Oh my, these books! SUCH FUN! We were lucky enough to meet Teresa and Sue, Author / Illustrator respectively of the truly awesome "Very Little" series of books with a cake-fuelled launch event at Blackwells in Oxford a few years ago. Two utterly lovely creatives who form such a brilliant partnership for these books, drawing together a brilliant set of observations of toddler behaviour, with some really fab depictions of classic fairy tale characters we know and love - again with that toddler 'brush' applied.

We started out with these books with "Very Little Red Riding Hood" (still C's absolute favourite) and the initial draw (as well as them being hilarious) was getting C to join in reading the lines for Very Little Red Riding Hood herself whenever we read it together (I would very much recommend doing this as a parent if you're reading aloud to your kids, let them have some early involvement and it boosts their reading so much!).

Little Red Riding Hood is off to visit Grandma, as the story starts out following the classic tale. But on the way she meets a wolf (who she gleefully calls "Foxy!") who rather likes the sound of going to tea with Grandma - but will Red and Granny end up as Foxy's tea instead in the classic way? You'd better read this one to find out. Teresa fantastically taps directly into toddler language ("LELLOW BOOTS!") and Sue's characters are just so utterly perfectly depicted (snotty bawling toddlers brilliantly rendered in her trademark perfect watercolours!)

When we read the original book, tucked into the inner cover was a map of the "Very Little" Land with far more characters mentioned than just Very Little Red Riding Hood - so we were delighted when Teresa and Sue followed up with more books, including the equally awesome "Very Little Sleeping Beauty" - again brilliantly capturing the essence of the original tale with a ton more fantastically observed toddler bits brought into the mix (and some fab cameos from other 'very little' characters too!)

These are just delightful in every way and we've kept all the ones we have (including "Very Little Cinderella" and "Very Little Rapunzel". Even now when we read them together C still does the little voices, and I still read the rest. Happy, happy book memories indeed!


Original articles and review links:

ReadItDaddy's BIRTHDAY Book of the Week - Week Ending 21st February 2014 - Very Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (David Fickling Books)

A grand Booky outing to Blackwells Oxford, to celebrate the launch of "Very Little Cinderella" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Random House)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 27th March 2015 - "Very Little Cinderella" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Random House)

ReadItDaddy's Picture Book(s) of the Week - Week Ending 30th June 2017 - "Very Little Sleeping Beauty" and "Very Little Rapunzel" by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap (Red Fox Picture Books)

Putting a new spin on classic fairy tales isn't easy, and a lot of people give them a bit of a dust and polish without bringing anything new to the table. You definitely cannot say that about Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap's "Very Little" series, and this is the second book that has had us simultaneously guffawing like goons and hugging ourselves with glee at just how durned great it is.

"Very Little Cinderella" starts off with tiddler Cinders 'cleaning up the house' (which, as any parent of a toddler will tell you, means making ten times more mess than they created in the first place). Very Little Cinderella's very big (but not very ugly) Ugly Sisters aren't too impressed with the cleaning attempts, but as VLC snaffles a snack biscuit they have more news.

"We are going to a party!" they proclaim.

Very Little Cinderella wants to party too, but she's going to be looked after by a special babysitter, The Fairy Godmother (who I think I've got a bit of a book crush on. She's CUTE!)

Very Little Cinderella is determined that she wants to sneak off to the party instead of helping clean up the house, so with a little magic and the world's greatest selection of dresses ("This is my best bit!" said Charlotte, falling instantly in love with the Pearly Dress), the plan is afoot. Gatecrash the party but be back home before the clock strikes 12 and the magic runs out.

After a weeny tantrum about what to wear (this is a bit where I laughed, then realised I was laughing about something Charlotte drives us both mad with EVERY TIME WE HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE!) and a quick change of transport (who needs a pumpkin coach when you've got a big blue scooter, yay!) it's off to the party to do dancing and making friends.

As the clock strikes 12 and the Fairy Godmother scoops up Very Little Cinderella to head for home, VLC realises she's lost her very favourite yellow (sorry, I mean LELLO!) boot.

She's inconsolable. No amount of biccies or boots will brighten Cinders' glumness. But wait, who's that at the door? A very little Prince (and his mum) with the missing boot! HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!

After a bit of a bootswap (again this is so brilliantly observer, why do kids always want to swap shoes?) and a play date, Very Little Cinderella and Very Little Prince Charming become firm friends, dawwww bless their little lello and spotted boots!

We loved this - and now bedtime has become a two-book juggling act between Very Little Cinderella and Very Little Red Riding Hood (we were very pleased to see "Foxy" make a cameo appearance in Very Little Cinderella, Sue managed to work him into one of the book's lovely illustration panels). We truly can't wait for the next book in the series (which at the time of writing is almost finished, and we're allowed to tell you that it's going to be Very Little Sleeping Beauty - Teresa's awesome sons who were at the book signing told us it was OK to say so!)

Charlotte's best bit: The choosing of the special party dress. I thought the 'neat' dress was ace, but Charlotte couldn't resist the shiny dress.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Brilliantly funny, acutely well observed, fantastically illustrated, a super-treat from Heapy and Heap!

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

Very Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap

Yummy yummy cake! (Not Lello though!)

Teresa (standing) and Sue (kneeling) getting ready to captivate the gathered audience

Don't forget the lello boots!

Charlotte drawing a Very Little Prince (love those red cheeks!)