Two genuinely awesome folk have teamed up for a truly SUPER book...! Welcome "Superchimp" to our superhero roster!

Come and take a new look at this delightful monster tale, now reprinted by Maverick Publishing. Step out and join a ghoulish party with Tamara Small...

"Little Bell and the Moon by Giles Paley-Phillips and Iris Deppe (Fat Fox Books)

We're fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to check out Giles Paley-Phillip's new book and the man himself stopped by the blog for a quick questions and answers session with us here at ReadItDaddy. Kicking off with three questions from me, and three questions from "The Boss" herself, Charlotte. Take it away Giles...!

From Me:

1) Hi Giles, thanks for talking to ReadItDaddy - so tell us a little
bit about yourself, and your new book "Little Bell and the Moon"

Hey ReadItDaddy, I spent a number of years touring and playing in bands, I started writing after my first son was born and haven't stopped since.
My new book is called Little Bell and the Moon, it's the story of a lonely little girl, who loves the moon and in a flight of fancy she flies off with the moon to see all the wondrous things in the world. Their journeys go on for many years until she is very elderly and can't travel anymore, eventually the little girl who is now very old, passes away and something very magical happens to her.

2) Your previous books have been huge hits with our readers. Tell us a
little bit about your influences, favourite authors and illustrators.

Thank you that's lovely to hear. My biggest influences have been several American writers, in particular Shel Silverstein and Edward Gorey, I love Gorey's dark humour, something I've always try to have in my previous books.
Little Bell and the Moon is very different in tone from anything I've done before I was reading a lot of adult poetry at the time and especially Sharon Old's 'The Father' which I found very inspiring.
I have to say the illustrator Iris Deppe deserves enormous credit for her work on Little Bell and the Moon, they are simply wonderful and I couldn't be more thrilled with them.

3) You obviously have fun telling stories and trying ideas out with
your own family. Are they harsh critics? (Mine are :)

Yes they can be, but it is really helpful to know what things do and don't work.

From Charlotte

1) I love "The Fearsome Beastie" - Does it ever frighten people? He is a bit mean!

He is very mean, but it does tend to be grown ups that are scared of him, children think he's funny! (Editor's note: Charlotte also thinks he's funny but would definitely keep a brave granny to hand if she ever met him!)

2) Are you going to write any more monster books?

I've written two now, and you never know I might, although people might be a bit bored of them now (Editor's note: NOOOOO We're not! More monsters, more monsters!)

3) What's your favourite book at the moment?

Well, my favourite children's book is The Box of Delights by John Maresfield and I'm also currently reading The Human Flies by Hans Olav Lahlum, which is a traditional whodunnit set in Sweden.

Phew! Thanks for whistling by to talk to us Giles. We wish you huge success with "Little Bell and the Moon", out now from Fat Fox Publishing. Find out more about the book on the Fat Fox Website.

We've followed the career of Giles Paley-Phillips for quite some time now, and have loved his rhyming stories. From the gruesome but endlessly gleeful and satisfying "Fearsome Beastie" to Giles' latest story. This time Giles weaves a tale with an almost mournful melancholy air, that begins with Little Bell - a tiny tot who is lucky enough to take nightly trips hand in hand with her friend the moon. They journey far and wide, her hand in his, as they soar into the air and cruise above the mountains and deserts, jungles and seas, with always something new to see and experience.

Little Bell's journeys fill her life with richness and imagination, and the moon adores her.

As the story unfolds, Little Bell moves through all the stages of her life, becoming a teen, then an adult (at this point Charlotte excitedly pointed out that in one of Iris' illustrations, Bell looks like she's having a baby as the story shows her at various ages). Finally as Bell becomes old and frail, the moon realises that soon their journeys together will be at an end. As he sings one last lyrical lullaby to her, and rests her gently down for her final long sleep, the moon is grief-stricken but must say goodbye.

But...

Ah, you see, here's the bit where we rather meanly tell you we're not going to give away what happens next. For in darkness and despair, there's always hope and so we'll leave it up to you to discover Giles and Iris' fabulous touching and heartfelt story for yourselves. It's truly something rather special.

