Here's a fantastic little range of Early Readers from Kingfisher Books, taking a slightly different tack to most KS1 and KS2 books. Developed in conjunction with literacy experts, the books cover a broad range of topics.

We looked at three: Baby Animals by Thea Feldman, Where We Live and The Fastest by Brenda Stones - each with fantastic photographic illustrations to underpin interesting layouts and text flows to engage children who don't get on that well with the standard Early Readers formats.

With Charlotte at an age where she's hungrily consuming early readers at a rate of knots (and when she can't read those, she'll sit there reading words off the sides of tissue boxes - seriously!) these are a great addition to a home library. They may feel a bit too 'schooly' for some children, but they're very enjoyable and the diverse range of subjects should ensure a good spread in the range to engage both girls and boys.

Check out the rest of the range on the Kingfisher Books website:

http://www.kingfisherreaders.com/uk/index.html


Charlotte's favourite bit: An engaging and extremely attractive range of early readers that really appealed to her current mood of 'finding things out' and fact-gathering.

Daddy's favourite bit: A really nice 'break' from the usual early readers we get sent home from school, the non-fiction approach is brilliant and seems to work better in some ways than some of the usual disjointed storytelling approaches in early reader ranges.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Pan Macmillan / Kingfisher Books)

Most children go through a phase of being 'afraid of the dark' and in Ella Burfoot's book "Darkness Slipped In" the darkness is reimagined as a playmate, a spiky-headed shadowy figure that isn't to be feared. Daisy, the young girl in the book, isn't the least bit afraid of the darkness as he envelops her room. They have a merry dance, and play, until Daisy starts to get sleepy.

The book treads a mighty fine line between allaying a child's fears of what night-time holds and giving them too much to think about once they settle down into their bed and the unfamiliar domain of darkness turns their snug surroundings into a shadowy realm.

I'd certainly baulk at reading this to Charlotte anywhere near bed-time (perfect for bright sunny days like we've had over the weekend though). It's beautifully illustrated, the characters are engaging (though Darkness still looks a little too sinister and mysterious at times, and his all-enveloping arms taking away Daisy's teddy were a bit much for Charlotte). It's a good attempt to produce something that shows there's nothing to be scared of once the lights go out, but children's minds don't quite work that way, and merely showing that Darkness is a happy little chap who likes a bit of a dance won't actually go as far as mollifying a child's dreamed-up demons if they have trouble sleeping at night.

Charlotte's best bit: Daisy's lovely dress and cute teddy

Daddy's favourite bit: The depiction of the darkness - worked for me but possibly still too scary for kids.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars