What better way to spend a boring summer holiday than sticking stickers all over the place. Not just any stickers though, sticky stick stickers!

You can almost hear the loud braying of Petronella nursing her free cup of Waitrose coffee, waving a chocolate croissant lazily through the air stating "Yarrrrsss, Little Crispin is reading his first book about Quantum Mechanics"...

A new Ladybird range based on the hit "Hey Duggee" TV show has been launched, and we've been taking a look at "Cheer up, Pup!"

Duggee's tiny wee nephew Duggly has come for a visit. Duggly is a typical toddler, a bundle of raw energy who doesn't quite understand how to fit in with the Squirrel Club.

Duggly is very cute and funny but he doesn't always know how to enjoy quiet moments, he's not very careful when he plays with other people's toys, and he makes the most incredible smells. EESH! Can Duggee's friends help Duggly fit in and have fun, perhaps even earning themselves their Puppy Badges in the process?

Bold, colourful and full of the sort of humour and hilarity that tiny toddlers will love. Check out the rest of the Hey Duggee range on the Ladybird Website.

Charlotte's favourite bit: Time for a nappy change Duggly. Peeee-ewwww!

Daddy's favourite bit: Funny and full of bright colourful characters and bold illustrations. It's a cracking little book for tiddlers, check out Duggly's full range of stories to compliment the TV show.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

"Hey Duggee - Cheer Up Pup!"

Published by Ladybird Books

Publication Date: 4th February 2016

Nestled in just before the boring news came on, "The Clangers" was required viewing when I was a teeny tiny. Now they're back, all new and shiny but still retaining their timeless charm.

Christmas wouldn't be christmas without "The Snowman" and now it's definitely not christmas unless his canine sidekick makes an appearance too! "The Snowman and the Snowdog" was utterly delightful and your tiniest littlest ones will absolutely love this sturdy board book and finger puppet version of the story.

It's a book that's a little too young for Charlotte but one she absolutely loved showing to her tinier cousins, reading and acting out the story as Snowdog gambols in the snow and flies through the air with ease - along with his friends.

The book is really nicely produced, even though Snowdog looks a little giraffe-necked at times (a little bit too much enthusiastic waggling from Charlotte!)

Thoroughly festive!

Charlotte's best bit: Snowdog's soft little socky ears!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A lovely little version of the christmas classic perfect for acting out The Snowdog's adventures!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Puffin Books)

I may be in the minority here, but I always loved getting at least one annual for Christmas. Big thick and weighty hardback versions of my favourite comics all wrapped up and ready to be chipped away at when christmas toys had run out of batteries, and the Queen's Speech was on telly.

Charlotte loves annuals too and we were absolutely over the moon to be able to take a look at the new Official Lego Annual for 2015. This is the rather 'boy-centric' annual rather than the official Lego Friends annual, but nonetheless it was very well received by a little girl who is still head over heels in love with The Lego Movie - and often goes straight for our huge box of generic lego over the more 'girly' stuff.

As you'd expect from Ladybird Books it's jam-packed with content, and if your child already receives the Lego Club Magazine (which is free to sign up for, by the way), this is a really cool annual bringing together the same sort of content. Build ideas, great comic strips, fun puzzles and activities and a whole bunch of Lego Movie goodness to keep you building well into 2015 and beyond. Once you're done with the book you can even dig out the little lego strips provided on the front cover and see how many different things you can make from those!

Charlotte's best bit: She has her eye on the new Polar Explorer Lego (we'll have to see what Santa brings!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: An awesome annual for budding builders!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

Ladybird's brilliant "Skullabones Island" range of books is expanding and we've been taking a look at a couple of books from the range of piratical activity books, story books and early learning ideas from the Skullabones range.

Kids (both boys and girls) love pirate books and they'll love the light-hearted adventures of the Skullabones Pirates. Led by Captain Cutlass, the crew get up to all sorts of mischief in their search for treasure.

"Pirate Post" is a story book with a twist. Within the pages are envelopes tucked away in the story text, so curious kids can dig out the letters and pictures and find additional clues and story elements within. We absolutely loved the fact that some of the letters are tucked away in a "message in a bottle". Charlotte took great care with the book but it's worth noting that a bit of parental intervention will often be required if you want to keep the book in good condition (sometimes the letters are a bit difficult to tuck back into their containers). Loved this book though, such a great idea!

In "How to Be a Skullabones Pirate" you'll find a ton of stickers, puzzles and activities to keep your little ones busy for hours. Test your pirate mettle in a number of ways, while enjoying the crazy antics of the skullabones crew!

We never get tired of pirate books, and the range from Ladybird is fantastic fun!

Charlotte's best bit: Finding the messages tucked away in a bottle in "Skullabones Island - Pirate Post" and loving hours of sticker fun with "How to be a Skullabones Pirate"

Daddy's Favourite bit: Bold colourful books, brilliant characters and the "Pirate Post" idea is a work of genius! Love it!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

Did you know that Topsy and Tim, beloved booky brother and sister have made the leap from books to the small screen? They have indeed and we were slightly surprised by the news - we don't watch TV Y'see, so we tend to miss these things.

