A great many of the books you'll read about in our #Booky100Keepers articles were originally library loans from our glorious local library here in Abingdon. We feel very fortunate to have such a good library, and we feel like we owe them a great debt - because without them we would not have got this blog up and running in the first place.

We've paid it forward with masses of book donations to them over the years but hold on there pardner, let's talk about this brilliant set of books because that's what we're here for after all.

"That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton was one of the books C would pull out of the library stacks on more or less every trip we made there, so in the end it just made sense to buy our own copy. The story of an imaginative little girl and her 'pet' rabbit Stanley is one we've read time and time again, even very recently too - and part of the reason for its popularity is the zaniness of it, and the fact that it's become something of a performance piece as well (a lot of the books you'll find in our #Booky100Keepers fall into the same bracket - as much fun to read aloud and 'perform' for me as they are for C to read / hear).

Vrrm Vrmmm! Gotta love Neal's art, it's just too, too good

Emily and Stanley just want to go on adventures together, but every time they embark on an amazing journey, there's an interruption, a knock at the door, and a pestering series of semi-officious folk who have but one thing on their mind - nabbing Stanley for naughty Queen Gloriana, a spoilt little girl who will stop at nothing to get what she wants (and what she wants is poor Stanley!)

No amount of bargaining works, Emily just won't give up her best pal, not for all the talking dolls and golden teddy bears in the kingdom. So the queen's troops resort to stealthy means, and steal poor Stanley away in the middle of the night.

Emily is no dummy though so when she wakes up to find Stanley missing, she knows exactly where to go. Off to the palace - but what on earth has that nasty queen done to poor Stan!?!

Every time I read this aloud to C I would adopt a series of daft (often posh, military-sounding) voices for the queen's troops. Cressida crafts the story in a fantastic crazy and haphazard series of encounters until the final showdown, where Emily Brown deftly delivers the moral message to that bratty queen but with an undertone of kindness that ends up as the final page in the story. Neal's illustrations - well what can you write about them. They're zany, scribbly but always absolutely and utterly brilliant and fitting in every story he either writes himself or collaborates on with others and his work here is just awesome.

C's other favourite Emily Brown book is "Emily Brown and the Thing" again by Cressida and Neal. This time Emily Brown has to put up with the world's most fidgety and restless monster, a right pain in the neck who keeps pestering Emily Brown and Stanley as they're trying to drift off into dreamland for a night's well earned sleep.

The monster has itchy legs, an annoying cough, can't find his blankie, wants a drink of milk - and so it goes on. Parents in particular will love this book as they will instantly recognise 'the monster' as behaving in exactly the same way their kids do when it comes to bedtime (C is the absolute QUEEN of dragging out a bedtime far longer than she should, I think her record stands at about 3 hours so far!).

"For the vitamins" - a single line that cracks us up every. single. time

As with the rest of the Emily Brown series, the huge roaring success of this (again initially another library loan until we read their copy to death and ended up buying our own) is partially due to the way it's performed / read aloud. The monster has a squeaky high pitched whiny voice despite his grim appearance, and it's glorious the way the tale draws to a brilliant conclusion - the monster is scared of monsters! So once again wise Emily Brown is on hand to dish out level headed wisdom (and hopefully get some sleep!)

We love all the books but these two are just utterly perfect, sublime and well worth your time.

Original Reviews:

That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton (Hodder Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's SECOND Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th March 2015 - "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton (Hodder Children's Books)

Emily Brown and the Thing

Emily Brown and the Thing (Re-Review) by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton (Hodder Children's Books)

Cheer up your Teddy Bear, Emily Brown (Re-Review) by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton (Hodder Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Christmas Picture Book of the Week / Booky Advent Calendar Day 7: "Emily Brown and Father Christmas" by Neal Layton and Cressida Cowell (Hodder Children's Books)

Oh my, we've been waiting for this one for a long long time...and it does not disappoint...!

Our Chapter Book of the Week this week is a dazzling sequel to a book that hurls us headlong into a fabulous new fantasy world from the creator of "How to Train your Dragon"...

Our first Picture Book of the Week this week is a superb little modern fable, full of originality and feline quirkiness...

This week's Chapter Book of the Week asks "How can you possibly follow a brilliant well-loved children's book series like How to Train your Dragon"...?

