Once again it's been a fantastic year for children's books and we've really struggled to pick our Book of the Year winners for 2015.

Before we announce them, we're going to tease you a bit by showing you just how many books made it into our "Book of the Week" slot this year. We had to double up quite often, as there were just too many great books to choose from. 72 books were considered a cut above the rest in 2015 but there were so many others that could easily have slid into the slot too (in fact it's equally hard to pick book of the week winners let alone book of the year ones!)

So here's the full month by month list!


Our Book of the Year winners are from this list - not necessarily books that were first published in 2015 but books that were reviewed, read and thoroughly enjoyed by us this year. So without further ado, let's pick our winners!

Digging into our end of year stats is always a fun way of looking back on the year. Before we announce our Book of the Year winners tomorrow I thought it'd be fun to nominate a "Publisher of the Year" award too.

So who has managed to nail more "Book of the Week" slots than anyone else this year? Let's have a look at the runners up in reverse order.

Each nabbing at least 1 book of the week and grabbing joint 6th place this year, we have...



HarperCollins


Red Fox Picture Books


Maverick Publishing


Random House


Scribe


Lion Hudson


Macmillan Children's Books


Pushkin Children's Books


Faber and Faber


Andersen Children's Books


Sasquatch Books


Tate Publishing


Papercutz


Curious Fox Books


Strauss House


Weldon Owen


V & A Publishing


Sterling
Hotting up, in joint 5th place with at least 2 book of the week winners we have:

Orchard Books

Simon and Schuster


Scholastic


Usborne Publishing


Thames and Hudson


Big Picture Press


Titan Books


Quirk Books

In fourth place, one publisher with 3 book of the week winners:  Walker Books Joint 3rd Place honours with 4 book of the week winners:  Bloomsbury Hodder Children's Books Flying Eye Books
Joint 2nd Place honours with at least 5 Book of the Week winners:  David Fickling Books Frances Lincoln Children's Books Chronicle
BUT there can be only one - One winner with a massive 8 Book of the Week winners - Our Publisher of the Year 2015 is the mighty Templar Publishing!
Congratulations to everyone at Templar, you have royally knocked it out of the park this year! Well done all!

There's just one sleep to go until the big day and there's still plenty of time to go out and grab a fantastic activity book that's designed to chronicle your fab new year in a really cool and innovative way.

"A Year in my Life: Be Creative Every Day" features 365 awesome creativity prompts for doodlers, daydreamers and artistic folk of any age.

We've been dipping into the book by Lucy Menzies with illustrations by Tilly, and we're thoroughly impressed.

A whole year of amazing projects to tackle that should definitely inspire and amaze.

So let's take a closer look at just some of the ideas inside. Step right this way...

Don't worry if you're no good at drawing, doodles will be just as cool!

The book positively encourages you to tackle any of the activities in any order you like but the more organised amongst you might just want to start at numero uno and work your way right through the book to Number 365.

We love that the book is injected with a good dose of whacky humour but a lot of the subjects are quite thought provoking too...

You ARE amazing! Believe in yourself!

There's quite a lot of talk about mindfulness for children at the moment, and this book is certainly a really valuable aid to taking you out of the moment, and letting you delve into your imagination. Make room for it in your busy schedule and it'll be an awesome (and quite hilarious) read come the end of your year.

Charlotte's favourite bit: Coming up with a new name for a day of the week (Burpsday)

Daddy's favourite bit: A hugely inspirational little activity prompt and doodle book that I am seriously considering kidnapping if 'madam' doesn't get to it first!

(Kindly sent to us for review by GMC / Ivy Press)

"A Year in my Life: Be Creative Every Day!"

Written by Lucy Menzies

Illustrated by Tilly

Published by Ivy Press

Publication Date: 4th January 2016

Only two sleeps to go! Are you getting excited yet? Here's a thoroughly lovely and original little christmas tale from Ben Mantle. "The Best Christmas Present Ever!"

 Nothing says "Christmas" like a fantastic set of 'makes' and these two fantastic books should inspire you to get out your colouring pencils, scissors and glue sticks and get cracking with some truly brilliant "Paper Play"...

For Day 21 of our Advent Calendar, we're taking a rare look at an eBook, and a rather magical story. Let's take a look at "Angel's Great Escape" by Kirstie Rowson and Kristina Litten...

Yes yes, I know we've reviewed "Stick Man" many, many , MANY times before in our Booky Advent Calendars but he's about to make the leap from book to screen for the BBC's fabulous festive animated feature this year.

With only a few sleeps left until Christmas Day (SQUEE!) it's time for another dig into our Chapter Book sack. We might not have QUITE as many festive tales of Christmas cheer to bring you as we'd hoped but there's a stack of brilliant books to brighten up your wishlist to Santa.

So let's start off with some chuckles in "My Funny Family Gets Funnier" by Chris Higgins and Lee Wildish.

There's mad excitement in the Butterfield household as Mattie and her folks prepare for some wildly exotic guests. Uncle Vez's brother and his wife have decided to drop in for a visit all the way from sunny Australia.

Mattie thinks things are going to be brilliant and exciting but Grandma isn't quite so chuffed. Ruling the roost isn't easy when interfering Auntie Sheila thinks SHE knows best! Will the family manage to survive the visit without a disaster unfolding? Well it wouldn't be much of a funny book if things went smoothly now would it. Chris's razor sharp humour dishes up a fab observation of dysfunctional but hilarious family life in his continuing "My Funny Family" series.

"My Funny Family Gets Funnier" by Chris Higgins with Illustrations by Lee Wildish is out now from Hodder Children's Books.

A terrible tearaway pops up next with ten of his most mischievous stories. "Horrid Henry's Tricky Tricks" by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross dishes up a fabulous slice of the miscreant youth's most dire and nefarious schemes.

In this compilation Henry plans to scupper Moody Margaret's sleepover, get his own back on Stuck-Up Steve, build the best snowman ever, and play more and more nasty pranks on Perfect Peter.

It's an awesome collection for fans of Horrid Henry or (like Charlotte) kids who love the TV series (now on Netflix!) and want to read the original books that the show was based on.

It's enough to send your parents absolutely batty - so it's nigh on essential, right?

"Horrid Henry's Tricky Tricks" is out now from Orion Children's Books and has been going down a STORM with Charlotte! High praise indeed!

More please! OK this is a new series on us but we're utterly and completely hooked...!

Christopher William Hill's darkly tinged and humorous collection of "Tales from Schwartzgarten" reaches book 4 with the audaciously creepy tale of "Marius and the Band of Blood".

Marius Myerdorf is the latest recruit to Schwartzgarten's Band of Blood. Marius has a mission ahead of him that will test his powers of deduction to the max.

Tasked with unmasking two of the most fiendish foes to grace The Great City, Marius joins forces with the Band of Blood in a race against time, thwarting the creepiest of creepy horrors along the way.

Fans of darker stories are going to eat this up whole. Check out the other "Band of Blood / Tales from Schwartzgarten" books too, each written by Christopher with glorious illustrations and covers by Chris Riddell.

Out now from Orchard Books!

Next up, a book that Mummy and Charlotte have been reading over the course of many bedtimes and it's perfect for this time of year and the promise of snow. "The Storm Leopard" from Holly Webb is a fabulous story featuring one of Charlotte's favourite animals, the Snow Leopard.

When young Isabelle visits a zoo, little does she know that she's about to be whisked off into a fantasy adventure involving these glorious and sleek animals. Isabelle wants to know how to do more to help these endangered creatures and Holly's story sensitively tells us more about Snow Leopards and their natural habitats. It's been hugely popular with Charlotte and Mummy (as are all Holly's books) so once again this has been a bit of a christmas treat for us.

"The Storm Leopards" is out now from Stripes Publishing.

Sticking with snowy creatures, there's more from Stripes Publishing in an all-new animal anthology by various authors...

"On a Snowy Night" collects together a fabulous set of stories by several well known authors and if you're not already in love with it purely from seeing those cuddly Arctic Foxes on the cover, then let us tempt you further.

Read stories about those foxes, but also gorgeously seasonal tales about a brave Zebra who steps in at the last minute to help Santa deliver presents, and a magical stone hare brought to life by magical moonlight.

Each tale is the perfect length for snuggly bedtime reading and fits this time of year beautifully.

"On a Snowy Night" is out now from Stripes Publishing.

One more then, because it's nearly Christmas. Ooh and this stays with the darker themes with a gloriously thick collection from a master of the macabre. Don't lose your head!

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories" collects together some of Washington Irving's classic horror tales into one delicious volume.

Featuring "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", "Rip Van Winkle", "The Specter Bridegroom" and "The Devil and Tom Walker", it's a glorious opportunity to read some of the best written American gothic fiction ever to grace the printed page.

New illustrations by Scott McKowen really bring the edition to life.

Strictly for older kids who don't mind a bit of spooky scariness!

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories" is out now from Sterling Publishing.

Phew! Christmas is coming, and we'd like to add on at the last moment a shout out to the fabulous http://internationalelfservice.co.uk - where you can sign up to receive regular updates from The Big Man himself and all his elves! Go check it out!

We hope you have a happy booky christmas and a story-filled new year! Drop back in 2016 for more Chapter Book greatness month by month!

Some books make you feel like you can hear the distant tinkling of sleigh bells even before you've opened up the festive snowy covers to reveal the warming story inside.

James Mayhew's always-brilliant "Katie" series of stories offers up a sumptuous festive feast in the capital in "Katie's London Christmas".

This time Katie is on a whistle stop tour of the City of London, taking in the sights, sounds and landmarks of our most famous city.

Poor Father Christmas needs help - he's a little under the weather and so Katie and Jack decide there's only one thing for it, to accompany Santa on his sledge to deliver presents to all the girls and boys as they dash across the sky, far over the rooftops and passing by a certain lion friend still warmly wrapped up in his scarf on Trafalgar Square.

A glorious christmas outing for one of kid lit's most beloved characters. Truly magical stuff!

Charlotte's best bit: Spotting that the Trafalgar Square lion still has Katie's scarf tucked under his tum to keep him warm!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Enchanting and charming, the "Katie" books are so wonderfully dream-like that they'll have you smiling for the rest of the day if you sneak in an early morning read (like we often do!) Magical stuff!

More cute and cuddly (well, if you CAN cuddle a Hedgehog!) animal adventures from Little Tiger Press as Little Hedgehog is back for a new adventure in the snow...