We're adoring Maverick's picture book range and they've got a couple of corkers that we've been lucky enough to have been sent for a sneaky peek at.

Amanda Brandon and Catalina Echeverri are back for more woolly antics following on from "A Scarf and a Half" and "A Box of Socks".

Granny Mutton is once again in a knitting frenzy in "A Knit and a Knot" - this time the lovely woolly old dear is spinning us a real yarn, trying to teach her grandson how to knit (I could never pick up the threads of how to from my own lovely Nan but I still wish I'd learned!)

Granny's favourite ball of wool has gone missing, so it's up to Lionel and his friend Rocky to track down the missing ball before Granny runs out!

As with the previous books, Amanda and Catalina have knitted up a gorgeous ticklish little story for your little ones. Granny Mutton is ace!

"A Knit and a Knot" is out now, published by Maverick Publishing. 

And if you're not in the mood for knitting, but are all of a frenzy about "The Great British Bake Off" you'll definitely love "As Nice as Pie" by Gary Sheppard and Tim Budgen.

Gary and Tim have the scrumptious recipe for picture book perfection. Meet Mavis, baker extraordinaire and bird lover. She loves to make the tastiest treats but one day when she feeds a bird a few crumbs, little does she suspect that the naughty birds will take advantage of her generosity.

Mavis must bake up a frenzy just to keep up!

A hilarious and fun tale that's perfect for pastry addicts.

"As Nice as Pie" is out in November, published by Maverick Publishing. 

(Both titles kindly supplied for review)

Another quirky and original story from Maverick Books, dip into the briny deep with Billy Coughlan and Villie Karabatzia's "Not Without My Whale"...

Have you ever considered the gently sloping curve of a custard cream? The wingspan of a bourbon? The jet power of a double-chocolate cookie? Then this book might tickle your fancy...

Here's a rather splendid tale about an adorable little elephant who has a bit of a 'volume' problem. "As Quiet as a Mouse" by Karen Owen and Evgenia Golubeva...

Come and take a new look at this delightful monster tale, now reprinted by Maverick Publishing. Step out and join a ghoulish party with Tamara Small...

Can you describe hedgehogs as cuddly? Horace and Hattie the "Hedgehugs" are definitely our two fave spiny little creatures and they're back for a second outing in "Horace and Hattiepillar".

This time, Horace and Hattie find a curious little creature inching its way across the ground. The little caterpillar seems to love leaves so Horace and Hattie feed their new friend, and watch with delight as he gets bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER!

The caterpillar soon gets so big he can barely move, so attaches himself to a leaf to begin the next part of his lifecycle, much to the fascination of H & H who rather love the idea of doing this themselves.

Soon the caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly! Can hedgehugs fly? They can try!

A delightful and whimsical tale from Lucy and Steve, following the life cycle of a caterpillar through to a butterfly.

Charlotte's best bit: Horace and Hattie 'cocooning' themselves!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A lovely little nature lesson for tiny tiddlers with two delightful little characters to guide us through the story

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Rachel Lyon's second book for Maverick (the first being the rather excellent "The Cautionary Tale of the Childe of Hale") takes an entirely different tack and deals with a rather tricky problem.

Ponginess. Well it's not an easy subject to broach with someone is it, if they're a bit whiffy.

In "I Wish I'd Been Born a Unicorn" a horse has more than a slight odour problem. In fact he downright pongs to high heaven but is happy with life, rolling in mud and gadding about with scarcely a thought of baths or showers. It does get a bit lonely when you're a bit smelly though, and the poor horse truly believes that life might've been completely different if only they'd been born a unicorn.

Unicorns are popular, unicorns are well loved, everyone wants to prance and play with unicorns?

Seeing the poor horse's dour mood, his friends decide to help. Armed with the means and the method to make a radical change, overnight they transform the whiffy pony into something quite magical.

The whiffy steed becomes amazingly popular, but with dark clouds looming on the horizon and rain threatening to undo his disguise, will life as a unicorn be a fleeting thing?

