Archie the adorable toddling Rhino is back in the latest story from totally awesome team Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes. In "More!", Archie's new favourite word, we find the little fella enjoying life to the max. More books at bedtime (we can't disagree with that one) more ice-cream stacked onto his cone (again, can't fault him on that either) but when Archie is invited to a Fancy Dress party, perhaps his grand design for a costume might be his undoing! Have you ever seen a toddler trying to run around in a full-scale spaceship costume?

Tracey and Tim have come up with an excellent book series with Archie (and his long suffering parents). It's brilliant to see how this story pans out, we won't spoil things too much for you but we're on the edge of our seats waiting to see what Archie gets up to next.

Charlotte's best bit: A frog dressed as a purple crayon (we think his name might be Harold!), and a very familiar looking crocodile in disguise at the Fancy Dress party

Daddy's Favourite bit: More wordy fun with Tracey and Tim's rambunctious rhino toddler! Archie is awesome!

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

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"No!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes (Little Tiger Press)

Cheese. Where would we be without it? Charlotte favours the soft milky taste of Brie whereas I love the sharp tang of Shropshire Blue. We would be beside ourselves if a nasty little gang of mice decided to break in and take our precious comestibles.

The cheekiest mouse in the world kicks off this brilliant tale of "The Great Cheese Robbery". Patrick, a baby elephant, is in complete awe of his dad - he's the biggest, strongest elephant in the world but if there's one thing dad really doesn't like, it's mice. The aforementioned mouse has the bare-faced cheek to turn up at the house posing as a cheese inspector. After a swift recce in the fridge, he claims that all the cheese must be confiscated immediately, scuppering dad's supper plans for cauliflower cheese. While Patrick and Dad look on, the mouse takes a bold step further, and enlists the help of a horde of mice to make off with the cheese - and everything else that isn't bolted down, including Patrick's toys! EEKS!

Dad won't lift a finger to stop them, could Patrick be brave enough to stand up to those naughty mice or will someone else arrive at the last minute to save the day (and the cheese!)

Tim Warnes always has a brilliant knack for spinning hugely funny animal tales with a twist or two. This is another one of those books where I get to roll out a whole host of crazy accents for the various characters involved (The mouse cheese inspector comes out as a slightly squeaky Ray Winstone, if you can imagine that!)

As delicious as a lovely slice of manchego on toast.

"The Great Cheese Robbery" is out on March 1st from Tim Warnes and Little Tiger Press

Charlotte's best bit: Brave Patrick trying to save the day (and his dad!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: A hugely fun book to read aloud in a variety of silly voices. But oh, those cheeky mice!

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

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Dangerous by Tim Warnes

Dangerous by Tim Warnes, released in paperback today and now with awesome stickers!

I work with someone who lives and dies by his labelling machine. I think it comes of watching too many episodes of the 60s version of Batman, where everything was helpfully labelled - from the anti-shark repellent suit to the Bat Computer.

The little mole in "Dangerous" is similarly blessed, he's happy in his own little world, making little labels for everything around him and everything he sees. Until one day a huge green knobbly thing blocks his path. What on earth can you label THAT with?

Mole does his best, and doesn't realise that the huge green knobbly thing is actually a huge green knobbly DANGEROUS thing. It's a crocodile, but is it really dangerous? It sure makes short work of the mole's labels, greedily scoffing them all up and then following mole around for more.

Mole is terrified but perhaps there's one label the Crocodile wouldn't mind wearing that mole hasn't thought of yet.

This book's original premise is fun and wonderfully told - though for read-aloud parents, be prepared to read each and every one of those labels out loud to your child (or better still, do what I did and have Charlotte read them out to you!) A great book for expanding their vocabularies while teaching them about unlikely friendships too!

Charlotte's best bit: Reading all of mole's labels very loudly

Daddy's Favourite bit: A rather cool little idea for a story that helps children learn a brace of new words through Mole's staunch labelling efforts!

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

We really enjoyed "No!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes. But it got us thinking. What would life be like if you could only ever answer questions with "YES!" or "NO!".

It'd be fun to do an interview with someone and just have them hold up speech bubbles that said either yes or no, so who better to interview than the tiny teeny powerhouse behind this very blog - Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Charlotte, the busiest little bookworm on the planet.

