A snowman book? In summer? Are you crazy?

Well look, if Olaf from Frozen can do it, why not nudge that carrot-nosed pretender aside and read all about a far more awesome fellow.

In "Albi Learns to Swim" by Mikko Kunnas and Markus Majaluoma, we reacquaint ourselves with a brilliant character who proves that snowmen aren't just for Christmas.

We utterly adored "Albi Visits the Dentist" back in December last year, and we're super-excited about this sunny summery follow-up.

Albi and his friends are off to the beach for their holidays, packing everything they can think of for an amazing day out.

Albi isn't just any ordinary everyday snowman though, and despite the hot sunshine and warm seas, he manages not to melt (finding a rather novel place to cool down!) but also helps lots of other folk at the beach to have the very best day possible. He's lovely like that, is Albi.

As with "Albi Visits the Dentist" this book once again combines a brilliantly entertaining (and beautifully translated) story with the most gorgeous painterly illustrations (and a great little cameo moment from the previous book. See if you can spot Albi's black-bristled toothbrush in one particular scene).

It's Albi's love of life that shines forth from every page like the brightest ray of sunshine. Littlies will adore it so don't save this one for Christmas, enjoy a snowy sunny summery time right now instead!

Sum this book up in a sentence: Another brilliant tale from Mikko and Markus, and more awesomeness from Albi.

"Albi Learns to Swim" by Mikko Kunnass and Markus Majaluoma is out now, published by Pikku Publishing (very kindly supplied for review). 

Our Book of the Week this week marks the 75th Anniversary (yesterday) of the D-Day Normandy Landings, and one of the biggest military operations of the 2nd World War.

Michael Noble and Alexander Mostov's "D-Day" collects together first person accounts and stories from real-life people who were involved in the operation to push into Europe during the 2nd World War, beginning with the Normandy Beach Landings.

I've got a personal interest in this book, mainly because my own Grandfather was part of the Normandy landings, and though he very rarely talked about his own experiences, reading through this book you'll hear accounts and experiences from front-line soldiers and others who fought on the beaches, and began the larger-scale operation on land, at sea and in the air to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

75 years on and some of the accounts are harrowing and gritty, as you'd expect - though sensitively handled in a beautifully illustrated and written book filled with drawings, photographs and personal correspondence from men and women who fought.

It's absolutely stunning. Again Wide Eyed Editions have produced a really gorgeous book dealing with a subject that kids may be learning about in school, or may know about through relatives who also took part.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A stunning account of the D-Day landings from people who were there and took part.

"D-Day" by Michael Noble and Alexander Mostov is out now, published by Wide Eyed Editions (kindly supplied for review)

With a cover more sparkly than a pair of well-brushed gnashers, today sees the release of the truly brilliant "Tooth Fairy in Training" by Michelle Robinson and Briony May Smith, a creative dynamic duo par excellence.

If you think being a tooth fairy is easy, just a case of a quick 'bait and switch' coin-for-tooth under a kidlet's pillow, think again!

Tate is the titular tooth fairy in training, and her big sister May is taking her out for the first time on a mission that's going to be a tad more dangerous than both fairies expected.

Not all teeth are tucked under pillows in quaint comfortable urban surroundings, so Tate and May will trek across steamy jungles, deep-dive into the oceans or shiver their timbers in the icy frozen wastes of the arctic.

...and it's not just humans who expect a reward for their polished loose gnashers. Crocodiles and snakes? Oh my!

Exquisite rhyming, beautiful illustrations and a theme that will appeal to all kids, whether they have a sweet tooth or not! What a brilliant team Michelle and Briony make! (Look out for the line about Melissa - it's a corker!)

A master class in dark storytelling, "Black Dog" by Levi Pinfold

Sure, we've banged on about this one quite often but it's a subject that seems to have had a bit of a resurgence on Twitter over the last couple of weeks, so once again we're digging into it in our regular #ReaditTorial slot.