We loved this, it's such an original idea and beautifully flows as we read aloud together. Teaching valuable lessons that someone's inner worth isn't dictated by personal appearance (or ponginess), it's a great little story!

Charlotte's best bit: The magical reveal as pongy tatty horse is transformed into shimmering white unicorn (with a little help from his friends)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Superbly written and illustrated, wonderfully original and entertaining!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Do you have a knitting nan or gran? Nan Webb was always the biggest knit(ter) in our family, she could hand-knit and crochet such amazing things in fact if anyone had asked her she could probably have knitted a Nuclear Submarine Cosy, she was that good!

Granny Mutton loves knitting so when Lionel Mutton (her grandson) is about to have a birthday, Granny gets busy and decides to knit young Lionel a scarf to keep his neck warm.

Granny can't reign in her enthusiasm, with needles almost on fire with the effort she knits the scarf to end all scarves - in fact it's a scarf and a half!

Lionel's birthday arrives, and he quickly rips open his present, thinking it's a new football - and is somewhat deflated when he discovers the world's longest scarf inside. It's huge, wraps around him so many times that he trips and stumbles, and falls face-flat in the mud. But can a scarf become the most awesome birthday present in the world after all, with a little imagination (and a good stretch?)

"A Scarf and a Half" is awesome, a rousing cheer for our wonderful grandparents (or for that matter dotty old aunties or mums who knit too!) and an awesome demonstration that a child's imagination through play can help any ordinary everyday object become something magical! A book and a half, this!

Charlotte's best bit: Lionel's scarf tug-o-war!

Daddy's Favourite bit: What a wonderful granny Granny Mutton is!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Sharing a house with not one but TWO fussy eaters can challenge anyone's culinary skills. I seem to constantly fight a running battle with Charlotte and her mum to put some jazz and sparkle into our home cooking, but nine times out of ten I find they'd both live on pizza and pasta all day every day if I let them (very frustrating when I can whip up a mean pilaf, or put together gorgeous salads full of colour and flavour).

Young Alfie encounters a similar problem when a big hairy Yak comes to stay at his house. Yak is starving, and so Alfie goes to work in the kitchen cooking up tempting treats to feed to his new friend.

But Yak says "YUCK!" He says "YUCK!" to dinner, he even says "YUCK!" to ice cream and jelly (something that made Charlotte literally gasp in shock, surely EVERYONE loves ice cream and jelly?)

Yak has something else in mind though...so what would YOU feed to a hungry Yak (and more to the point, would you eat it yourself?)

An awesome and fun tale, and we particularly loved the texture of Emma Levey's illustrations (you can almost stroke the Yak's gorgeously thick and luxurious fur as Emma's thick oil paints lend the picture spreads an added dimension).

If you've got fussy eaters at home, you'll definitely identify with this!

Charlotte's best bit: Yak wouldn't even eat chocolate cake, tshhh!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A fun read, very entertaining if you too have to put up with dietary demands from fusspots!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Bubble blowing is always a huge amount of fun. We blow bubbles on sunny days, watching those rainbow coloured bubbles float up into the ether. We also love blowing bubbles in the bath because they bubbles stay around a bit longer in the steam, floating on the surface of the water.

Bobby loves bubbles, but as he blows them and watches them float silently away on the wind, he doesn't realise that 667 million miles away, a tiny alien called Bibble loves Bobby's bubbles too, as they float around his home planet bouncing, floating and popping.

But one day the bubbles stop. Bibble is at a complete loss, and there's only one thing to do. Constructing a spaceship entirely from bubbles, Bibble sets off on the long treacherous 667 million mile journey to earth to find out what's happened.

This is really lovely storytelling, putting a rather neat bubbletastic twist on a tale of an unlikely friendship. Bobby and Bibble become firm friends, and it's quite sad when Bibble gets homesick and has to fly back to his home planet at the end of the tale - but leaving one last surprise behind (we'll let you discover what that is!)

Reminiscent of the heartwarming stories by Oliver Jeffers, with a really wonderful bubbly atmosphere to the story and glowingly gorgeous illustrations, this is a real treat for the eyes and a real treat for the ears when read aloud (and it's quite a tongue-twister in places too!)

