These books stretch back, far back, way back to the very origins of this blog and in fact by the time we got round to reviewing these (just after we'd started up) we'd already been reading them to C almost on a nightly basis for two years.

Yes, they're that good. In fact these books are rare in that they're picture books that both my wife and I would read to C independently of each other.

You see even from when she was a tiny, tiny baby, barely able to make out the pictures and words in the books we'd read to her, we would take it in turns on alternative nights to pick a book out of our shelves and read it to her before bedtime. Nowadays it's just me, still clinging on on there with the bedtime book, even though we both suspect C loves them now more as a method of spending some time with us, and dragging bedtime out a bit longer than for a real desire to hear the books again and again.

Back to "Pants" though by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt. If ever there was a book that felt more like a song (in fact in the version we own, Lenny Henry does a VERY good job of "singing" the book) it's this.

It's a daft, cheeky and surreal look at our underwear. It's also one of those rhyming books that if we think hard enough, we can actually trot out by heart. I guess that's purely because we read it so many times.

"Pants to pick a daisy, pants for being lazy, PANTS ON YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU'VE GONE CRAZY!" (typed without cheating so possibly wrong).

The follow-up is equally brilliant and also appears on our keepers list...

Pretty much the same deal as the first but with a few new cheeky bits and new laughs, "More Pants" followed swiftly in the original book's wake.

We later picked up "Socks" (which wasn't written by Giles, instead penned by Elizabeth Lindsay) from the library but by then the magic had died. That fleeting moment of perfection in two books was lost, and in fact I was moderately surprised to find that "Socks" wasn't where the story ended, and there are now even more pants books than ever before. It's such a successful formula though, a brilliant combination of bold and colourful illustrations underpinned by the most pitch-perfect bouncy rhymes, the perfect way in fact to draw a tiny little girl into a love of books.

Original Review Links: 

Pants

More Pants

Socks by Elizabeth Lindsay and Nick Sharratt (David Fickling Books)

We've raved about the previous two volumes of "Heartstoppers" by Alice Oseman, and the story shows no signs of veering off the road with Volume 3 now available.

It's been out for a while but we're only just playing catchup on the blog with the latest instalment of the story of two boys who meet, become friends and then fall head over heels in love with each other.

Charlie and Nick are now officially boyfriends, and Charlie is now feeling brave enough to come out to his mum - but coming out isn't just a one-shot thing. Everyone will find out about Charlie and Nick sooner rather than later, and there's a school trip to Paris to navigate too!

Alice deftly demonstrates the ups and downs of a budding relationship - and the amazing feeling when someone's really there for you through thick and thin, and is prepared to put as much on the line for you as you are for them.

Alice's storytelling and illustrations make this instantly compelling for any gender or sexual preference, purely because she puts such a whomping great big beating heart into her story, and makes her characters believable, grounded and of course just as vulnerable as anyone you'd meet in your own life.



She also touches on other tricky subjects such as self-harm and eating disorders, as we see a more vulnerable and fragile side of Charlie emerging as the story develops.

As we mentioned with the previous volumes, what Alice manages more successfully than any other aspect of Charlie and Nick's Story (and it's not all 100% perfect. Some plot elements feel a bit weirdly ham-fisted and distant in the way she deals with them) is what it feels like for anyone who's falling in love for the first time,  regardless of who they are. Even old farts like me will be taken straight back to the heady days of their youth, remembering a summer when a crush turned into something far more. That inescapable feeling that suddenly the world you live in would be unbearable without the object of your desire in it. Boy does she ever nail that beautifully in this series.

Notes for parents: Strong language and adult themes so worth a read before you let younger tweenagers loose on it (though personally I am pretty sure most 12 year olds would've heard riper language in their playground at school long before they hit Year 7).

Sum this graphic novel up in a sentence: Dealing with the trickier hues and tones when a relationship starts to get serious, this is perfect for tweens and teens who have a zillion and one questions and issues of their own, wrapped up in a really solidly readable love story.

"Heartstoppers Volume 3" by Alice Oseman is available now, published by Hachette (Kindly supplied for review). 

Another thoroughly lovely person we sometimes get to chat to on Twitter, and someone who is undoubtedly a massive part of what drew C into a love of books. Jonny Duddle's books hark back to when we first started out on the blog, and "The Pirate Cruncher" should probably be blamed for the gigantic upsurge in 'pirate' books that seemed to dominate kidlit for so many years (in fact even now you'll still see pirate-themed books cropping up quite regularly in publishers' release schedules, such is the lure of those scurvy coves).

