A heart-melting and gorgeously atmospheric picture book slides under door 18 of our Booky Advent Calendar with blog favourites Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini cooking up the perfect Christmassy picture book for your delectation and delight.

"Mouse's Night Before Christmas" is perfect for snuggling up with in the run-up to the big night, Christmas Eve - so is Mouse ready?

Well not exactly. You see poor lonely mouse doesn't have anyone to share Christmas with, and is resigned to the fact that it's going to be another cold and lonely christmas in the Grandfather Clock he calls home.

However this year will be different. Santa arrives, lost in a blizzard and not quite finished with the all-important task of delivering presents. But can a tiny mouse possibly help Father Christmas find his way through the snow?

Together they embark on a magical sleigh ride, delivering presents all around town. But the best present of all is for Mouse - a special friend to share Christmas Day with!

This is beautiful, perfectly capturing the magic of christmas and friendship, and believing in yourself even if you're as tiny as a mouse.

"Mouse's Night Before Christmas" by Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini is out now, published by Nosy Crow (kindly supplied for review). 

The fabulous bakin' boys are back, and this time they're ready for a festive adventure in the latest awesome middle grade book from Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton.

In "Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Jingle Bells" the awesome pooches are all set for a festive mystery, and must pitch in to help Santa solve a terrible crime.

Someone has stolen all the christmas presents! It might take a sensitive doggy nose or two, and perhaps even a smattering of snow for these two intrepid hounds to piece together all the clues and reveal the nefarious thief! And that's just the start of their adventures as there's also a sea monster and a rather bizarre moggy to deal with too!

Three hilarious read-aloud stories give kids a head start as they make the shift from picture books to early readers, with characters that are already familiar from their many picture book adventures.

Following on from "Spooky School" and "Up, Up and Away" this is a fab festive adventure from Tracey and Steven, who have once again absolutely nailed it with a brilliant page-turning early reader book.

"Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Jingle Bells" by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton is out now, published by Nosy Crow (kindly supplied for review). 

Well hello there, lovely books! We're very pleased to make your acquaintance. We've been delving into three new titles from ace award-winning publisher Nosy Crow that are absolutely perfect for a bit of autumnal reading.

Pitched perfectly to arrive just in time for Halloween, our first book is the start of a great little early readers series for a pair of awesome pooches who have already wowed us in their picture book adventures.

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam, once cat-burgling dogs (yes, I know, confusing isn't it!) are now bakers extraordinaire. But far from leading a boring baking-soda-fuelled life, Shifty and Sam are never far from adventure or mystery.

In "The Spooky School" the dynamic duo are gearing up for Halloween at a rather strange school. All seems fine until they meet a new nefarious baddie who wants to put paid to their plans for the perfect bake-off. Meet Red Rocket, dastardly fiend and all round bad-egg - the very last thing a baker needs!

This is a great fun title with three fab stories inside that perfectly bridges the gap between picture books and early readers, featuring characters children will already know and love. A fab way to encourage self-reading and get them off to a flying start with an exciting and rather spooky adventure!

"Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam - The Spooky School" by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton is out on 6th October, published by Nosy Crow. 

Our next book had Charlotte cooing with delight. She is a complete sucker for cute stories with even cuter animals...

Helen Peters has written a new animal-based series, her first for younger readers building on her fabulous characterisations and stories for older kids.

In the first book in the series, "A Piglet Called Truffle", you'll meet Jasmine, a little girl who loves life at home on her farm.

Jasmine rescues a tiny little piglet from certain death. But Jasmine’s parents don’t believe in farm animals being pets and insist that Truffle must be sold as soon as she’s big enough.  Just a few days before Christmas, young Maya accidentally witnesses a couple arguing violently amongst the christmas shoppers packed onto Regent Street. 

Little Tiger Press have thoroughly got you covered when it comes to brilliant picture books for your teeny tinies. Our Day 14 Advent Calendar book is "The Magical Snow Garden" by Tracey Corderoy and Jane Chapman...

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)

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

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

A bouncy effervescent rabbit is always a good bet for misbehaviour and crazy antics. At first I mistook "Boo!" as the first book in a deluge of easter titles, but it's actually nothing to do with easter - bear with, bear with!

Boo! is the story of Hullabaloo, a bunny who likes nothing better than sneaking up behind his friends before shouting "BOO!" at the top of his voice. Hullabaloo's friends don't mind at first, but after a while it gets a bit tiresome. Particularly when they're trying to do other things (have you ever tried to unwrap yourself from a hammock after a nasty surprise? It's not easy!)

Soon, Hullabaloo's friends put their foot down and insist "No more Boo-ing!" - Which is a shame because it's Hullabaloo's birthday and there's nothing quite like a big loud Boo to get things off to a flying start.

What on earth happens on Hullabaloo's birthday? Will the party ever take place? Will the friends ever recover from their jangled nerves?

Tracey ("Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble") Corderoy has a lovely way with words, backed up by Caroline Pedler's bold and beautifully coloured illustrations. Younger children will love a quick reading of "Boo!" before bedtime, just don't get them too over-excited with too much enthusiastic Boo-ing!

Charlotte's best bit: What happens to Hullabaloo's birthday cake. Eek!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A nice easy book to read before bed, with plenty of surprises. Boo to you too!

