These books stretch back, far back, way back to the very origins of this blog and in fact by the time we got round to reviewing these (just after we'd started up) we'd already been reading them to C almost on a nightly basis for two years.

Yes, they're that good. In fact these books are rare in that they're picture books that both my wife and I would read to C independently of each other.

You see even from when she was a tiny, tiny baby, barely able to make out the pictures and words in the books we'd read to her, we would take it in turns on alternative nights to pick a book out of our shelves and read it to her before bedtime. Nowadays it's just me, still clinging on on there with the bedtime book, even though we both suspect C loves them now more as a method of spending some time with us, and dragging bedtime out a bit longer than for a real desire to hear the books again and again.

Back to "Pants" though by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt. If ever there was a book that felt more like a song (in fact in the version we own, Lenny Henry does a VERY good job of "singing" the book) it's this.

It's a daft, cheeky and surreal look at our underwear. It's also one of those rhyming books that if we think hard enough, we can actually trot out by heart. I guess that's purely because we read it so many times.

"Pants to pick a daisy, pants for being lazy, PANTS ON YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU'VE GONE CRAZY!" (typed without cheating so possibly wrong).

The follow-up is equally brilliant and also appears on our keepers list...

Pretty much the same deal as the first but with a few new cheeky bits and new laughs, "More Pants" followed swiftly in the original book's wake.

We later picked up "Socks" (which wasn't written by Giles, instead penned by Elizabeth Lindsay) from the library but by then the magic had died. That fleeting moment of perfection in two books was lost, and in fact I was moderately surprised to find that "Socks" wasn't where the story ended, and there are now even more pants books than ever before. It's such a successful formula though, a brilliant combination of bold and colourful illustrations underpinned by the most pitch-perfect bouncy rhymes, the perfect way in fact to draw a tiny little girl into a love of books.

Original Review Links: 

Pants

More Pants

Socks by Elizabeth Lindsay and Nick Sharratt (David Fickling Books)

Oh my, these books! SUCH FUN! We were lucky enough to meet Teresa and Sue, Author / Illustrator respectively of the truly awesome "Very Little" series of books with a cake-fuelled launch event at Blackwells in Oxford a few years ago. Two utterly lovely creatives who form such a brilliant partnership for these books, drawing together a brilliant set of observations of toddler behaviour, with some really fab depictions of classic fairy tale characters we know and love - again with that toddler 'brush' applied.

We started out with these books with "Very Little Red Riding Hood" (still C's absolute favourite) and the initial draw (as well as them being hilarious) was getting C to join in reading the lines for Very Little Red Riding Hood herself whenever we read it together (I would very much recommend doing this as a parent if you're reading aloud to your kids, let them have some early involvement and it boosts their reading so much!).

Little Red Riding Hood is off to visit Grandma, as the story starts out following the classic tale. But on the way she meets a wolf (who she gleefully calls "Foxy!") who rather likes the sound of going to tea with Grandma - but will Red and Granny end up as Foxy's tea instead in the classic way? You'd better read this one to find out. Teresa fantastically taps directly into toddler language ("LELLOW BOOTS!") and Sue's characters are just so utterly perfectly depicted (snotty bawling toddlers brilliantly rendered in her trademark perfect watercolours!)

When we read the original book, tucked into the inner cover was a map of the "Very Little" Land with far more characters mentioned than just Very Little Red Riding Hood - so we were delighted when Teresa and Sue followed up with more books, including the equally awesome "Very Little Sleeping Beauty" - again brilliantly capturing the essence of the original tale with a ton more fantastically observed toddler bits brought into the mix (and some fab cameos from other 'very little' characters too!)

These are just delightful in every way and we've kept all the ones we have (including "Very Little Cinderella" and "Very Little Rapunzel". Even now when we read them together C still does the little voices, and I still read the rest. Happy, happy book memories indeed!


Original articles and review links:

ReadItDaddy's BIRTHDAY Book of the Week - Week Ending 21st February 2014 - Very Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (David Fickling Books)

A grand Booky outing to Blackwells Oxford, to celebrate the launch of "Very Little Cinderella" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Random House)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 27th March 2015 - "Very Little Cinderella" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Random House)

ReadItDaddy's Picture Book(s) of the Week - Week Ending 30th June 2017 - "Very Little Sleeping Beauty" and "Very Little Rapunzel" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Red Fox Picture Books)

So many of the books that you'll see (and have already seen) in our #Booky100Keepers list have been written about on this blog many times and we make absolutely no apology for once again featuring Helen Cooper's masterpiece "The Bear Under the Stairs".

