Jeffrey Brown's whimsical take on the Star Wars Universe is absolutely perfectly parent-and-kid friendly and I first encountered his series of homages to Star Wars with the "Darth Vader and Son" postcard book my wife thoughtfully bought me for my last birthday.

Jeffrey is a confirmed Star Wars geek and a dad, and it's not hard to see how he's married the two together to produce a successful series of books that are charming and cute and a great way to introduce your kids to Star Wars, if they're not already running around the garden making "P-tew P-tew" or "Whooaaaaaagh!" noises while pretending to be Luke, Leia or Darth.

As Darth settles his jedi-some twins down for the evening, he tells a story of all the characters right across the empire and beyond, settling down for the night. Jar Jar Binks clumsily falls over his own pyjamas. Queen Amidala collapses in a heap of her own amazing garments, before getting some Zs. Even General Grievous takes out his contact lenses, brushes his teeth, washes his face and gets dressed for bed - all at the same time (you can do this when you've got four arms, you see!)

Jeffrey's rhymes might trip over themselves a little but they're fun and cute, and we loved his pencilled drawings of all the character we've come to know and love from the movies (both classic and new) and even some from the spin-off Jedi Academy and Rebels series too.

We both had a soft spot for particular scenes. Charlotte loved the idea of snuggling up in a lovely wookie-bundle in the trees on Kashykk while I rather liked the homage to "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper as Dexter tucks away his galactic greasy spoon cafe for the night.

An awesome little pocket-sized book. Night night Darth Vader, sleep tight, don't let the Sarlaac bite!

Charlotte's best bit: Baby Wookies and Ewoks are SO CUTE!

Daddy's Favourite bit: No better way to send your little geeklets off to sleep than with a star-warsy snooze aid! A bedtime reading of this should see them well on their way to dreamland.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Chronicle Books)

Wow! What a fantastic treat this book is. Translated from the original French, and now available in many other languages (including English and Welsh!) is "The Memory of an Elephant" by Sophie Strady and Jean-Francois Martin.

Taking us through a day in the life of Marcel, a hip and cool elephant with a ton of charm, it's more than just a children's story - it's an exquisitely detailed homage to modern (and not so modern) life.

Marcel's hip and cool wardrobe. Love the tattoo too!

As Marcel's story unfolds, we learn that he's compiling an encyclopaedia - and with his capacious memory, Marcel trawls his immediate surroundings for material for his book.

What we loved most about this book was the attention to detail both in story and in the glorious illustrations. The story positively invites comment and curiosity from your little ones, who will love Marcel instantly - but also love the things he loves too. All aspects of culture and civilisation are examined in brilliant break-out spreads that tell us all about the history and evolution of some of the objects we might find dotted around our own houses.

My favourite illustrative spread in the book. I want all of these!

So it's a fab and original story, coupled with awesome historical and cultural references in an elephant-sized hardback that your children are absolutely going to love coming back to again and again. Hooray for Marcel!

Charlotte's best bit: Her favourite bit was Marcel's wardrobe (and wondering why an elephant would want a feather boa!) Also finding out what Elephants are really scared of (it's not mice!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: A glorious book full of brilliant little details and cooler than cool cultural and historical references. This is utterly fantastic!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Chronicle Books)

The mighty, the magnificent, the masterful Tor Freeman is back, this time with a superb book that's part hidden object challenge, part story but all brilliant! Time to meet the latest busy little animal creation from one of our favourite author illustrators.

Digby Dog is the busiest dog in town. No parcel too big, no letter too small as Digby dashes around ensuring the post is on time. Charlotte wriggled with delight reading this as we both tracked down those tricky customers and the other hidden objects Digby needs to find in each scene.

(Charlotte was also convinced she saw The Toucan Brothers - from Tor's utterly brilliant book of the same name - tucked away in a scene in this tale!)

Some books are quite overwhelming in the amount of detail they pack in. In "Digby Delivers", each scene is so packed with tiny little moments of brilliance, in-jokes and entertaining mini-scenes that play out in the background or as part of the main story itself. In places the book reminds me of the genius of Richard Scarry, at other times it feels a little like "Where's Wally" but Tor takes the core theme of finding things to help Digby to another level entirely, this book really is THAT good!

Digby rounds off his busy day by delivering a very special parcel to his daughter. Can you guess what it is?

An utter delight and a truly brilliant book of the week.

Charlotte's best bit: She loved the "Kew Gardens" scene and the crazy scientists too. So many brilliant little things to see in both these scenes.