Topsy and Tim are stars of a new range of Ladybird Activity Books to compliment the series. See what the siblings get up to in "Topsy and Tim: Let's Get Busy!", a fun activity book with lots of opportunity for colouring, stickers, word searches and dot to dot puzzles.

Full of colour illustrations and photos, even mum and dad get in on the act along with Topsy and Tim's awesome dog Mossy (who usually manages to get into more mischief than the twins themselves).

Join in the fun with the book range, available from Ladybird Books.

Charlotte's best bit: A rather tricky word search, and lots of colourful stickers to play with.

Daddy's Favourite bit: A neat little book filled with cool stuff to do. Perfect for the rotten weather we've been having lately!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

They're probably amongst the most enduring characters in children's books, so what is it that draws children to pirates? Is it because they basically get away with being extremely naughty all day every day? Quite possibly so!

Meet the Skullabones Island pirates, a hearty gang of scoundrels with hearts of gold, who love nothing better than sailing the seven seas in search of treasure. In this sticker and activity book you will learn the way of the pirate, the Skullabones Pirate at that - and engage in lots of brilliant puzzles and activities, with ace colouring and sticker scenes to introduce you to Captain Cutlass and his motley crew.

Lots of fun for girls and boys who love all things piratical.

Charlotte's best bit: Observation puzzles with the awesome girl pirate!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun and engaging activities, and a ton of stickers to keep little ones amused for hours.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

Here's a nice and timely release of a book that's bound to appeal to a certain new royal prince (do you think he'd be allowed to watch Peppa Pig? After all, his great grandma starred in her own episode!)

"The Story of Prince George" starts with our favourite time of the day - Bedtime storytime, and Daddy Pig is doing his usual thing of "not calming the children down at all before bedtime" so Mummy Pig steps in.

She tells the tale of a gallant piggy prince who on valiant steed rides to rescue the elegant Princess Peppa. A fearsome Dragon (Dine-saw!) is menacing the royal palace! Can Prince George take on the fearsome foe? Or will he prefer to befriend it!

We love the subtle humour in Peppa Pig stories - and there's a lovely moment at the end of this tale that we're all too familiar with (after all, bedtime stories that you read to your little ones before they go to sleep DO sometimes work on the wrong person, it's true!)

A great little book, not your usual royal tie-in but you never know, Prince George might like this (and dine-saws) too!

Charlotte's best bit: George's Dine-saw taking on a whole new dimension as a huge scary dragon! Grarrr!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Neat tie-in that retains all the Peppa Pig charm. Nice one Ladybird!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Ladybird Books)

The Magic Porridge Pot (Level 1 Read It Yourself Range)

While children are away from school for the long summer holidays, it's difficult to keep up the impetus with their own reading. We traditionally struggle with Charlotte's reading during holidays (though she's always ready to be read to, she's not always ready to improve her reading skills herself) so finding a book range that satisfies two separate criteria - 1) being fun to read and 2) supporting traditional reading skills taught in schools - isn't always easy.

We've recently been looking at the fabulous "Read it Yourself" range from a publisher who have traditionally been synonymous with improving children's early reading skills. Ladybird books were books I absolutely loved as a child, and the range is as strong as ever.

Now with a mix of traditional stories (like "The Magic Porridge Pot" - one of our favourite stories reworked wonderfully here by Ladybird for their red-spined "Level 1" range) and licensed character stories (like Peppa Pig, Moshi Monsters and CBeebies' fantastic Tinga Tinga Tales) in a very strong range, there's something for just about everyone.

The range is split into four levels as described below:

Level 1

Level 1 books are for children who are just taking their first steps in reading to themselves, but want engaging and entertaining stories.

Level 2

Level 2 is the level Charlotte is at, beginning to read short simple sentences to themselves. Slightly longer stories to satisfy the curiosity of early readers who are gaining in confidence.

Level 3

Designed for children who have slightly more confidence and can handle fairly complex stories on their own or perhaps with a little help, Level 3 is a fantastic range pulling together some of the most well loved children's characters in books, on TV and in movies.

Level 4

For more fluent readers, Level 4 starts to introduce concepts of chapters and more complexity.

Find out more about the Read It Yourself levels.

Ladybird kindly sent us a book from each of the levels so that we could take a look at the range and they're fantastic. It's probably very important to point out that the major appeal of the range is that they do not feel like "school" books to a child, despite having the structure and in some cases the comprehension exercises that many school early reader books have.

In Level 1, we looked at The Magic Porridge Pot which is a story that uses repetition to good effect, and for those who know the story well, a story that sticks in the mind, introduces tension and mild peril, and introduces concepts of cause and effect. The Ladybird version is ace, as we said above.

For Level 2 we looked at Tinga Tinga Tales - Why Lion Roars...

The Tinga Tinga stories are fabulous modern fables, presented here with the original artwork style and characters from the well-loved CBeebies TV show. Charlotte loved this book best - both because of the entertaining story (who doesn't love a naughty crocodile, who rather steals the show here) and because it was a book at her level which she could disappear into on her own (parents - don't you love moments like that, when you find your child wrapped up in a book reading it on their own? We most certainly do!)

