All mums are superheroes, and with Mother's Day coming up on the 11th March (you've got your pressies, cards and flowers ready, right?) why not add a fab book to mum's present pile?

Super-talented top illustrative guy Steven Lenton very kindly got in touch with us to ask if we'd like to take a look at his latest book. "WOULD WE!" we shouted with glee. You see we happen to know that not only is Steven a supremely talented chap, but he's also the type of guy who's not going to settle for just any wishy washy tale of princesses and dragons, oh no.

Step forward the wonderful hero of "The Princess and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights", written and illustrated by Steven. Princess Daisy is definitely not content to be a stay-at-home Princess despite the King's wishes. So when mysterious rumblings and growlings disturb the good townsfolk, who come to the king for help, Princess Daisy wants to join the quest to discover the source of all that kerfuffle.

Dad (the King, who we read with a sort of broad brummie accent for some reason!) is a bit of a clod so insists Daisy stays home while three (nincompoop) knights vow to slay whatever beast is making all the fuss, in exchange for the usual gratuities (a huge bag of gold, vaaaaaaaast tracts of land and Princess Daisy's fair hand! Poor Daisy!!)

One Knight is vain, but a complete coward, skittering off at the first sign of trouble (in case he gets his perfectly teased tresses in a mess). One knight is all brawns and no brain (with a builder's bum to boot, eeks!) who looks more likely to trip over his sword than defeat the dragon. The last knight is clever, but perhaps a bit too clever for his own good (this fellah incurred Charlotte's wrath, how DARE he use a cute kitten as a lure for his big snappy trap! He should be ashamed of himself!) Thankfully the silly brainbox knight's trap backfires spectacularly with no kittens harmed in the process (and for that matter no dragons either, just a goodly chunk of armour lost around the botty area for the silly fool!)

A mysterious figure steps forward, clad in a haphazard collection of armour and riding a cow (of all things!) The stranger steps bravely into the cave armed with a rather strange array of weapons. A story book? A baby's bottle full of milk? What craziness is this?

When the stranger emerges unsinged with the cutest (and we really do mean the CUTEST!) baby dragon you've ever seen in tow, the story takes an unexpected and delightful twist but even more so when you find out just who that mysterious stranger is (we won't spoil the surprise for you but you may have already guessed!)

Steven's story rhymes beautifully, is wholly entertaining from start to finish, and sends out the sort of awesome mighty girl messages that we just love to see in children's books. His illustrations are (as ever) utterly brilliant. We loved the depiction of Princess Daisy, she's adorable - and we even loved those nincompoop knights but the gorgeous baby dragon steals the show - particularly loved the fact that Steven drew a doodle of her (and Charlotte insisted it was a she!) in the front too!

If your little ones want a refreshing change from the usual "brave knight rescuing hapless damsel while biffing dragon" stories of yore, then "Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights" will delight them for sure!

Charlotte's best bit: Sheer outrage at the use of kittens as dragon bait in the brainy knight's trap! How very DARE he!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Pitch-perfect rhyming, glorious illustrations and a novel and neat twist cutting a dash through tired old fairytale tropes to deliver a stunner of a story! We likey!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Steven Lenton, what a top dude he is!)

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Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton (Nosy Crow Books)

Catching up with this critically well received book courtesy of our local library, we couldn't resist the combination of crazed megalomania and cute furry critters.

Elys Dolan's "Weasels" offers us an insight into what Weasels actually get up to all day. While we may imagine that they'll chase around the undergrowth eating nuts and shoots or bothering badgers and rabbits, Weasels are a little more savvy than that. In fact they have but one goal in mind from day to day. WORLD DOMINATION!

Yes it's true, and the weasels have been working hard to create the ultimate machine that will help them achieve their goal. Fuelled on frothaccinos, busy as beavers (Poo! Beavers suck!) the countdown to the big switch-on has begun.

Only, there is a problem...the machine doesn't work. They've poked it, prodded it, kicked it and even tried the old IT fallback of 'switching it off and on again' but to no avail. The machine is in an error state, and the weasels look like they'll just have to stay as cute furry critters rather than the dominant species on earth.

Perhaps though the answer to the machine's malfunction is simpler than it first appears!

This is a crazy riff on a number of excellent sources. We loved the various nods to James Bond films, including one particular Weasel baddie and his pet white mouse (a cat would probably be a bit impractical for a Weasel Blofeld).

Chaotic, fun, quite tricky to read aloud (but you always have the option to let the Nosy Crow app take up the slack and read to you!)

Charlotte's best bit: What happens when the lights go out! Eek!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Crazy and chaotic stuff, we are ready to serve our weasel lords and masters! Ny-EEK!

