Last year, this infographic presented a stark view of diversity in children's books and it seems not much has changed this year either.

No one even vaguely interested in children's literature could possibly deny that there's been a huge upsurge in the number of brilliant and diverse books featuring BAME characters arriving on bookstore shelves (and, thankfully, our review pile). Yet once again a recent article in The Guardian makes it abundantly clear that even in 2019, when you could argue we're going through something of a 'golden age' for diverse titles with a good mix of genders as lead characters, there's still an awful lot of work to be done.

The article in question:

theguardian.com/books/2019/jun…

Though the article specifically highlights a huge problem with mainstream children's titles still failing to give girls the central / lead / speaking role, it also highlights the lack of BAME / Disabled characters  - now often used as little more than 'fillers' in a story where their character could be removed and have no effect on the story at all).

Sometimes it feels like these characters are just 'stickered in' so that major publishers can comfortably say they've got the diversity base covered.

Why the hell is that happening, I mean at all?

What is the point in just adding in a BAME character in some vain box-ticking exercise?

It's just not enough, not nearly enough.

What frustrates me is that it still feels like it always has to be some sort of an uphill struggle to make any progress with this whole thing, rather than something that should just happen naturally in children's storytelling. Surely it's in everyone's best interest to ensure the widest possible audience for the books you publish?

Where is it all going wrong? I have many theories and some of them are distinctly less palatable than others but first and foremost I agree with others who believe that the problem isn't that these books aren't there, it's often that they're not well publicised / high profile enough.

PR campaigns always seem to over-hype children's books that really do not need that extra push. Book store POS displays again do the same, and the less said about supermarket bookshelves (if they even have any) the better, but find a decent bookstore (even a high street chain) and start looking through the shelves - and you'll often find the diverse books you're looking for placed edge on in the shelves.

So they're there but practically invisible to casual browsers who come in and see the bigger displays and are drawn to them without rootling through the other stuff. We visit book stores a lot and we tend to see a very predictable pattern of behaviour from some parents who take their kids in there. They seem to want to get in there, buy a high profile book, and get out again as swiftly as possible. Something we find completely bizarre tbh.

So it's all marketing's fault then? But why would PR and marketing folk purposely ignore a huge swathe of books and potential customers intentionally?

Is it that they feel that these titles would not "make bank" as much as the others? After all, if you've got a big-name author on your books, and they're getting a huge advance, you've got to make sure their books bring the money in, so the focus of attention currently seems to be to push those harder than anything else (ironically, spending more PR / Marketing money in the process. Bonkers!)

Sadly, as well as the above, I also believe that there's a real problem with representation in the industry itself, right across the board from top to bottom, and it's horribly evident if you've ever been to any non-festival PR / book tour events (a recent one made me so uncomfortable that I had to bolt for the door, it was a completely surreal experience that one of these days I'll sum up the courage to blog about in another ReadItTorial rather than bore you to death with a huge wall of text here).

We've talked before about the race / class thing in publishing and within picture books in general - and how BAME and working class folk are definitely being squeezed out of things, but that still doesn't give a solid answer why we're still seeing large-scale issues with gender imbalance and of course a lack of BAME / Disabled / working class representation too.

The most upsetting thing from a casual observer's point of view is the fact that the very people who are champing at the bit to make children's books more inclusive are the very folk who often get blamed for the shortfall.

I don't like seeing creatives getting targetted by (well meaning but obviously misinformed) folk who suspect that the issue with the industry imbalance of white / middle class folk vs BAME / Disabled / working class creatives is being perpetuated by writers and illustrators themselves. I don't believe this is the case, though others obviously do and are making a lot of noise about that.

Most creatives actually welcome the opportunity to work on a wide range of diverse subjects and titles and should not be pilloried for the types of characters they include in their books (it's very easy to see why some creatives won't touch anything that deals with human characters at all, preferring to make their stories and points with animals, monsters or - agh - anything but people - but this just exacerbates the problem, it does nothing to kick-start progress on this matter).

We've seen it so many times in articles and thinkpieces on children's books. If kids can't see themselves reflected in the books they read, they won't dig in and fall in love with reading for pleasure - and from that they also won't be as likely to branch out and embrace other cultures and diverse subjects should the opportunity arise.

