Oh no, someone's got a monk on! It's time for the return of Sarah McIntyre's super-surly and fabulous creation to make a second appearance in "Don't Call Me Grumpycorn" which is out today, hooray!

Unicorn, Narwhal, Mermaid and Jellyfish are ready for an adventure and Unicorn comes up with a plan for the best adventure yet - venturing out into the deep darkness of outer space.

But when the four friends disagree over which planet to visit first, Unicorn most definitely turns into a very grumpy Grumpycorn and decides to go off on his own.

Will Unicorn see the error of his ways? 

Our first book of the week is a poetry compilation that stretches arms across the world to embrace and celebrate the natural wonders, the amazing beauty and the glorious creatures our planet plays host to.

"Poems from a Green and Blue Planet" edited by Sabrina Mahfouz and illustrated by Aaron Cushley is more than just a celebration of these things, it's also at times a solemn and all too timely reminder of just what we stand to lose if we don't dig in and do someting about climate change.

The selection of poems, haikus, prose, rap and lyrics has been carefully selected by Sabrina to show our planet at its best, most glorious and most stunning.

From poems that evoke and celebrate the passing of the seasons, to verses about amazing creatures, there's truly something for everyone in here - and even just reading down the contents list, you can feel all the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end at the sheer diversity and amazing variety of subjects covered in this beautiful, beautiful book.

With truly stunning illustrations from Aaron, this is one to treasure and keep for generations to come.

"Poems from a Green and Blue Planet" edited by Sabrina Mahfouz and illustrated by Aaron Cushley is out now, published by Scholastic Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Whoah, now here's something that sung out to both of us - with our dual obsession of comics AND videogames being nicely catered for in the wholly original and fantastic "Glitch" by Sarah Graley.

Sarah is something of a rising star in comics, with her previous fabulous "Kim Reaper" series already being a firm fave of C's

So what's Glitch all about?

It begins with a nerdy girl who has an utterly amazing secret - one that many videogame fans would love to experience themselves. Izzy, you see, can enter the world of her new videogame.

But not just in a virtual-reality type way, Izzy is really there - and what's more she discovers that she has an important role to play. She can save the entire population of Dungeon City from an all-powerful and nefarious monster, The Big Boss.

Izzy soon begins to find that balancing a virtual superhero life with a real mundane one isn't as easy as it sounds, particularly when you very quickly realise you're not indestructible in either world.

Maintaining her friendship with bestie Eric is even tougher too - as Eric has no idea about Izzy's dual life. But definitely knows something's amiss.

How can Izzy possibly save both Dungeon City AND her friendship? Life's tough on a nerd girl!

Straight off the bat, Sarah's brilliant observations and situational comedy merge together with a ton of gamer-girl appeal. C actually now prefers Glitch to Kim Reaper! Yipes! And we're both desperate for more stories from Izzy.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Absolutely brilliant stuff, the sort of graphic novel that really works for reluctant readers who don't want to move on from picture books, but want a bit more 'meat' to their stories.

"Glitch" by Sarah Graley is out now, published by Scholastic (kindly supplied for review). 

Our second Book of the Week is a really fantastic resource for children and parents, to help them navigate the minefield of mental health issues that arise as kids pass from tweens to teens, thus making it absolutely perfect for coverage on our blog.

"How not to Lose it - Mental Health Sorted" by mental health expert and presenter Anna Williamson comfortably covers a broad range of subjects in an expert and informed way.

Whereas we've seen many books that are well meaning, but not always written by folk who are qualified and experienced. As well as being a television presenter, Anna is a qualified Childline counsellor and ambassador for the Princes Trust.

Drawing on real-life cases and issues that children face, Anna has put together a fantastic book along similar lines to her "Breaking Mum and Dad" but with more of an emphasis on the increasing pressure and mental health issues that children are now facing at an increasingly early age.

Sophie's graphics help to make the book feel more friendly and approachable

The book covers anxiety, worry, depression and fear, but also covers relationships, issues around self-esteem and has loads of extra resources and external links so that kids can get the help they need.

One thing Anna does that others seem to fail to do is taking "Me" out of the equation. We've seen so many self-help guides for kids that just feel like the person writing it would rather talk about themselves or their own experiences, whereas Anna draws in cases as examples and helps kids and parents to decode and understand each issue in a really effective way.

Anna is here to help!

There are so many excellent points and observations here that it's hard to pick just one great example that impressed us, the whole book works brilliantly either as a reference to dip into, or as a cover-to-cover 'map' of the sort of things children regularly experience in conjunction with their own mental health worries or stresses.

We are all complicated, wonderful human beings and yes, we all do have mental as well as physical health to consider in our daily lives.