No one does it better than Jonny though in our opinion and even in his first book you'll find all the trademarks of what make his stories utterly mesmerisingly brilliant, and a huge draw for kids who love glorious vibrant and colourful visuals alongside their bouncy rhyming tales.

This one is the story of a nefarious creature that lures a hapless pirate crew to their doom with the aid of a sneakily manipulated puppet. The puppet tells of a great fortune in booty, hidden on an island across the seas and Captain Purplebeard can't wait to get his hands on all that lovely gold.

But it's a one way trip as the crew are picked off one by one...as they get closer and closer to their destination. I remember the first time we read through this and C eagerly noting all the bits where you see the pirate cruncher itself, subtly hidden just out of frame but always with a menacing tentacle directing the action 'off screen'.

Jonny's concept art and storyboarding props made this book stand out in a picture book market largely dominated by some fairly bland 'house' art styles. I would spend hours, independently of reading these books with C, just gazing at his digital art (sometimes with the aid of a magnifying glass) trying to work out just how he could produce such fantastic painterly strokes using Photoshop. The simple answer is raw talent and he has it in spades.

"The Pirates Next Door" followed, this time introducing us to Matilda - and a pirate family who have since gone on to another picture book adventure ("The Pirates of Scurvy Sands") and a successful series of middle grade books all written and illustrated by Jonny.

This one has a brilliant moral in it, a subtle and quite sobering message about tolerance as a new family move into the sleepy seaside town of Dull-on-Sea (we always giggle at the fact that the town is 'twinned' with "Ennui Sur Mer"). The pirate family aren't prim, aren't proper, and don't fit in with the neighbourhood at all - making them - and their son Jim Lad - all the more amazing to Matilda, who has waited for something cool to happen in her town for ages.

Sadly their visit is fleeting, and soon they are on their way again as a pirate life isn't a static one, and they must sail the seven seas rather than settle down in a two up / two down in a seaside suburban setting. Again as with all Jonny's books it's just gorgeous to look at but this one really does hit home with its core message with far more impact than any of his other books.

But ah, this next one...this one's our real favourite (and yet Jonny would probably be the first to admit that it was the book that probably didn't do as well as the others, we still think it's the best though!)

"The King of Space" is Jonny's visually glorious love letter to all things sci-fi as young Rex decides that life as a Moog farmer isn't for him.

He has loftier goals, in fact with a sharp inventive mind and a ton of ambition, he will become the King of Space, the leader of the known universe - and never have to do any rotten homework or go to bed before 9pm ever again!

Rex's plans don't quite pan out as he expected as he soon realises that the most powerful being in the universe really isn't one to be trifled with. What mum says goes!

We always secretly wished that Jonny would go back to this science fiction universe he invented and spin out a couple of new adventures for Rex, but it was not to be.

As well as achieving fame for illustrating (in our opinion) the BEST covers for J.K Rowling's Harry Potter books, Jonny also stepped way, way back in time with "Gigantosaurus"...

A prehistoric take on "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and now a successful TV series, this one once again shows Jonny's pure skill in designing and illustrating brilliantly realised characters and sumptuous bookworlds for them to live in. The simple tale of a dinosaur named Spike who constantly plays tricks on his pals, threatening them with the terrifying Gigantosaurus, reaches a satisfying climax as Spike almost (but not quite) gets his comeuppance in a delicious pay-off moment that is a bit of a rare thing in picture books - a moment where the reader isn't quite sure whether the main character just came to an abrupt and sticky end.

Perfect for dino-obsessed kids, Jonny works in a colossal fold-out dinosaur chart and some facts about the dinosaur that the Gigantosaurus was based on (Actually the Gignatosaurus).

We're waiting to see how Jonny's latest book plans pan out. We know he's cooking up something to do with Vikings but no more than that, suffice to say we'll be first in the queue for a copy when it does finally arrive. We were very fortunate to meet Jonny in real life at the Oxford Literary Festival (see the article below) and he's an entertaining and brilliant ambassador for children's literature, with an enviable talent for producing truly stunning books and art.

Original Articles and Review Links

The Pirate Cruncher

Our second book of the week - "The Pirates Next Door" by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

Jonny Duddle brings awesome tales of pirates and dinosaurs to the Oxford Literary Festival

The Jolley-Rogers and the Monster's Gold by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

Gigantosaurus by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

A fabulous "This or That" question and answer session with the pirate meister himself, Jonny Duddle, Author and illustrator of "The Pirates of Scurvy Sands"

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week, Week Ending 22nd February 2013 - "The King of Space" by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 28th June 2019: "The Jolley-Rogers and the Pirate Piper" by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week ending 9th February 2018 - "The Pirates of Scurvy Sands" by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book and Early Readers Roundup - May 2015 - "Pirates, Detectives, Squirrels and Snozzcumbers!"

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

Some folk that fetch up in our #Booky100Keepers are just so talented that we're in total awe of them. It's also wonderful when you strike up a dialogue with them on Twitter and realise that they're genuinely lovely as well, as is the case with the fabulous O'Hara sisters, Natalia and Lauren.

They first blew a hole in our "Book of the Week" slot with the truly magical "Hortense and the Shadow", a book that (like so many of our keepers) feels like a story you've known forever, but have waited until the right people have come along to 'own' it and make it theirs, and also make it shine.

The story opens up with the sort of rich descriptive language that instantly makes it a genuine pleasure to read aloud. In the dark and wolfish woods lives Hortense - a little girl "as sad as an owl" because she has an unwanted stalker, she truly hates her own shadow.

It's always there. It follows her everywhere. But Hortense has a plan to rid herself of the wretched thing once and for all!

Once it's finally gone though, Hortense's life is happy for a while until a fateful night when a crew of bandits threatens her. Who will come to her rescue? The answer may be expected but the delivery of that moment in the book is just wonderfully done.

Bandits feature again in Natalia and Lauren's second book, the truly fabulous and rambunctious "The Bandit Queen"...

This is a riotous book full of energy and humour as a slightly less menacing (but equally mischievous) group of Bandits embark on a career of robbery and thoroughly bad behaviour (they don't aim when they pee for starters, I mean that's a treasonous offence right there!)

The book bounces along in perfect pitched rhyme until the bandits inadvertently steal something from an orphanage that they really didn't expect to find amongst their loot - a little girl.

Not just any little girl but a little girl with a ton of bravery, sass and mischief herself - set to rule over them as their bandit queen.

But she tires of their bad behaviour and sometimes wishes for an ordinary life - but perhaps there's a way that those naughty bandits can turn their talents in a different direction, to become something even more amazing than just a bunch of witless thieves with the right person guiding them!

I honestly can't wait to find out what Natalia and Lauren come up with next. With Lauren illustrating Sophie Dahl's "Madame Badobedah" most recently (sadly not a book we were ever sent to review, we hardly ever get 'celeb' books probably because we're usually pretty mean about them but would've loved a flick through just for Lauren's art!), we are both hoping to see more bandits, more mischief and more utterly divine picture books from this talented duo in the future.

Original Review Links: 

ReaditDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 20th October 2017 - "Hortense and the Shadow" by Natalia and Lauren O'Hara (Picture Puffin)

ReadItDaddy's Third Book of the Week - Week Ending 30th November 2018: "The Bandit Queen" by Natalia and Lauren O'Hara (Picture Puffin)

There's a lot to be said for books that offer hope - and though at the time we write this review we're still in lockdown, and summer still seems like a million miles away (despite the weather warming up and the sun shining outside), here's a book that offers a glimpse of a world where a simple message of love can conquer all.

"Bloom" by Anne Booth and Robyn Wilson Owen is the beautiful story of a little girl who always spies a gorgeous flower on her way to school.

Every day she takes a moment to talk to the beautiful flower, and tells it how much she loves it.

But one day a mean grumpy old man hears her, and shouts out of his window at her to stay away from his prized bloom. What a nasty old codger!

Unfortunately for him, the flower closes up its petals one night and refuses to open - no matter how much he and his gardener tend to it, water it and feed it.

But the flower is missing something the man has not realised it lacked - that simple message from the little girl, and so he seeks her out and begs her to come back to work her magic on his bloom.

It's lovely to see Anne working her magic in picture books as much as she does in middle grade - and as for Robyn Wilson-Owen, here's an illustrator who is going to be extremely sought after from now on so snap her up for your projects, her work is exquisite and beautiful.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A simple message beautifully conveyed at a time we need it most.

"Bloom" by Anne Booth and Robyn Wilson-Owen is out today, published by Tiny Owl Books (kindly supplied for review)

You can't go wrong with a penguin, in fact having a penguin as your guide to some of the most amazing locations on planet earth might be a real boost right now. So let's have a closer look at "Big City Atlas" by Maggie Li, out today from Pavilion Children's Books.

Our cheerful and personable little flipper-tipped host takes you on a world tour of 28 amazing cities. 

What can we say about "Topsy Turvy World" by Atak.

Funny?

Hilarious?

I got C to sit alongside me while I was typing this one up as this is one of her favourite books of all time, yet it's one we have a slight difference of opinion on. She loves it, I mean really loves it - to the point where even though she has spent hour after hour looking at all the surreal little details Atak works into his artwork, she still finds new things to make her giggle.

The premise of the book is flipping the roles of various creatures, characters and 'things' so that they're - well - topsy-turvy. As you can see from the cover image of a clown jumping through a fiery hoop while the lion holds it up (rather than the other way round) you're in for a bit of a strange acid-trip of a picture book where nothing is quite as it seems. I can't really describe it, it's probably just better to show you some of the spreads inside.

Hunted becomes hunter!

As you can see, the images are painted in a crazy trippy style that's almost child-like but still rammed to the gills with tons of detail.

Wait, what the heck is going on with that goat?

Some spreads just leave you thinking "What the heck am I actually seeing here?"

C's own favourite spread just has her cackling like a drain every time she sees it...

You can understand the appeal of this one for tinies seeing the tables turned on mum

Every time we have a massive book clearout, C's mum will pull this one out for the disposal pile and there will be a massive tantrum about getting rid of it. So it's in our keepers. I have a strange love hate relationship with it myself, not really understanding why I like it at times I find myself lost in gazing at the weird imagery and smiling to myself about the various famous characters and art references that crop up in some of the pictures.

It's quite frankly topsy turvy but if your kids love a good belly laugh at the thought of a world where everything's flipped on its head and roles are interchanged, they'll love it to bits.

Original Review Link:

Topsy Turvy World by Atak (Flying Eye Books)

Ah! Another rule breaker! How we love them so, and in "The Liszts" by Kyo Maclear and Julia Sarda, you'll meet a very strange bunch of folk indeed.

Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick and Grandpa Liszt make lists all day long. Even their cat makes lists, but when a peculiar and eccentric stranger worms his way into their home, he's definitely NOT on any of their lists at all!

There is order in this chaos. The order...of LISTS!

I swear Winifred has the same vinyl collection I had as a teen. Nina Hagen and Bowie and Kraftwerk, oh my!

We've often written #ReadItTorial pieces about the frustration of trying to write something that 'fits in with the rule book' of writing children's picture books. A great many of the books you'll find in our #Booky100Keepers list are books that have comfortably broken well away from that (hated) 32 page 12 spread 500 words or less 'pattern' that most emerging authors must stick to like glue. There's still a rotten assumption that kids are incapable of focusing their attention on a story for longer books, and I'm very pleased to say that "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore dispels that rubbish myth quite nicely.

A book that C has loved from an early age, a book her tiny cousins love, and a book that even now we pull off the shelf like an old friend, just to lose ourselves in its amazing classic-feeling storytelling world.

Inga is one heck of a talent, in fact she seems to have a knack for writing amazing books about cats (She also wrote and illustrated the utterly divine "Six Dinner Sid" - A book that doesn't feature in our #Booky100Keepers list only because we never got round to actually buying our own copy, borrowing it from the library many many times instead.

Anyway, we're here to talk about "Captain Cat" - the story of a benign and slightly eccentric sea captain who runs the trade routes in his amazing ship. The problem is the captain has the world's worst head for business - and he really, REALLY loves cats. So where other traders sell their spices and fine silks and foodstuffs for profit, the good captain usually ends up trading his cargo for moggies.

Soon he becomes old and tired, and realises that his days as a sea captain might be coming to an end. He takes one last trip with his kitties on board but instead of heading to the usual well known routes, he takes another - to wind up on the most fantastic and friendly island paradise.

Ruled over by a Princess, this island seems idyllic but as the captain sits down to dinner with his new found friends, a plague of filthy disgusting rats interrupts the meal. Can nothing be done about these pests? The captain has an idea or two...!

Soon his beloved moggies are put to good use, in fact they are so useful that they polish off the island's rat problem swiftly and surely. The young princess decides that she'd love to keep the captain's cats - and the captain realises that a life aboard ship can't possibly compare to living on a paradise island, and reluctantly bids his furry pals goodbye.

But that's not where the story ends. In fact this is why we love this book so much, it pulls you back in just as you think it's given all it has to give, and there's a fabulous little moral woven into the closing scenes as the good captain ends the story older, wiser and still surrounded by a zillion and one kittens.

As we said, it feels like a classic tale but also feels fresh, vibrant and original. Inga's illustrations are utterly glorious, her characters are vibrant, alive, and almost leap off the page at you, and who could possibly resist a book that is filled to the brim with hundreds of gorgeous moggies!

Original Review Link: 

Walker Books Summer Book Party - "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore. Purr-fect in every way!

Walker Picture Book Party - "We're going on a Cat hunt to celebrate Captain Cat by Inga Moore!"