Daddy's Favourite bit: So many things to love (I loved the poster homage to Rosie the Riveter). Tor Freeman taps into the hidden object formula, bringing along all her brilliant storytelling and illustration skills to create something truly spectacular and special here, do not miss Digby, he really does deliver in this tale!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Macmillan Children's Books)

Usborne sticker books are a bit of a saviour, truth be told. Name a subject and you'll find an Usborne sticker book based on it. On rainy days they're great for soaking up a few hours of immersive fun. On sunny days they're great for a bit of subversive stickering while lolling in the garden. They're also completely invaluable as the long school summer holidays draw to a close with idle days to fill before Charlotte has to break out the exercise books and get back down to serious brainwork...

BRAINNNSSSS! Did someone mention brains? Zombies are the subject of the "Zombie Sticker Book" by Kirsteen Robson and Seth Burnett. With over 600 icky sticky stickers, your minis will find lots of harmless horrific fun to be had making up all sorts of scenes involving the undead.

(It's not quite as gross as it sounds, trust us!)

Even after Charlotte worked her way through the book there were plenty of stickers left over for her to stick in her scrapbooks, or for me to kidnap and stick on my laptop case.

Awesome fun! What do we want? BRAINNNNNSSSS! When do we want it? BRAINNNNNNSSSSS!

Charlotte's best bit: Gruesome, gory, funny and absorbing sticker fun!
Daddy's Favourite bit: BRAINNNNNSSSSS!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Usborne Publishing)

When you're about to embark on a perilous journey around the world and you're only six, it's vitally important to remember a few key things. One - You absolutely cannot outrun a Cheetah. Two - Snakes are hopeless if you sneeze at them and Three - Crocodiles are easily defeated by chewy gooey pie.

Sam, the titular hero of "Sam's Super Stinky Socks" (which is out today, by the way) is given lots of sage advice by dad before he goes off globetrotting, but like most 6 year olds (including our own) he completely ignores Dad's words in his excitement to go exploring. Worst of all, Sam forgets the most important advice imparted - Wash your socks every night, or you're going to end up attracting the most pesky critter in the jungle.

We're going to tease you a bit here. We're not going to tell you what could possibly be more scary than a cheetah, a snake and a croc - but Sam's socks are rotten and stinky so it's not long before the pint-sized hero finds himself in a huge amount of trouble.

Paul Bright's blissful rhymes and Ed Eaves' fabulous colourful illustrations are awesome and wonderful, and the story feels fresh and entertaining. Charlotte, being a little girl who would quite like to emulate Sam herself (I don't think she'd get very far tugging a Trunkie full of loom band gear around the jungle though) actually fell hopelessly in love with the "aww cute" main antagonist in this story. We'll bug you no more, and let you read this hilarious book yourselves!

Charlotte's best bit: Falling in love with the "baddie" - Shocking! Oh and she spotted a rather neat little cameo from Albie (He of "Plunge into the Pirate Pool fame", hooray!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Perfect rhyming, brilliant art, a delicious pay-off at the end and a fantastic entertaining tale. What more could you possibly want!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Happy Publication Day today for a book that has been a real hit with us here at ReadItDaddy Towers. With the aim of offering assurance and fun for children who may be getting their own first set of glasses, "Specs for Rex" introduces us to a little lion who really, truly hates his new specs. They're huge, they have bright red frames and Rex immediately feels a bit self-conscious and shy while wearing them. Not the done thing for a lion really, even a tiddly one.

Rex heads off to Nursery and makes every attempt to hide his newly attained glasses. Combing his mane down over his eyes seems like a good idea - until Rex starts tripping over things. Hiding them doesn't work either as someone always brings them back. Can Rex's friends and his nursery teacher help Rex accept his specs?

Yasmeen Ismail's fun book is beautifully written and illustrated and a real feel-good read. Lovely!

Charlotte's best bit: Rex trying really hard to hide his specs under his colossal mane!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A very nicely written way of helping children overcome their own shyness and self consciousness, specs or no specs. Really nice work Yasmeen!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)

You've previously seen our review of Corey's fabulous "Three Ninja Pigs" so now it's time to dip back into fairy tales and folklore with a martial arts twist with Corey's other kick-butt book, "Ninja Red Riding Hood".

Forget what you know about other adaptations of Red Riding Hood, Corey's doesn't let up from the moment you turn the first page. As with "pigs", Corey gives her story a chopsocky twist by introducing The Wolf, a master of martial arts and discipline who hones his craft at every opportunity. But Grand Master Wolf is hungry, and there's only one way he's going to fill his tum...

And so the training begins...

Wolf hits on a plan to ambush Ninja Red Riding Hood and pit his new found skills against this "weak little girl". Unbeknownst to Master Wolf, Ninja Red Riding Hood is not to be trifled with!

