What a strange character is Engelber Sneem! A talent, a dancing prancing inventor but with a dark secret - He covets your dreams and mine!

Daniel Postgate's crazy creative character is the star of this dark tale of the invention of a strange machine designed to harvest our innermost thoughts while we sleep. We couldn't wait to see if Engelbert would get away with his terrible plan - which backfires quite spectacularly! Will Engelbert Sneem ever learn his lesson?

It's a fun and original romp for sure!

Charlotte's best bit: The sneaky Engelbert getting his comeuppance in quite spectacular style

Daddy's Favourite bit: We love an odd book that squeals originality from every page and this sure does that!

(Borrowed for review from Abingdon's excellent library)

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"Night Post" by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder

Jack and the Dreamsack by Laurence Anholt and Ross Collins

Mog in the Dark by Judith Kerr

The Snagglegrollop by Daniel Postgate and Nick Price

Oh the fun we had with this book! Every child (and probably every parent) knows that if you insist on making silly faces ("Gurning" as we weird UK folk like to call it), one day the wind will change and you'll stay like it.

This is the sage advice that one Tilly Turner ignores when her mum tells her to stop being daft and contorting her face into ridiculous gargoyle-esque shapes. Her teacher also warns her against her facial gymnastics, as do her friends. One fateful day young Tilly is gurning fit to bust when the weathercock slowly spins, the wind changes direction and lo and behold, she's trapped behind the face of a hag. Her beautiful features corkscrew into a foetid beastly scramble of hideousness. What on earth is Tilly to do?

I grew up loving a comic strip in Buster Comic (remember that?) called Faceache. A kid had a superpower of being able to mould his face into hideous grotesque visages. Drawn by the absolute master of horror fun comics, Ken Reid, this story really reminded me of the sort of crazed expressions the boy in that story could produce.

You'll have to read "Tilly Turner" yourself to find out if she ever got her beautiful face back. A fun and fantastic book that is surely due a reprint?

Charlotte's best bit: Tilly's first day at school when she realises she can't change back! Owch!

Daddy's Favourite bit: We had a lot of fun reading this, and of course gurning ourselves (though we made sure we checked the wind direction before each gurn!)

Like a gorgeously illustrated love letter to all those fabulous Universal Studios monsters I loved to bits as a kid, we have truly enjoyed "The Monster Diaries". Laid out, as you'd expect, like a series of diary entries, find out what stresses a Mummy out during the average day or how long a wolfman takes to brush their hair by the light of a silvery moon.

What does Dracula buy on visits to the supermarket?

And how on earth does Frankenstein's Monster cope with those yearly tune-up and bolt-tightening sessions?

All these questions and more are answered in "The Monster Diaries" - Just don't have nightmares!

Charlotte's best bit: Amusingly grossed out by the fact that Dracula drinks tomato juice (er, Charlotte, you do know what else vampires usually drink don't you?)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Brilliant diary entries, superbly funny and Poly Bernatene's art is always brilliant in everything he does so this is a huge winner of a book for us!

It's a lonely life sometimes, being a witch. Sure you might have a houseful of cats, bats and possibly even rats but they're not much fun when it's your birthday and you'd really like a few friends to come round and enjoy tea and cake.

As the saying goes though, be careful what you wish for - or in this case "be careful what you conjure up" as "The Friendly Witch" waves her wand and is inundated with visitors, plucked from the pages of your favourite fairy stories and nursery rhymes.

Mary (quite contrary) is a little bit critical of the witch's garden (no silver bells, cockle shells, DAHHHLING we must talk!). Humpty bores on about accident claims insurance. As for the gingerbread man, well he won't even stay put for five seconds so the witch can enjoy nibbling his toes.

Soon the house is filled with a whole host of rather unwelcome folk so the poor witch decides there's only one thing for it! With a wave of her wand she makes them all disappear again.

BUT it is her birthday and she still has cake to eat - and was all the fuss and kerfuffle (my new word of the day) really all that bad?

We've seen a lot of witchy books but we loved "The Friendly Witch" purely because she's such a loveable old soul - and it was a huge amount of fun picking out and spotting all the storybook characters who pop by. So when it's your birthday and you get a little bit grumpy when your house is trashed and your guests eat all your food, it could really be a lot worse - I  mean who wants to clean up after Puff the Magic Dragon? Ew!

