C'est si Bon! Our second Book of the Week this week is a real refreshing sunny little treat, perfect for kids who are just beginning to learn French at school, and featuring one of the most engaging and happy little characters we've had the delight of encountering in a long time in PBs.

Meet Monsieur Roscoe, star of "Monsieur Roscoe on Holiday" by Jim Field, the super-talented illustrator behind those "Oi Frog / Dog / Log / Platypus" books.

Monsieur Roscoe is off on his summer holidays, and whenever he meets his friends, they always greet each other first in English and then in French - giving kids the opportunity to learn some key phrases and useful words in that divine language (I'm currently going through the grown-up methods of learning French and it's a language that is SO easy to fall in love with, so this book is a double delight!)

Jim's gorgeous bright illustrations underpin Monsieur Roscoe's journey as he sets off on his travels. We loved the fact that this book felt a lot 'busier' than Jim's normal work, almost akin to the fabulous Richard Scarry books I loved as a kid, and packed with lots of additional things for kids to observe and spot (see the back of the book for hints and tips on what to look for in each page spread).

So let's have a look inside. Oooh my you're in for a treat with this one...!

Introduce yourself, Monsieur Roscoe!

A whole host of animal characters crop up in the book, and we spent hours just looking at each gorgeous highly detailed illustration (plus plenty of time practicing our (admittedly terrible) levels of French!)

Even the rain won't put off our happy hound! Il Pleut indeed!

The thing that got us most excited about "Monsieur Roscoe" is that we can instantly see the potential for this to end up as a huge series. More books with more French would be ace, but we could also see Mr Roscoe perhaps being joined by other buddies speaking other languages. That would be just perfect!

Fave scene, the campsite!

It's whimsical, charming, educational and downright perfect, in fact as we already said on Twitter, this is easily our favourite thing of Jim's. What a talented chap he is!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A truly fantastic first book to begin a learning journey for children wanting to speak a little French with brilliant illustrations, a whole host of engaging animal characters and a ton of polish applied to it.

"Monsieur Roscoe on Holiday" by Jim Field is out now, published by Hachette Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

The "Oi!" book behemoth rolls on and on, rolling more effectively than the log that the first book's frog might have sat on way back in the annals of picture book history.

So it's time for the next book, and this time the main characters are a bunch of cheeky, cute and scampish miscreants.

"Oi Puppies!" by Kes Gray and Jim Field follows the hilarious rib-tickling rhyming format of previous "Oi!" books, this time with dog looking after a whole collection of tiny adorable little pups.

But they refuse to sit where they're supposed to. Where do puppies sit? On Guppies of course, but who wants a wet bum and a pair of fish lips pressing against your fur? Certainly not these little pooches.

Well behaved? Not for long, perhaps!

It looks like dog is going to need some help from cat and frog to get those puppies into line!

There are some fantastic name / rhyme pairings in this, enough to keep tinies giggling all the way through.

Can you think where Tickle, Blue, Scamp, Rebel, Smudge and Shep would sit?

Sum this book up a sentence: Yet another sure fire winner from Kes and Jim, ramping up the rhyming hilarity with the most adorable puppy cast (kittens had better be next though, just sayin'!)

"Oi Puppies!" by Kes Gray and Jim Field is out now, published by Hodder Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

We're cheating a little bit with Day 7 on our Advent Calendar - again although this isn't a Christmas book per se, the crisp snowy landscapes and gorgeously cuddly little story of a wilful wolf called Wilf will tickle and entertain you.

"The Way Home for Wolf" by Rachel Bright and Jim Field sees the talented duo tell the tale of young Wilf the Wolf.

Wilf might look cute and adorable but he's as strong and independent as a wolf cub can be. 

Wilful Wilf the Wolf. Try saying that with a mouthful of Christmas Pudding!

What a truly beautiful book. That there Jim fellah is very talented!

When a book series steams past 4 (or is it 5?) iterations without barely breaking sweat, you know it's doing something right...

Our second Picture Book of the Week once again establishes that Julian and Jim are a fantastic double-act who know how to write and draw an equally fantastic comedy pairing...

We've heard all about where frogs love to sit, and dogs too - but it's surely got to be the turn of our feline friends?

Squirrels! Such cuddly cute and usually placid creatures, until that is two squirrelly friends fall out over the last nut...

