It all began with "Lunchtime" by Rebecca Cobb - we fell totally in love with Rebecca's stories and her truly gorgeous art style right from the moment we read that book.

Like so many keepers, the joy of a book that becomes something of a performance piece for a dad reading to his daughter cannot be understated - nor can the simple core theme of the story of a little girl who won't eat her lunch, and what happens when a hungry bear, wolf and crocodile turn up to join her - eyeing up her soup, sandwich and apple with greedy eyes.

Each character in the story had a voice when I'd read this aloud to C.

Bear was slightly gruff, with that weird inflection in his voice a bit like Boris Johnson in full blustering flow.

Wolf was slightly more sneaky, subversive, whispering. Crocodile was snappy and brash, no nonsense.

We read this so many times we practically read the print off the thing, and it led on to a huge appreciation of Rebecca's other work, whether penning and illustrating her own brilliant stories or working with other creative folk - even one I previously couldn't stand anything by (Richard Curtis, in case you were wondering - Oh alright, Blackadder was great but I think a lot of that was down to Ben Elton to be honest!)

Anyway we're here to talk about Rebecca's work, and this one is also worthy of note (honestly though, after the last few books in our #Booky100Keepers you're going to think we're a bit obsessed with death).

"Missing Mummy" is one of the best books about bereavement, thanks to the unique perspective of describing loss from the child's point of view, but also because of Rebecca's trademark art style - lending itself well to a diary-like account of a child's grief at the loss of a parent.

Sensitive, touching and beautiful, this book highlights just how much emotion Rebecca's illustrative work conveys with such beautifully economic but utterly fitting artwork underpinning a subject that is extremely tough to cover effectively in a way that doesn't sound like it's talking down to children, that genuinely helps them feel that they're definitely not alone in feeling the way they do.

Rebecca's illustrations for other authors are also loads of fun, but it always felt like she kept her best work for her own books - and we'll never get tired of them even though little miss isn't so little any more.

Original Review Links: 

The Something by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 8th June 2018 - "The Day the War Came" by Nicola Davies and Rebecca Cobb (Walker Books)

"It's a Little Baby" by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

Missing Mummy by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 20th December 2013 - "Aunt Amelia" by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

Bonus Christmas Eve Booky Advent Calendar - "Snow Day" by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb (Picture Puffin)

The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Booky Advent Book of the Week - Week Ending 5th December 2014 - "Snow Day" by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb (Picture Puffin)

The ReadItDaddy Interview - We catch up with Rebecca Cobb, illustrator of "The Day the War Came" by Nicola Davies (Walker Books)

Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb (Macmillan Children's Books)

We really are having a fantastic book week this week with some of our favourite authors and illustrators contributing to our vast wobbling book stack that's demanding to be read.

We clear the decks for certain folk though, and when a new Rebecca Cobb book arrived, we gave it a proper "ReadItDaddy" whoop and a welcome. We absolutely love her books to pieces.

"The Something" demonstrates something that Rebecca Cobb fans will already know and love her for - Rebecca can effortlessly tap into the sense of a child's imagination, producing books that make their visual and literal senses soar.

In "The Something" a little boy loses his bright red shiny ball down a mysterious hole in the garden. It's too dark to see what's down there, and even his doggy pal can't sniff out what lurks inside.

The boy starts to imagine who (or what) might dwell in this cosy little nook. Could his ball be responsible for mayhem, smashing through breakfast in a mouse's underground house? Could foxes have captured the ball, sweeping it off as their latest plaything? Or could there be something more substantial lurking under there - a troll perhaps, or even a dragon?

We love the way Rebecca's art instantly wins children over, speaking on their level, in their own visual language while we read the story aloud and let their own imaginations fill in the rest.

Rebecca really can't do any wrong by us, and judging by the plaudits heaped on her by some of the biggest names in the book business, we think a lot of other folk find her books absolutely essential too!

Charlotte's best bit: A fantastic cameo appearance by Aunt Amelia (look very carefully for it!) and lots of brilliant touches including a truly satisfying end.

Daddy's Favourite bit: I shouldn't really laugh but the "mouse house" spread was just so gigglesome. Poor mice! What a superb book!

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