma Yarlett has taken time out of her busy book launch schedule to answer a few tricky questions but first we'll take a look at her book and try to give you a sense of why, once again, Templar's keen eye for talent means they've bagged themselves another book of the week.

Sharing - if there's one thing that Charlotte is absolutely, positively, terribly bad at it's sharing and in a week where she actually ended up in Timeout at school (!) because of not sharing, the tale woven into the sumptuous pages of Emma's book is a timely one.

Sidney and Stella are twins, non identical twins. Like most brothers and sisters, they play together and also fight like cat and dog. But one day an incident with a bouncy ball and an argument ends up affecting more than just the warring siblings. The entire earth witnesses the result of their squabble.

This is where it gets tricky to put across why this book is special without utterly ruining the big 'twist' - but when you get to this particular bit in the story and what happens when you open the book at this point (hint hint) watch your child's jaw drop (if you're reading it to them). So much fun and firmly establishes Emma as someone who knows how to work a story in ways that children absolutely can't get enough of. Her artwork is atmospheric, beautiful and detailed, drawing comparisons with brilliantly talented folk like Oliver Jeffers and Leigh Hodgkinson.

Once again it's a book that's rarely strayed from the bedtime stack (and surely there's no better tale to tell when your youngsters are snuggling up and staring out of the window at that great big glowing orb than this!) and we urge you to read it 'cold' - that is, both reader and read-to experience the wow moment together. You'll want to hug Emma for it, I guarantee!

Charlotte's best bit: I can't tell you, it'd ruin the surprise - but it was brilliant!

Daddy's favourite bit: A keen observation of sibling rivalry, and perhaps a book that makes that whole childhood business of sharing not seem too bad after all, particularly when something's shared and can end up working out brilliantly for both squabblers.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing)

We're going to take you on a pictorial journey for this week's Book of the Week entry - another utter smasher from Hannah Cumming. In "The Cloud" the children in a schoolroom are as happy as can be, painting, drawing, cutting out and busying themselves in all the fantastic ways children do - all except one sad and forlorn newcomer who sits under a dark fuzzy cloud, ever so quietly and almost unnoticed.

The Cloud, a la Charlotte!

She doesn't go unnoticed for long. A little girl with flaxen hair and a sunny disposition (not unlike a certain other little girl with flaxen hair who is "The Boss" of this very book blog) decides to befriend the newcomer and see if she can get her to come out of her shell a bit.

The cloud persists, and through diligence and the most touching dedication, the girls become firm friends.

See how easy it can be, to turn a cloud into a...TREE!

What we loved about this book is the combination of the message that's core to the story, and also the fact that it inspired us to draw some brilliant pictures that are like Hannah's fantastic illustrations.

There's a great bit in the story that we won't spoil for you but if you feel the same way about this utterly charming and sublime book as we do, you'll soon be creating fantastic creatures like these...

A Zebraffe (or a Girebra perhaps?)

(loved this one) a cute Rabbitodile :)

Tricky one this, a Slothelephant!

We had some great conversations about a new girl who has just joined Charlotte's class at school and thanks to the book it was easy to describe how that girl is feeling being new. No cloud above her head, but right now she might like nothing better than to have a little girl come over and make friends with her and draw, paint and play together.

Charlotte's best bit: The children's drawings, including a rather lovely homage to a certain book by Eric Carle perhaps?

Daddy's favourite bit: As we've come to expect from Hannah and indeed from Child's Play, this is a book that's destined to become a modern classic, with the kind of beautifully told and wonderfully conveyed message that the very best of our children's book writing talent seem to make look so effortlessly easy. "The Cloud" should be in everyone's collection.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Child's Play)

Once again, we are faced with the near-impossible task of choosing between two books as Book of the Week this week. When a mysterious parcel came to the door, bearing a rather beautiful label with our address on and a young boy shining a torch, we weren't quite sure what to expect.

Opening the parcel, we were greeted with something that looked like it belonged in Stanley Kubrick's '2001 - A Space Odyssey".

The mysterious black box. Exciting? You betcha!

A black box? It could only mean one thing - the fruit of probably one of the most amazing collaborations in recent children's picture book history. The razor sharp writing and deliciously black prose of Lemony Snicket and the fantastic artwork of Jon Klassen.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we present to you our review and indeed one half of our Book of the Week nominations for this week - "The Dark"

A little boy, Laszlo, is afraid of the dark. All through the day, the dark lives in the basement under the house, or perhaps behind a cupboard or shower curtain - but at night the dark creeps out to envelop every room. Nothing can stop it, save for Laszlo and his nightlight and torch.