Charlotte's best bit: Bibble's amazing spaceship made entirely from bubbles

Daddy's Favourite bit: A really wonderful and touching story of an unlikely friendship that bubbles along beautifully. Love it!

(Kindly sent to us by Maverick Books)

Holey socks, missing socks, these are surprisingly uncommon events at ReadItDaddy Towers (mainly because my lovely other half, The Strolling Mum, bins any old or odd socks as soon as they're spotted) but if you've recently mislaid a cosy item of footwear, there could be a very good reason.

"Hedgehugs" by Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper is an ultra-cute new book published by Maverick that tells the story of two ordinary hedgehogs, Hattie and Horace, who have a pretty big problem. They're very cuddly but they just cannot hug (if you've ever tried to pick up a hedgehog, let alone hug one, you'll understand why!)

Hattie and Horace are resourceful little hedgehogs though, so they try various things to try and take the edge off their spikiness. Rolling in mud. Rolling in leaves, nothing seems to take the sting out of hug time until one day Horace happens across a washing pile - and a big warm woolly sock!

Hooray! Sock-wearing hedgehogs are infinitely more cuddly than spiky ones, so Horace and Hattie finally share a warm snuggly hug (as did we while reading this very cuddly book!)

"Hedgehugs" by Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper - out now from Maverick Books

Charlotte's best bit: An all-out hedgehog raid on the washing basket!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Filled us with lots of warm cuddly feelings (and hedgehogs are our one of our fave animals!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

We're huge fans of Elli Woollard's peerless poetry. Just go and take a look at her brilliant "Taking Words for a Stroll" website and her fabulous article for us on rhyming children's books and you'll see just how talented she is.

OR, alternatively, dive into this tale from Maverick Books. "The Pet Itch" by Elli and the equally talented Elina Ellis is a tale that may have a ring of familiarity to it, certainly for any parents who have fended off constant clamouring demands from their children for "a pet, any pet, the grosser the better".

When a young monster makes such a demand of his parents, they umm and ahh so it's up to the monster and his know-it-all sister to try and swing things their way.

Step forward "The Pet Itch", it's a fuzzy hairy fang-toothed little beastie that just happens to look absolutely fabulous in a tutu and a pair of pink wings. Awww.

Charlotte loved the itch, and as you can see from our header image, the itch is such a fab little character though you really wouldn't want to eat one, would you? Well, would you? But this is the plan. Maurice the Monster and Little Sis decide that the only way they'll win their parents over would be to make the itch look as cute as possible, then threaten to scoff it with a side order of ketchup and fries. EEK!

Needless to say, no one wants to see the poor defenceless little itch get eaten so it stays...and then the real fun begins. Because what's the first thing most kids do with their pets once they get them? Train them to be a pain in the bum!

We have to admit to liking Elli's work a lot. Charlotte loved this itchy little tale, and I must admit to finding Elina's artwork slightly itch-inducing but really fabulous too.

Next time you get the urge to itch, don't scratch this one out!

Charlotte's best bit: Little Sister's idea of an itch's sunday best. Cute!

Daddy's favourite bit: Elli is a superstar and Elina's art is wonderful. Top work both!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Dipping back into the archives here on ReadItDaddy, we really liked "The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble" by Angela Mitchell and Sarah Horne. So we thought we'd also love the next adventure for Princess Lolly, "The Bunny That Couldn't Be Found".

The Princess wakes up one morning to find that her beloved dog, Johnny Bunny, is missing. Calling for the palace constabulary (who are about thruppence short of a full ten bob note - I have no idea what that means but it's something my Nan used to say when describing bears of little brain), Princess Lolly tells them that "BUNNY IS MISSING!"

Calamity. Naturally, the keystone cops are all at sea as they search the palace high and low for - well, a rabbit - as you would if your majesty bellowed at you that her bunny was missing...