Rabbit and Bear - two friends who are like chalk and cheese! Join us for book two in this fantastically funny series!

Koalas! Could there be a cuter Antipodean animal? Kevin the Koala is the star of "The Koala who Could" by Rachel Bright and Jim Field...

Frog has just about had enough. It's time for a change, a huge massive change and Frog is starting right here, right now...!

We've had a few books recently tackling the subject of being small but brave - and it's a subject that really can stand up to being told and retold in a variety of different ways...

Hodder Children's Books are releasing some really gorgeous books early in 2016 and we've been lucky enough to take a look at two contrasting little corkers, ahead of the spring release schedules.

First up, emerging with a roar, a meow and a big ducky quack is "Quick Quack Quentin" arriving on February 11th, by the dream team of Kes Gray and Jim Field.

Quentin is a duck with a problem. He's lost his "A" - which doesn't sound too serious to you and I, but leaves Quentin only able to utter a sad forlorn "Quck"

Quentin soon meets other animals, who realise how lost they'd be without their vowels too...!

It's only a tiny little letter but it is so important!

It's a fun animal-filled romp through the English language as Quentin's quest emerges in the pages of this hugely funny and original book. Look out for "Quick Quack Quentin" by Kes Gray and Jim Field,  it's on shelves today!

You'll have to wait until March 1st for the next book - but it will be worth the wait...

"Little One" is the touching and beautifully inspirational story of a mother bear and her cub, as this gentle lullaby of a story takes us through the seasons, seen through the eye of these two lovely bears.

Jo's gentle storytelling through amazing illustrations makes this a hugely immersive and engaging little story for your busy tinies as they wind down at the end of the day and are tucked up warm like little bear cubs in bed.

"Little One" explores the relationship between mother and child, and is obviously a shoe-in for a brilliant booky gift ahead of Mother's Day.

Look out for "Little One" by Jo Weaver on March 1st 2016. Both books are published in Hardback by Hodder Children's Books.

When a book features an endorsement by none other than Neil Gaiman on its cover, you know you're in for a treat. Meet Rabbit and Bear in their first adventure, and a corking book of the week to boot!

"Stop Those Monsters!" by Steve Cole, illustrated by Jim Field (Simon and Schuster)

A monstrously good day to you. We're basking in the middle of a heatwave as we type (though by the time you read this, we'll probably be languishing in the middle of our rainy season!) Yes it's the August Chapter Book and Early Readers roundup so what's on our dance card for this month?

We start off with Monsters. Did your eyes pop out at our header image? Well it's time to meet Steve Cole's latest monster meisterwork "Stop Those Monsters!"

Billed as "The Wizard of Oz Meets Monsters Inc." (which is a movie mashup we'd DEARLY love to see, "Stop Those Monsters" relates the tale of Bob. No he's not a monster, he's a human boy, trapped in a strange land populated with slobbering toothy hairy nefarious beasts.

As you can imagine, Bob needs his wits about him just to survive an average day but Bob isn't content to just sit around moping - Bob wants to escape this crazy place and with the help of three monstrous companions, Verity (A weird monster who looks a bit like a gigantic hamster), Alfie (voted "World's least scary monster or supernatural being" three years running) and Zola (who, despite being one of the infamous Gorgons, can't actually turn anyone to stone!) Bob hatches a plan to break out of the crazy place before it drives him ga-ga!

Steve Cole's pacy writing, coupled with Jim Field's monster-tastic illustrations, make this utterly essential reading for rib-tickling monster fans. "Stop Those Monsters!" is out now from Simon and Schuster.

With an intriguing title, and some extremely cool penguins, let's move on to chillier climes...

"Meet at the Ark at Eight" by Ulrich Hub (with illustrations by Jorg Muhle) (Pushkin Children's Books)

"Meet at the Ark at Eight" by Ulrich Hub (with gorgeous illustrations from Jorg Muhle) is the tale of a rainy day, a posse of penguins and a rather neat twist on the well-loved biblical tale of Noah and the Ark. This time though, as the flood waters rise our penguin pals are on a strict deadline - Meet at the ark at eight or risk drowning! A wise dove issues the warning and our caper begins.