Hugely impressed with this one!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A vital mental health resource from someone who really feels like they speak with friendliness, authority and experience.

"How not to Lose It: Mental Health Sorted" by Anna Williamson and Sophie Beer is out now, published by Scholastic (kindly supplied for review). 

Penguins seem to lend themselves well to amusing little tales for younger readers. Well they're just so durned cute...!

Booky Advent Calendar Day 23 sees the return of a book series we've really enjoyed over the last couple of years.

Mighty girl Poppy Pym is back in Laura Wood's latest book in this fantastic set for a festive adventure par excellence!

"Poppy Pym and the Beastly Blizzard", clad in its christmassy cover dives straight into an action packed adventure for Poppy.

When a mysterious runaway van crashes into St Smithen's on the first day of the new school year, Poppy knows it's going to be an action-packed term!

But when accidents continue to happen at St Smithen's, Poppy can't shake the feeling that her every move is being watched.

With the Christmas holidays looming, secrets lurking in every corner and rumours of a dangerous beast on the loose, Poppy must unravel her biggest mystery yet.

Can Poppy unmask the hidden spy before someone gets hurt?

This is the perfect book for your middle grade bookworms to keep them thoroughly absorbed over the Christmas hols with a brilliantly paced adventure full of awesome character and appeal.

"Poppy Pym and the Beastly Blizzard" by Laura Wood is out now, published by Scholastic (kindly supplied for review). 

Take one Olivier Award Winning Songwriter, comedian and playwright...add an illustrative genius and what do you get? Sheer picture book bliss!

If ever you're asked to name a dream pairing working in children's books today, you'd definitely have to mention Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler for sure...

Roaring engines, shifting dirt, we never get fed up with books about diggers...!

We have a fantastic guest post today from Paula Harrison, whose new "Robyn Silver" Middle Grade series is currently spooking our socks off!

Our Chapter Book of the Week this week is the second in the latest series by an author Charlotte has grown up with. Exciting middle grade adventures abound in "Robyn Silver: The Darkest Dream"...

My brother Harry and I had these little cloth satchels that were our ticket to adventure. His was green and mine was red and often in the morning our Nan would pack us up a picnic and then Paps would take us out to fly kites or to hunt the beast of Bodmin Moor. This beast was our nemesis and we hunted it across great distances with our magnifying glasses, always alert and on the look out for the unexplainable paw prints that indicated we were closing in on our target. Sometimes we played Holmes and Watson, where Paps was Watson and Harry and I took it in turn to be Holmes. Recently Paps found a postcard that Harry had sent him from a family holiday in Menorca. It makes me really happy.





It’s no coincidence that I ended up writing a series about a girl detective who gets tangled up in several tricky mysteries. In many ways Poppy and I are alike…only for her the mysteries she solves with her pals Kip and Ingrid really take place, while my mysteries existed in a rich imaginative world that is so tangled up with my memories of Cornwall.

When it came to writing the third Poppy Pym book I knew that I wanted to draw on these really special memories and experiences, and so ‘Poppy Pym and the Smuggler’s Secret’ was born. It’s a book about a school trip to the Cornish coast, but it’s also a book about endless sunshine, and ice cream cones, and sandy toes, and picnics, and smuggler’s caves and the smell of the sea. It’s a book that pays tribute to those Famous Five books I used to read on my summer holidays, and it’s a love letter to a place that has always seemed a little magical to me. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Oooh! If there's one thing that gets our trotters in a twist, it's the prospect of re-reading fabulous books we've already loved in hardback in their new paperback clothes.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it appears to be a tiny little bat in a rather fetching superhero costume. It must be Superbat!!

It's actually been a very long time since we've read a "Princess" book - but this is Alex T. Smith so we're prepared to make exceptions...!

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Depicting the most frenetic superhero adventures with a deft flick of your pen, pencil or crayon! Join in with "Create your own Superhero Epic" by Andrew and Chris Judge!

We're very honoured to be joining in a fab book blog tour for Emer Stamp's wonderful creation, the happy go lucky and awesomely super "Pig"

Pig is getting a bit of an old hand (or should that be old ham? Oh you bet we're going to be wheeling out every piggy pun we can think of!) at keeping a diary of his rather amazing adventures. Who'd think that a fairly ordinary porker could lead such a frantic and adventure-filled life?

Back in the mists of time, I read "The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig" to Charlotte, and it was such a huge hit that she's read it many, many times since. In the first book, Pig falls foul of some rather horrible chickens who seem intent on ridding the farm of pig for good. If you're new to Emer's Pig stories you really should dig, the first book is pigging brilliant!

