Here's a poignant and thought provoking book that might just be the right age group for the Shredded-Wheat-Headed weird orange baby-man himself.

Though I think perhaps the message might be a bit too sophisticated for him.

Kids though, kids will love the tone of "Dear Donald Trump" by Sophie Siers and Anne Villeneuve. Particular kids with annoying siblings just like the central character, Sam

Sam has a problem you see. His older brother is always hogging space in their shared room, in a tiny house in New Zealand.

Sam's frustration boils over - and when he sees Donald Trump on TV talking about "Building a wall" Sam thinks it actually sounds like a great idea, and begins to write to the President of the USA for some handy tips and hints.

Of course, the story really isn't about Sam idolising the President - more the tone that the story takes as Sam begins to question the need for a wall at all, and some quite sage wisdom from his older brother might actually sink in more than anything Trump could possibly say (or tweet).

Sam begins to write to the President...

Neatly written, with some great illustrations it's a very tongue in cheek look at how sometimes, even when you act like a childish brat yourself, you can still take some keen advice from kids who say what they see - and have a habit of making us realise just how daft we can be sometimes.

Sam's older brother is a lot wiser than he's given credit for.

"Dear Donald Trump" by Sophie Siers and Anne Villeneuve is out now, published by Templar Publishing (kindly supplied for review).

The truly wonderful 'Laika' by Owen Davey (Templar Books). You need this book.

Phew! It's time for another theme week and this week for our #ReaditMD13 Theme, encouraging parents to read to their children we're looking beyond our little blue planet and out into space.

My wife and I are both real space nerds and have always encouraged Charlotte to be a mini space nerd herself.

When I was a child, mixing fiction and non-fiction 'space' books was an essential part of growing up. So I'd look at books like this...

The Usborne Book of The Future (Usborne Books). Let's all meet up in the year 2000

...which featured fantastical and sometimes factual visions of our future, with books like this...

Skylab, America's First Space Station (Hallmark Publishing)

Charlotte's interest in space mixes fact and fantasy too, and we've recently loved Owen Davey's brilliant "Laika the Astronaut" (Templar Publishing)  which tells the story of the first living creature in space, a brave little Russian dog called Laika - and how she paved the way for manned space travel. It's still a way off being released (you'll have to wait until November in the UK), but definitely get it on your preorder list, it's utterly utterly beautiful.

On the factual side, once again Usborne are still leading the way with brilliant books about space.

Look Inside Space (Usborne Publishing), a great introduction to all things spacey.

The Usborne "Look Inside" series has a space edition crammed with lots of facts and fun (and lots of little flaps for busy little fingers to lift and explore).

There's also a brilliant Usborne Solar System book for would-be planeteers...

The Solar System (Usborne Books). Take a trip around our  'back yard' in space.

We'll be looking at more spacey books as the week progresses, with reviews of space books coming up. If you've found a brilliant space book to stimulate children's curiosity, please let us know in the comments box, we'd love to share your spacey recommendations!

You know by now that we love Shaun Tan's work, so if you're not prepared to sit through yet another gushing review, you'd better bail now.

Surrealism. How do you introduce the concept of surrealism to a child? The simple answer is - you don't have to. Children are already well equipped to deal with the fantastical. From an early age they have books read to them that feauture anthropomorphised animals, or bizarre fantasy worlds where the laws of physics don't apply.

For Charlotte this is the appeal of Shaun Tan books. Not because they introduce bizarre concepts that take a leap of faith to bend your brain around, but because they describe and visualise the world - or any world for that matter - in a way that children have already accepted.

Somewhere along the line though, in the transition between childhood and adulthood we lose that ability and seldom few of us claw it back.

One of our favourite images in the book. Haunting, beautiful, ghostly.

In "Tales of Outer Suburbia" Shaun Tan explores surrealistic worlds and concepts that have a jarring air of familiarity about them, but are deliciously painted in such original ways that the stories - such as they are - become magical.

For instance, take "Eric" which we've reviewed separately before as a well deserved "book of the week", but features in this anthology. On paper it sounds like the dullest story in the world. An exchange student comes to stay, is taken around by his host family, finds things a bit different and weird, and then abruptly leaves.

Now rewind to the start and put on your Shaun Tan spectacles. The exchange student becomes a magical little sprite-like creature, his fascination is not with the host family's culture but the mundane everyday objects we often completely ignore in our everyday lives. His babbled alien language and questions don't ask "where is the nearest bus station?" but he wants to know why the middle of a plughole is shaped like a flower, or what on earth a sink plunger is for.

