Getting a curmudgeonly 11 year old to review a book about potty training would normally be a hopeless cause - if it wasn't for the fact that this is a Sam Lloyd book, and Sam's books were a huge part of C's early reading journey.

"Put your Botty on the Potty" by Sam Lloyd might at first appear to be a zany scatological look at something that we might now take for granted, but for many parents trying to get their fidgety little misses or misters to stay put while they do their business isn't easy - so what better than a hilarious and strangely captivating lift the flap book to keep them occupied while they do their number ones and number twos!

With Sam's trademark crazy humour, little ones will soon demand this book every time they sit down to take a load off. Thankfully it's nicely designed and should survive a good wet-wiping or two!

Little Moo Monster is growing up and no longer happy to be in a nappy. Moo wants to be more grown up than his baby sister. So the lovable monster discards his diaper and suddenly there's poop everywhere (oh gawd, we do remember this all too well, even though it was over a decade ago!)

Day 2 of our advent calendar sees a thoroughly rotten yuletide character who could give The Grinch a run for his money. Meet Santa Claws - and no that's not a misspelling. Santa Claws is a foul and stinky beast who dresses up in a red coat and hat, marching through the snow to spread christmas chaos as he trudges from house to house. He scoffs the mince pies (and the carrots left out for rudolf) and all he leaves little children are the sort of presents no one wants to see in their stockings (needless to say this is the bit that made Charlotte laugh the loudest in this brilliantly hilarious tale).

It's not too long before the real Santa notices that a doppelganger is horning in on the christmas action, and so St Nick puts a stop to Santa Claws misbehaviour.

Can the two of them work together to save christmas?

This is a chaotic and fun tale from the author and illustrator of "Yikes! Stinkysaurus" back with a seasonal tale full of fun!

Charlotte's best bit: Santa Claws leaving little brown 'presents' everywhere after eating practically all of the seasonal scoff in site!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Hugely fun and naughty, a hilarious antidote to stuffy and serious christmas books, we LOVE it!

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

Here's a thought - is it possible to tick all the right boxes for a book celebrating how amazing mums are without - well, to put no finer point on it - upsetting some mums?

In "Dino Mummy", which is intended as the aforementioned, a book gently telling us what we already know, that mums are super-amazing, multitasking, rock-solid and hugely deserving of all our love and hugs, a friend (no names, no pack drill) mentioned that she was annoyed by the book. I could see her point. The book's 'dad' character sits quietly by and lets mum do all the cooking, washing, ironing, shopping and parenting while he adopts the '1950s dad' stance of scoffing dinner, reading the paper and languishing in his comfy chair.

Charlotte's attitude to the book was interesting - in some ways, you can see why books often opt for showing a single parent in situations like these. She picked up on the fact that the dad dino was a bit useless, and in fact if you analyse things further, he's really only there to tick the boxes for the 'average family unit' (Dad, Mum, Brother, Sister).

We read and enjoyed the story, with Mark's fantastic rhymes and wonderful illustrations by Sam Lloyd, and Charlotte noted sagely (with all the wisdom and straight shooting you'd expect from a 5 year old) that "Dino Dad is no fun". I couldn't really shake my friend's analysis of the book, in fact there would probably have been less upset if the dad character was entirely absent - that way you'd feel that the mum character was even more worthy of praise.

Another thing worth noting is that very little demonstrable love is shown between dad and mum, though perhaps that's the point - Dad takes a back seat in the story intentionally to ensure that mum deservingly basks in the spotlight.

Flipping things on their head, dads get a fairly raw deal in children's books at times. There are so many books that show dad as being a bit dozy, useless, clumsy even - but sometimes silly and fun, so there's definitely a fine balancing act involved if you're aiming to achieve picture book perfection.

Do we book bloggers over-analyse things? Or should we (perhaps quite rightly) point out that it's 2014 and yet there are still books that crop up in our review piles and throw a zillion and one questions up that really have little or nothing to do with the book's intention, but consume us with our perception of whether the message was lost in the mist of tripping over its own good intentions by glaringly not reflecting family life as we know it. I thoroughly recommend you read Dino Mummy to your children, and get their honest reactions to it. If nothing else, take it as intended - a book that joyfully and colourfully tells you that mums are champs, dino or otherwise!


Charlotte's best bit: Snuggling up for bedtime stories, of course!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Breakfast time!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)

Don't worry, we haven't gone completely christmassy - there's still room to squeeze in some reviews here and there, and here's a brilliant dino book that will have your little ones giggling (and might actually get them to wash their hands a bit more!)