Of course as soon as Johnny Bunny hears the police shouting "Here, bunny bunny bunny!" he comes running (after all, there might be the chance of a feast, or at least a tickled tum). But the police shoo the dog away. Actually they're downright cruel to poor Johnny Bunny who keeps thinking they're calling him, when they're fruitlessly searching for something that doesn't exist.

On rare occasions books just do not hit the right note with Charlotte, and I do mean very rare occasions. About 5 pages in she fidgeted, got distracted and then actually closed the book's covers as I read.

"This is silly" she said. "The story isn't really a story, it's just silly".

Owch. I stubbornly persevered and we read right through to the end but despite great busy colourful artwork by Sarah Horne, and a bit of harmless and well paced slapstick writing from Angela Mitchell I couldn't really 'sell' the book to Charlotte at all on any level.

Her 5-year-old logical mind couldn't get past Princess Lolly being a bit daft calling a dog "Bunny" and the three policemen being completely and utterly hopeless. Unusually the silliness here didn't win her over, and I say 'unusually' because normally we like silly things, and books that contain just the right amount of daftness. I really wish I could quantify what it is that

There's really only one way to find out whether you'll like "The Bunny That Couldn't Be Found" and that's to read it yourself. In this instance, the only bit that Charlotte liked was the bit where Johnny Bunny tries to impress the dozy police sergeant with his best tricks.

If you loved "The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble" definitely dip into this as you may well enjoy another madcap story with Princess Lolly but it just didn't do it for us, alas.

Charlotte's best bit: Johnny Bunny's balancing tricks.

Daddy's favourite bit: Light hearted and an easy read to dash through before bedtime but is it really possible for a premise to be just too daft even for kids?

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Children's books that deal with loss and grief are few and far between. This year we've seen Jo Empson's utterly sublime "Rabbityness" (which was also a book of the week a while back) and here's Sparkle's Song which is extremely touching and very beautifully written and illustrated.

But it's Sparkle's story that truly touches the heart. Living in a comfortable home with her loving parents, one day they leave on a trip and never return - leaving Sparkle with her rather stand-offish auntie.

So far it sounds a little familiar and I guess you're expecting things to take a turn for the worst. Sparkle's Auntie doesn't like music in any form and won't even let poor Sparkle listen to her radio.

But one night soft tinkling tones wake Sparkle from her sleep, and she realises that a soft lullaby is coming from the nearby deep dark wood.

Sparkle's journey of musical discovery is just the start of an adventure as she discovers the magical instruments that live nearby, and listens to them play and talk - realising that things aren't quite as bad as they seem, and that the music holds a special link to her parents - and her Auntie too.

We've tried very hard not to spoil the book for you. We've barely seen this book mentioned anywhere, and I'm worried that a lot of people have missed out on something that's very special and certainly not quite what we've come to expect from Maverick Books (though their funny and monstrous books are utterly brilliant, of course!)

So seek this out, and see if it touches you the way it touched us. Charlotte loved Sparkle but more importantly the book raised lots of questions and not always questions that are easy to answer. Books like this help a great deal though, and our children learn from them and more importantly from how we read books like this to them.

Charlotte's best bit: Sparkle's love of music and her magical first journey into the enchanted forest.

Daddy's favourite bit: A touching and very subtle way of dealing with childhood grief and loss, utterly beautifully written and illustrated - a real rare gem.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)

Now here's something decidedly different from Maverick Books. An eye catching and truly beautiful book from Rachel Lyon and Vanina Starkoff, based on the true story of The Childe of Hale, an actual giant that lived in the Liverpool area a long long time ago (his portrait (see below) hangs in Brasenose College) and you can find out more about him here. 

The gentle giant, the Childe of Hale has a fairly ordinary and sometimes miserable life. He's so tall that his legs stick out of the windows of his humble little cottage (and get soaking wet when it rains). He can't find trousers that fit, or shoes, but he's a marvel to all who meet him.

When the king comes to town, the Childe of Hale is dragged to meet him by his best friend, and the king is so impressed that he begs the giant to come back to London with him to meet the Queen.

The lure of the big city, and the chance to rub shoulders with royalty prove too much for The Childe of Hale, and soon he's speeding towards the capital in a carriage.

