This is an adorable new book packed with colour illustrations that once again shows there's definitely a fantastic emerging market for books that successfully bridge the gap between picture books for early years, and chapter books for early readers.

"Midge and Mo" is a wonderful little heartfelt tale of friendship and starting anew, as Midge is anxious about starting a new school in a new town. Midge misses his old school and really wishes more than anything else that things could have stayed exactly the same. He misses his old friends too, and his first day is filled with worry.

But when Midge is given a new school buddy in class, he realises that this fab smiley little girl - called Mo - could be just the new friend he's been hoping for. But Midge is still not sure - and Mo wonders if she's done anything to upset him.

Mo is our kind of girl though, and doesn't give up. She remembers what it was like when she was new at school on her first day - and this helps her to understand Midge's feelings and slowly bring him round.

After all, that's what good friends do, right?

We love this - it shows that kids can cope with 'wordier' books that still keep their plots fairly simple, but convey a lovely little message. This range of early readers from Stripes / Little Tiger are perfect, with full colour illustrations to help drive the stories along, and really fantastically observed characterisations that kids can readily identify with.

Lovely stuff!

Sum this book up in a sentence: An absolutely perfect book for readers transitioning between picture books and chapter books, with a lovely heartfelt message that's perfect for kids on their first day at school

"Midge and Mo" by Lara Williamson and Becky Cameron is out now, published by Stripes / Little Tiger (kindly supplied for review)

Let's take a closer look at some awesome Autumn releases from Little Tiger and its imprints...

Come and celebrate Holly Webb's 30th awesome animal book with us!

We're still not quite sure how we managed it but we've crammed in a mammoth animal book reading session over the last month or so. What better reason to pledge to read at least 30 animal stories (other than absolutely loving animal books) than to celebrate the 30th title released in Holly Webb's brilliant "Animal Stories" for Stripes / Little Tiger.

"The Secret Kitten" by Holly Webb.

Could we really read 30 animal or animal-related books? Tough challenge? Naw, not tough at all for us - so over the past month or so, here's our list of titles which we've read (and in most cases reviewed) to help celebrate Holly's momentous achievement! In no particular order:

1) "The Special Guest" by Steve Smallman (QED Publishing)
2) "The Perfect Job for an Elephant" by Jodie Parachini and Caroline Pedler (QED Publishing)
3) "Jules and Nina Dine Out" by Anita Pouroulis and Agata Krawczyk (Digital Leaf)
4) "Cheep Cheep Pop Up Fun" (Little Tiger Press)
5) "Lily and Bear" by Lisa Stubbs (Boxer Books)
6) "Rabbits Don't Lay Eggs" by Paula Metcalf and Cally Johnson-Isaacs (Macmillan Children's Books)
7) "Catkin the Fairy Kitten" by Clare Bevan and Cally Johnson-Isaacs (Macmillan Children's Books)
8) "Chicken Mission - The Curse of Fogsham Farm" by Jennifer Gray and Hannah George (Faber and Faber)
9) "Hungry Roscoe" by David Plant (Flying Eye Books)
10) "Harry and Lil, The Hog, The Shrew and the Hullaballoo" by Julia Copus and Eunyoung Seo (Faber and Faber)
11) "Mister Mistofelees the Conjuring Cat" by T.S. Eliot and Arthur Robins (Faber and Faber)
12) "Tim and Towser" by Edward Ardizzone (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
13) "You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus" by Patricia Cleveland-Peck and David Tazzyman (Bloomsbury Publishing)
14) "Squishy McFluff Meets Mad Nana Dot" by Pip Jones and Ella Okstad (Faber and Faber)
15) "Beautiful Beasts" by Camilla De Le Bedoiyere (QED Publishing)
16) "Ice in the Jungle" by Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar (Child's Play)
17) "The Secret Kitten" by Holly Webb (Stripes)
18) "Fuzz McFlops" by Eva Funari (Pushkin Children's Books)
19) "I Need a Wee!" by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet (Simon and Schuster)
20) "Felicity Fly Meets the Dragon Fruit and Friends" by Christina Gabbitas and Ric Lumb (Poems and Pictures)
21) "Missing Jack" by Rebecca Elliott (Lion Publishing)
22) "Deadly Creatures" (Usborne Publishing)
23) "Those Pesky Rabbits" by Clara Flood (Templar Publishing)
24) "The Great Cheese Robbery" by Tim Warnes (Little Tiger Press)
25) "The Dog Detectives in an American Adventure" by Zoa and Monika Suska (Maverick Publishing)
26) "Never Tickle a Tiger" by Pamela Butchart and Marc Boutavant (Bloomsbury Publishing)
27) "The Hide and Scare Bear" by Ivan Bates (Templar Publishing)
28) "Lemur Dreamer" by Courtney Dicmas (Templar Publishing)
29) "Tales from Acorn Wood - Rabbit's Nap" by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan Children's Books)
30) "Don't Chew on the Royal Slipper" by Kate Leake (Alison Green Books)

PHEW! That's quite some reading list, and I am sure there were more - but when you read 3 or 4 (or sometimes more) books a day, it's very easy to lose count.