We've always tried our best to champion diverse titles on the blog (both of us are really passionate about this - even C who, for an 11 year old, thankfully understands why this is so important and always welcomes the opportunity to tackle any new books regardless of the colour, creed, sex, ability or age of the central character - and I guess it's important to say "the central SPEAKING character" at that, not just the stickered-in black / girl / poor friend who barely gets to utter a word).

More needs to be done, and we can all help - at all levels of involvement in kidlit, whether creator or consumer, and the rewards will eventually speak for themselves. We will hopefully have an industry that is future-proof rather than one consumed internally by its own asshole-wallpapering.

Broaden the audience and you'll broaden the sales, broaden the sales and you have more money to put into producing even more wonderful books. paying your creatives better too (and more money to promote a wider range of titles, not just the 'big name' stuff).

Or, y'know, just carry on the way you are and watch the whole industry end up a bland and disinterested money-making operation that eventually collapses in on itself in generations to come.

The fab folk at Ginger Books contacted us recently to tell us all about their brilliant range of diverse and original children's picture books and non-fiction titles.

Ginger Books have been around for a few years now, but they've very kindly sent us a crop of their titles to take a closer look at.

We love diverse books, and we love world stories so we were particularly interested to see that Ginger Books ticks two of the boxes we most like to see ticked when it comes to children's books.

1) Fabulous art. Like it or not, kids are very demanding when it comes to the pictures in their picture books and the illustrations in their non-fiction titles. Ginger Books works with some extremely talented artists to ensure that their books look as good as they sound

2) Original stories. We love new versions of classic tales, but equally we love to read classic tales from other countries and cultures - thoughtfully translated and retold paying due homage to the originals. Once again Ginger Books uses talented translators such as Grace Bowman and Alice Hemming to ensure that the stories are as exciting and vibrant as they were when told in their original languages.

We looked at a few titles but were most taken with Korean Cinderella, a brilliant retelling of the classic Cinderella story with a fabulous eastern charm all of its own. Retold by Kyu Hee Lee and illustrated by So Young Kim (with translation by Grace Bowman), "Korean Cinderella" is a truly gorgeous book!


"While Mummy Hen Was Away" by Young So You and Byeong Ho Han (with translation by Grace Bowman) is a thoroughly original and exciting tale of a clucky mother hen and a rather nasty old wolf, a classic good vs evil tale that feels fresh and original, and gorgeously illustrated.

We do love a nasty old wolf in stories, and this innovative counting book with hilarious rhymes is a fantastic way to get your tiny little ones counting (and giggling a lot at the same time).







We also really enjoyed "Show Me a Shadow" by Hee Jeong Yun and Hye Won Yeom (again with translation from Grace Bowman). A fab tale of a little girl and her pet cat, playing with light and shade and various objects to make the most incredible shadows.

Of the three, this was our favourite by a long chalk and it was great fun to try and replicate the shapes and shadows the little girl came up with for ourselves.

The books are brilliant for home, and would also work really well in school too - particularly non-fiction titles such as "Show me the Air" and "Let's Play some Music" which are fun ways of teaching children without feeling too 'schooly'.

Overall, Ginger Books have impressed our socks off with these so they're definitely worth taking a closer look at.

You can find out about the whole range of Ginger Books over at their website: http://gingerbooks.co.uk

Most children develop a fairly early appreciation for poetry without even knowing it...

So much awesomeness, how could you possibly miss out?

We've long been campaigners and champions of diversity and inclusivity in Children's Books and for this week's #ReadItMD13 theme we'll be taking a closer look at diverse and inclusive books, and the brilliant folk who champion them and do their very best to keep us 'in the know'.

To kick off this week we're handing over the reins to The Letterbox Library, supreme superchamp booksellers who specialise in diverse and inclusive books. If you haven't heard of them before, prepare to be impressed! Over to you, LL!

The Letterbox Library Penguin Stand (and a gorgeous Letterbox Librarian!)

“Letterbox Library is 25 years old, I thought it was older. I thought it had been here since the beginning of time. Maybe it’s because I can’t imagine what life would be like without it…This is the kind of organisation we can be proud of, a co-operative that is run by people motivated by nothing else but bringing joy and positive learning to our young. May you keep spreading the words for as long as we need words. By my reckoning that’s forever” (Benjamin Zephaniah, 2008).

Imagine our utter joy and giddiness at hearing these words from the great Zephaniah. Then, it was our 25th anniversary. This year marks our 30th. I wonder if the two single parents who set up Letterbox Library from their Hackney front room back in 1983 believed we would still be here now…

30 years ago Letterbox Library, a specialist children’s bookseller, launched with just 16 titles. Now we stock over 300. But some things haven’t changed one bit. Our aim remains exactly the same: to celebrate equality and diversity in the very best children’s books. And, we also remain a not-for-profit social enterprise and workers’ cooperative.

Letterbox Library really is in this for the passion and not for the profit. Like many children’s booksellers, we will tell you we love what we do. And that is true. But here’s where we’re different- our ultimate aim is to put ourselves out of business. The day you and I can walk into our high street bookstore and find a children’s book section which effortlessly reflects the diversity of our world and truly values every child is the day we will shut up shop- and we will do so with a glad heart and a skip in our step.

The brilliant Letterbox Library Book Tent at the recent Luton Hoo Book Festival

Letterbox Library’s children’s books show the incredible diversity of our local and global communities: they’re multicultural; they baffle gender stereotypes; they’re multi-faith; they include disabled heroes; they relish in the rich variety of our family structures; they feature people traditionally under-represented in children’s literature such as Travellers and refugees. We are also known for our books exploring ‘difficult’ issues such as family breakdown, bullying and bereavement.

We find this heady mix of books through painstaking sourcing, researching, reviewing and selecting from a wide range of both home-grown and international publishers. Helping us with this are a completely wonderful team of 25 volunteer book reviewers from diverse backgrounds; they include teachers, librarians, carers and, of course, children and young people themselves. Thankfully, they are a horribly fussy lot. Over 75% of the samples sent in by publishers are rejected by our team. The children’s book world knows us for our super-strictness and publishers tend to see the addition of their books in our catalogue/website as a stamp of approval. By the way, we balk at tokenism- if we approve a book, then that means it has been chosen not just because it fits our ethos but also because of its excellence in storyline/artwork and its strong child-appeal. Finally, we are passionate about resisting commercial trends. We want to offer all children real choices in what they read.

The utterly awesome Catherine Johnson and her book 'Stella' (OUP)

This must be the place to add that we recently became partners of the quite brilliant Inclusive Minds. They. Are. Brilliant. They’re bringing together -in one big HUG- all of those people who have a profound commitment to ensuring no child is left out of the landscape of children’s literature.

They are also contributing to this theme week so I won’t go on too much about them here. Oh- and also I should mention that Letterbox Library was very privileged this year to run the 1st ever Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for radical children’s fiction. We did this on behalf of the stupendous Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and ReadItDaddy blogged about it here:

Celebrate Equality and Diversity at the first ever "Little Rebels Children's Book Awards", coming to the London Radical Bookfair

I promised I would suggest some Top Inclusive Books. Obviously, narrowing the choices down is a completely impossible task, so please just see these as stepping stones for bigger, brighter inclusive book collections:

For the Very Young

• Deron Goes to Nursery / Grandma Comes to Stay: smashing 1st experience photographic books which just happen to be set in modern Ghana.

• Man’s Work: a bestseller of ours; dad and son do the housework…

• Daddy, Papa and Me; Mommy, Mama, and Me: 2 boardbooks bouncing with the joys of a same-sex parent family.

• Blankies/Snug: dinky, perfectly formed boardbooks with an open door policy for all toddlers!

• Tuck Your Vest In: a comic caper about 1st day at a (multicultural) Welsh nursery.

• My Mum is a Firefighter/My Nanny Tracey: ‘real’ women role models.

• Freddie & the Fairy: a hearing-impaired fairy gets a child’s wishes a little muddled…

For Primary Aged Children

• The Silence Seeker and Azzi In Between: skillful and brilliant stories about asylum seekers

• Not All Princesses Dress in Pink: it’s all in the title!

• Donovan’s Big Day: our first lesbian wedding picture book.

• Olaudah Equiano: a Black British hero portrayed by Manchester schoolchildren.

• A Donkey Reads: a traditional Turkish tale (warning- belly deep laughs - and a ReadItDaddy recommendation too!)

• The Art of Miss Chew: a dyslexic protagonist masters her art classes.

***you can find all of these books & more here: www.letterboxlibrary.com ***

Phew! Now for just a little plea. Letterbox Library is known for its book selection process. This book selection is entirely funded by our book selling. And, as I’ve said, a great many education professionals give up their time to support this selection by reviewing our books. We want to offer people who share our passion a good service so we want to offer you great selections enhanced by easily searchable ‘themes’ on our website and in our catalogue.

We also know that every time we put out a new theme or booklist or recommended reads, we run the risk of someone using our sourcing and selection expertise to shop elsewhere. All we would say is, please bank your money with the people who genuinely care about children’s literature and who need your custom to survive- if not us, then your favourite indie. Perhaps you already do this, in which case please forgive the plea. Thank you, ReadItDaddy for your tireless support of indie bookselling and for this opportunity to gush and waffle about lovely inclusive things.

 - Well, thank YOU Letterbox Library for kicking off our Diversity and Inclusivity week with a fantastic and thought provoking post. Please do take the time to check out the Letterbox Library website and please take to heart the text in red above because it pretty much underlines why folk like Letterbox Library are so important to children's books.

2020 might well be remembered as the 'year of the virus' but it's also going to be remembered as the year that an entire nation stood up to a stupid shredded-wheat haired President and shouted "enough is enough".

One thing I wasn't really prepared for was how angry Twitter would make me while #BlackLivesMatter protesters the world over mobilised and began to make their voices heard (not anger at them of course, but anger at the way they were being portrayed).

Some of the sources of annoyance were obvious, for example our own trash-fire political system slyly trying to brush its chief advisor's blatant ignorance of the COVID-19 lockdown to serve his own ends, while simultaneously readying itself to blame the inevitable 2nd wave of COVID-19 infections on the protests that have been taking place in major cities here.

The other annoyance was the disgusting "bowing and scraping" going on from the publishing industry. Suddenly every agent or commissioning editor seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork to offer black creatives all sorts of tantalising deals, almost a free run at the submissions process so that they could tell their stories, make themselves heard. Silently in the background listening to the "Ka-CHING!" from book sales of fast-tracked titles pushed out to serve a public who now, more than ever, want to make sure their kids know what's going on and are kept well informed from an early age.

It's laudable, of course it is but I'm horribly cynical about this stuff, just as I was horribly cynical about the tidal wave of eco-cash-in books that arrived when Greta Thunberg's plaintive globe-saving messages began to come to public attention, or the many books that pull the same stuff with women's rights.

If there's a buck to be made, it seems, the industry knows no shame.

As it says in the header of this article, true diversity and representation of black talent in children's books isn't some gaudy little brooch to pin to your publishing house, wearing it around to impress your friends and notch up a few extra book sales.

Simultaneously to the hideous (and quite rightly pilloried) guilt-assuaging going on was a Twitter thread about the money that authors are paid as advances by their publishers. The UK figures told the same old story they always do. UK authors and illustrators get a pitiful sum compared to their US counterparts, and of course the more famous you are, the bigger the loot grab from writing or illustratng (well, that is common sense). But then there's the whole question of the whopping great big advances paid to celebrity authors who (in most cases) will inevitably end up with their well-meaning books clustered like flies at the bottom of the bargain bin in factory clearance outlets like "The Works".

Back to #BlackLivesMatter though, and the simple fact that some publishers - independent and still sadly considered 'non mainstream' really know how to promote and encourage black talent, in fact world talent from a rich and diverse set of cultures stretching right across our planet. As much as the UK children's publishing industry seems locked in a litany of producing and publishing the same tired old moral messages and themes year in year out, publishers such as Tiny Owl and Lantana are quietly, without pomp or ceremony, producing some of the best diverse books on the planet by some of the most awesome black authors and illustrators.

Some Twitter folk have been, quite rightly, rounding on those who have been making advances to them, pointing out that the rather empty gesture won't be sustained. The UK Children's publishing industry is still an industry that systematically fails to consider the rich diversity of our country, and still seems to think it's fine to parade the inclusion of a minor black character in a book like it's some new amazing pioneering thing they've just discovered, when really all kids want to see in a book is themselves, their lives, and the way they look and feel about things being treated as it always should be, as the norm not the exception.

We've had a lot to say on this subject for quite some time, and have always championed diversity here. Racism is an antiquated concept that has held the world back for far too long, it's about time it got in the bin.

https://readitdaddy.blogspot.com/search?q=diverse

The more we dig into the diverse and brilliant world of children's books, the more we like what we see. When a traditional and well known (and oft well-trodden) tale is given a complete cultural makeover and entwined deliciously with traditional tales from Africa, we can't possibly resist a peek.

"Pretty Salma" is, as the cover says, a little red riding hood story from Africa but before you think "Not another Red Riding Hood tale!" hold fast in your seat, because there's more than enough rich and vibrant allure in this book to ensure it stands on its own two (pretty yellow flip-flopped) feet.

Pretty Salma lives with her lovely Grandmother and her groovy Grandad. When Grandmother asks Pretty Salma to go to the market one day, she puts on her best wrap, her blue headscarf, her white beads and her yellow sandals and heads out to pick up some supplies.

Unfortunately, Pretty Salma does not heed her Grandmother's good advice not to talk to strangers, and is soon bedevilled and bewitched by a silver-tongued dog who takes rather a shining to Pretty Salma, and because she's a bit of a chatterbox, soon knows all about her and her Grandparents.

The dog is a nasty little trickster, and soon he shows his true nature, leaving Pretty Salma without her wrap, her scarf and her beads - stolen by the nasty dog so he can inveigle his way into Salma's household.

Only, there's one thing the dog can't emulate. Pretty Salma's beautiful singing. Will Grandmother see through his deception in time? Will Grandfather be able to help?

With brilliant illustrations that take their cues from African art, and some quite scary and surprising bits to keep your children entertained, this is definitely worth investigating.

Also, if you liked this, look out for our #ReadItMD13 Theme Week on "Diverse and Inclusive Books" next week. You're in for a real treat.

Charlotte's best bit: The dog flouncing around pretending to be a girl.

Daddy's favourite bit: Groovy Grandad and his truly awesome Anansi the Spider Costume

Marvel pretty much have "Mighty Girl" all sewn up, and if you want a truly fantastic example of how much work they've put in to providing one of the most diverse and brilliantly feminist comic universes in the world, take a look at our second book of the week this week, the stunning "Powers of a Girl: 65 Marvel Women who Changed the Universe" by Lorraine Cink and Alice X. Zhang.

For a long time, C has definitely been a "Marvel" girl and has soaked up a huge number of comics from the MCU, nearly all of them featuring truly kick-ass and brilliant female characters, all of which feature in this book.

Fabulous bios written by self-confessed Marvel fangirl Lorraine Cink, with stunning new illustrations for the book by comic artist supreme Alice X. Zhang gather together a whopping roster of female Marvel superheroes you may have heard of, and a truckload you may not have (but definitely need to find out more about, trust us on this).

C's favourite characters Spider-Gwen (Ghost Spider) and Squirrel Girl are just two of the characters detailed in here, and there are brilliant sections on superhero power couples and supermoms too!

Let's take a look at a couple of spreads:

Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers. Ace pilot, kickass fighter, not to be messed with whether you're Kree or not!

Each character bio digs into their comic and movie history, and gives you tons of juicy nuggets of information about them from their nicknames to their known aliases, supporting characters and of course their superpowers.

Thor. No, not the one with the massive beergut, the cooler one!

Girls and boys will love reading about these hugely inspirational and influential characters, and there's no better way of seeing just how amazingly diverse comics have become in the last decade or so.

Make ours Marvel, nuff said!

Sum this book up a sentence: A truly stellar line-up of incredible female comic characters from the Marvel comics and movie universes, showing just how brilliant their current roster is.

"Powers of a Girl" by Lorraine Cink and Alice X. Zhang is out now, published by Studio Press / Marvel Comics (kindly supplied for review). 

Today is a big release day for Tiny Owl Publishing, champions of fantastic diverse stories from around the world.

Their new collection for 2017 truly does have something for everyone so we'll dip into our book bag and take a closer look.

"When I Coloured In The World" is a brilliant little story about a little girl who is gifted some amazing crayons, and sets about using them to change good things into bad.

Her lyrical descriptions of each colour - and what she will use it for - are scintillating and lovely. She turns drought into rain, sadness into hope and deftly weaves a colourful journey as she goes.

We read this one out loud - particularly enjoying the simple central theme but also the gorgeous exploration of colour and turning bad things around into good.

"When I coloured In The World" by Ahmadreza Ahmadi and Ehsan Abdollahi is released today by Tiny Owl. 

Next in our book bag, a gorgeous modern fable...

"The Elephant's Umbrella" is a short but sweet book all about a happy elephant who owns the most amazing colourful umbrella.

One day during a storm, the umbrella is whipped away by the wind - landing near a leopard who wants the umbrella all to himself. But the umbrella doesn't like leopard's way of living and his ideas of what he'd use the umbrella for.

Whipped away again, the umbrella lands near bear - whose ideas are probably even worse than leopard's!