Many well-meaning articles demonstrate the allure of sometimes dark and quite often grisly children's stories, with quite a few of the most celebrated 'darker' children's books hailing from non-english-speaking countries and creators. For example, the french in particular seem to be absolutely brilliant experts at designing and devising darker children's books without aiming straight for the 'jump scare' approach.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the clamouring renewed demands aimed at publishers to start indulging authors and illustrators who want to explore darker themes in children's books makes sense. After all, authors feel that they are in direct competition to some extent with the rise, and rise, and unchecked / unmonitored rise in darker content available to kids via other means - chiefly the internet, and in particular YouTube.

I doubt anyone involved in kidlit would want to see books arriving on shelves that were in any way derivative of the sort of horrible mind-bendingly inappropriate content viewable on YouTube and other social media outlets, but there's something to be said for the undercurrent bubbling under this fresh demand for darker material - the rise and rise of 'issues' books, particularly in picture book form, that feel each and every story must set out to set the world to right in some way.

Most book bloggers worth their salt will be able to reel off a huge list of 'dark' books that perform the neat balancing trick of having a darker look and feel about them, but masking off their moral message without jamming it in your face in the last quarter of the book (in the case of the book featured in our header image, "Black Dog" by Levi Pinfold, the subject of fear itself is dealt with deftly and beautifully, and the underlying message of Small's bravery is more subtly woven into the story than being the be all and end all of this darkly delicious tale).

I do take issue with the 'grown-up' way of looking at this issue. In some ways, it feels like creatives are merely prodding a red ants nest that threatens to explode.  We often become carried away with the notion that the death of dark books is purely about agents and publishers 'nannying' kids away from anything that might play on their minds long after the covers are closed and the other covers are pulled up around their chins before bedtime. So let's be clear about what 'dark' actually means, and it definitely does not mean creating something that's going to scare the living pee out of a child to such an extent that it could actually put them off stories and books for good.

C has a rather neat approach to dark books - she enjoys them, and is at the moment firmly wrapped up in the brilliant world of "Lockwood and Co" by Jonathan Stroud...

These books are always read during the day (currently we squeeze a reading session in before school, which always takes a bit of juggling, but is nonetheless satisfying and helps us get through our review pile a bit quicker).

Though Jonathan's books hark back to the heady days of the 70s and 80s when kids books really were a lot darker (as we've mentioned before, anyone who remembers all those Thames Methuen ghost anthologies will remember just how scary those books were), they are nonetheless compelling and demand to be read.

Kids don't always want to play it safe with books, but the best 'dark' books are never purely about scares - they're about a tight observation of what it actually is that works on a child's mind, and in some ways you can understand why agents and publishers steer clear of them.

Most kids spend a lot of their childhood scared or something. Whether it's an irrational fear of buttons, or a very real fear of heights, water, even birds, the majority of scary books usually aim for the easy way out, and end up pretty harmless and not dark or scary at all.

We tend to like books that leave a twist entirely up to the reader to interpret, and we rather like it when authors merely raise their eyebrows enigmatically if anyone tries to analyse their books to death in interviews and such. To my mind, there's not nearly enough mystery left in stories, possibly because internet pundits do love to neatly compartmentalize everything, including kids books.

Authors and illustrators who have kids or young relatives themselves have a ready resource to tap into in order to write authoritatively about fear and fear response. Most will also expertly draw on their own childhood memories of what scared them, and there's a very good chance that today's kids will also find those things scary too (for me, the opening credits to a TV show called "Armchair Thriller" still nudges at the back of my memory as something that traumatised me as a kid. Book wise it was nearly always stuff I read that I really had no business reading!)

We do have to draw a pretty firm line between the camps of "Dark & scary" and "traumatic" and the distant camp of "Bloody disturbing" (and in some of the articles wishing for a return to darker themes, a lot of the qualifying books brought up as an example really aren't dark or scary, but pretty flipping sick-making and harrowing if you boil them down to their constituent parts).