Scaly ones, furry ones, even little tiny ones. Cressida Cowell's "How to Train your Dragon" series has gone on to become a gigantic success, both in book form and on the silver screen. It's also a brilliant TV series too!

The fantastic "The Incomplete Book of Dragons" has only been available in a hardback format up to now. We're delighted to tell you that you can also now dash out and pick up the paperback version, as it's out right now, right at this moment!

Over 4 million copies of Cressida's books have been sold in the UK alone, and the book series and movies have also notched up a huge success internationally.

Find out all about Hiccup Horrendous Haddock and his observations of the many, many dragon species inside this utterly fascinating book!

You can read more about Cressida's fantastic series in our original feature.

"The Incomplete Book of Dragons" by Cressida Cowell is out now from Hodder Children's Books. 

"How to Train your Dragon (HTTYD Book 1) by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (and Cressida Cowell, of course!)(Hodder Children's Books)

Our Chapter Book roundups seem to come around so quickly and this month we've a treat in store. Re-covered versions of the fabulous "How to Train your Dragon" series by megastar Cressida Cowell. Charlotte has been badgering me to try and grab a couple of copies of these books and Hodder were fantastic, sending us this first book and an illustrated guide.

For all the flashy action-fuelled teen-angsty stuff that kids will know from the Dreamworks "How to Train your Dragon" movies, with their tousle-haired but handsome Hiccup riding his trusty steed Toothless, we hugely prefer Cressida's books - shoving aside all that glitzy nonsense for good old-fashioned adventure and some quite near the knuckle humour at times.

In this first book, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III lets us in on his trade secrets, of how he became a notorious dragon whisperer and how the folk of the Isles of Berk took to the skies on their dragon steeds. With the last novel in the series arriving later this year, there's no better time to go right back to the original (first published all the way back in 2003) and soak up Cressida's fabulous characters, atmospheric Viking settings and a whole ton of dragon-chasing fun.

"How to Train your Dragon (Book 1)" is available from Hodder Children's books.

More off the wall humour now...step inside a very prestigious seat of learning...

"Stardust Academy" by Siobhan Rowden (Scholastic)

Fame is everything in our next book, "Stardust Academy" by Siobhan Rowden. Luvvies left and right star in this humorous tale of a young dapper whippersnapper who accidentally wins a place at the titular stage school. Young Vip definitely DOES NOT want to be famous, but surrounded by wannabe actors, singers and dancers and under the steely gaze of headmistress Fenella Stardust, can he possibly resist the lure of the spotlights, the smell of the crowd and the roar of the greasepaint?

Siobhan's humorous slapstick comedy is a must for any kids who rather fancy the idea of stumbling onto the stage of "Britain's Got Talent" (and hopefully mooning at Amanda flipping wossherface's rictus grin!)

"Stardust Academy" is out now from Scholastic.

Skulls next then? How's yer bony bonce?

"Skullduggery Pleasant (Book 9): The Dying of the Light" by Derek Landy (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Oh BOY have we got some catching up to do, since this is the 9th and final book in Derek Landy's fantastic spooky best-selling series. "Skullduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light" brings this whopping story to a close.

As Valkyrie, Darquesse and Stephanie face a final showdown, the end is near.

The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.

And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.

The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. There will be shocks, heart-wrenching moments and a finale that will (quite possibly literally) blow your tiny little mind.

If you've not caught any of Derek Landy's exquisitely dark and exciting series, now's definitely the right time!

"Skullduggery Pleasant (Book 9): The Dying of the Light" is out now from HarperCollins Children's books.

Last but by no means least, a series I loved as a child comes back for a whole new generation of book lovers...

Arabel's Raven by Joan Aitken, Illustrated by Quentin Blake (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)

Arabel and her cheeky raven Mortimer, created by Joan Aitken with fantastic illustrations by Quentin Blake, actually arrived way back in 1972 but the stories are as fab and funny as ever, and though Joan Aitken passed away in 2002, she stands to become something of a book legend all over again with children who may not have heard of her before (quick, someone get them a copy of "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - STAT!")

Arabel is a fairly ordinary everyday little girl who happens to have a pet raven called Mortimer (we're never actually sure who owns who here, by the way). Arabel's adventures with Mortimer definitely AREN'T everyday however, and the quick witted girl and her clever bird are never far from trouble it seems.

I always remember these books being brilliant (and always seemed to remember them being rather too popular in our school library, all our copies were practically falling to bits) so it was ace to catch up with the books all over again.