As well as nefarious and evil chickens, pig comes up with an awesome plan for a rather strange mode of transport - a tractor rocket, fuelled by the most natural (and probably the pongiest) fuel ever. We'll leave you to find out what that is (ew!!!)

In the mists of time, we seem to have lost touch with our favourite porcine but his adventures continued and Book 2, "The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig" introduces a new friend for Pig to go on crazy adventures with. Kitty is a vegetarian cat, and the two become firm friends while living on Pig's new farm (with two vegetarian farmers who aren't in danger of fancying a round of bacon, very luckily for Pig!)

However, not everything on the farm is rosy. Duck warns Pig that Kitty may not be the perfect purring feline she seems, and may have her own sneaky plans in hand - for getting pig into some SERIOUS trouble!


Now Pig is back! In "The Seriously Ordinary Diary of Pig", Pig, Duck, Cow and the Sheeps are far away from home but never far away from danger as they go on a rambunctious expedition. Expect mischief, mayhem, plops, squelches and complete craziness as Pig once again chronicles his adventures in a whole new diary.

I've often said that any book series that can make Charlotte genuinely cackle with glee is always going to be a huge win and Emer Stamp's fabulous characterisations are fab to read aloud (though nowadays, Charlotte is more likely to snatch the books out of my hand with a whoop of glee, and closet herself away until she's voraciously read through the lot!).

"The Top Secret Diary of Pig", "The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig" and the latest fabulous book "The Seriously Extraordinary Diary of Pig" are available from Scholastic Publishing with the third book just released (4th February). Go geddem, piggy fans!

Our second book of the week this week could be the answer to something we've wanted for a LONG time. A fantastic way for middle-graders to get the inside track on comic heroes the rest of us love, without insulting their intelligence...

Hi Cerrie / Laura, thanks for joining us at ReadItDaddy. Can you
tell us a little bit more about yourselves and your new mighty girl
Harper!


CERRIE: Hello 'Read it Daddy' fans I'm Cerrie Burnell , writer, presenter and mummy. Some of you might know me from CBeebies, but I'm also a children's author. My picture books (also with the lovely Laura) include Snowflakes, Mermaid and Ballet Dreams. My first chapter book- which I'm super excited about is called Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella. It follows the story of Harper a girl with a rare, musical gift, whose beloved cat Midnight goes missing. Together with her three best friends, Liesel- a girl who wishes she was a mouse, Ferdie - a serious boy, with a serious scarf and Nate - a boy with mist-coloured wolf, she sets out across the City of Clouds in her flying scarlet umbrella to rescueMidnight and the other disappeared cats.

LAURA: Thanks ReadItDaddy! I'm an author/illustrator by day, and Batman by night. (Ed: We always suspected as much!)

Illustrating Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella was an absolute joy. I've illustrated many other children's picture books and fiction series, and loved every single one. I count myself very lucky.

I'm also the creator of Evil Emperor Penguin, who's first book was released at the beginning of October! Mwahahahaaaar! And I have my very own debut picture book being published early 2017, so watch this space! I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else, other than perhaps go to Hogwarts and make spells.


Can you tell us a little bit about the books you loved as children?

CERRIE: As a child I couldn't read myself until I was 8 as I'm dyslexic, so my mum read to me, night after night, gently enriching my world with stories. The books I loved best were The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll which my grandma read to me, and I also loved Matilda by Roald Dahl.

LAURA: I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy. I loved the illustrations and they inspired me so much. The Twits and The Witches by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake have always been favourites of mine too. Hilarious and wonderfully illustrated!


We love the format of "Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella", was it a
conscious decision to include more illustrations in the chapter book
format? (It's definitely a format we've seen more and more of recently
and one we definitely approve of!)

CERRIE: I really wanted Harper to be full of illustrations. It's quite a detailed story with a whole world of characters, so beautiful, fun drawings add to the magic. I'm delighted with the result!

LAURA: It's certainly a format I, as the illustrator, am extremely fond of and love to see in a chapter book. The text and illustrations in Harper & the Scarlet Umbrella go hand in hand and compliment each other well, which is why Cerrie and I work so well together :)


(To Cerrie) Are Alex, Andy and Sid as cheeky as they seem?
CERRIE: Yes Andy, Alex and Sid are most definitely as cheeky as they seem on screen. When we’re filming it’s normally a ten or eleven hour day- so you have to be yourself, and all of us like to fill the day with fun.

(To Laura) Can we please have another Evil Emperor Penguin collection
sometime soon?

Cerrie Burnell

Laura Ellen Anderson

Happy Book Birthday! Out today is this rather superb new pirate adventure from a man who knows his buccaneers from his brigands! Chris Mould's "Pocket Pirates" Book 1!