For the second part of our "Book of the Week" nomination we are extremely pleased to finally be able to take a look at a book that has received a lot of positive buzz since it first released. Now launched as part of Nosy Crow's "Stories Aloud" range (with added enhanced audio, thanks to a clever little QR code tucked inside the cover) "The Princess and the Peas" is a delicious treatment of a well-loved fairy tale.

Young Lily-Rose May is an ordinary everyday little girl who lives with her dad in a cute little cottage in the woods. She loves to draw, read, dance and do all the things little girls like to do. But she absolutely, positively does not like peas!

This seems to be pretty common amongst little girls, but when a doctor calls to find out the cause of Lily-Rose's aversion to those poddy little green legumes, he can only come to one conclusion. Lily-Rose May is a princess - because princesses are allergic to peas!

He shows Lily-Rose and her dad the well known tale of what happened when a princess, sheltering from a storm, stayed at the royal palace one night. The queen, seeking out a true princess to marry off to her son the prince (why he couldn't just go on Zoosk like everyone else is beyond me), hid a single solitary pea under a huge pile of mattresses. The poor princess could not sleep a wink all night, broke out in pea-green hives, and had a thoroughly miserable time of it. BANG! One Princess, ready to marry off to the lazy internet-dating-site-dodging prince.

The doctor, rather than prescribing some antihistamines or pea-allergy suppressants, dictates that Lily Rose must give up living with her dad, and must move to the royal palace at once!

With a tear in her eye, Lily-Rose dutifully obeys and joins the palace household as a princess. A young girl's dream, hooray! Or is it...

This is a fantastically funny and very appealing reworking of "The Princess and the Pea" which Charlotte has demanded daily since it arrived. It could be a lot to do with Lily Rose May's name, it could be a lot to do with that absolutely stunning pink cover, but it's mostly to do with it being a brilliant book beautifully written and divinely illustrated. The audio enhancement is the icing on the cake (and we've already crowed (ha ha) about what a great idea Nosy Crow have come up with there). "The Princess and the Peas" definitely deserves a place in your pea-dodging princess' book collection!

Charlotte's best bit: The beautiful beautiful dresses and shoes that Lily-Rose May gets to wear at the palace (girls, honestly!)

Daddy's favourite bit: Daddy's brilliant pea recipe ideas. You know, pea cookies aren't actually that bad!

(kindly sent to us by Nosy Crow to thank us for Charlotte's brilliant Princess drawing used on their blog)

My Nan (Charlotte's great nan) is a witch. We have known this for some time now, and it stems right back from being at school and her eerie insider knowledge of what we'd be having for school dinner, her deep love of cats and bats and lots of other creatures, and her uncanny ability to predict the weather.

She loves a good steaming cauldron of broth, she doesn't wear a pointy hat but has been known to wear a dazzling tabard or two and rather than riding a broomstick she used to terrify drivers riding around on a Norton 500 (which, at times, I'd cling to the back of, scared out of my wits).

We love her though. She's 91 and as sharp as a tack.

In 'Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble' Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger celebrate 'different' grannies everywhere. You know the ones, they don't like cardigans, they definitely do not like bingo but they love being slightly subversive, dressing differently and they know EVERYTHING!

A little girl thinks that her Granny could do with a bit of a makeover, to be like everyone else's granny and so she whisks her into town for some new clothes, a new (more cuddly) pet, and a seriously sharp hairdo.

Alas, it turns this wonderful witchy granny into a plain and boring one, so when the little girl calls on her one morning, she finds her tucked up in bed with no joie de vivre.

Can the damage be undone in time?

This is a brilliant book full of superbly detailed illustrations and fun & fabulous rhyming text. Also look out for 'Whizz Pop Granny Stop' by the same team (which we'll be picking up as soon as we can!)

Beautifully presented and produced by Nosy Crow with a great innovation tucked inside the cover - a QR code you can scan with a smartphone or a tablet PC, to hear the story read aloud to you (A fantastic idea we'd definitely like to see used more and more).

We really hope we see more of this dynamic duo! In the meantime, give your granny a big cuddle if you can. Grannies are special!

Charlotte's best bit: She really wants to see the film 'Scary Poppins' and has talked at great length about how she imagines that movie would be! Eeek! She also loved the granny's new pet (and what eventually happens to it!)

Daddy's favourite bit: A superbly entertaining tale about standing out and being different, and how that's a VERY good thing! Yay for grannies!

(Kindly sent to us by Nosy Crow Books to thank us for Charlotte's rather groovy princess drawing used on a Nosy Crow Blog Piece!)