This is dreamy stuff, absolutely perfect as a lyrical story lullaby before you tuck your own kids into bed for the night. Giles' rhymes are nicely written, Iris' artwork is utterly delectable and it's a story that will work wonderfully for the very tiniest of tinies, right up to older children who might be too cool to sit on your lap for story time but will still love hearing this one read out loud.

Stay tuned here on the blog for a Q & A session with Giles himself!

"Little Bell and the Moon" by Giles Paley-Phillips and Iris Deppe is now available from Fat Fox Books.

Charlotte's best bit: The "aging" sequence in the story as we learn that Bell and the Moon have been travelling together for years

Daddy's Favourite bit: A delicate multi-layered story that is dreamy, melancholy and joyful. A perfect bed-time read!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Fat Fox Books)

Beasties of a different kind are the subject of Giles Paley-Phillips' new book - this time big stomping beasties that once stalked the earth. Or rather, still do!

(See, I bet you didn't know that did you?)

In fact in "Things you never knew about Dinosaurs" you'll find out that our scaly chums are in fact alive and well and sometimes hiding in plain sight. That fancy looking fountain with the lizardy skin? That low-flying goal-scorer at the world cup? Dinosaurs are still with us and they're having a whole lot of fun.

As we've come to expect from Giles, never trust a beastie to be entirely friendly and lovely though. We really loved the way the book ended - and we're not going to spoil it for you, so nyaahhhhh!

Liz Pichon's fab and colourful dinosaurs are a busy and infinitely varied lot so for any younger bookworms who haven't quite got their tongues around Triceratops or bumped into Brachiosaurs, it's a fantastic and entertaining little book with Giles' trademark bounce-along rhyming text really nicely complimented by Liz's art.

So next time you're standing at a bus stop and the person next to you looks a little green and lumpy, don't worry unduly. They might just be a dino in disguise!

Charlotte's best bit: Even Dinosaurs have to queue for the loo. You just wouldn't want to go in there afterwards.

Daddy's favourite bit: Fine dining, Dino style!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Giles and Meadowside Children's Books)

Back in the mists of time, Giles Paley-Phillips (who is easily one of the nicest chaps you could ever converse with in the book business) let us take a sneaky early peek at one of his books, "Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball". We're still a bit techno-luddite-ey here at ReadItDaddy Towers so it was great to take a second look at the book in paper form rather than flicking through the preview PDF when Giles kindly sent us a copy recently.

Quite rightly, "Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball" has been receiving rave reviews from bloggers, journalists and parents and it's not difficult to see why.

Telling the story of Tamara Small whose blissful sleep is interrupted by a monster one night, you might mistakenly think the book sounds a little bit sinister at first but it's a fantastic and joy-filled zany look at what monsters get up to when they're not prowling the neighbourhood roaring, eating things they shouldn't eat, and generally nestling under people's beds or in their wardrobes.

Understandably, Tamara Small is a little scared at first but when the monster whisks her off to the premiere social event of the monster calendar, the Monster's Ball, she's soon grooving with ghoulies and ghosties, spinning on her head with werewolves, and having a monstrously good time.

As regular blog visitors will already know, we love a good monstery tale here at ReadItDaddy and along with 'Fearsome Beastie', Giles and Gabriele are fast becoming the dream team for toddler-friendly monster books (Still not entirely sure about that axe-chopping bit in Fearsome Beastie myself but it doesn't phase Charlotte in the least so maybe I ought to take a leaf out of her book!)

Fantastic, fun-filled and utterly groovy. If you haven't already got a copy, what on earth are you waiting for?

Charlotte's best bit: Unsurprisingly it hasn't changed, she still wants a lime-green cake for her 5th birthday next year.

Daddy's favourite bit: Great rhyming text, fantastic illustrations and I love the subtle way the story changes part way through from something that appears initially a bit sinister and dark, to a complete chaotic zany party! Brilliantly uplifting!

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Maverick Books / Giles)

Excellent moustachioed chap Giles Paley-Phillips got in touch with us to let us know that new shiny books are coming from one of this year's standout indie publishers, Maverick Books. We've absolutely loved Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball, The Fearsome Beastie, Grandma Bendy and Mrs Macready was Ever So Greedy so we jumped at the chance of a sneaky look at their release schedule.