Fans of Roald Dahl and David Walliams are in for a madcap treat with the newly reissued Arabel and Mortimer stories so don't miss the very first book, "Arabel's Raven" once again out in Paperback from Frances Lincoln Children's Books.

(As a bonus treat, check out this fantastic Jackanory clip of "Mortimer's Portrait on Glass" read by the awesome Roy Kinnear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sw9waNjReE)

Phew! We need a lie down and a cup of tea after that little lot. Join us again in July for even more Chapter Book greatness!

Way back in 2012 we took a look at the third "Emily Brown" book and I think we'd been a bit burned out on borrowing both "Emily Brown and the Thing" and "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown". We gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said that the idea was wearing a little thin. What meanies.

Now the Emily Brown books have been re-released by Hodder, it's the perfect opportunity to take a look at them all once again, to see if 7 year old Charlotte loves them as much as 4 year old Charlotte did.

In "Cheer up your teddy bear, Emily Brown" we meet the world's weepiest bear. Emily Brown and Stanley are pitching a tent in the Australian Outback one day, when they hear a faint 'plip plop' noise coming from the toybox. It's the sound of teddy tears, and a lonely little teddy bear who plaintively sings a little song of woe.

Emily Brown and Stanley decide to take the little teddy on their adventure, but not even the prospect of bouncing with kangaroos or making friends with emus can cheer the poor thing up.

They fare no better in Yellowstone Park despite the presence of brown bears, grizzly bears and cuddly little baby bears. Teddy just can't be consoled! What's worse is that the teddy's morose mood is rubbing off on the usually effervescent Emily Brown and Stanley! NOOOOOOO!

Is there nothing that can cheer the poor little soul up?

We got into a deep discussion about this book. We love the first two, we haven't yet 'met' "Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency" (which has also been re-released, hooray!) but it's that teddy, that poor little sad little teddy bear who we really can't seem to 'gel' with. Emily Brown and Stanley really try their best to befriend the little bear but she's inconsolable until other teddies turn up.

One of the delights of re-reviewing this was getting Charlotte to read it to me (whereas last time we read it, it was the other way around). She's slowly learning how to read stories with gusto and great characterisation, so it was actually a genuine delight to hear her giving the sad little teddy a squeaky heartbroken voice as she 'sang' the little teddy song with each bit of repetition.

As ever, tight writing and a nice little heartfelt message helps bring the story up a few notches thanks to Cressida Cowell's enviable writing expertise, and we still can't get enough of Neal Layton's art style, scribbly and chaotic but infinitely attractive and perfectly fitting for the Emily Brown tales. Charlotte rather loved the fact that she thought the Gold Bear (From "That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown") made a cameo appearance at the end of the tale, and I'm sure we spotted Pooh Bear too!

Charlotte's best bit: The perfect teddy bear's picnic!

Daddy's Favourite bit: The Emily Brown books are deservedly described as modern classics. This isn't our fave but it's still an entertaining read, and your tinies will love the excuse to dig out their teddies and recreate the closing scenes themselves!

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

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That rabbit belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

Emily Brown and the Thing by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

We (or rather I) did this book a bit of a disservice when we originally reviewed it all the way back in 2012. Scrappy artwork? Not always convincing? What on earth...! So with a timely reprint of this awesome story, it's time to give it another go!

Charlotte adores the Emily Brown books, and quite rightly argued with me as vociferously as a 4 year old could when we were originally reading this book back then. Of course, you should always listen to the opinions of your children when it comes to stores - they're invariably right!

Emily Brown's second outing is equally as fun and adventurous as the first but this time Emily is run ragged by The Thing, a big fuzzy itchy scratchy wailing crybaby of a monster who seems to have a ton of unreasonable demands to make on her and her righteous bunny companion Stanley.

The Thing has lost his cuddly, so it's up to Emily Brown and Stanley to don their funky night-vision goggles, brave wolves and varmints to climb to the top of the spikiest tree to retrieve The Thing's comfort blanket.

Once done, Emily goes back to her warm comfortable bed - but alas The Thing's tummy is rumbling so loudly, no one can sleep! So it's off to the frozen wastes of Alaska, braving grumpy polar bears to search for a glass of warm milk (Warm milk, Alaska?)

