Flying Eye, we've got to talk. If this carries on, people will say we're in love...!

Once again the fabulous publisher of innovative children's book titles nails our Book of the Week slot, with a book that could almost have been custom made for us. We've previously made no secret of our space geekery. We've previously told you how much we love books that mix together cool characters with a good dose of facts and figures about our favourite subject. We've also probably told you how we love wonderful retro artwork that instantly makes a book feel like it absolutely has to have a place on your shelf, in your hands, and tucked under your pillow at night.

(Can you tell we love this book yet? Can you?)

Take a trip in the Professor's awesome flying saucer!

Professor Astro Cat is our guide on a journey around the stratosphere. Starting with the big bang, and bringing us right up to the present day with the fantastic Mars Rover, "Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space" is utterly chock full of the most wondrous illustrations, suffused with facts and figures that are kid-friendly but don't attempt to dumb things down.

We find out how the sun erupted into being, how the solar system formed, and why poor Pluto (or Polluto as Charlotte calls it) is no longer classed as a planet.

Awesome animal characters help the Professor explain the intricacies of space

The book came with some fabulous art cards (including a wonderful diagram of the Apollo Missions space suit - which you'll also find in the book), gorgeous Prof Astro Cat wrapping paper (which I've pinched and hidden away!) and a tote bag which I've been proudly toting around as our main book-carrying bag. Really though the galaxy-spanning star of the show is the book which truly does make space-curious youngsters even more curious to find out more about the inky black void our little blue planet floats around in.

Charlotte's best bit: Reading the book with Grandad, who loves all things spacey himself!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Perfectly pitched, beautifully written, wonderfully illustrated. Feel like this is becoming our mantra when describing Flying Eye books but if you're looking for a range of titles to stuff into a stocking - or the perfect book for would-be astronauts, you need look no further than this gorgeous gorgeous book

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bounce Marketing / Flying Eye Books)

I love it when a book is so funny that it makes Charlotte cackle like a tiny little blonde witch. Cackle, roar with laughter, giggle, snigger and snort - and also endlessly quote the funny bits for days afterwards.

There really is no more joyous a sound in life than a child's laughter. So thank you very much Mr Tony Blundell for producing a book that made both of us laugh so loudly that Mummy wondered what on earth was the matter as we read it over the weekend!

A hungry wolf is inspired by the story of Little Red Riding Hood (we're guessing the wolf didn't read until the end of the book, otherwise he might've known what was going to happen!)

With a rumbling tummy, Wolf hops round to a little girl's house for a quick snack (the girl being the snack, of course). As we all know, little girls are smart and cunning so she comes up with a plan to make Mr Wolf work for his supper.

Through an ever-increasingly complex set of demands, poor Mr Wolf is soon run ragged trying to pretend to be the little girl's granny. Does the wolf succeed? We'll let you find that one out for yourself.

What made us laugh is the Wolf's frenetic efforts to pretend to be Grandma. Reminding us of the sheer effort that Wile E. Coyote used to exert in order to bag himself a fairly lean chunk of road-runner-steak, spending millions of dollars on Acme products when he could've probably nipped round to the local burger joint and picked himself up a square meal.

But the bits that made Charlotte really laugh out loud - and the bits that had her sneaking off to read this book to herself (which again gets a huge 'THANK YOU' from us, you genius Tony!) are the bits where Wolf completely mixes up his descriptions of what he's wearing / doing. Sticky dresses, feathery toffees, high heeled cakes. The mere mention of these phrases has Charlotte completely broken up in giggles.

I realised we have previously covered Tony Blundell's other "Beware of" book, "Beware of Boys" on the blog and that was also a book of the week! No surprise then that we loved this to bits too. It's a complete hoot!


Charlotte's best bit: Wolf mixing up descriptions of the goodies he's trying to bestow on the savvy little girl - and the girl's dog trying to warn her about the wolf.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Love the fact that Charlotte would sneak off to read this on her own, laughing the whole time. Lovely!