The story ends so beautifully that it sticks in the memory, and is a stark contrast to Shaun Tan's usual fairly muted palettes and understated paintings, which echo throughout Tales of Outer Suburbia.

In fact perhaps that's it, perhaps Shaun Tan's greatest gift isn't his absolutely faultless ability to delve into the darkest corners of our imagination and dig out characters, scenes and stories that feel jarringly weird but eerily familiar. It's his gift as the grand hypnotist, an artist who can alter your mind while enjoying his works to such an extent that you can't help but yearn for more.

Beautiful, surreal, essential to your collection.

Charlotte's best bit: The Water Buffalo story.

Daddy's favourite bit: The creepy but wonderful "Man in a Diving Costume" story.

Observing other people's art processes and looking at even their roughest work is always inspirational. I make no pretence that I'm any kind of an 'artist' per se, but I enjoy the processes, enjoy the constant struggle to find a style and also enjoy seeing how other folk do the same. Massively talented artists like Shaun Tan make it all look so easy, but in "The Bird King (and other sketches)" we get to see some of Shaun Tan's rough initial drafts, that later went on to become the sumptuous works of art we know and love.

My wife recently bought me a Shaun Tan sketchbook (as in a book to actually sketch in) and it felt like an act of irreverence for me to start scribbling away in it, particularly as the book has an awesome 'space koala' cover, and the sort of little scribbles in the end paper that are peppered throughout The Bird King.

I showed this book to Charlotte and it was great to see her instantly recognising roughs from "The Rabbits" (by John Marsden and Shaun Tan) and "The Red Tree".

Have to admit though, this is one I bought for me.

There's a frame of mind you enter into, sometimes unknowingly, when you see how Shaun Tan matches the familiar with the downright harrowing. Really can't wait to complete our Tan collection, and also pick up his latest book, The Rules of Summer (due later this year)

Charlotte's best bit: The awesome giant rabbit walking silently past a suburban house

Daddy's favourite bit: Tan's other-worldly misplaced and mish-mash creations (like the brilliant barnacle-encrusted diving guy from "Tales of Outer Suburbia")

We're celebrating today's release of "Lucy Ladybird" by Sharon King-Chai with a peek inside the book and a look at this explosion of colour, with a rather beautiful story at its heart.

Lucy the Ladybird is born without spots, and at first the other ladybirds don't like her at all. Feeling like she doesn't fit in or belong, Lucy embarks on a journey to visit other 'spotty' animals, who are all kind and caring and happily share their own spots with Lucy to cheer her up.

But will Lucy ever be able to fit in with the other ladybirds? You'll have to dive into this beautiful book to find out!

Celebrating sharing and acceptance, and that being different is not a bad thing - this is a superb little book with a fantastic fold-out that younger readers will gasp in awe at (Charlotte actually couldn't wait for that bit in the story and rather naughtily skipped straight to it, but I made sure we read the story properly too, of course).

The great thing about Sharon's art is that we felt we could make our own Lucy Ladybirds up, and try lots of different ways of dabbing spots on her (paint, stickers, cut out card or wrapping paper) to come up with our own colourful ladybirds - so it's a great jump-off point for making and crafty activities too.

It's released today, May 1st 2013, so nip into your local friendly indie bookseller and grab a slice of ladybird-shaped loveliness.

Charlotte's best bit: The riot of colour and charm on the huge fold-out page at the end of the book.

Daddy's favourite bit: Lots of charm and a touching little story. Great for younger bookworms but also a fantastic craft and making inspiration too!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Books)

We've been quite interested to see what the Bob / Man on the Moon Early Readers Chapter Books are like - we love the Picture Book versions very much. Templar kindly sent us one to take a look at and this time Bob (The Man on the Moon) is coasting on the crest of moon-tube video fame. Movie moguls decide to make a movie all about his life and work, filling Bob with much excitement and anticipation as a movie advisor.

Bob doesn't realise how the big wheels of Hollywood work, and how massive a certain Mr Vegas' ego is (is it just me or does he look a lot like Peter Serafinowicz?)

The film soon takes a turn for the worst and when Bob tries to intervene, he's hurried off-set - which is just the start of the movie madness with far worse yet to come.

As Charlotte moves into early chapter readers, books like this are fantastic because Simon Bartam's characters are good enough to stand on their own two feet in a predominantly text-based book (which still has brilliant black and white illustrations dotted throughout).

We managed to get through the story fairly quickly but it was very well written and now has us thinking about checking out the rest (there are 5 in the "Bob and Barry's Lunar Adventure" series, as well as all the fantastic picture books available too!)