Laszlo is an incredibly brave little guy. In the daytime, he stands at the top of the stairs and talks to the dark. "Hi Dark, Hi" he says. But one night, the dark does not stop at Laszlo's door, it comes to visit him!

Peekaboo, I see you!

As you'd expect from such a pairing (and indeed from Orchard Books), this is a children's book of the highest possible quality. The positive message delivered around Laszlo's bravery, and the dark's 'voice' had such an electrifying effect on Charlotte that we worried it might dwell on her mind at night at her bedtime. But she loved Laszlo almost immediately, and loved the fact that Laszlo (just like her) had a nightlight and torch to keep the dark at bay.

We often wonder why children are immediately drawn to books that are dark in tone, perhaps it's for the same reasons that adults seek out extreme ways of scaring themselves. Horror films, crazy roller coasters, extreme sports, naked bungee jumping, that sort of thing.

To Charlotte though, this book was just utterly perfect. We still won't be reading it to her at bedtime - and we always choose the brightest days to dip into it, but we admire the way the book empowers children through Laszlo to challenge their own fears, and particularly for children (like Charlotte) who are afraid of the dark, the way it ends with reassurance and perhaps even a strong message of understanding and friendship rather than something that merely goes 'bump' in the night.

Charlotte's best bit: The 'voice' I read the dark in. A monotone, no emotion, completely flat (and very hard to do with a book you're trying not to scare a child with). Think Cyberman-voice, eek!

Daddy's favourite bit: As a massive fan of "A Series Of Unfortunate Events" and also of Jon Klassen's other children's books, who could possibly resist this?

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Books. "The Dark" is available in Hardback on 3rd April 2013)

It was almost inevitable that this would end up as our book of the week this week. We've been waiting for "The King of Space" to arrive ever since I spotted Jonny Duddle's brilliant tutorial on character consistency in FX Magazine's digital art round up. Back the, The King of Space was a slightly bubble headed and stropping looking little guy - not at all the "Rex" we now know and love.

So how successful is Jonny's transition from sailing the seven seas with a bunch of salty old pirates to roaming the stratosphere, armed with gigantic warbots, striving for complete galactic domination?

We join the story as Rex, a genius schoolboy with lofty ambitions, plans a classroom robotics project to eclipse everyone else's. Rex's plan for a weaponized moog-poo robot bears fruit (rather too successfully as the robot trashes his classmates' puny little robot specimens underfoot) and soon he enlists the help of a classmate to work in secret on a whole fleet of war droids with one aim and one aim only. To ensure Rex's place as...The King Of Space.

As his parents, living on a Moog farm, are oblivious to their little darling's plans for galactic domination, Rex kidnaps the emperor's daughter Kooki (who bears a striking resemblance to a certain little girl very dear to Mr Duddle's heart) and tries to win her over.

Soon though, Rex's plans take a turn for the worse but an unexpected ally proves to be more of a force to be reckoned with than an entire space armada!

There are so many moments in this book where you can literally bathe in the glow of a guy who clearly loves his work to bits. Duddle's characters are brilliant, his digital art knocks my socks off and his knack for weaving a grand tale with kid and adult appeal is unparalleled. We absolutely loved the detail in each page, the action packed story full of excitement and adventure (though really you're never really sure whether Rex is actually a goodie or a baddie, after all he does try to enslave the entire universe AND kidnaps the emperor's daughter into the bargain!)

Most of all though we had a heck of a lot of fun spotting all the cameos from Jonny's previous two books. We won't spoil them for you, but there's a certain little character that lives on Rex's bed you might recognise.

"The King of Space" is every bit as good as we dreamed it would be. It seems a little remiss to be talking about a potential children's picture book of the year but if this isn't in the running we'll be sending Rex and his warbots along to find out why not!

Charlotte's best bit: Rex's followup to the warbot. More terrifying than you could possibly imagine!

Daddy's favourite bit: So much detail, an art style to die for, and a brilliant sweeping space opera of a story that makes you practically want to hug the book with glee. Oh and yes the calculator bits made me grin from ear to ear Mr Duddle, thank you for those :)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing)

In a bit of a blogjack, The Strolling Mum takes over ReadItDaddy for a ReadItMummy moment. Take it away, missus!

