It's Happy Launch Day to Catherine Rayner, author and illustrator of the utterly brilliant "Abigail". Catherine stays with animals, albeit rather less exotic ones than a giraffe for her latest book - "Smelly Louie" which goes on sale today!

Smelly Louie is a stinky, whiffy, pongy scruffbag dog who we meet in the opening of this hilarious tale engaged in an activity that dogs universally hate. Louie is sitting in a sweet-smelling bath, getting clean because his owners have had enough of his odeur d'animale.

Louie, as you'd expect, isn't exactly pleased with the outcome. His uniquely doggy scent has completely disappeared to be replaced with the essence of apple blossom and cedarwood so Louie decides to embark on an adventure to get back his canine pong.

As Louie patrols his neighbourhood, lots of other animals chip in to help Louie restore the balance of nature. After all, dogs can't go around smelling sweetly!

Does Louie succeed in his mission? You'll have to read the book to find out. Catherine Rayner's fabulous characterisations, hilarious wrap-around story and utterly gorgeous illustrations guarantee that Louie will find a place in your heart - but you might want to give him a bit of a going over with a sponge first!

Charlotte's best bit: A satisfying story with a novel twist at the end to ensure that you keep following Louie's antics right till the very (pongy) end!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Beautifully crafted and hugely entertaining! We love Louie even though he doth pong!

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

Oh how we love Abigail! Catherine Rayner's book is not only beautiful but it's a lot of fun too.

Abigail, the wonderful Giraffe, just LOVES to count. Anyone who loves to count knows how much more fun it can be if you involve everyone else too, so Abigail soon meets all her animal friends on her travels while attempting to count their spots and their stripes. Animals rarely stay still for very long though so poor Abigail soon finds that counting is tricky when the thing you're counting is a big fidget!

This book is a true work of art, with some of the loveliest animal illustrations you'll see in children's books. Abigail herself is fab (but then we do share An Vrombaut's soft spot for giraffes and here Catherine Rayner has captured their loveliness perfectly) but so are her friends. The fun counting story is also fab and it's fun to find out what Abigail counts when the long day on the plains draws gently to an end and darkness falls.

People often ask us why we don't give any age guidance / ratings on books. The simple answer is that most books have such a huge appeal to children of all ages that it's unfair to try and pigeonhole them in that way. Taking Abigail as an example you could read it aloud to a tiny toddler just learning to count on their fingers and toes, or you could read it to a little girl like Charlotte who is busying herself with adding, subtracting and multiplication and let them soak up a beautiful and rather touching story.

In a nutshell, Abigail is as good as it looks (and it looks SO good!). It's really not hard to see how Catherine won the CILIP 2009 Kate Greenaway medal for "Harris Finds his Feet", her books are sublime.

Charlotte's best bit: Trying to count all the stripes on a lot of very busy and fidgety Zebras

Daddy's favourite bit: That delicious final spread. No spoilers but if you count all the objects in it I bet you they'll add up to exactly the number Abigail says!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press as part of their reading rocks week. Review previously published for hardback version)

Oh how we love Abigail! Catherine Rayner's book is not only beautiful but it's a lot of fun too.

Abigail, the wonderful Giraffe, just LOVES to count. Anyone who loves to count knows how much more fun it can be if you involve everyone else too, so Abigail soon meets all her animal friends on her travels while attempting to count their spots and their stripes. Animals rarely stay still for very long though so poor Abigail soon finds that counting is tricky when the thing you're counting is a big fidget!

This book is a true work of art, with some of the loveliest animal illustrations you'll see in children's books. Abigail herself is fab (but then we do share An Vrombaut's soft spot for giraffes and here Catherine Rayner has captured their loveliness perfectly) but so are her friends. The fun counting story is also fab and it's fun to find out what Abigail counts when the long day on the plains draws gently to an end and darkness falls.

People often ask us why we don't give any age guidance / ratings on books. The simple answer is that most books have such a huge appeal to children of all ages that it's unfair to try and pigeonhole them in that way. Taking Abigail as an example you could read it aloud to a tiny toddler just learning to count on their fingers and toes, or you could read it to a little girl like Charlotte who is busying herself with adding, subtracting and multiplication and let them soak up a beautiful and rather touching story.

In a nutshell, Abigail is as good as it looks (and it looks SO good!). It's really not hard to see how Catherine won the CILIP 2009 Kate Greenaway medal for "Harris Finds his Feet", her books are sublime.

Charlotte's best bit: Trying to count all the stripes on a lot of very busy and fidgety Zebras

Daddy's favourite bit: That delicious final spread. No spoilers but if you count all the objects in it I bet you they'll add up to exactly the number Abigail says!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)