First up, the talented team of Julie Fulton and Jona Jung are back with another fabulous "ever so" book from the sleepy (and slightly dangerous) town of Hamilton Shady. "Tabitha Posy was Ever So Nosy" tells the story of a young (and rather curious) girl called Tabitha Posy. Her sticky beak gets her into all sorts of scrapes and squeezes, but you'll have to wait until next february to find out whether Tabitha comes to a sticky end!

If you loved "Mrs Macready was Ever So Greedy" (we certainly did, giving it 4 out of 5 stars) then you're going to love this!

Next February also sees the release of a book we also really cannot wait to dip into. "The Cautionary Tale of the Childe of Hale" reads like a fairy tale but there's a twist, it's actually based on a true story and has a bit of a local connection for us (but we'll leave you to find out what that is!) Did giants once roam the earth? Find out in this beautiful looking book by Rachel Lyon and Vanina Starkoff.

We'll be taking a closer look at both books very soon so look out for our previews!

Fresh from reviewing "The Fearsome Beastie" we were extremely lucky enough to get a sneaky peak at Giles Pale-Phillips and Gabriele Antonini's excellent followup, "Tamara Small and the Monsters' Ball".

As you know, we like a bit of monstrous stuff here at ReadItDaddy and Charlotte makes a bee-line for anything monstery. She loved "The Fearsome Beastie" but a book with a little girl as the central character and not just one monster but a whole plethora of monsters was always going to be very popular.

Tamara Small wakes up one night when a monster steals in through the window and whisks her off. But don't panic just yet, Tamara is in safe hands as the monster is taking her to the infamous Annual Monsters' Ball. What do monsters do at a ball? What do they eat and drink? What will become of Tamara? Well you're going to have to wait until October 1st to find out but we think Giles and Gabriele have managed to trump "The Fearsome Beastie" by some considerable margin.

We're now glued to Maverick Books website to see if they can keep up this fantastic streak of quality children's picture books. So far they're knocking it out of the park, and we've already noticed that Julie (Mrs MacCready) Fulton and Jona Jung have another book coming out (Tabitha Posy was Ever So Nosy) too.

You'll most definitely like Tamara Drew though, betcha!

Charlotte's best bit: Cake made of... :)

Daddy's favourite bit: Without a doubt, the breakdancing Werewolf.

(No rating as this is a preview)

The lovely folk at GPP PR and Marketing tweeted us @readitdaddy recently to ask if we'd like to review some books. Lo and behold, four lovely books arrived in the post yesterday and this was the one Charlotte instantly seized on.

Worry-wort parents might want to look away now.

Because, oh my...oh my oh my....

 ....this is a tricky one to review.

"The Fearsome Beastie" is the sort of book my lovely other half @thestrollingmum blanches at whenever we bring home monstrous books from the library. A recent winner of The People's Book Prize, this book really doesn't pull any punches (or axes!). Most monsters in books are rather pleasant folk who start off shouting, gnashing and snarling and end up rather placid, even friendly. The fearsome beastie in this book isn't like that at all. He prowls at night, he likes to eat young children and he thinks nothing of tricking them into trusting them before he gobbles them all up.

There's a message here though, and it's a very strong stark message about 'monsters' that's woven between the gently rhyming text, and the (sometimes rather graphic but beautifully done) illustrations.

Personally I wouldn't recommend this as a bedtime read (in fact I wouldn't recommend this 8 hours either side of bedtime or nap time) and I'm gobsmacked that one particular picture panel made it through editing intact but Charlotte wanted to read it again as soon as we'd finished. If you don't baulk at the thought of your children reading something that feels like a 'warts 'n' all' classic children's fairy story, this is very much cut from the same cloth.

Maverick Books are definitely a force in Children's Publishing to keep an eye on though. Superb high quality book beautifully presented.

Charlotte's best bit: Of course she liked the 'shock' bit the best (and I'm sure your kids would too!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The fact that this doesn't shy away from letting a monster be monstrous, menacing and downright nasty.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars