Pick the perfect book to unwrap children’s imaginations with Scholastic this Christmas. Their best ever Christmas Bookshop (www.scholastic.co.uk/christmas) is brimming with over 600 books, exclusive offers, money saving packs and fabulous, festive treats expertly selected and chosen to inspire young readers of all ages.

All the books featured in their Christmas Bookshop will be significantly discounted with up to 70% off the RRP!

Fantastic new releases like "Bad Dad" from David Walliams and Tony Ross (which is absolutely hilarious and brilliant fun, look out for a full review soon!) and the latest Tom Gates book from Liz Pichon, suitably titled "Epic Adventure" (because it's pretty durned epic indeed!) should be a fantastic addition to anyone's christmas stocking. There's even an awesome new book from Michael Rosen and Tony Ross, "Bah Humbug" inspired by "A Christmas Carol" but with plenty of japes and giggles to ensure a lot of festive fun.

When you shop with Scholastic, you can stretch the season of goodwill to make it last all year round as Scholastic donate 25% worth of FREE BOOKS back to the shopper’s nominated school or nursery for every order over £10, which means schools can add to their library or class book shelves for free!

The books in this year’s shop have been carefully chosen from around 70 publishers and are a time-saving round-up of titles that will be at the top of everyone’s Christmas list. 

We've been taking a look at a selection of the books, and have to say that these are absolutely bang on the nail for a 9 year old who loves middle grade chapter books with plenty of humour and sass.

As well as the much-anticipated new releases from award-winning authors such as David Walliams, Jeff Kinney and Liz Pichon, there are paperback exclusives from Michael Rosen, Antony Horowitz, Cathy Cassidy, Jacqueline Wilson, David Baddiel plus the best-selling debut children’s novel from Miranda Hart. In addition, there are jolly joke books, silly stories and the opportunity to get crafty with all kinds of creative kits which will entertain any child whether they’re a tiny tot or teen.

Also on offer for the first time, are two brilliantly conceived, Advent Packs containing a wonderful mix of classic and new favourites for either 0-7 years or 7-11 years. Each amazing value set will include 24 seasonally themed books (to be given each day of Advent) for an incredible £29.99 offering a unique countdown to Christmas sure to delight young book worms and far more wholesome than the usual chocolate option!

To browse the full Christmas Bookshop, (search by age and type of book) please visit www.scholastic.co.uk/christmas

Here's a subject we've enjoyed seeing some hoo-ing and hah-ing about over the last few weeks. We didn't exactly help things with our April Fools story about Jeremy Clarkson writing a children's book (can you imagine it?) but one announcement on the same day turned out to be true. Russell Brand is the latest celebrity pitching himself into the children's book arena.

Russell Brand isn't anyone I give a tinker's fig about, but he's erudite (if you've ever seen him destroy a politician on Question Time, you'll know he's a clever stick and a half), he has personality, and he's a one-man PR machine that is - in essence - exactly the sort of person you'd imagine hitting the right note with an awful lot of parents who want to buy books for their kids.

Teaming up with Chris Riddell is a stroke of genius too. Riddell's illustrations are fantastic, and if anyone can dream up twisted alt-reality versions of the Pied Piper et al, Chris is the man for the gig.

If you're a writer and you've been teamed up with this guy, you're on a roll!

This isn't a ringing endorsement of all celebrities who take the 'easy option' of writing for kids though. Writing for children is by no means an easy option. Children are the toughest critics on the planet. They can make or break a brand (no not a Brand!) in the space of a morning's playtime discussion. Similarly, they can be astonishingly driven, inspirational and complimentary if they love what you do, and witheringly insultingly critical if they don't.

Some celebrities mistake endorsement by their own families or kids as some sort of a green light that their stories will be universally accepted by children. Also not the case. Any parent can tell you the number of times their child has nodded approval when shown something or had something read to them and then scampered off to Mummy (or daddy) later on to give the real verdict.

As my sage other half pointed out though, the focus on celebrity writers is always on the quality of the writing (which, in all but a few sacred (Walliams) cases, is normally universally panned or criticised by booky press) and not what it can actually lead to. Imagine all the kids that start off their journey reading "Frankie's Magic Football" and then seek out the far meatier and more satisfying Football Academy series by Tom Palmer. Imagine the kids who read the drecky Willoughby Sisters' glitter-infested fairy princess stuff, but then go on to read real inspirational "Worst Princess" by the fantastically talented team of Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie.

If celebrity writing achieves one thing of worth - engaging reluctant readers - then long may the trend continue.