Marcia Williams' books are the perfect introduction to historical stories that children might find daunting and a tough read in other forms. She draws brilliant little characters and lays her books out almost in a comic-strip style to help youngsters absorb the subject matter eagerly.

We have previously talked about how difficult it can be to introduce children to the complexities of Arthurian legend. Usborne's fantastic "Sticker Dressing King Arthur" took the approach of laying out fairly simplified versions of the scenes, with stickers to help children engage with the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Here in Marcia's book, it's the humour that carries the tales along rather nicely. So many details are crammed in amongst the main text and images, and it's quite a hoot to read all the little speech bubbles as various characters chip in with their ten penneth.

Starting from the origins, with Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and eventually being recognised as the One True King of Ancient Britain, children are utterly thrilled as the legend weaves tempestuous tales of rivalry, chivalry and derring-do.

If you mention "Knight" to most children, they'll talk about Mike the Knight or Sir Charlie Stinky Socks (we love SCSS btw!) Here though is something that will give them a really good jumping-off point to a real-life legend, and encourage them to delve into the myths to divide fact from fiction in a rather absorbing way. We look forward to seeing more of Marcia's brilliant work.

Charlotte's best bit: As with the Usborne sticker book, she loves the idea of The Lady of the Lake and Excalibur, but also wanted to know more about Morgan Le Fay and why she was such a nasty piece of work!

Daddy's Favourite bit: We nabbed this one from the library as soon as we saw it, and it's been a fantastic introduction to arthurian legend. We really want to read more of Marcia's fun history range so we'll be scanning the library for more!

Oh yes, this is something really special! History Girl (Charlotte) grabbed this book from the local library stacks and couldn't wait to dive in. When I was a kid I was always obsessed with how things worked, and more importantly, who were the geniuses behind some of the gizmos we take for granted.

Marcia Williams' book collects together some of the greatest inventors in history, and also pays homage to the lesser known folk who independently contributed to inventions and gadgets that have become part of our everyday world.

Starting off with one of our favourite genius artists and designers, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marcia's exhaustive research, brilliant illustrations and hilarious margin characters guide you through everything from steam power to light bulbs and of course (very important this for booky folk) the printing press.

Charlotte was completely wrapped in this book, particularly a huge section on women inventors and the amazing things they've invented (like all genius ideas, some of them are so simple but so very clever that reading about their origins is both fascinating and fun).

Though this was published in 2006, it's still fairly relevant and up to date so worth seeking out (It's still in print and is a bit of a bargain!) If your own children are history nuts like Charlotte, or if they're just curious to find out how things work and how they came to be, this is an absolutely brilliant and essential read.

Charlotte's best bit: She loved all the little margin 'dragons' and found it funny that people were initially quite scared of television when it was first demonstrated in public.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Detailed, fun, exhaustively researched, lovingly presented, written and illustrated by someone who obviously has a great passion for inventions and gadgets. A really fantastic book in every way!