Another library loan initially, we were quite 'down' on this book when we first reviewed it, as it absolutely terrified the pants off poor C when it was read to her at bedtime (possibly not helped one little bit by some ad-libbed extra dialogue from me, talking in a gruff grizzly voice when it came to the bear himself.

It's the story of William, a young lad who is petrified of grizzly bears, and is convinced that one lives in the cupboard under the stairs.

William imagines the bear doing all sorts of nefarious things. Hiding under the dinner table imagining what boys taste like when eaten for dinner, and of course running around looking very bloodthirsty!

I swear, even after years of reading this book we're convinced we still find new hidden bear shapes in every page thanks to Helen Cooper's masterful illustrative skills

William tries to appease the bear by feeding it with anything other than himself. He throws a pear into the cupboard under the stairs, in the hope that the bear will nosh that instead.

William's excellent drawing of the bear. Yikes!

After a while, and after several more secret feedings, William's Mum finally notices a dreadful pong wafting through the house...time to confront that grizzly where he sleeps!

Ew what a pong!

We've seen so many critiques of this book, largely from adults who want to find a deep philosophical meaning within. Many others who want to take the core message and leave it at that, but for us it's always been a book that "plays" with the reader, and invites them to ask themselves "What if the bear IS actually there, what if it's not in William's imagination (clearly in the illustrations it's having a merry old time in the house until it gets confronted and chased away, even though no one ever actually really sees it in the context of the story - except us, the readers!)

I don't think either of us can recall many books that go to work on your imagination, your skill at visualisation and your interpretation of so many different emotional triggers (fear, anxiety, bravery, a comforting bit of parental wisdom) so expertly. I remember we borrowed so many of Helen's other books ("The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To bed is also utterly glorious - though weirdly C never took to "Pumpkin Soup" or any of its follow-ups) - But ah this one, this is one of the finest picture books ever written and it's no faint praise that I could very much imagine C keeping this forever and perhaps even sharing (and scaring) with her own kids one day maybe.

Original reviews and articles: 

The original review (how wrong could we get it but hey we were only starting out back then!)

2012 (now we're getting it!)

Books that stick - a ReadItTorial from 2018

Our first Picture Book of the Week this week restores our faith in there still being deliciously dark books to warm our cockles as the cold weather draws in...

Charlotte utterly LOVES the "Fairytale Hairdresser" range of books, and the dream team of Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard have impressed her once again...

Taking a widely recognised tale and flipping it on its head is always a fab idea when it comes to children's stories...

King Kong is a character with almost limitless and timeless appear. When I was a kid, the '70s Kong movie was quite literally huge and I also remember watching the original Merian C. Cooper movie starring Fay Wray on TV.

Since then we've also had Sir Peter Jackson's treatment of the movie but who better to put together a version for children than an author-illustrator who conjures up the most amazing simian stories, Anthony Browne.

Browne's version of Kong isn't a toothless treatment for children, but a very faithful adaptation of the original story wrought in Browne's utterly divine illustrative style. Telling the story of young Anne Darrow, a would-be ingenue who falls on hard times and is rescued by a slippery movie director and producer to star in an upcoming blockbuster. Anne meets Carl Denham and is whisked off with his production company to the mysterious Skull Island, reportedly the home of a fantastical beast known only as Kong.

Kong is a gigantic gorilla, fearsome and mighty and Anne is captured and offered up as a sacrifice to the beast. Rather than wolfing her down in one gulp though, Kong rescues Anne and falls in love with her. His ultimate undoing as he tries to protect her at great expense to himself as Kong is captured and paraded as an attraction by the nefarious Denham.

You're probably familiar with the rest of the story, and what happens when Kong is let loose on New York and runs amok. With movie-like pacing and a frenetic energy showing that Browne obviously had a huge passion for the subject matter, we're treated to his rather fantastic vision of Kong and his supporting cast, gloriously rendered with Browne's trademark gift for hiding exquisite detail in each panel spread.