Life takes a different turn, and for a while the finery and furnishings turn the Childe of Hale's head to what the good life must really be like. But is their happiness in his future? You'll have to read the book and find out when it arrives on shelves on 31st January 2013.

It's such a gentle, delightful and really different looking children's book. The artwork almost feels like medieval illuminated manuscript work (which goes quite neatly with the original portrait) but it's the story and the rather touching relationship between the giant and the Princess who befriends him that gives this children's tale a quite unique approach.

Look out for it, it's definitely shaping up to be something special.

Charlotte's best bit: The giant's feet sticking out of his windows. Poor giant!

Daddy's favourite bit: The book triggered a voyage of discovery to find out a bit more about John Middleton, the actual Childe of Hale. Quite a fascinating read.

(provided to us as a preview PDF by Maverick Books. We may review this properly again when it is released)

There's a mighty fine line between being inquisitive and being downright snoopy and in the sleepy town of Hamilton Shady (which, you may recall, is only just recovering from an incredible exploding woman!), young Tabitha Posy regularly crosses that line again and again.

At home she's a pest, at school she's a fidget and when teacher decides to take the class on a trip to the zoo, Tabitha's curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up in a rather sticky (and slimy) predicament.

We're so pleased to see another in Julie Fulton's "Ever So" series, and so happy to be back in the crazy town of Hamilton Shady with another bold and brash children's picture book character. Jona Jung's fabulous colourful artwork is brilliant (we particularly loved the little snail who crops up from time to time to pass comment on what's going on in the bigger picture - oh and the sad looking bear standing next to the 'do not feed' sign!)

It's the rhyming sing-song text that makes this a huge amount of fun though. Tabitha Posy learns a valuable lesson or two along the way and you'll have to wait until February 2013 to find out if she comes to a rather explosive sticky end like Mrs Macready. Suffice to say that this is more brilliance from Fulton and Jung, and we can't wait to see how the book is received when it arrives on the shelves.

Charlotte's best bit: The sad forlorn looking bear at the zoo. Someone at least throw him a bun!

Daddy's favourite bit: The poor poor folk of Hamilton Shady. Property prices must be dipping there by now! What on earth are they going to have to put up with next?

(We were given the opportunity to look at a preview version of the book not the final product, hence we may review this properly when it arrives in print)

Ahhhh jelly! It's fruity, it's fun and it's wobbly. Or at least it's supposed to be so imagine Princess Lolly's dismay when on her 89th birthday, her favourite food is presented with not a quiver, not a shake, nor a wobble in sight.

Quite understandably, Princess Lolly is not impressed so calls for her head chef to explain himself. But the jelly is a master of self preservation and begins to explain precisely why it's better not to wobble if you're a jelly and you want to be around in time for the princess's 90th!

Various characters pitch in to help the jelly get back its wobble, but it takes a tiny child to point out the best way to get the quiver back.

This fun and amusing tale is brilliantly told and illustrated, and Princess Lolly (though 89) is very reminiscent of a temper-tantrum toddler on a sugar rush high.

Top quality from Angela and Sarah. What's your favourite flavour of jelly? Let us know below!

Charlotte's best bit: Awww, feeling actually quite sorry for the jelly! (favourite jelly flavour: Raspberry)

Daddy's favourite bit: Loved Princess Lolly's tantrums! Not a lady to argue with, just like a certain other jelly-obsessed person I could mention! (favourite jelly flavour: I can't eat it, it's made of really bad things!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by the rather splendid moustachioed Giles Paley-Phillips at Maverick Books)

Back in the mists of time, Giles Paley-Phillips (who is easily one of the nicest chaps you could ever converse with in the book business) let us take a sneaky early peek at one of his books, "Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball". We're still a bit techno-luddite-ey here at ReadItDaddy Towers so it was great to take a second look at the book in paper form rather than flicking through the preview PDF when Giles kindly sent us a copy recently.

Quite rightly, "Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball" has been receiving rave reviews from bloggers, journalists and parents and it's not difficult to see why.