As I've said before in ReadItTorials, the children's picture book market in particular could do with taking off the safety stabilisers, perhaps letting kids experience the imbalanced wobble of fear from time to time. Going through books that have become "Book of the Week" faves over the years, we see books again and again that veer off the fluffy bunny path and dig deep into the twisted boughs of the dark scary woods instead, but as we all know, all kids are different - and children's books are finally beginning to realise that there's no 'one size fits all' approach when it comes to stories.

I have a huge amount of respect for authors who can not only write dark stuff successfully, but can find an agent or publisher who is willing to take a chance that their book will fly. Without them, we'd be left with 'safe' but perhaps a far less interesting and less diverse / rich book world to dive into.

It's the welcome return of blog favourite Adam Stower, and his latest greatest creation, the awesome King Coo!

In "King Coo: The Curse of the Mummy's Gold" the tiny but mighty girl with the impressive golden beard is back for another superb adventure.

Ben Pole is languishing back at school. Life is boring, so boring in fact that Ben could almost nod off in class.

But his ennui doesn't last for long as Ben is soon back in a whole heap of trouble! 

Get your FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 experience off to a flying start with four stunning books in the superb "Ultimate Football Heroes" range from Charlotte Browne, celebrating four brilliantly skilled players from across the globe.

Each book gives you the fantastic biographical story of key players such as Alex Morgan (USA), Marta (Brazil), Fran Kirby and Kelly Smith (England).

An absolute must for footie fans of all ages and genders, these uplifting and brilliantly produced books are hugely inspirational, and perfect to dip into as you watch the footie action unfold. With superb eye-catching covers and brilliant details inside, collect the entire set and check out the rest of the Ultimate Football Heroes range for more dazzlingly brilliant male and female players.

"Ultimate Football Heroes Morgan, Kirby, Marta and Smith" by Charlotte Browne are out now, published by John Blake / Bonnier Publishing (kindly supplied for review).

I must admit to not knowing a thing about the TV prog that this book is based on, but C assures me it's something rather special.

"The Dengineers: Build your own Dream Den" takes den building to a whole other level, with expert advice and a ton of inspiration from the genius designers and builders behind the hit CBBC show.

Laura and Ian take us through the basics of drawing up some nifty Den designs, taking on a theme, and crafting brilliant 'makes' to enhance any den, whether it's a tucked away nook in the back of a cupboard, or something more purpose-build in your back garden.

Every theme imaginable is covered here, from wizardly wonderful magic dens, to high tech computationally brilliant coder caverns.

The book is packed with awesome illustrations, and photos from the hit TV show.

Let's delve inside to see what the page spreads are like:

From the easy to the extremely challenging. There's a den build for everyone!

There's a really good mix of projects in here, perfect for crafty kids who love making things.

Some of the most impressive den makes from the series. Wow!

Such an inspirational book in fact, that C disappeared off to her room and built her own blanket den as soon as she'd finished reading it!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliant book full of inspiration and awesome projects for would-be Dengineers!

"Dengineers: Build your own Dream Den" by Laura Baker and Ian Upstone is out now, published by Studio Press (kindly supplied for review). 

Kindness can't be overrated. Kindness towards others, towards animals, there's a lot to be said for any book that makes kindness its central theme.

But there's a lot more than that to unpack in "Lula and the Sea Monster" by Alex Latimer.

This beautifully woven and illustrated tale begins with the titula Lula, who loves her seaside home.

Sadly her home won't last forever. Greedy developers are intent on flattening it to build a new coastal highway, and Arthur-Dent-Like Lula would quite like to stop them. But what can a little girl do against a crowd of bulldozers?

Consoling herself, Lula takes a seaside stroll, and discovers an odd little creature being picked on by a nasty gull in a rockpool. She rescues the little mite, and gives it a bit of her packed lunch, vowing to return next day to see how the little fellah is doing.