Suspicious looking granny!

Wolf steals into Granny's house and with a few deft moves, soon takes her place. Will Red see through his terrible disguise in time?

You know the rest of the story but you really do need to read this book to see Corey's take on it. As before, though the book is based on martial arts and combat, it's sensitively handled so there's no gross uber-violence or nasty bits, just a rollicking and entertaining twist on a well loved tale - once again peppered with Dan Santat's fabulous art (and Corey's perfect rhymes of course!)

"Ninja Red Riding Hood" is available through Penguin US, and is shortly to appear on UK bookshelves when it's reprinted in Hardback editions very soon! Look out for it, and watch out for long-eared long-toothed martial-artist grannies in the meantime too!

We love this photo of a young "Ninja Red" fan showing off his moves!

Charlotte's best bit: The ultimate showdown between "Granny" and Red!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sublime action-packed storytelling at its best!

(Kindly sent to us in PDF Format by Corey)

It's no mean feat to take a well-loved children's story and put your own spin on it, particularly if it's a story that's been the inspiration for so many other children's books. We were contacted by ace stateside writer Corey Schwartz who thought we'd love her brilliant books. She wasn't wrong, and so we're taking a look at a couple of her books - first up, "The Three Ninja Pigs".

Three little piggies have had just about enough of that mean rotten old wolf, who is a big bully and a bit of a martial arts expert. So the piggies decide to take action! They'll train to become "The Three Ninja Piggies" and will teach that wolf a lesson or two!

The first piggy decides to become an Aikido master. At first he learns lots of new tricks and defence moves, but lacks the discipline demanded by this tricky martial art, and skips classes (Bad move, piggy!)

The second piggy wants to learn the ways of the Jujitsu master. Again though this little piggy takes things seriously, he doesn't see things through and also drops out part-way through his training.

Uh oh, trouble for Pig one and Pig two?

The third little piggy, our favourite, is disciplined and thorough, and she chooses Karate as her preferred martial art to study. She takes her training very seriously, and follows it through to the end.

You can imagine what happens next when the mean old wolf comes around. He makes short work of piggy 1 and 2 but their sister is an entirely different prospect. She teaches the bully a lesson in more ways than one, relying on brains as well as fighting prowess to see that wolf off!

We loved the action in this story, from start to finish it's nail biting and tense as the story gears up for a good old fashioned showdown. Feeling more like a kid's action comic than a traditional picture book lends "The Three Ninja Pigs" even more merit, and ensuring that there's no direct violence in the story or in the art means that it's safe for a good range of ages too (after all, anyone who studies any discipline in martial arts will tell you that it's not all about the biff, sock, pow but is more about a state of mind, a lifestyle choice and knowing that the best offence is often a good defence).

Great stuff, we look forward to reviewing "Little Ninja Riding Hood" which we'll be taking a closer look at very soon!

Corey and a couple of her awesome fans

Charlotte's best bit: A brilliant kick-butt female hero, a great respin on a much loved children's story

Daddy's Favourite bit: Great rhyming story, awesome art, a thoroughly entertaining piggy tale!

(Kindly supplied in PDF format by Corey Schwartz)

Recently we've been lucky enough to catch up with a gorgeous new range of books from Phoenix Yard. Starting off with "Mi and Museum City" by Linda Sarah, a book that positively invites curiosity and comment with every flick of the page.

Mi lives in the aforementioned city, where each and every citizen sets up their own museum. Some are fantastic collections of the bizarre and the incredible, some stretch the definition of 'museum' a little, and really need a good sorting out, often picking the dullest subjects to set up exhibitions on.

Mi is bored and lonely until one day he hears the sweetest music and the strangest sounds. Following the melody, Mi meets Yu and together they set out to change the landscape.
Less museums about boring things, more museums about the astonishing beauty in the world, or the sheer enjoyment of spending a few hours doing the things you love whether gazing up at the stars or skimming stones across a pond.

Charlotte loved going back to this book again and again, it was a delight to hear her little squeals of exclamation as she discovered another curious museum (helpfully Linda provides a pull-out A-Z guide of all the museums in the city). She made some great points about this (like the fact that the A-Z doubles up as a fantastic colouring sheet, because Museum City should also have a splash of colour as well as a dose of variety, don't you think?)

We can't wait to see more from Phoenix Yard and indeed from Linda Sarah, who looks set to nip up behind Shaun Tan, tap him on the shoulder, and while he's not looking steal al ittle of his limelight. Wonderful wonderful stuff!

If Charlotte set up her own museum it would be.... "The Museum of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and Loom Bands"

If Daddy set up his own museum, it would be...."The Museum of Daddy's Interesting Pens (not that interesting!)"