Charlotte's best bit: Bo-Peep (who really needs a trip to specsavers)

Daddy's favourite bit: Little Jack Horner's rather unsanitary eating habits. Use a spoon, boy!

Beasties of a different kind are the subject of Giles Paley-Phillips' new book - this time big stomping beasties that once stalked the earth. Or rather, still do!

(See, I bet you didn't know that did you?)

In fact in "Things you never knew about Dinosaurs" you'll find out that our scaly chums are in fact alive and well and sometimes hiding in plain sight. That fancy looking fountain with the lizardy skin? That low-flying goal-scorer at the world cup? Dinosaurs are still with us and they're having a whole lot of fun.

As we've come to expect from Giles, never trust a beastie to be entirely friendly and lovely though. We really loved the way the book ended - and we're not going to spoil it for you, so nyaahhhhh!

Liz Pichon's fab and colourful dinosaurs are a busy and infinitely varied lot so for any younger bookworms who haven't quite got their tongues around Triceratops or bumped into Brachiosaurs, it's a fantastic and entertaining little book with Giles' trademark bounce-along rhyming text really nicely complimented by Liz's art.

So next time you're standing at a bus stop and the person next to you looks a little green and lumpy, don't worry unduly. They might just be a dino in disguise!

Charlotte's best bit: Even Dinosaurs have to queue for the loo. You just wouldn't want to go in there afterwards.

Daddy's favourite bit: Fine dining, Dino style!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Giles and Meadowside Children's Books)

A child's imagination is a wonderful thing. Listening to Charlotte when she has a bit of 'Me time' and plays on her own is quite fantastic, now she's at the age where she doesn't need us to guide her playtimes or activities.

Rachel Elliott's story 'The Adventurers' gives us an insight into the fantastic and rich tapestry a child can weave in their imagination, and the brilliant journeys they can embark on - all from the comfort of their own room. A landscape that knows no bounds, rich in colour and hue and always full of sights to see and characters to meet.

I loved Valeria Docampo's illustrations, absolutely perfect depictions of the little girl's toys who join her on her adventures, and such a sweet final image of what happens when the little girl drifts gently off to sleep, having worn her batteries out!

A beautiful and charming book, don't miss it!

Charlotte's best bit: The scary Yeti! Eeek!

Daddy's favourite bit: Love that sleepy little girl at the end.

With a wave of her wand, and a few magic ingredients, the Naughtiest Fairy creates complete and utter chaos in this amusing and beautifully illustrated book by Nick Ward. Feeling a little lonely and bored, the Naughtiest Fairy has trouble making friends until she consults her magic book.

Now with a doppelganger in tow, she can get up to double the mischief and have double the fun. Until, of course, things start to go horribly horribly wrong.

Charlotte absolutely ate this book up and demanded it again as soon as we'd finished (long-suffering daddy obliged of course!)

Secretly it's probably every young child's dream to whizz up a double, but as this tale shows, the consequences can be chaotic to say the least.

Charlotte's best bit: What the naughtiest fairy does to the giant

Daddy's favourite bit: Who knew that pepper was the magic ingredient for naughtiness?

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, book of the week

What a relief to find that this book doesn't feature Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze and a potter's wheel. No instead it features a lovely chirpy little ghost chappy, a child's imaginings of what life would be like as a ghost. Haunting, flying, swooping, woohing a lot, and of course chasing all your friends!

A lovely little rhyming story with bold and cheerful illustrations, Ghost is suitable for such a huge range of ages, even little babies find it entertaining (note to children's illustrators, big beaming smiles = HUGE win with babies!)

Charlotte's best bit: Big cuddles from the ghostly mummy

Daddy's favourite bit: Eating luscious looking orange lollies. YUM!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

We really enjoyed Il Sung Na's "A book of Sleep" and The Thingamabob is similarly atmospheric, simple and relaxing. Telling the tale of an Elephant's discovery of a mysterious object, it explores his flights of imagination and gently takes you through to the fun conclusion with Sung Na's trademark watercolour illustrations. 


Superb little book, and stupidly cheap at the moment. 


Charlotte's Best Bit: Elephant trying to fly. 


Daddy's Favourite Bit: A slightly rude reference to Elephantine toilet habits 


Rating: 3 out of 5

Rating: 5 out of 5