The three madcap penguins aren't the brightest sparks in the box, but along with a rather surly (and hilariously funny) dove, a beautiful butterfly and an all-seeing god, will the penguins arrive safe and sound (and be home and dry?) Ulrich Hub's allegorical and hugely funny tale is rib-tickling from start to finish (and adults will certainly spot a lot of wry humour in it that will sail right over their little ones' heads!)

"Meet at the Ark at Eight" is published by Pushkin Press, and will be available on the 24th September 2015.

Next up, what has our favourite Tardis-Beret-Wearing dapper gadabout hound been up to lately...?

Claude: Lights, Camera, Action by Alex T. Smith (Hodder Children's Books)

Claude and Sir Bobblysock are hitting the sunkissed boulevards of Hollywood (or rather, the local high street transformed into a makeshift film set) in their latest greatest adventure, a book that caused considerable whooping and cheering when it arrived on Charlotte's bedside table. "Claude: Lights, Camera, Action" follows our dapper adventurous pooch pal and his woolly but clever companion into the movies, completely by accident. With the aid of a troublesome washing line, a trampoline and a deft disguise or two, Claude and Sir Bobblysock stand in for two injured actors when a film production company shows up on the other side of Claude's garden fence. It's time for high adventure on the silver screen as Claude and Bobbles (as Charlotte likes to call him) make a bid for stardom!

As ever, with Alex T. Smith's razor-sharp comic timing and superb illustrations, we're in for a cheeky cinematic tour-de-force in Claude's biggest outing yet.

Keep a very close eye on Claude news in the future because he might become a REAL LIFE movie star, at least on the small screen as a Claude TV series has been optioned! We cannot wait (we're just sad that Kenneth Williams isn't alive to do Claude's voice!)

"Claude: Lights, Camera, Action" by Alex T. Smith is out now from Hodder Children's Books

How about something from a writing legend next who you may not have heard of, but truly owe it to yourself to get to know...?

"The Letter for the King" and "The Secrets of the Wild Wood" by Tonke Dragt. Sprawling and epic stuff! (Puskin Press)

Pushkin Press have re-released Tonke Dragt's million selling "The Letter for the King" and now the sequel, "The Secrets of the Wild Wood" has also been released clad in a fantastic new cover. For those unfamiliar with Tonke Dragt, she's the Dutch genius author of a huge and important body of work to easily rival Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in scope and scale. "The Letter for the King" introduces us to 16 year old Tiuri, tasked with delivering a vital message on a perilous quest across an unforbidding landscape. Tiuri's world is in turmoil, and though the contents of the letter and Tiuri's identity must remain secret, the entire future of the realm depends on the letter reaching the king's hands.

In "The Secrets of the Wild Wood" Tiuri's quest continues as he becomes a knight, sent out on a rescue mission to a dark place filled with magic and foreboding.

If your children can cope with epic, truly epic books on a grand scale (put it this way, if they could work their way through the last few Harry Potter books they'll have no problem with this mammoth pair of amazing tales) they're going to be completely lost to these. "The Letter from the King" is available now from Pushkin Press with "The Secrets of the Wild Wood" released in September.

Did someone say "Dorks?" How rude, and it's definitely rude to read other people's diaries...

"Dork Diaries: Drama Queen (Dork Diaries 9) by Rachel Renee Russell (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Fashionably late to the party as ever, darrrrrling, we're catching up with the zillion selling "Dork Diaries" books by Rachel Renee Russell. In "Dork Diaries: Drama Queen (Dork Diaries Book 9), our intrepid dork du jour Nikki updates her diary with unfortunate incidents involving beloved pet fish, and the joys (or terrors) of Spring as the diary catches up with the month of April. What else is in store for Nikki, Brandon, Zoey and Chloe? You'd better tune in to Dorksville and find out.

"Dork Diaries: Drama Queen" is out now, released by Simon and Schuster in the most gorgeous Leopard-print hardcover!

What's left in our gorgeous goodie-bag of chapter books and early readers this month?

"Circles of Stone (The Mirror Chronicles) by Ian Johnstone (HarperCollins Children's Books)

The follow up to the fantastic "The Bell Between Worlds", here's "Circles of Stone" by Ian Johnstone, picking up from where TBBW left off with Sylas and Naeo facing a dark army led by the nefarious Dark Lord Thoth. As they continue to explore the boundaries of the mirror world, both are being hunted by the dark lord's forces, intent on destroying the duo before their true powers can be realised. Ian's amazing fantasy world shows that Oxford really is THE city for amazing fantasy authors. Name any top selling fantasy series of the last couple of centuries and you'll soon be adding "The Mirror Chronicles" to the list along with greats by Pullman, Tolkein and Lewis. Fantastic stuff!

