What would you do with the elephant in the room?

One set of nursery school kids find out in the adorable "Humperdink, our Elephant Friend" by Sean Taylor and Claire Alexander.

Playtime at the nursery is always awesome, but one little girl discovers that she loves to play games that the other kids don't.

She has a daring streak and loves rough and tumble games but when Humperdink the baby elephant joins the children’s playgroup, he seems friendly enough, but it soon becomes clear that he’s not very good at the usual games the children play, like dressing up or hide-and-seek.

When he breaks the children’s favourite slide, everyone feels sad.

But with a little patience and understanding the children soon discover that Humperdink is good at some things – especially if they use their imaginations – leading to a riotously fun conclusion.

There are lots of neat little touches to this story, acceptance and learning that sometimes playing games others prefer rather than pushing your own choices can reap rewards, and maybe gain you a new friend or two (elephant shaped or otherwise!)

Sum this book up in a sentence: Sean Taylor makes storytelling look easy in this rather delightful little tale, perfectly complimented by Claire Alexander's characterful and gorgeous illustrations.

"Humperdink Our Elephant Friend" by Sean Taylor and Claire Alexander is out now, published by Words and Pictures (kindly supplied for review). 

Here's a couple of brilliant new books from Otter-Barry kicking off with a riotous and crazy set of stories about a very odd fellow indeed...

As soon as the calendar turns over for December, we're longing for Snow (though it's not much fun to try and commute through, it is lovely to imagine that the dusty cobweb-covered old sledge in the loft might get some action this year).

Imagine being tiny again, and looking out your window at the flurries and drifts of snow, and all the endless possibilities for fun that can be had.

That's what Sean Taylor and Claire Alexander perfectly capture in our Booky Advent Calendar book for Day 10, "The Snowbear".

Snow comes in the middle of the night, and Iggy and Martina can't wait to get out in it and make a snowbear.

Beautiful snowy landscapes and the sort of story that pinches your cheeks with that frisson of winteryness. Love it!

Oh my! A moment of danger and excitement.

Such beautiful characterful artwork to underpin a story that's destined to become a christmas classic

Bang on time for Halloween, and looking every bit the part with its spooky theme and colour scheme, here's "I Want to be in a Scary Story" by Sean Taylor and Jean Jullien...

The madcap team of Sean Taylor and Kate Hindley return with a whole new crop of weird heroes to entertain us, all the way from Zabalooloo...

This book is, quite literally, a hoot!

There seem to be a run on bears at Walker Books at the moment - which is fitting, given their branding. Here's a glorious dad-centric story about an incredibly brave little bruin!

I love any book that makes Charlotte cackle with glee, just like our first Book of the Week this week - "Don't Call Me Choochie Pooh" by Sean Taylor and Kate Hindley...

Crazy about cheddar? Falling over yourself for Feta? Ga-ga about gorgonzola? You can bet we'll be (cheese)wheeling out more cheesetastic puns for our review of "The World Famous Cheese Shop Break-In"

"What a Naughty Bird!" by Sean Taylor and Dan Widdowson features a mischievous feathered terror who is an expert at hitting the spot with a well timed well aimed plop or two. This bird isn't interested in inanimate objects that can't express their outrage, he loves pooping on other animals! He'll drop his cargo on a crocodile, take a dump on a dromedary and poop all over people!

Is that really wise? Dropping your doo-doo on a raging bull?

Little ones will, by now, be in fits of laughter as this naughty NAUGHTY bird continues his japes and antics, retiring safely to his nest high up in the treetops to have a good laugh about his daily escapades. But when the bird chooses one victim in particular, he may well have met his match!

He's just SO NAUGHTY! Scoping out targets at the water hole...

It's a giggle a minute, and even highbrow folk such as us can't resist the charms of such a naughty character who gets away with his filthy crimes (but gets his just desserts in a rather amusing way!)











Charlotte's best bit: The sheer outrage on the face of the angry bull, who ends up wearing a rather squishy new 'hat'

Daddy's Favourite bit: We can't resist a really naughty character like the doo-doo bird. He's just bad to the bone!






(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing)

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"The Little Mole Who Knew it was None of His Business" by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch (Pavilion Children's Books)

If you've ever been lucky enough to see a Hippopotamus up close, they always seem to be grinning right across their huge gaping mouths. What makes a Hippopotamus smile? Find out in this new story from Sean Taylor and Laurent Cardon.

A young girl is quite shocked and surprised when a Hippo visitor literally crashes through her front door ready for a play date. Luckily this little girl knows exactly how to cheer up a hippopotamus. Lots of messy watery play, lots of healthy salad (in fact tons!), a great frothy bath and a big cuddle to finish.

The problem is, if a hippo finds themselves made TOO welcome, might they be back next time with a few friends?

Fun knockabout humour, glorious illustrations, we realised we don't see enough hippos in books!

Charlotte's best bit: Hippo bath times look like a heck of a lot of fun (well, unless you're trying to squeeze into the bath with one)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Riotous fun, lovely artwork, a fab book putting one of our favourite (and much neglected children's book) animals in the spotlight. Hooray!

I wholly identify with the mouse in this cute little story of perfectionism. You know how it is when you have everything just right, but there's just something that niggles at you, something that isn't quite right and then when you fiddle with the broken thing, you make everything else ten times worse.

Charlotte too knows only too well what it's like when she's building the perfect Lego house, and is just putting the roof on - presses too hard and the whole thing collapses in on itself! Oh dear! We've seen many a tantrum and tears.

Mouse notices a wonky window on his dream house, and when a helpful bear tries to fix it, mouse ends up in more trouble than he knows what to do with. One broken window. Thankfully squirrel is just passing by, and he's an expert carpenter. He sorts out the window but lo, he's drilled a hole in the water pipe, filling Mouse's dear little kitchen with water.

And so it goes on, until mouse's house is a pile of rubble, wrecked beyond all recognition by his well-meaning friends.

They do make amends though, in grand style much to mouse's relief. But wait a minute, what's this tiny imperfection with mouse's new pad?

This is a laugh-out-loud book in places, full of wonderful animal characters and though we suspect mouse is a bit of a grumpy little fusspot (Fiddlesticks is now a whole new word that Charlotte will shout at the most inopportune moments) we do love Mouse's house-tale.

Charlotte's best bit: Poor exasperated mouse's various exclamations when yet another thing goes wrong

Daddy's Favourite bit: Hugely amusing, and a tale I definitely identify with!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Simon and Schuster Children's Books)