The rich seam of tales surrounding the legend of King Arthur were always something I'd intended to introduce Charlotte to at some point. I thought that she'd be completely entranced by the stories of the Knights of the Round Table but the books I've got at home (Mallory's "Le Morte D'Arthur etc") are all a bit grown up. However, there are children's books out there that serve as a gentle introduction - including this latest addition to the fantastic Usborne "Sticker Dressing" range.

"Sticker Dressing King Arthur" shows some of the most famous scenes from the Chronicles of King Arthur, from the young boy pulling the sword out of the stone setting his destiny to be king of England - to later life and the formation of the Knights of the Round Table.

Each scene comes with an associated sticker sheet, so little ones can have fun sticking on clothes and accessories to the characters while reading and learning a little bit more about the legends. Naturally Charlotte was instantly drawn to the story of Arthur retrieving Excalibur from The Lady of the Lake (particularly when she found out that her uncle lives not far from Dozemary Pool, apparently the site of this particular legendary scene so I guess we'll be visiting there soon!)

The Sticker Dressing range aren't just about 'dollies' - this is a great book to serve as an introduction to Arthurian legend and we'll be looking at more Arthur stuff very soon on the blog. Stay tuned!

Charlotte's best bit: Arthur and The Lady of the Lake and The battle with The Green Knight

Daddy's Favourite bit: Gorgeously presented and a fab intro to the rich tapestry of legend surrounding King Arthur

(Kindly sent to us for review by Usborne Books)

This is how things usually go at ReadItDaddy Towers when a new sticker (dolly) dressing book arrives from Usborne.

"Hey Charlotte there's a new Sticker Book from Usb...."

(Before I've even finished the sentence, a whirling curly-haired dervish has snatched the book away, and proceeds to bury herself in it for HOURS.

We'd heard of the Sticker Dressing - Shakespeare book before Usborne kindly offered to send us one. I was rather keen to see it because I was interested to see how Usborne could make Shakespeare's plays and sonnets more kid-friendly.

Knowing that Charlotte loves history helped a little, she particularly loves exploring what people did and wore in ancient times but with Shakespeare's plays often crossing time, often set in different periods, how would she cope and adapt?

"Sticker Dressing - Shakespeare" is beautifully illustrated by Diego Diaz, with a whole brace of quotable quotes from Shakespeare's works. Lots of background is given along with a typical scene featuring characters from the plays.

Charlotte already knows who Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are (Thanks largely to Gnomeo and Juliet, alas!) This book was great for introducing her to some of my favourite works (The Tempest and King Lear) and the plays she'll undoubtedly be familiar with once she hits senior school.

The main lure for a six year old though are the fantastic characters and costumes. It's not exactly easy to explain what a codpiece is or what Leg Hoses are for, but with Usborne's peerless sticker books, one little girl now knows a little bit more about the bard, and can't wait to find out more about Shakespeare's works and the period he lived in (I'll leave all that controversy about whether the Bard wrote all those plays till we can have a good debate about them one day! Go Chris Marlowe!) With over 200 stickers to get busy with, once again you're guaranteed hours of peace and quiet while your little ones work on this (well, until they start asking about those hoses!)

Charlotte's best bit: The beautiful Lady Macbeth (I didn't fill in some of her less...er...desirable characteristics)

Daddy's Favourite bit: What a fantastic way to introduce children to Shakespeare, perfect for the Bard's 450th Annivesary, kicking off the upcoming Shakespeare Weeks planned for throughout 2014.

Year after year, the shops seem to be more and more stuffed to the gills with Halloween things - fortunately this doesn't just extend to horrible cheap plastic halloween costumes and dreadful sweeties, but also some surprisingly brilliant book ideas for your little ones to get spooked by as All Hallows Eve arrives.

Usborne's 'Sticker Dressing' range is always good fun, and Charlotte's grampy (Dodo) bought her this rather excellent 'Spooky' edition, featuring all the mainstays of a good halloween romp.

What I like about the book is the multi-layered approach to the stickering. The artwork is fantastic, and as you add stickers to each scene to 'complete' it, you can build up some brilliant transformations. See a scrawny skeleton transformed into a scary mummy - or a graveyard turning into the Skeleton World Cup.

Imaginative and full of flair, Sticker Dressing - Spooky is still great fun even after your little ones have stuck all 200 stickers down and made some funny scenes. Great character names and plenty of opportunities to then go away and draw up some spooky scenes of your own all add to a book that's sure to keep the collywobbles away.

Charlotte's best bit: Spooky Ghostly Tutankhamun

Daddy's favourite bit: The great transformation from scrawny youth to fully fledged werewolf at the back of the book.