Crayons eh? You either love them or hate them. There's probably no more iconic an image of a well-loved device for making marks than the humble crayon, wrapped in its little paper sleeve with its coloured head poking out, ready to draw, scrawl and scribble.

Charlotte voraciously consumes crayons like some amazing crayon-eating monster so this book instantly hit the right note with her, and with me - because of the freshness of it and the beautifully observed humour.

When a boy reaches for his favourite art materials one day in school, he's surprised to find that the waxy little fellows aren't there - but instead there's a tiny pile of letters, written by each coloured crayons.

As the book unfolds, we learn that Yellow and Orange are eternally locked in a battle of wills as to who should represent the true colour of the sun. Pink is feeling a little left out (alright, alright, let's not get into the whole 'pink' thing - because at home, Pink would be the crayon complaining about being the shortest and stubbiest of the bunch - not blue!)

Black is a little fed up with just being used for witch hats and outlines, while Beige is convinced that he's more important and can be used for more things than Brown.

We LOVED this! Drew DeWalt has given each crayon a character and a voice that fits perfectly, and with the aid of Oliver Jeffers' trademark art style, this book has given us a whole new appreciation of our pen-pot full of scrabbly scrawlers! We won't give away the end of the book, but it inspired us to dive into our disparate collection of art materials and ensure that all the colours got plenty of love and appreciation. After all, where on earth would we be if we came downstairs full of artistic inspiration and found they'd all gone on strike!

Funny, brilliant, get it!


Charlotte's best bit: The naked crayon, the unwrapped one who was too shy to emerge from the box, EEK!

Daddy's Favourite bit: So many nods of "Yep, that's us" in this - and so many big smiley moments. Never neglect your crayons, you never know when you might need them!

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

Lots and lots and LOTS of books examine friendships, and children seem to love books that feature characters who are firm friends, then go through some turmoil and upset before realising how much they take each other for granted.

In "Hey Presto" we meet the marvellous Presto, a rather magical little cat and his best friend Monty - a showman dog.

When the dynamic duo join a local circus, the rather shy Presto is happy to let his friend hog the limelight while he weaves his spells backstage. Monty is a huge success but fame is addictive, and soon Monty shoves Presto to one side to pursue his career as the world's most famous magical dog.

Presto is rather upset by this and decides that there's only one course of action - leave Monty to it. But of course no magic act can survive purely on showmanship and razzmatazz so once the magic is gone, Monty's dreams of fame and fortune are too.

Can the pair make up in time for the big show?

We'll let you find out. We've loved Nadia Shireen's work for a long time (We loved "Good Little Wolf" and it earned 4 out of 5 stars back when we used to put ratings on our books). We were so impressed by this new spin on a story of friendships going awry, and Nadia's little Presto is just so cute we couldn't resist it.

Charlotte's best bit: She's definitely having a "I love cute things" week - and fell in love head over heels with Presto (well he is cute!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Always great to see a new spin or an original twist on a story that has been told and retold in various different forms. A standout book, we loved it!

You know, for our book of the week nominations we'd normally baulk at the prospect of picking a book with such a controversial title. After all, we LOVE picture books so how could we possibly love a picture book that features a character that absolutely hates them?

You'll see, my dears, you'll see!

In Timothy Young's hilarious and irreverent look at the very things we hold hallowed here on ReadItDaddy you'll meet young Max who has absolutely had it up to the back teeth with picture books. Full of duff advice from what to feed your slightly famished caterpillar, to the trouble you can get into with a certain type of coloured crayon, Max really wants rid of the pesky things and is busily boxing them up to put out with the trash when we first meet him.

Funny books for children should also be funny for the adults who read them to their younglings, and I found myself snorting with laughter at Max's plight and of course loving the various (well mannered and well meant) digs at some of the most beloved picture books on the planet. For Charlotte, as well as giggling at naughty Max, there was the bonus of spotting subtly drawn and identifiable covers to the very books she's had read to her over the years (including much excitement at spotting a certain book cover featuring a boy and a robot. Aw, you know the one we mean!)