"Yikes, Stinkysaurus!" tells the tale of a happy go lucky dinosaur who, and let's be honest here, is more than a bit whiffy. As much as his friends put up with his unpleasant ming, it's all getting a bit too much. He's dirty, his breath is the foulest thing on earth, and he really could use a good manicure.

So the dino friends hatch a plan. No dinosaur should be able to fell a T-Rex at 20 paces so they decide to make the bubbliest bubble bath ever, and trick StinkySaurus into falling right into it!

New author Pamela Butchart has teamed up with Sam Lloyd, who has a knack for producing the most vibrant and funny illustrations for children's books (who on earth can resist the lure of the hilarious "Calm Down, Boris!" - Kissy Kissy!)

This is knockabout fun, with a neat little message tucked into its scented folds. Love it!

Charlotte's best bit: Stinkysaurus ending up in a pink bubbly bath. Phew!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Funny, bouncy, a bit whiffy in places but brilliant stuff!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)

Sam Lloyd's "Whoops-a-daisy World" books are all new to us, but we can never resist a twisty turny detective mystery, so with "Inspector Croc Investigates" we get to meet some of the folk who live in this colourful land - including a rather superb croc copper.

Inspector Croc is tenacious, and the story starts with him sitting at his desk one morning at "Catch-Em-Crooks" Police Station. The emergency line starts ringing, and it's time for Inspector Croc to spring into action.

Something's definitely going on in this usually peaceful town. A tin of pink paint is knocked over, making a huge mess. A bike ends up embedded in freshly laid cement. A farmer's field is all but wrecked, and all clues seem to indicate that the felon is someone living in the town! But who?

Children will love solving the mystery as you read the story, building up the clues until the answer is revealed (which we won't spoil for you). Keen sharp eyes need to be on top form because the mystery and the clues start even before you think they do - which is a great excuse to dive back through the book for a second reading as soon as you've finished.

Sam Lloyd's easy style, which we loved in Mr Pusskins, lends itself well to building up the story and the fun as the answer is slowly revealed. Charlotte loved tracing the various tracks made by the perpetrator - and we'll definitely be looking out for the other books in the "Whoops-a-daisy-World" series (Doctor Miaow's Big Emergency and Chief Rhino to the Rescue).

Animal-based books are tricky to get right. Sometimes they can be a bit too cute and cuddly, sometimes they just feel like they've all come from the same mould. "Inspector Croc" feels fresh, fun, original and brilliant. We love it!

Charlotte's best bit: Solving the clues (she actually guessed who the miscreant would be before I did!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: So much detail in the artwork, lovely little funny things to spot and a grand mystery that is fun to solve. Oh and watch out for the very end of the book too, Inspector Croc will have a busy day again!

Remember our mysterious tweet about "The Dark Alternate Universe version of 64 Zoo Lane?" Well this was the book we were talking about, and I'm really in two minds about it.

Charlotte loves it though, because - well let's face it, you can never ever get enough rudeness, farting and burping in books when you're of a certain age.

Sam Lloyd is brilliant, no doubt about it. The genius behind one of our favourite moggy characters in books, the awesome (and slightly grumpy) Mr Pusskins, Sam's books are rib-ticklingly funny, full of bold and colourful illustrations and great read-aloud books.

But this one? Hmm. I think I'm all 'ruded' out, perhaps it's because it's become such a common thing to see bare bums, farts and burps used as comic punctuation in kid's books. Though there is a moral message about manners here and if there's one thing kids can never learn enough of, it's how to behave themselves.

So we meet a Gorilla who, like half of Charlotte's Classmates, spends his entire life with one finger jammed up his nose fishing around for a tasty snack. A parrot who can't stop talking (though is eventually stopped in a fantastic moment of karma), a sneezing flamingo who never covers her nose or mouth (ew!) and...oh my, the less said about the Giraffe the better. You never saw Georgina doing THAT on 64 Zoo Lane (sorry to keep mentioning An Vrombaut's brilliant books but look at the back cover of this. Do those animals look a little familiar to you?)

Of course I'm being a stuffy fuddy duddy, and any book that makes a child laugh should be treasured, and this made Charlotte laugh a lot for all the right reasons (and quite a lot of the wrong ones too). Will it teach your child better manners? You'd hope so, but if it makes them giggle like gibbons, all the better too.

Charlotte's best bit: The shocking Giraffe.

Daddy's favourite bit: A moral tale that reminds us of the key things of importance when meeting animals. Don't get too close to the business end!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Books)