Here's a fantastic version of a folk tale that appears in many cultures all around the world. Let's take a look at the stunning "The Glassmaker's Daughter" by Dianne Hofmeyr and Jane Ray...

As Charlotte gets older and demands slightly more wordier fare than some picture books offer, storybook compendiums are a godsend. Short enough that you can cherry-pick a story from them to read before bedtime. Deep enough that she can listen to me read rather than fussing over the pictures (though it has to be said, we both still absolutely love illustrated children's books more than anything).

Jane Ray's collection of stories "The Emperor's Nightingale and Other Feathery Tales" has just had a timely reprint by Boxer Books, with a gorgeous purple cover and an enviable collection of stories and poems with something to appeal to everyone. Some are familiar and well loved ("The Owl and the Pussycat" - be warned though, if you have a really daft sense of humour you're really going to struggle with the last verse on that one), and some aren't so well known but are beautiful stories nonetheless (how utterly brilliant is "Mulungu Paints the Birds"). Jane has brought together a fabulous collection of authors from around the world keeping the bird theme consistent, and dishing up a rare treat - a story complilation that has no weak links (well, none that we could find anyway, they really are all brilliant).

As we said at the top of the review, it's been fun choosing a different story at random over the space of a few mornings or nights when we do the majority of our reading together. Worth checking out if your little ones are also moving beyond picture books and don't actually mind sitting still long enough to hear a deeper tale told well.

Charlotte's best bit: The fabulous African folk tale "Mulungu Paints the Birds"

Daddy's Favourite bit: Oscar Wilde's awesome "The Happy Prince" is in here, always been a fave!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Boxer Books)

Apologies for the short hiatus in reviews but now we've got over our colds, and have managed to get to Abingdon Library again, we're back in business. 

Starting off with a book that, by rights, should scare the pants off Charlotte, ghosts and monsters are delicately woven into this tale of a roving ghost. Visiting children in the town in turn, Jinnie Ghost peppers their dreams (and nightmares) with visions both surreal, menacing and serene. 

It's definitely not a book you'd want to read a toddler at bedtime. Too many instances of 'things crawling under the bed' and a reference to the Bogeyman which could make youngsters slightly squeamish. 

And yet...

Perhaps Charlotte does take after me a little, particularly given that her favourite film / CD soundtrack AND popup book of the moment is Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (much to the exasperation of my long-suffering wife!). 

There's something intriguing and attractive to youngsters in books of this ilk, where the fantastic, the slightly scary and the paranormal mix with normal everyday children and their lives. 

Of the six books we grabbed in our library trip this week, Jinnie Ghost has proved to be the most popular by far and that's partly due to the gently poetic story, and partly due to the superb artwork by Berlie Doherty. 

Recommended, but during daylight hours. 

Charlotte's best bit: Naturally, the fact that the first child that Jinne Ghost 'haunts' is a girl called Charlotte who wants to be a princess. 


Daddy's favourite bit: The dreamlike feel to the artwork and the lovely floaty Jinnie herself