Izzy could almost be Charlotte! The pint-sized central character of this hugely entertaining and utterly gorgeous to look at Book of the Week can't sit still for more than five minutes, just like Charlotte. She fidgets, fiddles, wriggles and squirms. She's always tapping her feet, dancing around, and we often describe her as having ants in her pants.

So what happens when fizzy busy Izzy goes to the Zoo with her exasperated teacher (who we LOVE btw, purely for her hilarious hang-dog expressions in this) and her classmates? Mayhem ensues because Izzy just cannot resist interacting with the animals in her own unique way. Tapping on tortoises? Egad! Mocking monkeys? Gadzooks!

Charlotte was very quick to point out that children wouldn't *really* do dangerous things like that in a zoo but I gently pointed out that what happens in bookworlds is always a little bit magical and special so we're willing to let Izzy get away with most of her behaviour. But there's just one thing you should never, ever, EVER do! Never tickle a tiger!

Pamela and Marc are such a dream team. Pamela has a gorgeous gift for making us cackle our heads off at her character's crazy antics (we loved her Stinkysaurus books and Santa Claws was a huge favourite at the end of last year too!) Marc Boutavant's illustrations tap into that glorious golden age of American children's literary styles where bright colours and retro-style characters add tons and tons of fun to Pam's brill story. Izzy leaps, fidgets and wiggles across every frame (and Charlotte loved her little Hedgehog 'shadow' who seems to pop up in all sorts of places throughout the story.

The moral of the tale might be lost on most kids (in fact the result of Izzy's actions makes for one of the best panels in the book, we won't spoil the surprise but you're going to love the big reveal!)

We've probably said it so many times already but 2015 really is shaping up to be every bit as good, if not better, for children's books than 2014 was! Glorious stuff, do not miss it!

"Never Tickle a Tiger" arrives on Feb 12th from Bloomsbury Publishing.

Charlotte's best bit: Chaos ensues as the impact of Izzy's mischievous actions unfolds (quite literally) in front of your child's eyes. Calamitous, crazy and so hilarious!

Daddy's Favourite bit: One of those delicious books that pleases on all fronts. A hoot to read aloud, a great entertaining story, utterly glorious illustrations and one you'll want to leap right back to the start of and read all over again when you're done. Brilliant!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)

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Yikes! Stinkysaurus! by Pamela Butchart and Sam Lloyd

The Day No-One was Angry by Toon Tellegen and Marc Boutavant

Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr

Only recently was there a random discussion at home about "the death of the children's anthology". It feels like anthologies have fallen out of favour in recent years and I can't really understand why. When I was a kid, the lure of an anthology was being able to chip away at a story collection gradually, polishing off a complete section before bedtime, a whole potted story of a few pages long that was instantly gratifying in a way that longer stories aren't always capable of.

So it's rather lovely to find a new anthology for children from Gecko Press called "The Day No One Was Angry". Written by Toon Tellegen and illustrated by Marc Boutavant, it's a wholly original set of animal stories that is funny in places, sometimes almost dark and morose in others, but with an arcing core message that makes each little story segment all the more satisfying to read. The grumpy animals in each tale each have their own little overlapping stories to relate, with moral messages about keeping your temper, sharing more, being a nicer person. Definitely lots of valuable lessons to learn in each case.

The huge draw of this book for Charlotte was that it successfully bridged that gap between early chapter readers and picture books. It's beautifully illustrated so lots of eye candy for Charlotte to ooh and ahh at, and each story is fairly short but sweet so her concentration levels didn't lapse and she could feel that same sense of achievement in finishing each tale before sleep that I used to when I read children's collected anthologies back when I was a grubby whippersnapper.

I definitely welcome the return of the children's anthology. More like this booky people, please!

Charlotte's best bit: The perfect book for before-bed reading, each animal tale can be satisfyingly polished off by an early reader - and they're also brilliant for parents to read to their children - not too long, not too short

Daddy's Favourite bit: There's a huge gap in the market for children's anthologies like this. There are one or two around, but this is definitely one of the best we've seen in a long while.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Gecko Press)