When she returns, she realises this isn't just any ordinary sea creature, this is something else. Lula's new friend grows and grows, and is soon polishing off the contents of the larder as Lula brings her new friend lots of food to make him grow big and strong.

But when her new friend disappears one day, Lula's blue funk returns and she realises that it's the day of destruction for the family home...however, someone else has other ideas - and Lula might just have found her initial kindness paying off in a big way. A colossal way in fact.

This is really lovely stuff, original and compelling storytelling for wee ones, tucking the message of kindness neatly between the folds so that it's not battering kids around the head too much, as so many 'message' books do.

Yes, we love this one.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A really original and beautifully told / illustrated tale of kindness and looking after others.

"Lula and the Sea Monster" by Alex Latimer is out now, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review)

We're very pleased to find ourselves kicking off a blog tour for a truly brilliant book that is stuffed to the gills with facts about the moon landings, ahead of the 50th Anniversary of the first man on the moon on the 20th July!

"Blast Off to the Moon!" by Ralph Timberlake and the team at University of Central Lancashire, has a fab cover from Euan Cook and a truly inspirational introduction from none other than the first Briton in space, Dr Helen Sharman.

Inside is a truly awesome chronicle of the run-up to that amazing day on the 20th July 1969, when three intrepid US astronauts set off aboard Apollo 11 to land on the moon.

Featuring amazing photos from the original NASA archives, as well as information about Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins and their incredible mission, this is book is truly excellent for a wide range of ages, building a finely detailed picture of what an amazing achievement this was, and what it took to land humans on another astral body for the very first time.

With tons of interest in the 50th Anniversary, and of course renewed interest in the direction space exploration will be taking over the next decade, with a hoped-for manned mission to the moon once again, this book paves the way for brilliant activities and learning opportunities, but more than that is just a beltingly good read whether you're a space fan or not (and boy, are we ever fanatical about space exploration!)

There are so many books arriving in time for the 50th Anniversary but this is definitely one of the most impressive space books for children that we've ever featured on the blog.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly detailed, stunning and thoroughly absorbing account of what it took to land the first humans on the moon 50 years ago.

"Blast Off to the Moon" by Ralph Timberlake, Euan Cook and Dr Helen Sharman is available now from UCLAN Publishing (very kindly supplied for review). 

Children's imaginations are boundless, seemingly endless, not tied down by the mundane everyday world that we adults find ourselves often ground down by.

So it's always something rather special to dip into a book that accurately portrays what it's like to be a child again, and have your own imagined world to play in.

"My Island" by Stephanie Demasse-Pottier and Seng Soun Ratanavanh may not be breaking any new ground in terms of theme, after all we've seen a huge number of picture books that deal with the subject of a child's imagination.

But we've seen seldom few that are as stylishly and brilliantly produced as this one.

For me, it harks back to picture books I remember as a child, and a specific style of art that you saw an awful lot of in the 70s (that I'd probably, as an adult, describe as being like a voyage to trip-out city!)

Such delightful little characters in this utterly charming book

For C it's all about the details, and in Seng-Soun's illustrations you'll find amazing details, unexpected objects and animals, plants and people turning up in abundance as the little girl at the core of the tale lets her imagination run wild.

Imagine having an island you could construct and populate with your mind. Wow.

It's lyrical and poetic stuff, with those illustrations really underpinning the story of what it's like to have that child-like wonder, that fills your world with endless possibilities every single day.

The most amazing tea party since Alice and the Mad Hatter dunked a dormouse in a teapot

Never lose that folks, cling to it for as long as you can.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A day-dreamy and glorious celebration of the imagination of a child, depicted with easy text and glorious illustrations.

"My Island" by Stephanie Demasse-Pottier and Seng Soun Ratanavanh is out now, published by Princeton Architectural Press (kindly supplied for review).