We both remember how much fun we have had with Mick Inkpen's fantastic "Kipper" stories as C's reading journey has continued. Looking back on Mick's first successful children's book "The Blue Balloon" it seems almost impossible that this book is 30 years old. It still feels so fresh, simple and brilliant now as it must have back then.

This story is the very first appearance of Kipper the Dog who went on to massive success in many followup titles and even an animated TV series.

This is a fabulous tale celebrating the imagination of a child whose dog finds a soggy blue balloon in the garden.

A soggy balloon? That doesn't sound like the basis for an adventuresome and joyous story but this is no ordinary balloon. This is a magic balloon that takes the boy and his dog on a magical journey of daydreamy imagination and fun.

With Mick's trademark glorious illustrations, this is the sort of book that's going to win over a whole new generation of Kipper fans, as well as pleasing those of us who may have missed this one first time around.

Sum this book up in a sentence: As fresh and brilliant now as it was 30 years ago, a defining moment in Mick Inkpen's successful children's writing and illustrating career and one we're very happy to see back in print.

"The Blue Balloon" by Mick Inkpen is out now, published by Hodder Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

We still love a tickly tiddly picture book that's great for tiny toddlers and we've been taking a look at a couple of beauties coming soon from Hachette / Hodder Children's Books.

First up is another book in the hugely popular "I Love My" series by hugely talented duo Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd.

"I Love my Birthday" is a glorious celebration of glorious celebrations, and tells the story of a very special birthday indeed!

There are presents to open, lots of good things to eat and party games to play. Can you picture your perfect birthday? I bet it looks a lot like this...

Blueberry pancakes and kisses from mum? Pretty much perfect!

"I Love my Birthday" by Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd is out now, published by Orchard Books.

If there's one thing kids love as much as their birthdays, it's their cuddly toys and our second book comes from "Kipper" superstar Mick Inkpen, introducing us to a new lovable character.

"Threadbear" may be a bit old and worn at the seams, but he's still a beloved toy. One thing that's never been right with him is his tummy squeaker. It's never, ever worked but perhaps a bit of magic from a certain red-clad white-bearded gentleman renowned for working magic and giving presents might help?

"Threadbear" by Mick Inkpen is out now, published by Hodder Children's Books. 

That lovable rascally scamp is back for more fun and misbehaviour. Here's "Fred", the follow-on from "I Will Love You Anyway" by Mick and Chloe Inkpen...

"I Don't Do Sit, I Don't Do Stay" - with these opening lines, he stole our hearts away. Meet Mick and Chloe Inkpen's latest fabulous canine creation in "I Will Love You Anyway"...

Kipper is a quarter-century old! Not too shabby for an energetic and bouncy pup who gets up to all sorts of adventures with his friends.

This book is a timely reissue of a Kipper story first published in 2008, that made me recall the heady days of my childhood when cereal wasn't examined for salt or sugar content at the local supermarket, it was bought purely on the merits of what the free gift was. Quite often it'd be a TV or Movie tie-in, sometimes a plastic model, sometimes you had to collect tokens to send off into the inky pre-internet void where 28 days postage for an item were the norm.

Kipper is lucky though, he gets a rather odd free gift in his cornflakes one morning. A small wrinkly thing that smells wonderfully plasticky (I love that phrase!)

Kipper hasn't got a clue what it is but goes off to see his friend who is also collecting all the freebies from his cereal. He's got a penguin rubber pencil topper, a clockwork shark and a couple of bouncing frogs but hasn't seen the thing Kipper has found before in his brekkie.

What on earth is it? The pair soon find a valve on the side, and with a couple of good puffs of air, the small wrinkly plasticky thing turns into a giant beachball! YAY!

There's only one place to play with a beach ball - the beach!! Soon the two run off towards the sands but a gust of wind takes the beach ball and swiftly blows it out to sea. By the time it's been bashed, crashed and splashed in the waves the beach ball once again turns from a wonderful bouncing toy to a small wrinkly piece of plastic. Awww.

Try as they might to get another one in their cereal, the pair fail (what on EARTH is Kipper's mum doing letting him waste boxes of cereal like that! Tsk tsk!)