The thing gulps this down, but is still not satisfied. He now has a tickly throat (and it's at this point during our re-reading that Charlotte pulled off the perfect impression of a hacky coughing monster, you see she's a past master at perfecting the fake 'stay awake' cough, which she uses if she's trying to make sure Mummy and Daddy don't get any sleep when she can't!)

What works for a tickly throat? Icky green medicine from the whining witches.

In each case, Emily Brown dutifully does as The Thing asks, but what is really wrong with the big wibbly crybaby really?

He's scared. Of things. In the dark.

At this point, had Charlotte been Emily Brown (and I guess that would make me Stanley) I think we'd have taken The Thing out to the dark scary woods, to the top of that spiky scratchy tree, tied him up with his comfort blanket and left him there until morning - possibly to be ravenously consumed by wolves! Naturally Emily Brown is more tolerant and finally gets to the bottom of Thing's problem. Bless her heart!

Like "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown", this book has stood the test of time with Charlotte (and like "Rabbit", Charlotte smilingly tolerates my wibbly high-pitched 'Thing' voice as once again he squeals "Oh Emily Brown, Emily Brown!") Cressida's tale is beautifully constructed, Neal's so-called "Scrappy" artwork is subtle, engaging and I just can't imagine the book working as well without it (so what the heck was I on back in 2012? Grumpy pills?)

There are two more Emily Brown adventures. One of which we have read, one of which we haven't. I have to admit that we did not take to "Cheer up your Teddy Bear, Emily Brown" as the story's use of repetition begins to grate after you've said the same lines about 4-5 times (bear in mind again though, 2012 = grumpy pills!) However we now feel that we absolutely MUST track down "Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency" to ensure we're fully up to speed with the adventures of this imaginative girl and her fab little bunny companion!

Charlotte's best bit: The Thing's diet. 100 hamburgers, plus an apple for the vitamins! LOVE!

Daddy's Favourite bit: With the benefit of hindsight I couldn't have got this one more wrong the first time around, it's a brilliant and entertaining romp and Charlotte still loves it as much at 7 as she did at 3!

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

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"That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

"Cheer Up your Teddy Bear Emily Brown" by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

We are cheating a bit here by squeezing in a second book of the week this week with a book that we've previously reviewed way back in the mists of time when we still had a rating out of 5, and this blog was in its infancy (along with our Blog Boss Charlotte who was a mere whippersnapper back then!)

So is it possible for a book that your child loved as a tiny tiddler to still be well received now they're an opinionated and fussy 7 year old?

In the case of "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" the answer is a resounding YESSSS!

So why did this book stand the test of time? Well look at the talent behind it for starters. Cressida Cowell, known to millions as the genius behind the "How to Train your Dragon" series which has made the leap to the big and small screens from its book beginnings, writes this absolute cracker. Neal Layton, illustrative genius behind one of our all-time favourite books "Jennifer Jones Won't Leave Me Alone" provides the stunningly appropriate and fantastically scribbly-scrobbly visuals for our story journey.

But having top talent to pen a story isn't always the be all and end all. Why then IS this story so utterly perfect for Charlotte? It's because of Emily Brown herself and her wild and vivid imagination. Over the course of "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown", Emily - always accompanied by her old faithful toy rabbit Stanley, embarks on the most incredible adventures often without straying from her own back yard. She treks across the sahara desert on a motorbike, climbs through the rain forests and explores the outer reaches of space.

Stanley is the focus for this story, you see avaricious eyes have rather taken a shine to the scruffy old rabbit with his wonky smile. After making several offers of 'swapsies' for Stanley, Queen Gloriana The Third adopts downright sneaky tactics to kidnap Stanley and take him to the palace to live with her instead.

Poor Stanley! He does NOT look happy!

As you can imagine, Emily Brown is not the sort of girl who is going to stand by and watch her best friend be spirited away, so she decides a trip to the palace is in order.

Revisiting this now Charlotte is older (and thankfully still tolerant of me using a multitude of really silly voices for all the characters in this such as the army, naval and air commanders) it is actually a genuine joy to see her still as excited and entertained by this book (though she made a lot of pointed comments about NEEDING all those "How to Train your Dragon" books lovingly listed at the end. We'd better start saving our birthday money!)

Emily Brown has now featured in four books (and we'll be taking another look at "Emily Brown and the Thing" soon, another re-review to see if Charlotte still loves that grizzly scratchy old Thing as well!)

