Ahhh this one took me right back to childhood, and an obsession with all things lizardy, slimy and froggy. I used to go trawling for frogspawn in a local pond, taking it back to our pond at home and watching as the spawn turned into tadpoles, then into frogs themselves.

"Lots of Frogs" introduces a fab little character who is similarly obsessed with frogs.

Tommy Fox has a box - a box full of frogs. And when they all jump out at school, that's when the fun begins!

There is chaos in the classroom and high jinks in the hall. Can Tommy get the frogs back in the box?

Debut author Howard Calvert deftly captures that child-like innocence of his main character, and of course Claudia Boldt is brilliant at illustrating the absolute chaos as those frogs hop around all over the place, all shapes and sizes but always hilarious with such expressive little faces. 

Inspiration comes in many forms, but pretty much every artist alive (or dead) will at one time look to their contemporaries for some ideas and prompts...

A friendship book with a difference here as Claudia Boldt introduces Melvin. He's a monkey who truly believes he's actually the unluckiest monkey in the world. People seem to avoid him in case his bad luck rubs off on them but Melvin's best friend Pete the Penguin always sticks by his side through thick and thin.

One day though, Melvin's constant pessimism drives Pete to distraction and after an argument, Pete storms off leaving Melvin alone - wondering just how much more unlucky he can possibly get. After all, who on earth could be so unlucky as to lose their only friend in the world.

Melvin decides to turn to the comfort of a good banana (or two) to console himself. But once again, lady luck is out for the day as Melvin discovers that someone bought the last banana in town. According to the greengrocer, it was a penguin...

What happens next? Well you know us, we won't spoil a great book by giving away the ending. We've seen many many books that deal with the subject of friendship but "Melvin the unluckiest Monkey in the World" sets out its table in a fairly original way, and helps children develop a love for seeing their glass as half full instead of half empty (a trick I really need to learn sometime!)

Charlotte's best bit: Melvin. Cute, pessimistic but ultimately a durned good friend

Daddy's Favourite bit: I loved Pete, reminded me of a slightly more bonkers Pingu but again a really great friend till the end.

The Loop Issue #4 and its eye-catching cover. Cat-Copter-Tastic!

We've been taking a look at a fantastic new children's magazine called "The Loop", a quarterly magazine that looks a bit like a newspaper - but is absolutely crammed from cover to cover with brilliant illustrations, activities, facts and stories. 

Devise your own museum displays and help label the others.

Fantastic facts served up in brilliant graphical spreads like this. Awesome for inquiring minds!

I can't remember who sung that really cheesy song "Everything is beautiful in it's own way" but that's the message behind Claudia Boldt's "Uugghh!" (That's two u's, two g's and two h's if you're using Amazon's search, which completely ignores this book for some reason, gah!)

A poor slug dreamed that it would grow into a beautiful butterfly or at the very least a shiny-shelled snail, but the reality of life as a slug is that...well, people just don't like you really. They'll try and pour salt on you or cover you in beer in the mistaken belief that you'll stop eating their prized Sweet Peas. The slug in the story finds an unlikely ally in the shape of a Spider. Similarly much maligned and misunderstood, Spider helps Slug understand the true nature of beauty - that it comes from within.

At least one other member of the animal kingdom thinks Slug is beautiful. And tasty! Find out who in the book.

Claudia Boldt's text is a bit clunky and clumsy in places, but the illustrations - done in a weird 50s ad style of flat colour and bold linework - really makes this book unique and worth checking out.

Charlotte's best bit - Slug imagining himself/herself as a beautiful butterfly

Daddy's favourite bit - Nasty children reading "50 ways to kill a slug" (which is an actual book btw, and comes up in an Amazon search way before you'll ever find this book!)