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)

This is an extra-special edition of our Book of the Week slot because it's Charlotte's birthday week - and for her birthday book of the week she's chosen something that has had us both cackling with laughter all week, and has been in constant demand.

We're very used to seeing classic fairy tales get new treatments, as various authors and illustrators put their own sheen on well loved tales. We thought we'd seen just about every possible way you could reproduce the excitement of "Little Red Riding Hood" but step forward the dream team of Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap. Heapy and Heap have come up trumps with a tale that will make children hoot with laughter (like Charlotte) and make parents knowingly nod and crack a wry grin or two as well.

Very Little Red Riding Hood sets off from home to take cakes to her Grandmama (so far so good) but when she meets the wolf in the forest (and shouts gleefully "FOXIE" before giving him a huge hug - something we definitely don't advise toddlers to do!) it's the start of a pint-sized adventure.

Sue Heap's observations of toddler-style behaviour (and speech patterns! "Lello" made me laugh long and loud!) are bang on the nail. Very Little Red Riding hood is full of joie de vivre and like our own little miss bossy pants, she's not above telling people what to do and how to do it!

Safely at Grandmama's house, Very Little Red Riding Hood invites "Foxie" in for "a cuppatea" and makes perfect plans for the ultimate sleepover. But is "Foxie" as friendly as he seems?

Books like this are such easy candidates for our book of the week slot. In constant demand, eliciting hoots of laughter with every read through, but more than that - lots of really cute and hilariously funny scenes unfold as you read, and it's the perfect book to appeal to quite a broad age range.

Charlotte asked "Was I that bossy when I was a toggler?" (Her name for toddlers) - Yes indeed she was.

Charlotte's best bit: Have you ever seen a child literally hopping up and down with happiness and excitement when it gets to their 'best bit' in a book? That's what Charlotte does every time it gets to the bit where Very Little Red Riding Hood meets "Foxie" in the woods for the first time. Every single time!

Daddy's Favourite bit: I don't want to spoil the book too much for you but there are so many bits that will make you laugh and smile. I really truly hope we one day see Heapy and Heap do more classic story treatments like this, I mean Very Little Cinderella has GOT to be next, surely!