If you've yet to encounter the Emily Brown books, I'm almost envious because you are going to experience the joy of finding an utter booky treasure - and one that is going to stay with you and your children for a very long time to come!

(Read our original review of "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" here)

Charlotte's best bit: She loves the bit where the sneaky "Queen's Special Commandos" (who are just the army, navy and air force in disguise) sneak in and steal Stanley. How very DARE they!!!!

Daddy's Favourite bit: I was so pleased that these were getting a timely reprint. The Emily Brown stories are brilliant, and span such a wide age range (well, in our case at least) that it's a genuine pleasure to revisit them and dust down all my silly voices to read the absolute best of the bunch. A joyous celebration of a child's imagination, and a rather nicely veiled moral lesson on avarice and envy tucked in between the pages too! Wonderful wonderful WONDERFUL!

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

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"Emily Brown and the Thing" by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

"Jennifer Jones Won't Leave Me Alone" by Frieda Wishinsky and Neal Layton

(Apologies for the blurred book cover pic on this, Amazon are slacking!)

It's always a bit sad when we encounter books in the library that have been mercilessly abused but it's part and parcel of the kid's book section and our local Library staff are absolutely brilliant when it comes to sorting out replacements. Cressida (How to train your Dragon, Emily Brown) Cowell's book "Little Bo Peep's Library Book" comes with its own mini set of books tucked neatly within its pages. Or at least it would if a careless borrower hadn't lost/eaten/disposed of the ones that were supposed to be in our copy.

Nevertheless, even with the mini books missing, this is a cute and funny tale of what happens when Little Bo Peep loses her sheep and seeks answers at her local library (run by the extremely knowledgable Mother Goose).

The best bit of the book is browsing the shelves in each section Bo Peep finds herself in. The titles of the books on the shelves are brilliant and funny, and the whole book is a great spin on the traditional nursery rhymes your children know and love.

It would probably be unfair to give this book a rating with some of the content missing, so we'll just comment on it and leave it at that. Suffice to say that we really want to find an intact copy now!

Charlotte's best bit: The way Bo Peep's sheep are found.

Daddy's favourite bit: A book in the cooking section of the library entitled "Cooking with Fat" by Mrs Sprat.

Though we first reviewed "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" last October, Charlotte grabbed it again from the library and I thought it was worth taking another look at it simply because she's been driving us absolutely crazy with this book, wanting to read it at least 3 times a day or more. 

So what's so fascinating about the story of Emily Brown and her rabbit, Stanley?

Getting into the mindset of a three year old isn't easy when they've got 40 years on you but it seems to be the book's neat way of showing the consequences of naughtiness. As we said in the last review, Queen Gloriana the Third will pretty much stop at nothing to own Emily Brown's "bunny wunny" Stanley. No amount of bribery or bargaining will get Emily Brown to give up her companion, her co-adventurer and her favourite toy. 

Perhaps the veiled lesson "you can't always get what you want so make do with what you've got" may be lost on Charlotte, but certainly Emily Brown's (rather kind) way of helping Queen Gloriana realise this is quite a neat twist. 

I promise I won't make a habit of re-hashing reviews but the tenacity Charlotte has shown in demanding this book be read make me think it was worth another look. 

Charlotte's (new) best bit: The dolls that say "Mama, Mama!"

Daddy's (new) best bit: Nah I still like the Queen's Secret Commandos. 

This Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown

Written by Cressida Cowell

Illustrated by Neal Layton

Amazon Link: £3.99

Emily Brown and the Thing

Written by Cressida Cowell

Illustrated by Neal Layton

Amazon Link: £4.09

Published by Orchard Books



 Emily Brown and her rabbit Stanley can't get to sleep (I know the feeling, I've had insomnia all week). The root cause of their sleepless nights is "The Thing", a friendly monster who sends Emily and Stanley on a series of quests to help HIM sleep. If you've read "This Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown" you'll know what to expect - an imaginative mix of adventures and haphazard happenings. 

I'm not always convinced by Neal Layton's illustrations in this (they're a bit scrappy, and hit and miss) but the storytelling wins through and even though he's a right royal pain in the papoose, you can't help but feel sorry for The Thing. 

Charlotte's best bit: The twisty turny cave under the stairs


Daddy's favourite bit: Poor Thing being reduced to tears when told off. 


Rating: 3 out of 5.