(Kindly sent to us for review by Phoenix Yard Books)

Lou Kuenzler (Photo Credit - Danny Wilder)

Today we're saying a huge ReadItDaddy "Hello" to an author who has been tickling Charlotte's funny bones over the last couple of weeks. 
Hi Lou, and thanks for stopping by our blog. Tell us a little bit about yourself!

First of all, thanks so much for inviting me. I love talking about my writing - one of my favourite things about being an author is going to schools or festivals where I can chat to young readers about my books. When I am not doing that, I’m sitting at my big red desk talking aloud to myself as I write. I always talk when I’m writing. My children and my husband think it is hilarious - and I get some pretty funny looks from my dog (Willesden) and my two cats (Pingu and Chicken) - but I really find talking (and reading) aloud helps me to think. I can hear how my characters voices sound too, which is always really useful.

When I was young, I grew up on a very remote sheep farm in Devon. There weren’t many other children to play with so, whenever I was bored, I started telling myself stories (out loud, of course) and sometimes writing them down too. I am dyslexic, so it was often tricky to get the words down on paper, but I always loved the feeling of finishing a story I was really pleased with. I still get that same lovely buzz now when I finish writing one of my books.


Congratulations on your two new titles for Scholastic, Princess Grace and Shrinking Violet Loves Ancient Egypt. Can we have a quick summary of the books for our readers to bring them up to speed?

The inspiration for Princess Grace came from what I imagined it would be like if I had ever had to go to princess school. She is the clumsiest princess in the world! While all the other pupils at Tall Towers Academy are learning complicated dance steps and spinning around the ball room, poor Grace is tumbling down the stairs with her ballet shoes on the wrong feet. That is exactly what I am like! There are two Princess Grace books out now. First Term At Tall Towers sees one calamity after another as she learns to love the school. Best of all, she is given an adorable unicorn to ride. In Second Term At Tall Towers, Grace adopts a fire breathing dragon pup (never a good idea with all those yummy princesses for him to eat!)

Shrinking Violet Absolutely Loves Ancient Egypt is the latest in my series about an ordinary girl who shrinks to the size of a fish finger. It was great fun to imagine all the miniature adventures daredevil Violet would have on holiday in Egypt amongst the ancient tombs and spooky mummies. It turns out there is a chilling mystery she needs to solve and a cat she has to save ...


We love funny stories and humour for children - there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a child giggling and snorting away while reading a book! What sort of thing influences your writing for children?

I absolutely love writing funny books. I agree, it is wonderful to see someone snorting with giggles as they bend over a book. I like the way that nobody else has any idea what they are laughing about - like it is a private joke between the reader and the characters in the story. I think that can really help to bring writing alive for children - adding plenty of giggles is something I always try to do in my own work. One of my favourite writers when I was little was Roald Dahl … and you don’t get funnier than that!


Charlotte is just beginning to stretch her reading ‘wings’ by reading books like Princess Disgrace and Shrinking Violet on her own. Do you think it’s important for parents to continue reading with children once they’ve started to become more independent?

I do think it is important to keep reading to children for as long as you possibly can. I think that special time - sharing a story - is something children miss if it is suddenly taken away (almost as if they are being punished for learning to read). Once children have discovered the joys of reading for themselves, it is great to continue sharing books that they will enjoy but that are perhaps too complicated for a new reader to tackle alone. If you are reading a slightly older story together there will always be plenty of things that come up for discussion. Reading is tiring when you first learn too and, sometimes, there is still nothing nicer that snuggling up and being read to at the end of the day.


We love picture books on the blog - any plans for stories or books for younger readers?

Yes! I just have written a funny colour-illustrated early reader called Princess Pip’s Perfect Party. It is coming out with Scholastic in October and tells the story of Princess Grace’s little sister. When Grace goes off to Tall Towers, Pip decides she ought to have some princess fun of her own. She begins to plan the perfect party but her father’s hairy warriors and his herd of smelly yaks are no help at all! When I had a sneak preview of the adorable funny illustrations for this book, I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

My first picture, Eat Your People, is also coming out soon with Orchard books - watch out for some seriously hungry monsters!

A couple of questions from Charlotte...


Who is your favourite princess? (Fictional or otherwise!)

It has to be The Princess And The Pea - especially in the wonderful Lauren Child picture book version of the story. I just love the hilarious idea of trying to catch someone out by putting a tiny vegetable under their bed. The Pea Princess doesn’t stand for any nonsense though ...



I want to be a writer when I grow up! Any good advice?

Practice! Practice! Practice! Keep a notebook so you can remember all your good ideas … Oh, and talk out loud when you’re writing, of course!