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

Seized on in an instant the moment we spied it in the library, we couldn't wait to get home and read "Spells a-popping, Granny's Shopping" from the dynamic duo of Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger. "Whizz Pop, Granny Stop" and "Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble" are firm favourites, so we definitely wanted to know what the magical witchy granny and her grandaughter Pandora got up to next.

Mealtimes at Granny's house inevitably seem to involve froggy poo (ew) and animal antics, and with the cupboards bare there's nothing else for it but to go shopping.

A simple trip to the supermarket for supplies seems fairly uneventful but when your granny is a dubbleyew eye tee cee haitch things can definitely take an unexpected turn. Granny's taste for mischief clashes with Pandora's wishes for simple grub like fish fingers and baked beans, and soon abject chaos breaks out as Granny waves her magic wand.

We love these books so much, the fact that Granny is pretty naughty - and yet utterly cute (yes I still have a massive book-crush on her), and always finds ways to weave a little magic into Pandora's ordinary everyday life. But sometimes magic does come in handy when naughty robbers are up to no good.

A real rollercoaster adventure ride from start to finish, with us still wanting to see more from Granny and Pandora. Once again there's the brilliant bonus of being able to scan a QR code and have a fabulous reading of the book to accompany you while you're flicking through (making Nosy Crow books essential for busy parents who don't mind plonking their children down with a mobile phone or a tablet and letting someone else read to their child).

Magical stuff. Well done Tracey and Joe, you've done it again!

Charlotte's best bit: The cheeky little animals who invade Granny's kitchen cupboards as soon as the shopping is put away. Greedy beasts!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun and entertaining, and a slick production as we've come to expect from "The Crow". More soon please!

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

"Hot Snot
Bogey Pie
Mix it in with a dead dog's eye
Drink it slowly
Eat it quick
Wash it down with a cup of cold sick!"

I thought I'd just share that with you, because if you've got a soon-to-be-five-year-old at home they'll probably find that hilarious, and will endlessly repeat it to you for the rest of the day. I apologise but if they liked that, they'll most certainly like "The Grunt and the Grouch" by Tracey Corderoy and Lee Wildish. Gross books are like nectar to kids, and the grosser the better. In this story The Grunt is a rather antisocial monster who likes living alone, but now and again likes to go and cause mayhem and havoc in his local town. He's smelly, he's dirty and his idea of haute cuisine usually revolves around mouldy gone-off things.

So when he comes home to find a party invitation on his doormat, the Grunt is less than pleased. He's even gruntier than ever when he finds The Grouch camping out in his garden having a fine time with the world's grimiest picnic.

Over time, the two become friends but just as The Grunt starts to really like The Grouch he leaves suddenly! Oh no!

For once, the Grunt is a bit lost and misses his new-found friend madly. Will the two be reunited?

This is such a fabulous little tale, full of squelchy squirty stuff but ultimately with a rather touching message underneath that layer of slime. Beautifully told by Tracey, who is fast becoming one of our favourite children's writers (and is an absolute STAR on Twitter btw) and superbly illustrated by Lee, it's the first in a whole series of Grunt and Grouch books so keep a bloodshot eye out for them, they're excellent!

Charlotte's best bit: The Grunt's perfect breakfast. Ee-ewwwwww!

Daddy's favourite bit: Ahhh you can't help but love a bit of grossness. I love these two, they're like Morecambe and Wise, only slightly stinkier and more prone to wiping bogies on each other! Bless!

My Nan (Charlotte's great nan) is a witch. We have known this for some time now, and it stems right back from being at school and her eerie insider knowledge of what we'd be having for school dinner, her deep love of cats and bats and lots of other creatures, and her uncanny ability to predict the weather.

She loves a good steaming cauldron of broth, she doesn't wear a pointy hat but has been known to wear a dazzling tabard or two and rather than riding a broomstick she used to terrify drivers riding around on a Norton 500 (which, at times, I'd cling to the back of, scared out of my wits).

We love her though. She's 91 and as sharp as a tack.

In 'Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble' Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger celebrate 'different' grannies everywhere. You know the ones, they don't like cardigans, they definitely do not like bingo but they love being slightly subversive, dressing differently and they know EVERYTHING!

A little girl thinks that her Granny could do with a bit of a makeover, to be like everyone else's granny and so she whisks her into town for some new clothes, a new (more cuddly) pet, and a seriously sharp hairdo.

Alas, it turns this wonderful witchy granny into a plain and boring one, so when the little girl calls on her one morning, she finds her tucked up in bed with no joie de vivre.

Can the damage be undone in time?

This is a brilliant book full of superbly detailed illustrations and fun & fabulous rhyming text. Also look out for 'Whizz Pop Granny Stop' by the same team (which we'll be picking up as soon as we can!)

Beautifully presented and produced by Nosy Crow with a great innovation tucked inside the cover - a QR code you can scan with a smartphone or a tablet PC, to hear the story read aloud to you (A fantastic idea we'd definitely like to see used more and more).

We really hope we see more of this dynamic duo! In the meantime, give your granny a big cuddle if you can. Grannies are special!

Charlotte's best bit: She really wants to see the film 'Scary Poppins' and has talked at great length about how she imagines that movie would be! Eeek! She also loved the granny's new pet (and what eventually happens to it!)

Daddy's favourite bit: A superbly entertaining tale about standing out and being different, and how that's a VERY good thing! Yay for grannies!

(Kindly sent to us by Nosy Crow Books to thank us for Charlotte's rather groovy princess drawing used on a Nosy Crow Blog Piece!)