It's fairly wordy for a children's picture book so might suit older readers more, but we were completely enthralled and dazzled by this. I'd love to show Charlotte the original movie to see what she makes of it but I'm worried that she might end up sobbing at the end as Kong meets his terrible demise.

Charlotte's best bit: Picking out all the hidden gorillas throughout the book and discovering (with a little help) that Anne Darrow is the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe

Daddy's Favourite bit: A glorious and luxurious version of a well-loved story, showing Browne's obvious passion for the subject matter and unique gift of putting his own touches to make it fairly child-friendly. A stunning book.

"Sorry Dad!" by Maxine Lee (Caterpillar Books)

Fathers Day is coming (June 15th, this Sunday, take note mums and kids!) and we know what you're thinking. Dads always say "Look I'm fine, I don't want anything" or "I don't want a huge fuss" but what they really mean is that they'd like nothing better than for you to buy them a book that you can read together. So here are a few ideas to get you started with some new and classic books to tempt dad away from the footie (or more likely the rain-soaked barbecue) with.

First up is the sublime "Sorry Dad!" by Maxine Lee (Caterpillar Books). A riotous book full of mischief and mirth with a naughty kitten and his long-suffering dad 'bonding' in lots of different ways, which usually end up with the poor dad getting a bonk on the noggin for his trouble.

Maxine's bold and colourful illustrations and exquisite comic timing are giggle-worthy, and we absolutely couldn't get enough of that bit where Dad erupts like Mt Vesuvius. (Dad doesn't stay angry for long though :)

"Daddy is my Hero" by Dawn Richards and Jane Massey (Picture Corgi)

An altogether more soothing and calm celebration of dads in our next book - "Daddy is my Hero" by Dawn Richards and Jane Massey (Picture Corgi). From a toddler's perspective it tells us all the wonderful things that dads are great at. They're tickly, they're funny, sometimes they do get grumpy (right, Charlotte?) but they're amazing and fun so hooray for dads everywhere, particularly booky dads!

"My Amazing Dad" by Ross Collins (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

"Me and my Daddy" by various authors and illustrators (Little Tiger Press)

Charlotte already knew about the Fairytale Hairdresser stories long before our review copy arrived. They are HUGE at her school, and all her friends love the stories and have steadily been collecting them as each new one arrives (You can also read about the Fairytale Hairdresser and Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and - randomly - Father Christmas!)

Abie Longstaff's stories draw on classic fairy tale characters and nursery rhymes, splicing the two together to create an exciting story world that has huge appeal to little girls like Charlotte who can't get enough of fairytale adventures.

This tale is centred around Snow White. When a magical mirror is found and brought to the salon, the Fairytale Hairdresser finds out that Snow White is still in danger from the wicked queen, and it's up to her to come up with a cunning plan to ensure that Snow White is kept safe. But with a love of apples, and even with a disguise, Snow White still falls foul of the queen. Is it too late to save her? Or can a handsome fairytale doctor lend a hand?

Charlotte loved this tale, in her own words "I love how all the characters are all together in the story and all have adventures together".

Charlotte's best bit: Finding and spotting all the different characters from nursery rhymes and fairy stories all dotted throughout the tale.

Daddy's Favourite bit: A neat idea to draw on a huge back catalogue of characters and stories and mix them all together. Very girly and sparkly. Most boys (and, er, dads!) will run a mile, alas!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Picture Corgi)

It's wonderful to see this fantastic book getting a lovely 20th Anniversary polish. One of the best dinosaur books out there, "Dinosaur Roar!" is a brilliant 'join in' book for younger readers who will love the big bold and colourful illustrations, and the low word count with lots of opportunities for enthusiastic audience participation!

Henriette and Paul Stickland's book is one we often spot in the library, each and every copy is well loved (and very well worn) and that's always a great sign that it's hugely popular.

We enjoyed reading through this together, Charlotte supplying the roars, squeaks and grunts of the various dino species inside - and I enjoyed laughing my socks off at her impression of a Triceratops.