"Circles of Stone" is out now from HarperCollins Children's books.

Tune in for more chapter book gorgeousness next month!

(Many thanks to the various publishers who have provided chapter books for our roundups)

Once again a book has recalled the days when cereal choices were made not on nutritional content, amount of sugar and salt or whether you could feel good about your 5-a-day intake when scoffing a bowlful of something that looks like it's been scraped out of the back end of your hoover bag. No, when we were kids, brekkie was chosen purely because of the free gifts or ludicrously convoluted token-collecting offers on each pack. I remember a story of two kids who genuinely saved up enough bottle tops or tokens to get their own Harrier Jump Jet (a joke offer made by one company back in the 80s who never expected that kids would have the moxy to actually save up or scrape together a million items to send off for one! WRONG!) I wondered if it was the inspiration for this tale!

The two boys in Michelle and Jim's story, two mischievous brothers, come up with a plan to buy 100 packets of cornflakes. Why? Well, because if you collect 100 tokens from the packs, you can send off for your own, your very own LION!

Despite incurring the wrath of mum and dad (and being forced to eat the spoils of their ill-fated plan) the boys post off their coupons dutifully, and wait.

And wait....

And wait...

(Again I remember the hilarious days when "Allow 28 days for delivery" was an optimistic outside bet - sending off for things nearly always involved waiting for half a year for your goodies to turn up!)

Everyone else in the neighbourhood seems to have got their lions and parade them around the park. This is one of our favourite parts of the story as you see all the kids parading around with their new pet Lions, who are up to all sorts of japes and tricks. We really loved the skateboarding lions and of course Charlotte laughed her head off at one lion cocking his leg up a tree much to the disgust and horror of his little girl owner!

The boys are still waiting when a package finally arrives. But there's no lion inside, just a rather surly grizzly bear. WHO WOULD WANT THAT? A letter of complaint is sent, but instead of a grizzly bear the cornflake company send out a crocodile (who is a notorious bathroom hog).

This is no good either, and one more frenzied phone call results in the company sending a Gorilla - that promptly trashes dad's fabulous Ford Anglia (nice one, Jim! LOVE that car and even Charlotte recognised it, possibly because it's what Ron and Harry drove in the second Harry Potter movie!)

Frustrated and annoyed, the boys enlist some help from dad and soon they're off to the company to complain in person. Will they come home proud owners of a lion after all?

This story is a hoot from start to finish. It's almost like a delicately constructed farce that touches on the optimistic views of children who think owning a particular pet will always be idyllic, and it's also a fantastic dig at our consumerist society and the way certain companies (who shall remain nameless) play fast and loose when it comes to not quite delivering on their product promises.

Ultimately though, we think Michelle and Jim are a heck of a team. Michelle's comic props are laced with cheekiness and hilarity and at times absolute chaos (we love a good dose of chaos in children's books). Jim's art is perfect and I lost count of the amount of times his details and touches made us giggle like idiots (that pastiche of a certain well loved children's book right towards the end of the story did not go unnoticed Jim. Fan-flipping-tastic!)

We're very pleased we caught up with "There's a Lion in my Cornflakes" - it's a riotously funny and brilliant book!

Charlotte's best bit: So many bits made her genuinely laugh out loud but she loved the scene in the park as the kids are all showing off their lions

Daddy's Favourite bit: Cheeky humour, tight writing, gloriously funny illustrations and a story that is as satisfying as a huge bowl of cornflakes splashed with ice cold milk. Wonderfully hilarious stuff!






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

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"How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth" by Michelle Robinson and Kate Hindley (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Crazy animal antics and counting fun are the order of the day in this jazzy and hilarious book from a real dream team. "How Many Legs?" is a really fun counting journey from Kes Gray and Jim Field. It's easy enough to count the legs on a flamingo but what do you do when a polar bear crashes in for dinner? You may need more than your fingers and toes to count all the legs on that little lot.