ReadItDaddy: Hello Charlotte. We're really grateful that you agreed to an interview with, er, me. So did you really enjoy "NO!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes?


Great! So do you think Archie was a really good little rhino for most of this book?

Oh dear, but he was great at the end wasn't he once he'd discovered his new favourite word...now what was it, it's on the tip of my tongue...


Ahh of course. That was it. So this is definitely not a book to end up in the charity shop pile then?


OK. Would you like to see more adventures with Archie in them if Tracey and Tim did another Archie book?

Now I'm confused. Is that a yes or a no?


Aha! Great! So do you think I've got what it takes to be a real interviewer?


Oh poo! I thought I've found my niche at last. Anyway, thank you for the interview Charlotte. Do you think we should sneak downstairs and raid mum's secret chocolate biscuit stash now?

Awesome! Let's do it!

"No!" by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes (Little Tiger Press) is out now! Thank you for joining us as part of Little Tiger Press's awesome "Reading Rocks" Summer!

Don't forget to visit the other blogs on the tour too!

Tracey (and doggy pal Dylan!)

NO! By Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes (Little Tiger Press)

You've seen our review of NO! Now meet one half of the lovely team behind the book. Author Tracey Corderoy has popped by to answer some tricky questions to celebrate the launch of her book and join in with the Little Tiger Press "Reading Rocks!" summer initiative.

A while ago we met adorable little Archie (he IS adorable, everyone says so) and in Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes' new book, Archie is slowly learning new words - including the word that strikes fear and terror into every parent as soon as their little darling learns it...

NO!

Cute isn't he?

Archie soon learns the power of his new word, and uses it as often as possible. At home, at nursery, even at the beach!

Oh dear, someone's not ready for hometime then?

This story accurately predicted the British summer perfectly

Little Tiger Press were kind enough to send us their reworking of their flagship title 'I Don't Want To Go To Bed' which updates and reissues the 1996 classic for a whole new generation of toddlers to enjoy. We've all been there haven't we? Those nights where no matter how much we cajole, cuddle or even bribe our little ones to settle down for the night, they just won't settle (even with the help of a lovely book like this).

In 'I Don't Want To Go To Bed' a naughty little tiger exasperates his poor mum to the point where she gives in, and lets him stay up all night to find out how different the jungle can be when darkness falls.

The mischievous little tyke goes off in search of his friends and his favourite haunts, but of course things are a lot different at night and little tiger soon finds out why snuggling up under the covers is a far better prospect than roaming the nocturnal jungle.

It's a tale that's been told and retold in so many different ways by so many different authors and illustrators but this feels like the work that all those other books borrowed their ideas from. It's such a lovely book and even the very naughty central character is cuddly and loveable when he eventually gives in to the inevitable snoozy feelings. The Little Tiger Press re-issue, as a large format picture book, is colourful and beautiful and deserves a place in your picture book collection alongside classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo.

Charlotte's best bit: The bushbaby's eyes shining in the darkness

Daddy's favourite bit: Wholly identifying with the exasperated mummy tiger and her efforts to get her busy little offspring to sleep.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Little Tiger Press is 25 Years Old, hooray! The publishers of a great many well loved children's books over the past quarter of a century, Little Tiger Press are re-releasing the classic children's tale "I Don't Want To Go To Bed" in August, to celebrate their anniversary.

It's the story (the all too familiar story) of a little tiger who won't go to sleep, and his exasperated mother  who decides to let him stay up all night to see what he's been missing.

When the little tiger goes searching for friends to play with, he finds out exactly how quiet it can be at night.

A charming and beautifully illustrated book, it's the perfect way for Little Tiger Press to celebrate 25 years of producing excellent quality children's books. Stay tuned for a ReadItDaddy review soon!

Awww, there's always room for a cute and cuddly book like this in anyone's collection. It's a great little collection of animal pictures and of course there's plenty of opportunities to point out just how great daddies are (well we are, aren't we fellahs?) Cute and colourful illustrations back up the fairly simple text. Definitely a great daddy-daughter read. 

Charlotte's best bit: The cuddly lion "not scared!"

Daddy's favourite bit: Cool illustrations by Jane Chapman