Charlotte's best bit: Big grumpy dinosaur (is like you daddy! Charming!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Bold and colourful, big and noisy, a wonderfully satisfying book celebrating its 20th Anniversary with this awesome edition!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Picture Corgi)

Goldilocks is one of Charlotte's favourite traditional stories. I think it's because Goldilocks is a bit of a subversive devil-may-care character who is a little naughty, and gets away with it too (depending on which version of the story you read).

When you hear that Anthony Browne has reworked the story and given it a poignant contemporary message, you sit up and take notice. Not just because Anthony Browne's artwork can sometimes carry some of his less impactive books, but because he is a writer who can truly deliver on a promise like that.

So Goldilocks in "Me and You" isn't really a character from the wrong side of the tracks, she's not really naughty either - Goldilocks here is a poor girl separated from her mother during a trip to town, whose curiosity leads her to the bear's house. The 3 bears in the story seem to have a privileged life, comfy surroundings, a house full of light and colour and plenty of food on the table. This is definitely not the impression you get about Goldilocks' home life at all.

The beauty of this book is that the story unfolds largely thanks to the reader. Your interpretation of what you're seeing, and your interpretation of what you're reading (and reading into Anthony Browne's subtle theme woven between the threads of the traditional story) is so utterly clever and thumbs the heartstrings rather beautifully. Not least of all when the story reaches a climax that wasn't in the original, but works absolutely perfectly.

This book is a few years old now but it so deserves a lot more attention. If you think you've read every single take there is on Goldilocks, make room for one more, this is superb.
Charlotte's best bit: The great 'reaction' when Goldilocks realises the three bears have come back home

Daddy's Favourite bit: One of the best retellings of Goldilocks, proving that Anthony Browne engages and works with the reader in such subtle and wonderful ways. An important book this, and it so deserved a lot more attention. Go find it in your library or pick up a copy if you can.

All set for lunch? Tasty sandwich sitting dutifully next to your keyboard (un-nibbled of course!)

Then you might want to look away because the book we're about to review might just put you off your anchovy and marmite sarnie.

We love monster books. Monsters of all shapes and sizes. Fuzzy ones, fat ones, thin ones, monsters that are fierce, monsters that are friendly. But how about monsters that are, well, manky?

Morris is the mankiest monster we've ever met on the blog. He's a one-monster whirlwind of whiffyness. Dribbling, drooling, pus-encrusted and picking. Morris does his utmost to be the top of the toe-jam crop.

Putting together the fabulous talents of rhyming royalty Giles Andreae with our super-secret crush Sarah McIntyre is a stroke of genius. No one twizzles together brilliant (and stomach-churning) monstery rhymes like Giles, and no one draws pus-popping pimples like Sarah.

We take a trip through a day in the life of Morris as we see where he sleeps (ugh!), we see what he eats (glurk!) and we see what he does when he needs to restore his natural whiffy allure.

We have had this book on our wishlist for ages, and finally spotted it lurking in the library (it's very hard to miss that cover, let's face it!)

Charlotte was instantly drawn to finding out more about Morris, perhaps because her least favourite time of the day is bath time and secretly if we let her get away with it, she'd out-mank Morris in a matter of moments.

If you have a cast-iron constitution, and perhaps a fragrant bouquet to sniff in between pages, then Morris the Mankiest Monster will charm the very (smelly) socks off you. Just be sure not to strain any rotting strawberries through them first. Bleee!

Charlotte's best bit: Morris's bath, which coincidentally is exactly the same colour as Charlotte's once we've chiselled the dirt off her (how DOES a 5 year old girl turn bath water green? HOW?)

Daddy's favourite bit: It's gross, it's grimace-inducing but it's groovy, baby!

Last year, we were fortunate enough to be included on the Red House Picture Book Awards Blog Tour, hosting a piece by Andrew Weale - author of this very book!

Now we're finally getting round to reviewing Spooky Spooky House, thanks to the lovely Zoe at "Playing by the Book" for sending us a copy to take a look at.

With a spooky haunted house, lots of 'reveals' in the shape of lift-the-flap bits, and monsters, ghosts, ghoulies and slime by the bucketload I thought Charlotte would love this and she did. I felt it was a bit...disapointing and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it was the constant 'tease' of the big reveal at the end (a heat-sensitive black panel which you have to 'warm up' to reveal the horrible character stalking the reader throughout the book - but in practice something we really struggled to get to work - we should've used Zoe's idea of getting a hot water bottle for the purpose, but used a hot radiator instead, OWCH!) meaning that story was sacrificed to be replaced by a sort of "are you scared yet? How about now, how about NOW?" type of thing as the running thread for Spooky Spooky House.

