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)

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)

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!