Umbrella soon begins to miss her old friend - will the wind return her to her rightful owner one day?

Beautifully written and illustrated, a gorgeous moral tale that will keep little ones entertained.

"The Elephant's Umbrella" by Laleh Jaffari and Ali Khodai is released today, published by Tiny Owl. 

Next, a fab fishy tale...

"The Little Black Fish" by Samad Behrangi tells the story of an inquisitive little fishy fellow. Little Black Fish may be small, but he has big questions and a determination to find answers to them.

While his fellow fish are too scared to do anything different from their set routine, Little Black Fish swims over the edge of the pool, into the stream and river which will show him much more of the world.

He meets wonders and adventures, dangers and beauty. He makes it all the way to the sea, and finds his answers. The little fish's story is passed down to a new generation who will hopefully be inspired by his curiosity and joie de vivre.

"The Little Black Fish" by Samad Behrangi is out today, published by Tiny Owl. 

Phew, room for one more? I think so!

Last but not least it's "The Clever Mouse" by Anahita Teymorian. The story of a mouse who is indeed clever, but also a bit too big for his (tiny) boots.

Clever mouse always believes his way is the right way, but a bit of realising his own foolishness teaches him what he needs to learn in order to become wise and happy.

A mousy love story that shows how kindness is more important than beauty, and that sometimes a good dose of humility goes a very long way.

"The Clever Mouse" by Anahita Teymorian is also released today, published by Tiny Owl. 

A truly brilliant range of fantastic titles, visit the Tiny Owl website for more exciting and diverse children's stories from a publisher who really knows how to stand out from the crowd.

(All books kindly sent for review).

We go absolutely crazy for this type of book on the blog and I'm happy to see that our prediction that 2019 would be "The Year of the Environmental Book" was accurate and is being fulfilled with amazing titles like "The Incredible Ecosystems of Planet Earth" by Rachel Ignotovsky.

Rachel is the bestselling author of "Women in Science" and this time turns her gaze to producing a book that showcases what an amazing planet we live on.

This illustrated tour of our planet's ecosystems both large and small, from reefs, deserts and rainforests to a single drop of water not only shows how beautiful our world is, but what we stand to lose if we don't join the rallying call to action to address and combat climate change before it's too late.

Through exquisite illustrations, maps and infographics, Rachel explains how our planet works, from its incredible ecosystems and the plants and animals that live there to the importance of biodiversity, weather cycles and more. 

They don't actually drink Um Bongo here. Just thought it was worth stressing that up front.

Even close to home you'll find rich diverse ecosystems of vital importance to wildlife, and of course to us all!

We had to squeeze in just one more Book of the Week this week, making room for an extremely important and fantastically timely book...

We do love a fabulous natural history book or two on this blog and "Sounds of Nature: World of Forests: by Robert Hunter is absolutely pitch perfect.

For not only does this book LOOK brilliant, it also SOUNDS brilliant too thanks to some fabulous 'sound spot' technology to really bring its core subject to life.

We're taking a trip across the world to many different forest habitats that are all rich in diverse plant and animal life.

See the animals that live in our forests, and also hear them as they screech, squawk, tweet and roar.

Explore ten diverse habitats—from the Amazon Rainforest, to Redwood National Park to the New Forest (our own personal favourite weekend destination. We love it there!)

Evergreen forests full of badgers, deer, capercalies and wild lynxes! Wow!

Art Heroes - Comic heroes ready to rock your world!

Who are the mysterious "Art Heroes"? They're a British publisher and comics workshop facilitation team who passionately beaver away producing brilliant comics and mould-breaking stories and heroes that you're seriously going to go nuts over.

"Birds of Pray" - They're not angry, they're holy!

"Outlaw" - The Weird Weird Weird Weird West!

"Endangered and More Strange Stories" from the awesome Art Heroes Collective. Get your copy for a mere £3.50 in earth money. BARG-AIN!

Any new project involving Sir Quentin Blake is a cause for great excitement at ReadItDaddy Towers. When it's a new QB story book, we're ecstatic. When it's a new QB story book that celebrates diversity we sit up and pay very close attention indeed.

Quentin Blake is such a fantastic storyteller in his own right that we love seeing what happens when he truly goes to town with a story, writing and illustrating with fantastic expertise and seemingly consummate ease. "The Five of Us" is something truly special though, introducing us to five child heroes who aren't your ordinary everyday run of the mill kids.