Telling the story of Tamara Small whose blissful sleep is interrupted by a monster one night, you might mistakenly think the book sounds a little bit sinister at first but it's a fantastic and joy-filled zany look at what monsters get up to when they're not prowling the neighbourhood roaring, eating things they shouldn't eat, and generally nestling under people's beds or in their wardrobes.

Understandably, Tamara Small is a little scared at first but when the monster whisks her off to the premiere social event of the monster calendar, the Monster's Ball, she's soon grooving with ghoulies and ghosties, spinning on her head with werewolves, and having a monstrously good time.

As regular blog visitors will already know, we love a good monstery tale here at ReadItDaddy and along with 'Fearsome Beastie', Giles and Gabriele are fast becoming the dream team for toddler-friendly monster books (Still not entirely sure about that axe-chopping bit in Fearsome Beastie myself but it doesn't phase Charlotte in the least so maybe I ought to take a leaf out of her book!)

Fantastic, fun-filled and utterly groovy. If you haven't already got a copy, what on earth are you waiting for?

Charlotte's best bit: Unsurprisingly it hasn't changed, she still wants a lime-green cake for her 5th birthday next year.

Daddy's favourite bit: Great rhyming text, fantastic illustrations and I love the subtle way the story changes part way through from something that appears initially a bit sinister and dark, to a complete chaotic zany party! Brilliantly uplifting!

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Maverick Books / Giles)

Excellent moustachioed chap Giles Paley-Phillips got in touch with us to let us know that new shiny books are coming from one of this year's standout indie publishers, Maverick Books. We've absolutely loved Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball, The Fearsome Beastie, Grandma Bendy and Mrs Macready was Ever So Greedy so we jumped at the chance of a sneaky look at their release schedule.

First up, the talented team of Julie Fulton and Jona Jung are back with another fabulous "ever so" book from the sleepy (and slightly dangerous) town of Hamilton Shady. "Tabitha Posy was Ever So Nosy" tells the story of a young (and rather curious) girl called Tabitha Posy. Her sticky beak gets her into all sorts of scrapes and squeezes, but you'll have to wait until next february to find out whether Tabitha comes to a sticky end!

If you loved "Mrs Macready was Ever So Greedy" (we certainly did, giving it 4 out of 5 stars) then you're going to love this!

Next February also sees the release of a book we also really cannot wait to dip into. "The Cautionary Tale of the Childe of Hale" reads like a fairy tale but there's a twist, it's actually based on a true story and has a bit of a local connection for us (but we'll leave you to find out what that is!) Did giants once roam the earth? Find out in this beautiful looking book by Rachel Lyon and Vanina Starkoff.

We'll be taking a closer look at both books very soon so look out for our previews!

London is a huge, vibrant city and a favourite destination of ours. I lived there for many years but it was only when I moved away that I got to do the 'tourist bit' of visiting all the attractions and enjoying the way the city has changed immensely over the last 30 years.

In Fin and Zoa's latest Dog Detectives adventure, the two intrepid doggie investigators Jack and Poco Loco (based on Fin and Zoa's world-travelling rescue dogs themselves) are tasked with locating the missing ravens from The Tower of London. After a mischievous game of hide and seek, the birds are nowhere to be seen and as legend tells, if the ravens of the tower are lost, the kingdom will fall!

Chasing all over London and catching some of the wonderful landmarks, Jack and Deputy Poco Loco are soon hot on the trail, aided by a helpful punk rat.

Great artwork, and lots of learning opportunities abound in this lovely book. If you're planning a visit to London or if you've recently been, this book will strike a chord with you and your children as you find out lots of interesting facts about the landmarks, the history and the culture of our capital. The fast-paced story is excitingly woven into the learning experience in such a cool way that a lot of other books should definitely be taking their cues from the Dog Detectives series.

Charlotte's best bit: Wait a minute, doesn't Thor look a bit like Where's Wally?

Daddy's favourite bit: Sumptuous illustrations, loved the London Underground bit!

Rating: 4 and a half out of 5 stars