So has Max really finished with picture books? Have you? If the answer to the latter question is 'yes' then you need this book in your life as it may well re-ignite all those memories you hold dear of picture books past and present. If the answer is a firm and shouty "no!" as ours is, you'll still absolutely love it for firmly poking its tongue out at you before inviting you over for a big snuggly picture-book cuddle!

Brilliant and very cheeky stuff! We LOVE it!

Charlotte's best bit: Spotting all the lovely little homages to our fave picture books woven into the tale

Daddy's favourite bit: As above, loved the cheeky references. (Also, I seriously think Tim should be working on a book called "I Hate Children's TV Programmes!" next :)

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Schiffer Publishing through NetGalley)

Here's Part Two of this week's "Book of the Week" double header. Now you can see why it was so very tough to choose between two utterly superb comics that have rarely strayed from our reading pile this week (when a book is demanded morning, noon and night - and quite often at all the moments in between, you know it's struck a chord!)

I've had my eye on the Hilda books for a long time. Luke Pearson's visual style and storytelling have always intrigued and interested me so we took the plunge and picked up "Hildafolk" as a bit of a taster to getting the rest of the Hilda books. We've seen many recommendations and euphoric tweets about Pearson's meisterworks so we wanted to find out if all the fuss was justified.

It is - and then some.

If you were brought up on cool surreal stuff like "The Moomins" or you've ever had any love for folk tales (particularly Nordic ones) you'll instantly love Hilda to bits. She's a plucky little girl with blue hair and a pointy nose. She's got the coolest pet called Twig. But best of all she seeks out and befriends Trolls!

One night after camping out in a Rainstorm, Hilda wakes to find that a Troll Rock is quite close to home. Tying a bell to its 'nose' (just in case it moves, of course), Hilda sets out with her sketchbook to sketch the Troll Rock and catalogue her discoveries.

As she settles down in her own bed for the night, she's woken by something extremely disturbing. A tiny tinkling of a bell...

Just what is going on, and who is the mysterious Wood Man who keeps coming into the house to lie in front of the fire?

There's just the right balance of brilliant characters. Charlotte absolutely adores the brave and adventure-seeking Hilda but secretly I think she loves Wood Man more (as do I!) Luke Pearson manages to delicately flavour the story with just enough spookiness to keep children enthralled without scaring them, and a whole ton of interest. Experiencing Hildafolk for us was exquisite torture because it is fairly short, but like eating the tiniest morsel of the most delicious strong cheddar, it has you craving more as soon as you reach the last page.

We're in danger of wearing our copy of Hildafolk out - and will be picking up "Hilda and the Bird Parade" and "Hilda and the Midnight Giant" as quickly as we possibly can. Hilda is, without doubt, the sort of comicbook hero that (along with Gum Girl) Charlotte can wholly embrace as being someone who speaks to her in her own language and appeals to her curiosity and sense of excitement for dark and mysterious comic worlds. Utterly, utterly, utterly brilliant and we cannot wait for more. NoBrow seem to be publishing some of the most exciting titles on the market at the moment and we'll be hoovering up as many as we can!

Charlotte's best bit: She cackles with laughter at Wood Man's antics. I really struggled to find the right voice to read his dialogue in (I opted for a slightly reedy and uber plummy accent but also tried him out with a sort of scritchy-scratchy 'raggety' voice too). She loves Hilda very much too.

Daddy's favourite bit: In all honesty I thought that "Hildafolk" would win our book of the week outright, as it's really been in demand but Gum Girl has too. I utterly drank in Luke Pearson's work like the most glorious draft of some fabulous elixir. Addictive, darkly tinged but not scary, with one of the best set of characters I've seen in a comic for a very long time. WE WANT MORE!!!