An engaging book, a brilliant baddie, lots of hilarity and who could possibly resist a trip to the moon! Fab stuff, can't wait for more!

Charlotte's best bit: The brilliant end, which we can't reveal of course!

Daddy's favourite bit: Bob's constant denial that aliens exist (which of course means Charlotte absolutely LOVES spotting them all throughout the Bob books!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Books) 

Without a doubt, Levi Pinfold is one very talented guy. We have extolled the virtues of his book "Black Dog" - one of the highlights of our reading year in 2012. The Django came before it though, and it's taken us this long to get round to picking it up. We're so glad we did.

With more than a nod to the great Django Reinhardt, it tells the tale of a young Romany boy called Jean who lives with his father in a travelling caravan camp. A simple life, getting work where they can and sitting down in the evening to enjoy the sweet sweet sounds of his father's banjo.

That is, until the arrival of a rather mischievous creature called "The Django" introduces complete chaos into their lives.

The Django is extremely naughty, cropping up at the worst possible time to create havoc. He begins by breaking Jean's father's precious banjo, for which Jean gets the blame and from then on The Django continues causing trouble everywhere poor Jean goes.

Finally, Jean has had enough of the Django's silly tricks and jokes, and banishes him forever.

Life returns to its normal idyll but secretly Jean rather misses the Django's crazy antics and silly songs. Perhaps he was more than just a pain in the neck, perhaps he was a part of Jean that had been missing for years.

It's impossible not to get completely lost in the sumptuous detail of Levi Pinfold's beautiful painted illustrations (just as we did with Black Dog) but the lyrical storytelling is luscious too.

There's some great factual stuff about the real Django - Django Reinhardt - at the back of the book (such a smooth dude!). The book triggered great interest in the banjo, an instrument Charlotte was unfamiliar with so it was great to dig out one or two pieces of music at home with banjos on, to let her hear the sound (We chose "Anybody Anyway" by Even As We Speak and "I Love You, Goodbye" by Thomas Dolby - We don't have any Django music at home, sadly!)

Charlotte's best bit: Spotting The Django lurking in the backgrounds and popping up to create mischief

Daddy's favourite bit: Levi Pinfold joins that great roster of artist-illustrators whose books instantly go on our list as soon as we hear about them. Utterly luxuriously illustrated, beautifully written and very highly recommended.

For an eternity we've coveted the lovely lovely Shaun Tan books and this year we made up our minds to make sure we picked up as many as possible. My lovely sister and her hubby (both devoted bookworms with awesome taste) gave us the tiny hardback version of "Eric" last weekend as a belated Christmas pressie (we both live at opposite ends of the country so don't meet up as much as we'd like to).

Eric is a story tweaked lovingly from Shaun Tan's excellent anthology "Tales of Suburbia" and tells the story of an exchange student, who comes to stay with a family.

Eric is quiet, unassuming and of great interest to the younger members of the family who find all his cultural differences absolutely fascinating. He eschews his comfortable bed in favour of sleeping in the larder. He shows very little interest in sightseeing, but picks up tiny bits of bric-a-brac as the family shows him around the town.

There's something about Eric, a character that is visually interesting but a mystery wrapped in an enigma. There's also something totally intoxicating about Shaun Tan's work, with his delicate use of light and shade giving everything he does an almost sombre feel.

But this book is celebratory, and it's also another book that had an electrifying effect on Charlotte - who has demanded it almost daily since we got it. She loves the questions it provokes, and she also rather fell in love with the end of the book when it's revealed that Eric's sudden disappearance did not go unmarked, and Eric left something for the family to treasure for years to come (we won't spoil it, but it's a delightful end to a brilliant brilliant book). The format (small hard back) is great too, as a collection of these tiny little masterpieces would look fantastic on a book shelf - better in a child's hands though, without a doubt!

Our quest to own everything this very talented man has put his hand to continues...!

(See also our review this week of Shaun Tan and Gary Crew's "The Viewer")

Charlotte's best bit: The reveal at the end, which is such a beautiful contrast to a fairly dark and monochrome book.

Daddy's favourite bit: The effect this book had on Charlotte. As addictive to her as the stickiest sugary treat we could possibly think of. A book in constant demand!