A little boy begins his counting journey with animal friends, and your little ones can join in. Even though Charlotte proudly proclaimed that she can count to more than 100 (and we can definitely testify to this!) she adores any book where animals take centre stage in hilarious ways. There's a crazy party in store, and just in case you completely lose count you'll get lots of help along the way. What a great idea to make counting and adding fun!

"How Many Legs?" is out tomorrow from Hodder Children's Books so you haven't got long to wait until you can join in too!

Charlotte's best bit: Mr Buffalo's stylish gold tooth! Uber-cool!

Daddy's Favourite bit: What a delicious treat from Kes and Jim! Counting made fun, with the craziest animal cast you've ever seen! Brilliant!

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

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

Oi Frog! By Kes Gray and Jim Field

Farmer Clegg's Night Out by Peter Bently and Jim Field

Peals of cackling laughter. On measure, I'd say more funny books hit our "Book of the Week" slot - after all, laughter is the best medicine. We've been laughing long and loud at Kes Gray and Jim Field's new book "Oi, Frog!" - A book that starts off relatively quietly but builds into a frenzied cacophony of laughter and rhyming.

In "Oi, Frog" Cat has a bit of an issue. Frog is sitting in the WRONG PLACE and Cat wants to make sure that the balance of the universe is restored. Frogs, you see, sit on logs. Everyone knows that - just as they know that cats sit in mats.

Frog is puzzled, and soon wants to know what all the other animals in the world sit on. For instance, how on earth would a frog know that fleas sit on peas? Apes comfortably park their bums on grapes and hares get the comfy option of sitting in chairs.

This book is fab for introducing youngsters to the concept of rhyming, but Charlotte couldn't wait to throw some real curveballs my way.

"Alright Daddy, what does a Tiger sit on?" - Charlotte

I must admit, I was stumped (Jim Field helpfully suggested on Twitter a Large Hadron Collider but it wouldn't fit on a page spread!).

Similarly I got into trouble with meerkats. Beermats was the best I could come up with but Jim Field managed admirably!

A Meerkat on a Beermat (image - © Jim Field)

...and caterpillars (aw come on!)

For days, Charlotte has dug this book out and rhymed her socks off (Zebras most definitely sit on Debra. Poor Debra!). Great writing that's had us twisting tongues to come up with even more animals sitting on things - and it was rather nice to see the press release could handily be turned into a jumping frog, thanks to an attached diagram showing us how to make an origami one.

I can guarantee you that I'll pick Charlotte up from school today and she'll have a dozen more animal rhymes she's come up with (I just hope it's not distracting her from school work too much!). Fab and funny, a well deserved book of the week. Watch the hilarious book trailer below!




Charlotte's best bit: So what do dogs sit on? Hilarious!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fab way to introduce your youngsters to rhyming, but they will drive you quite, quite mad by coming up with new animals who need a place to sit!

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

We are in severe danger of becoming Peter Bently's unofficial fan club here at ReadItDaddy. We love his books and in particular, one of the weirdest and most bizarre children's books ever written - "The Great Dog Bottom Swap" which you should go and hunt down NOW!

In "Farmer Clegg's Night Out" Peter Bently and Jim Field take a wry look at what might happen if The X-Factor got spliced together with Animal Farm.

One night while Farmer Clegg is safely tucked up in bed after a hard day's work, the farm animals get together for a huge talent show, under the ever-watchful eye of a rather surly judge called 'Simon' (now where have I heard that before?). Everyone gives it their all. The pig mariachi band dazzle, the moonwalking breakdancing horse pulls some fancy moves but the star of the show is a huge surprise. Who crashes in on the contest and steals the limelight? None other than Farmer Clegg himself!

This is one of the funniest children's books we've read in ages. Even if you're a cynical old telly dodger like me, you can't fail to miss the references to TV talent shows in here and the rather wry and hilarious way Bently spins this into an animal caper full of chaos and giggles. Once again Charlotte had a great time picking out animal characters she'd like to be, and once again Bently's storytelling underpinned by Jim Field's absolutely brilliant comical panels make this a complete winner.

You're through to the final, kiddo! Book of the Week!

Charlotte's best bit: I'm slightly worried that she knew exactly who the singing sheep twins were supposed to be. We are now scouring the house to ensure there are no traces of Jedward fan material anywhere!

Daddy's favourite bit: Such a neat idea, I'm really surprised no one's done this before but it's been done expertly with a truckload of humour and charm. Brilliant!