I always expect Charlotte to be a bit sniffy about Kipper books, as they're really meant for children far younger than her but she loved this, I loved it purely from the nostalgia point of view - that the free gifts in cereal were often as fleeting as Kipper's fragile beach ball and you never quite got the one you wanted! Charlotte loved it because she loved the fleeting moments of adventure as Kipper and his poochy pal play with the beach ball - enjoying it for the brief time they have it. "Kipper's Beach Ball" is, I think, our favourite Kipper story to date.

Charlotte's best bit: Kipper doing the NAUGHTIEST THING EVER by opening packets of cereal just to get the free gifts out. Strictly forbidden behaviour at home!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A wonderful little story that brought a tear of nostalgia to my eye, and delighted Charlotte too.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hodder Children's Books)

Wow, did you know that young Kipper has been around for 25 years? That's a pretty respectable age for a busy little dog isn't it? The Kipper stories by Mick Inkpen are timeless and classic and in "Kipper's Little Friends" the young pooch is finding out all about baby animals along with his friend Arthur the Pig. They find out that a baby pig is a piglet, a baby owl (like Arthur's new toy) is called an Owlet. So what's a baby duck called? (Clue: Not a ducklet!) A baby frog? Come to mention it, what is a baby dog called?

Children will love this story and love shouting out their answers - and it'll stimulate great discussions about baby animals (what's a baby cow called? A baby lion? A baby Narwhal? OK I must admit Charlotte completely stumped me with that last one!)

A great little story for younger readers.

Charlotte's best bit: When naughty Arthur tries to see if his baby owl can swim. Poor baby owl looks VERY sorry for himself when he's fished out of the pond!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Wow, amazing to think that the Kipper books are 25 years old. Charlotte has grown up with them and loved them, and though she claims she's 'far too old' for these books now, she still loved sitting down with me to read this one (and giggle along with Kipper and Arthur's antics)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hodder Children's Books)

More Wibbly goodness from Mick Inkpen, and more animal stories for this week's #ReadItMD13 theme week celebrating all the awesome animals. So what are Wibbly Pig and his best friend Scruffy Pig up to now?

This story is all about pets. Big Pig's sister's friend (phew!) wants a new pet, and heads down to the pet store. Wibbly and Scruffy imagine what would be the coolest pet to own. An elephant perhaps? Hmm, too much trumpeting and huge food bills. How about a pair of mix-and-match dinosaurs? Cool! But deep in their heart of hearts they know Big Pig's Sister's Friend will choose something dull and boring - like a rabbit.

Which is, of course, exactly what she does choose but rabbits can be brilliant too. For instance, we were rocked by the revelation in this book that rabbits do not just one but TWO types of poo! See, bet you didn't know that (well you probably did if you're a parent who has had to clean your little darlings' rabbits out once they've gone off the idea).

Rabbits are cute and fluffy and loving though, so in fact they make perfect pets - as Wibbly and Scruffy soon find out.

Once again, as with "Wibbly Pig and the Tooky" here's a charming and whimsical story about pet ownership, with plenty of chuckles (and poo) along the way.

Charlotte's best bit: When the adorable rabbit nuzzles Scruffy Pig. Awww!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Animal-based antics with a huge dose of cute! Oh and poo. What's not to love?

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hodder Children's Books)

We're all about the animals this week for our #ReadItMD13 theme week celebrating all the awesome animal books. Now Wibbly Pig has his own TV series, he's showing no signs of slowing down and taking things easy. Mick Inkpen's endearing snorty little character along with his friends is the star of two more books from Hodder.

In "Wibbly Pig and the Tooky", Wibbly meets Big Pig's sister - who is extremely naughty indeed. Rather than bringing home a cuddly toy from her visit to the zoo, Big Pig's sister has sneaked a Toucan into her rucksack.

Nicknamed "Tooky", Big Pig's sister soon finds that not all animals are cuddly and adorable. Some have a penchant for pecking piggy noses with their big sharp beaks!

Wibbly is fascinated by this 'new toy' before he realises that Tooky needs to be back at the zoo where he can be looked after properly, so stages a daring stealth mission to infiltrate the zoo and get Tooky back to his perch before anyone notices.

Meanwhile, Big Pig's sister is searching for a surrogate pet. Oh no, what has she got in her backpack THIS time?

A charming and amusing tale, little tiddlers will love reading all about Tooky and his rather mischievous streak. That zoo seriously do need a bag-check option though don't they!