• The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle (from Templar Books)
• Pants by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt (with a sing-a-long CD performed by Lenny Henry)
• Mog's Christmas by Judith Kerr (read by Geraldine McEwan)
• The 'Flip Up Fairy Tale' range from Child's Play (popular children's fairy tales with beautifully read story CDs)
• The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (wonderfully read by the legend that is Bernard Cribbins!)
• Stories for a Prince by various authors (produced for Charity and Prince William back in the 80s)
• The Froobles story and audio range from Top That! Publishing

For years now, artists working in children's picture books have been raising the bar so high and wowing the world with their work. Often we encounter books that are full of such utterly amazing illustrations that it's no exaggeration to say that you'd proudly display them on the wall (or in an art gallery, for that matter).

We've previously told you how Templar Publishing seem to have a knack for attracting the very brightest and best artistic talent working in children's books today and Simon Bartram is no exception. With amazing almost glowing illustrations that always remind me of the superb stuff in classic 'Eagle' comics, Bartram's 'Man on the Moon' books are much loved and 'Bob and the Moontree Mystery' is the latest adventure for intrepid spaceman Bob and his cyclopean doggy sidekick Barry.

Bob finds a mysterious glowing seedy pod thing when tidying up the dark side of the moon. The seed bounces away from Bob and ends up in one of the deepest darkest craters. Thinking the seed is lost for good, Bob thinks nothing of it and heads back home just in time for tea (and the big match).

The very next day, something quite extraordinary happens on the return journey to the moon. Bob's rocket ship crashes into the vast canopy of a gigantic tree. A moontree no less!

Join Bob for the rest of the adventure in this sumptuously presented book, marvelling at just how fantastic Bartram's storytelling and illustrative abilities are.

Charlotte's best bit: Finding the various aliens (which Bob denies even exist) on each page spread, and also counting Barry's legs (at least with six legs, you'll never be short of something to scratch with!)

Daddy's favourite bit: I could spend hours looking at Simon Bartram's fantastic illustrations. We've loved 'Dougal's Deep Sea Diary' and his stunning artwork on Pumpkin Moon. Spaceman Bob books are just as brilliant and should be a hit with any space-obsessed kids (and their parents!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Books)

It is a bit cheeky having two "Book of the Week" nominations, but we're like that here at ReadItDaddy. So cheeky you could tweak our cheeks for a week!

Stopping by Mostly Books last week we picked up a brace of scintillating titles and it was too tough a call to decide between Levi Pinfold's sublime "Black Dog"  and this superb book.

Jonny Duddle has quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with in children's books, and he weaves a pirate tale with style and expertise. We've already reviewed his superb book "The Pirate Cruncher"  and we've been after "The Pirates Next Door" for quite some time. Available previously in hardback, it has now been released as a superb paperback edition with an audio CD - a reading of the story by the great man himself.

With Mr Duddle's career riding the crest of a wave (a film based on his piratical characters, produced in conjunction with Aardman Animation, has received critical acclaim and is now available on Blu Ray and DVD), it's a timely re-release of (arguably) his best book.

"The Pirates Next Door" weaves a moral tale of twitchy curtains and neighbourhood unrest spliced by the mainbrace with a piratical tale of a young girl called Matilda, who longs for a playmate to move in to the empty house next door. She gets better than she bargained for when a whole family of seafaring pirates move in, and change her life forever. She instantly becomes firm friends with Jim Lad, the pirate boy and becomes enthralled by his piratical ways.

Others in her neighbourhood (including her sniffy middle class parents) don't quite take to the newcomers as readily. Some say they smell, some say they dig up roundabouts in the dead of night, and some campaign at the council offices to get rid of the Jolley Rogers (as the family are called). But Matilda stands firm in her friendship of Jim Lad and defends them to the hilt.

The rest of the tale I'll leave you to discover yourself. The Audio CD version of the book is ridiculously reasonably priced for such a plush and beautifully presented story. Duddle's artwork and illustrative style is something I truly envy. Dabbling in digital art (his preferred medium) myself, I know how tough it is to get rich vibrant colours and engaging character work to look as beautifully made and as perfect as Duddle seems to manage with ease.

We can't get enough of this story and we can't get enough of Duddle's other artwork, so it's a fitting book of the week and as we've said many times before, Templar Publishing really know how to pick the cream of the crop when it comes to authors and artists.

Charlotte's best bit: Too many to mention, she really loved the fact that Matilda is holding a placard with a 'tick' on it and not a cross at the 'anti pirate' lobby (I didn't notice this, she did, clever girl!). She also loves the way Grandpa Pirate hides in the ship most of the time.

Daddy's favourite bit: Dullsville twinned with Ennui Sur Mer gave me a giggle. Most of all though I just love Duddle's art and really wish I could somehow emulate his style (impossible with my pathetic skills but I'll keep trying!)

A ReadItDaddy Book of the Week