There's an essay (or at least a very lengthy blog post) in what scares kids or what's deemed spooky. It's not purely about the visual, it's not even about the 'BOO!' behind a liftable flap. In Charlotte's case it definitely wasn't this book - because despite loving the theme and the reveals and the panel at the back (and of course the sinister stalking character), to her it was as spooky as a timid dormouse hiding in a teapot. Of course we don't exactly want to traumatise our children (particularly before bedtime) with nightmarish visions that will keep them awake all night, but spooky is as spooky does - compare and contrast this with the utterly superb (and quite similar) "Haunted House" by Jan Pienkowski. 

Or perhaps even...that bear...under the stairs...

Charlotte's best bit: The big reveal. Once we got it working!

Daddy's favourite bit: A Wham reference at the start of the book made me giggle.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Zoe at Playing By The Book. We owe you one, Zoe!)

Way back in December last year, "The Boy Who Cried Ninja" by Alex Latimer was one of our "Book of the Week" good reads (and got 5 out of 5 stars back when we used to give books star ratings).

Quite understandable as it was a hilarious (and often irreverent) rejig of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" folk story. We loved it to bits, particularly Alex's rather groovy art style.

So it was great to see more from this talented fellah with "Penguin's Hidden Talent" - the story of a funky bunch of animal friends who all have more than a few party tricks up their sleeves.

All, that is, except a rather forlorn penguin. Try as he might to emulate Bear's expert juggling, Fox's (slightly gross) alphabet burping or even Rabbit's incredible disappearing act, Penguin just can't seem to do anything.

Soon the annual animal talent show comes around, and chaos ensues as no one can get things running smoothly. Is it time for Penguin to step into the spotlight?

Once again, Alex Latimer breathes life into a great little tale of friendships and discovering your own hidden talent with superb colourful artwork, memorable characters and brilliant scenes.

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte had a real soft spot for Penguin - "So cute! So sad!"

Daddy's favourite bit: Alex's characters almost seem to leap off the page, love the scenes of utter chaos later on in the book. More greatness, can't wait to see what Alex comes up with next!

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Picture Corgi)

Baker Cat is an odd little tale. Far from being cute and cuddly for the major part of the story, poor Baker Cat works in a Bakery (naturally) for a pair of mean and nasty characters who could've been ripped straight out of a Roald Dahl book. The Baker and his Wife work their poor moggy half to death, and refuse to feed him unless he can catch mice. 

---

Hmmmmm! Not sure what to make of this book. On the one hand it has a life lesson about not being scared of the dark contained within its pages. On the other hand it's a pretty menacing (and sometimes scary) book, and certainly not one you'd want to read to a restless toddler before bedtime. 


As you can see from the cover art, you're never really sure whether "The Bear under the Stairs" is a benign soul or a menacingly dark figure. The little lad in the story is scared of the bear, and the space under the stairs and it would be extremely easy for your little ones to develop the same fear if you've got an understairs cupboard that's dark and dingy. Maybe it's a worry-wort parent thing but Helen Cooper's book doesn't have a nice light "oh everything's alright then" ending, rather it seems to want to perpetuate the idea that this bear could be anywhere, under any stairs, at any time. 


Number one rule of kids books: Think about the psychological effect of your book and its characters on young and imaginative minds. 


Charlotte's best bit: None


Daddy's favourite bit: None


Rating: 0 out of 5

Published by Picture Corgi



After learning the original Pants off by heart from rather too many readings, I thought I'd get Charlotte the sequel. More Pants features another bouncy pants-related rhyme with plenty of big and colourful illustrations and characters courtesy of Nick Sharrat. Though the original is still the best, More Pants is great fun and there are plenty of subversive giggles to be had as you find out exactly what spaghetti pants would look like, or what undergarments you should wear when dancing with the queen (Answer: Expensive ones). 

Charlotte's best bit: "Have you done a farty-pants? No not me!"

Daddy's favourite bit: "Black belt in Karate Pants"