There's Angie, who can spot things from miles away with her super-keen eyesight. There's Ollie who is blessed with hypersensitive hearing. There's Simona and Mario, who are both strong and wise and then there's Eric who is...well in the words of the great man himself, we'll get to Eric in a moment.

As soon as you see the book cover, you'll understand that the aim of the book is not just to tell a fantastic tale of believing in yourself, your own abilities and believing that you're truly special in a multitude of ways - but also to celebrate our rich and diverse culture and the children we nurture and influence.

"The Five" are out on a special outing, a picnic in the wilds which heralds the start of an adventure! Hopping into the coach with their adult helper, they soon find themselves in a gorgeous spot perfect for scoffing their sandwiches in.

When their adult helper becomes ill and faints, it's up to the five to use their amazing abilities to team up, work together and help their friend to safety.

The characters in the story are vitally important, for Angie, Ollie, Simona, Mario and Eric are characters that our own children will already known and identify with but characters that don't appear enough in children's stories. Ethnic minorities, disabilities and speech impediments are subtly included, "Five" are everyday kids but wholly unusual to find in high profile picture books and though huge strides have been made in the last few years to make children's books more inclusive and diverse, there's still an awful lot of work to do.

To see such a huge figure in children's stories ably recognising and acknowledging this is extremely encouraging though, so "The Five of Us" deserves kudos as does Sir Quentin for so perfectly capturing the essence of what makes kids so imaginative, brilliant and brave whatever their background or ability.

Back to Eric. We love Eric. Eric is a hero! Eric is the sort of character we are instantly drawn to in children's stories, who struggles against adversity and eventually proves pivotal and vital as the story unfolds. It was all we could do to stifle a huge "Hooray" at the end of the book as the heroic 5 save the day.

"The Five of Us" is out today, September 4th, From Tate Publishing

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte thought Angie was the coolest by far but really did have a soft spot for Eric too (as did I)

Daddy's Favourite bit: A fantastic story, quite tense and fraught in places but such a high to end on. Brill stuff from a master of children's stories, bringing his expertise to bear on this hugely important book.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Tate Publishing)

Ah Wide Eyed Books, we've missed you. We haven't seen a title from this fab publisher in a while so it's something of a treat to take a look at "What Do Grown-ups Do All Day?"

We've seen quite a lot of books on the blog that cover one of the quirkiest parts of children's formative years, but this story - reworked and reprinted from Verna Wilkins' original 1993 classic - is something of a treat, particularly when you consider just how ahead of its time it really was.

In "Dave and the Tooth Fairy" by Verna, with new artwork from super-talented Carl Pearce, young Dave has a problem that's common to quite a few kids. He has a wobbly tooth, perfectly natural, nothing to worry about.

Only there's a problem. When Dave's tooth finally does come out, it's as a result of a humungous SNEEZE!

The tooth shoots across the room never to be seen again.

The real issue is that Dave doesn't have that shiny bit of enamel to tuck under his pillow. And no tooth means no loot from the Tooth Fairy.

Will Dave's plaintive wish be heard, will the tooth fairy somehow find it within her heart to cough up even though the tooth is long gone?

Thankfully Dave's tooth fairy is super-smart - and won't let a little thing like a missing tooth phase her at all!

Carl Pearce's artwork is just so, so good in this brilliant book!

Straight off the bat, this instantly feels like the grandaddy of so many other "tooth fairy" tales that followed (and are still being written / illustrated today).

Somewhat annoyingly, in our 'switched on' diverse world, this is also still one of the few tooth fairy tales with an all-black cast.

We've campaigned long and hard for children's picture books to feature more diverse characters, and how this is so important for kids - to be able to see kids just like them doing things just like they do. Why are we still having to campaign like this 26 years on from a book that was so inspirational and ground-breaking at the time it came out?

Oh no! No tooth, no loot!!

The whole flow of the story is full of neat little nuances that again mark it a cut above so many similar titles. Dave himself is a fab character, and we really feel for him when he initially ends up losing his tooth - and his angst at perhaps missing out on the financial reward that he'd been banking on from trading in his old holey gnasher for a shiny coin.

It's stylish stuff from cover to cover, largely thanks to Verna's original tweaked story and Carl's superb new artwork. Very highly recommended.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A fab version of the tooth fairy story told in a way that was immensely ground breaking at the time it originally came out, with a brilliant central character who boosts this book's appeal high above the norm.

"Dave and the Tooth Fairy" by Verna Wilkins and Carl Pearce is out now, published by Studio Press (kindly supplied for review). 