We were so excited to receive this book! Last year Charlotte and I went along to a Rescue Princess party at Mostly Books and had an excellent time. We also really love princesses and dressing up and looking at wonderful sparkly dresses. A rescue princess though loves the dressing up but also wants to be out there having fun like all the boys, not stuck looking out the window at them going down the zip wire. Girls can do these things just as well as boys (sometimes better.. but we won't tell readitdaddy that).

This is the first book in the series and introduces us to Emily and 3 other princesses who end up on a night time adventure finding and looking after an injured deer and then going on a ninja princess mission to find out who was setting traps to catch the deer. We were so excited to get to the ninja princess chapter (thanks to a few tweets from @clairemccauley), from that night on Charlotte has been using ninja techniques to get into bed so fast that I can't see her move!

The chapters are a perfect length for young readers, I've been reading her a chapter each night. The text is so descriptive and goes into a lot of detail, all important for a princess to have that perfect dress, sparkly shoes, tiaras and the ring. Each chapter is so well written, we sped up the pace for the tense moments and held our breath when the princesses did. We almost felt like we were sitting beside them on their tree that night in the dark, its so descriptive.

The moment we finished the book Charlotte quickly turned to the back page to check out which book comes next, so I think that will be on her birthday list for sure.

Charlottes best bit: has to be the ninja moves, the dresses and pictures for each chapter

Mummys best bit: a great book for young readers that will have them captivated but also empowering for girls.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Nosy Crow Books)

We're doubling up on book of the week nominations again this week. Coming up is Charlotte and Mummy's choice but here's a book Charlotte and I couldn't get enough of this week.

Simon (Yoga Ogre, Unfortunately) Rickerty has a mischievous streak a mile long when it comes to putting together a busy and happy little story. When two spiders, red and blue, see something fall from the sky, they both want to play with it.

But what IS it? Is it a comfortable sofa? No. Is it a drum to bang and make a noise with? Alas, no. Is it to be fought over? Oh yes! As the two spiders bicker and disagree over what the mysterious object is, big black bully spider comes along and snatches it. OH NO!

We won't spoil things for you too much but Big Black Bully Spider doesn't get his own way for very long, as you'll see as the story takes a hilarious (and unexpected) turn. Red and Blue spider are such great little characters and Simon's eye for using double page spreads and page layouts in amusing ways to really drive along a story mean that this is a fast-paced and very funny romp.

Charlotte's best bit: Someone knows what the object is. Someone bigger than Big Black Bully Spider! SQUISH!

Daddy's favourite bit: I loved reading the word "mine" 50 times in a row. No really!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

For an eternity we've coveted the lovely lovely Shaun Tan books and this year we made up our minds to make sure we picked up as many as possible. My lovely sister and her hubby (both devoted bookworms with awesome taste) gave us the tiny hardback version of "Eric" last weekend as a belated Christmas pressie (we both live at opposite ends of the country so don't meet up as much as we'd like to).

Eric is a story tweaked lovingly from Shaun Tan's excellent anthology "Tales of Suburbia" and tells the story of an exchange student, who comes to stay with a family.

Eric is quiet, unassuming and of great interest to the younger members of the family who find all his cultural differences absolutely fascinating. He eschews his comfortable bed in favour of sleeping in the larder. He shows very little interest in sightseeing, but picks up tiny bits of bric-a-brac as the family shows him around the town.

There's something about Eric, a character that is visually interesting but a mystery wrapped in an enigma. There's also something totally intoxicating about Shaun Tan's work, with his delicate use of light and shade giving everything he does an almost sombre feel.

But this book is celebratory, and it's also another book that had an electrifying effect on Charlotte - who has demanded it almost daily since we got it. She loves the questions it provokes, and she also rather fell in love with the end of the book when it's revealed that Eric's sudden disappearance did not go unmarked, and Eric left something for the family to treasure for years to come (we won't spoil it, but it's a delightful end to a brilliant brilliant book). The format (small hard back) is great too, as a collection of these tiny little masterpieces would look fantastic on a book shelf - better in a child's hands though, without a doubt!

Our quest to own everything this very talented man has put his hand to continues...!

(See also our review this week of Shaun Tan and Gary Crew's "The Viewer")

Charlotte's best bit: The reveal at the end, which is such a beautiful contrast to a fairly dark and monochrome book.

Daddy's favourite bit: The effect this book had on Charlotte. As addictive to her as the stickiest sugary treat we could possibly think of. A book in constant demand!