Lucy the Poorly Puppy - Another huge favourite of Charlotte and her classmates at school.

Holly Webb's 30th Animal title "The Secret Kitten" is out now from Stripes / Little Tiger and you can find out more about Holly's "Animal Stories" range on the Little Tiger website.

We've become huge fans of Holly Webb's gorgeous seasonal books, released in good time for stuffing into christmas stockings and coming with all the chilly but welcome atmosphere of a crisp snowy day.

"The Winter Wolf" is the latest book from Holly to get you in the mood for the first flurries of snow and we've been reading it for the last few days, dipping into Holly's newly created bookworld.

It tells the story of a young girl who is a little bit shy and sometimes a bit of an outsider. Uprooted from her comfy home to a dusty old house for family christmas, Amelia discovers an ancient journal kept by a boy who once stayed there.

Weaving an air of mystery and talking of times past when the boy raised a wolf from a cub, Amelia finds herself drawn into the journal's heady world of winter and wonder.

Holly has a real knack for creating brilliant girl characters that little girls (like Charlotte) instantly identify with and love to read about. Within the space of a few paragraphs, Holly draws you in until you find yourself four chapters later wondering if you're ever going to be able to put the book down!

Fans of "The Reindeer Girl" will love this new wolfish adventure, it's another christmassy classic set to melt your heart.

Charlotte's best bit: Amelia's first meeting with the big scary (but rather sweet) family dog.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Full of atmospherer, christmassyness and making us yearn for the first snows, Holly has once again woven a convincing and well-researched bookworld that will completely draw you in.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Stripes / Little Tiger Press)

Frankie's Magic Football - Frankie Saves Christmas (Frank Lampard / Mick Jackson / L & B Kids)

"The Rescue Princesses - The Ice Diamond" by Paula Harrison (Nosy Crow)

A Treasury of Animal Stories by Holly Webb (Stripes Publishing)

A fabulous lineup of authors, some sumptuous illustrations by Alison Edgson, and a wondrous collection of stories that are absolutely perfect as the temperatures plummet and you need something snuggly and warm to cuddle up with before bedtime.

"Moonlight Tales" gathers together talented folk like Penny Dolan, Holly Webb and Michael Broad to tell a collection of short but wonderfully sweet tales featuring children's favourite animals as they all prepare for winter.

The beauty of anthologies is that for early readers, or children who are just moving on from picture books to chapter books, you can read a story or two each night before bed and slowly work through this wonderful book.

If you're looking for something wintry and wonderful to stick in a stocking this christmas, this is definitely worth investigating!


Charlotte's best bit: The Brave little Beaver story!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A superb little collection, perfect for yuletide storytelling!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

This festive collection of awesome animal stories demands to be read while cuddled up under a snuggly blanket with a cup of hot chocolate (and, Charlotte says, at least 6 marshmallows). Gathering together some of the best writing talent in the business (like Holly Webb, Penny Dolan and Michael Broad) to spin tales of young animals and their first experiences in the coldest parts of the world certainly suits this time of year beautifully.

We learn how a young husky pup dreams of pulling his first sled, and how a snow goose learns how to fly in formation. Even how a young narwhal uses his fantastic spiral tusk to catch a star.

Each child (and adult of course!) will find their favourite story amongst these and they're just the right length to fit into a bit of bedtime reading before your youngsters snuggle under the duvet.

Charlotte's best bit: The Arctic Fox (who was afraid of the dark, awww!)

Daddy's favourite bit: The husky tale, and the general atmosphere of each story. Really beautifully told.

(kindly supplied to us for review by Little Tiger Press)

It's difficult to imagine how beautiful our locale looks when covered with a thick blanket of snow. At the moment we're surrounded by water, and the skies are grey and horrible but Holly Webb's "The Snow Bear" cuts through all that, instantly putting us in the mood for snuggling up in front of a log fire, mulled wine (or in Charlotte's case, hot chocolate with marshmallows) in hand, with a really good book.

"The Snow Bear" is a chapter book and it usually takes us a little longer to work through these but it was worth it. Setting such an atmospheric story out, it's the tale of a young girl called Sara who builds an igloo and a snowy little polar bear in her garden with her grandad as the first christmas snows fall.

As darkness falls, Sara settles down to sleep but is woken in the middle of the night. She looks out of the window to find that the garden has completely transformed into an icy landscape, the igloo has gone and her snow polar bear has come to life!

Nothing is as it seems as Sara embarks on a journey to find her way home, with polar bear cub in tow...

We really loved the illustrations in the book and these just add to the wonderful wintry atmosphere. If your child is just getting into chapter books, progressing from children's picture books then Holly Webb is definitely one of the most important authors producing work like this.

A book to take your time with, snuggle up and enjoy even if the snow hasn't quite arrived yet!

Charlotte's best bit: The way Sara loves her grandad as much as Charlotte loves all her grandparents (who are all awesome by the way, just in case they're reading this!)

Daddy's favourite bit: Holly Webb's luscious descriptive prose is superb, love the atmosphere of this book - akin to christmassy greats like The Snowman. Perfect for this time of year

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Little Tiger Press)