Three fab titles are arriving in March, courtesy of Tiny Owl Publishing.

Tiny Owl are renowned for their brilliant and diverse children's books full of colourful illustrations and engaging stories, so let's dive into our book bag and see what March brings.

First is "The Parrot and the Merchant" based on the fables of Rumi, with fabulous reworking and illustrations from Marjan Vafaian. This fable tells the story of a merchant and her beautiful parrot.

The parrot is kept in a gilded cage and wants for nothing, and the merchant loves the parrot very much. But sometimes love means more than possession - it means also having the ability to let something go and be free.

This story unfolds beautifully as the merchant realises that the one thing that would make the parrot happier than anything else, even the richest foods and the most beautiful surroundings.

"The Parrot and the Merchant" by Marjan Vafaian is out now, published by Tiny Owl.

Next in our book bag, another brilliant fable, and another tale of a little bird...

In "A Bird Like Himself" the story begins with a lone lost egg left in the forest.

A bird hatches from the egg but there's no mum around to look after the poor little chick - so an amusing variety of 'foster parents' sit in until the bird can find his way to a loving home.

As anyone knows though, bringing up a baby bird isn't easy! Will poor little baby bird ever find a proper mum?

Beautifully illustrated and told by Anahita Teymorian, this is a snuggly classic in the making that's perfect for a bedtime story.

"A Bird Like Himself" by Anahita Teymorian is out now, published by Tiny Owl.



Last but not least, another utterly beautiful book that will draw in curious kids with a very important question or two...!

In "Alive Again" by Ahmadreza Ahmadi and Nahid Kazsmi a little boy muses on the world around him.

"When the blossom disappears, is it gone for good?"

His father teaches the boy that patience reaps its own rewards. Even when the rain stops, it will begin again - and even when the blossoms disappear, they will be back next spring.

Gentle storytelling for curious minds, with instantly appealing illustrations, "Alive Again" by Ahmadreza Ahmadi and Nahid Kazsmi is out now, published by Tiny Owl.

What a brilliant trio of books! Be sure to check out the rest of Tiny Owl's fabulous inclusive publications on their website.

"Ancient Egypt in 30 Seconds by Kath Senker and Jacqueline Williamson (Ivy Press)

We're always on the lookout for new and engaging Non Fiction books and we were delighted to be contacted by Ivy Press who have a stunning new range of children's non fiction books, under the "30 Seconds" range.

Don't be put off by the name, the fantastic range of books covering topics as diverse as the human body, Ancient Egypt and even the oceans deep is designed to break substantial topics up into bite-sized pieces so that children will readily engage with and absorb a whole caboodle of interesting facts and figures based around each subject.

We took a look at two books in the range, the first (as you can see from the header image) visits a topic we absolutely can't get enough of.

"Ancient Egypt in 30 Seconds" is utterly brilliant, a summary roundup of the amazingly rich history of Egypt, detailing just about everything you can think of from what it was like to live in Egyptian times, the royal lineage of Egypt and the Pharaohs (both male and female) who ruled the lands.

Each bite-sized chunk of Egyptian history is thoroughly well presented...

Our favourite section of the book. Did you know there were female Pharaohs? You do now!

...with exquisite detail crammed into every page spread, guaranteed to turn you into a budding Egyptologist in no time at all.

We also took a look at "Oceans in 30 seconds"...

Oceans in 30 seconds by Jen Green, Wesley Robins and Dr Diva Amon (Ivy Press)

This book visits the oceans showing us the rich and diverse ecosystems in, under and on our oceans deep. Again, each page spread divides the subjects into easy to master chunks...

Our ever-changing coastlines, affected by the currents and the weather as the planet's climate changes

This book is utterly essential for young eco-warriors who want to find out more about our oceans, why they're so important to us, and the huge changes that are happening as our climate warms up. Children will quickly learn why coastlines are eroding and ocean levels are rising - as well as seeing the impact that these changes has on life that relies on the ocean daily (including us, of course!)

These are just two in a gigantic range of fascinating and innovative titles from Ivy Press (do check out their website for more). The books cover a vast range of ages (yep, including us adults). They're really gorgeously presented and would be ideal for home and school as subjects are tackled in a kid-friendly (but definitely not dumbed down) way.

(Ancient Egypt in 30 seconds and Oceans in 30 seconds kindly sent to us for review by Ivy Press).