For Level 3 we looked at Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs


A hugely popular character and stories, and at level 3 you can enjoy the original story that kicked off the whole Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs phenomenon. Again, using characters and stories that children are already familiar with in the Read It Yourself range boosts confidence and really engages children in the notion that reading isn't just about learning, reading is also for pleasure.

For Level 4 we looked at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


Fabulously illustrated, and although it's a familiar story and one we've seen various versions of, it's a lengthy book that might seem quite daunting for an early reader but does give them the comfort of again building confidence through familiarity with the subject.

The range is very neatly presented and for parents the uncomplicated four level system cuts through a lot of puzzling over which key stage book to get in order to match the ability of your child.

As we mentioned at the top of the review, books like these that aid education and keep a child's reading 'brain' ticking over during the long school holidays are really fantastic, and we're thoroughly impressed with the choice of titles, and of course Ladybird's keen eye for brilliant illustrators and authors to use in the range.

For full details of each level and all the books, check out Ladybird's Read It Yourself Website

This traditional tale has been reworked for the Ladybird First Favourite Tales series, with child-like illustrations and easy to follow text. 

Most adults will be familiar with the story of the three billy goats, the troll and the bridge. A time-worn tale indeed, but one that still tickles and entertains youngsters (particularly if, like me, you can't help but read these books while doing daft voices for all the characters). 


Irene Yates has done a nice job of making the book approachable for early readers, but also entertaining for children being read to. 


Charlotte's best bit - The troll (why do kids always love the monsters best!)

Daddy's favourite bit - The troll's well deserved demise.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The recent Royal Wedding captured my daughter's imagination (and Mrs Peej and Charlotte dutifully watched quite a lot of the coverage on TV while grumpy daddy hid away upstairs) so it was a bit disappointing to find out that Ladybird Books would not be publishing an official Royal Wedding book for Will and Kate's big day. Oddly though, Ladybird produces a book on the engagement and run up to the event and a rather odd looking dolly dress up book, but doesn't seem to have anything planned for the day itself. 


My wife, and quite a few others of her generation grew up as avid royal watchers and also avid collectors of those cool pocket-sized Ladybird books that commemorated royal occasions and events with photographs and descriptions laid out and produced in a child-friendly way. Ladybird books set the standard for other publishers to follow and to be fair, those old books may seem a little antiquated and old fashioned compared to modern books and publishing standards. Nevertheless it seems like a massive missed opportunity for the publisher to produce another collectable that my daughter could pass on to her children in the same way we've shared our Ladybird books with her. 


As a side note, Ladybird states that it wants to carry on the tradition of producing affordable full colour pocket-sized books for children (and amazingly it was quite cool to find that they do still print and reprint classics like the Peter and Jane books!). So c'mon Ladybird, let's see you do Will and Kate Proud!

Despite the absolute terror Charlotte expressed the last time we visited my lovely dentist, she maintains a healthy obsession with all things dental and medical. Topsy and Tim go the the Dentist is one of a series of 'life lesson' books by Jean and Gareth Adamson, with illustrations by Belinda Worseley. 

Published by Ladybird Books, Topsy and Tim books feature likeable characters, bold and clear illustrations and easy to follow text so they're great for young readers as well as great books to read to fidgety toddlers. 

In the book, Topsy and Tim both learn the importance of proper tooth brushing, the mysterious qualities of the infamous 'pink drink' and how a tiny little hole in your tooth can turn into a nasty great big hole in no time at all. 

It's all fairly gentle stuff and is purposely designed to put children at ease. The book has a neat little puzzle at the end, and a great map of Topsy and Tim's home town. Likeable stuff and it's probably worth tracking down the other books in the series, covering common themes such as new baby brothers (or sisters), swimming lessons and first days at school.

Charlottes best bit: Topsy and Tim's friend who ate too many sweets. 

Daddy's favourite bit: The excellent map at the end of the book. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Peppa Pig seems to have been around in one form or another for absolutely ages (and in fact this book was first published in 2003). We're relative latecomers to the Peppa Pig phenomenon. Charlotte loves the TV series because it's completely insane, surreal and...well...piggy. I love it because it features a lot of alumni from the "Absolutely" team, a bunch of talented comedians featuring the likes of Morwenna Banks, John Sparkes and Pete Baikie. 

The Story of Peppa Pig contains all the essential ingredients kids would require from a Peppa Pig book. Instructions on how to jump in muddy puddles, George's complete love of Dine-Saws (Grr), Daddy Pig's ineptitude at everything, and Mummy Pig's wisdom as well as Peppa's muddy puddle obsession. 


Certainly better than most books licensed from TV series and an absolute must if your child is a fan of "The Hair Dryers" as one of my friends calls Peppa and her family. 


Charlotte's best bit: Peppa's Muddy Puddle jumping instructions


Daddy's favourite bit: George crying at the loss of his beloved Dine-Saw


Rating: 4 out of 5