The "Meg and Mog" books were another example of me remembering books I'd loved as a child, and surreptitiously introducing them into C's reading pile as soon as I possibly could.

The first "Meg and Mog" is an absolute timeless classic, now 48 years old which means it came out when I was four. That sounds about right as that would probably have been around the time I was being bought books like this from my junior school's brilliant "Puffin Book Readers" newsletter - Does anyone else remember those in school?

It's a really simple stripped down tale of a witch and her scritchy-scratchy (but scene stealing) cat, getting on their glad-rags and heading out to the annual Halloween Party with the rest of the witches. Mog is the best kind of witch. Slightly madcap and haphazard, her spells sometimes work but sometimes misfire, but in the end she manages to win the day (in fact watch out for a VERY SIMILAR witch coming up in our keepers list soon).

The beauty of the Meg and Mog books is that Helen and Jan worked so brilliantly together as a creative team - the perfect fusion of a simple low word count story with simple but hugely effective (and still widely admired) artwork. In fact these books were way, way ahead of their time.

Helen and Jan collaborated on many Meg and Mog books covering a huge selection of different themes, but never preachy moralistic tales, always stories that were just plain good fun.

Sadly Helen passed away in 2012 - but the books continued, with Jan Pienkowski working with David Walser on all new Meg and Mog tales

"Meg and the Romans" showed that the stories could still work, even when spun around into something altogether more educational.

It's quite daunting to step into the shoes of another creative, but David managed to capture the tone of the original stories, adding additional dimensions to the characters of Meg, Mog and Owl - but thankfully not detracting anything from the entertainment value of these books.

Jan's artwork still worked beautifully, slightly more complicated and 'busy' than the older books but still absolutely bang on point, ensuring that early readers could completely engage with each story and find all sorts of fun elements to help the stories bounce along.

They're still great books, even now, particularly for kids who love a bit of spookiness in their books.

Original Review Links

Mog in the Fog

Meg in the Jungle by David Walser and Jan Pienkowski (Picture Puffin)

Meg goes to Bed

Our Spooky Halloween Book Blowout with witches, ghosts, and things that go "BOOK" in the night!

Helen Nicoll R.I.P

Meg, Mog and Og

Meg's Car

Meg on the Moon

No witchy round-up could possibly be complete without Winnie!

Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. Zany. Hilarious. Genius!

Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble! It's getting closer and closer to Halloween and the shops are struggling to balance between starting their christmas displays, packing the shelves out with fireworks, or stocking christmas stuff.

It's the same story in the Bookworld as publishers, authors and illustrators have all been busy creating some truly spooky and supernatural books to haunt our children with (all in the best possible taste!) so here's ReadItDaddy's top ten witchy, monstery and downright spine-chilling books to tempt your busy little bees with. Presented in no particular order with links through to our previous reviews (if we've covered them):

1) The Spider and The Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi

Mary Howitt's deliciously dark poem expertly re-spun in silken threads by the master of the macabre, Tony DiTerlizzi. It comes as no surprise that this was a book of the week when we originally reviewed it. The stark greyscale images are beautifully done, and Spider is such a cad, a bounder and a scoundrel that it's impossible not to like him. It's not a particularly scary book but it's that rare thing, a children's book that doesn't let you down at the end with a sugary sweet saccharine conclusion.

Perfectly dark storytelling for halloween.



2) Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball by Giles Paley-Phillips (link to preview)

Top storytelling chap Giles Paley-Phillips seems to be one of the busiest and most sought after children's authors at the moment, and he's a chap after our own hearts who loves monsters nearly as much as we do. We loved his first book "The Fearsome Beastie" (which is also a great halloween read) when we reviewed it and Giles kindly let us take an early look at Tamara Small and the Monsters Ball back in August.

It's subsequently been released and has been a massive hit, kids love the mix of monsters, mayhem and funky dancing. We can't wait to see Giles' next book!



3) Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

Helen Nicoll's recent untimely death robbed children's literature of one of its brightest talents. I loved the Meg and Mog books when I was a kid, but I personally think the very first book "Meg and Mog" was the very best. Meg came along a very long time before Winnie the Witch and introduced children to the notion that not all witches are evil old hags who eat eyeballs and monkey fuzz for dinner.

Along with her trusty sidekick Mog, Meg soared the skies on her broomstick with her other friend Owl along for the ride. I had no idea that this was turned into a TV series back in the early noughties, time to hunt out some episodes and re-read the books too for halloween.



4) Winnie the Witch by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

She's a hugely successful figure, she's drawn by one of the most talented chaps in the business so it's no surprise to see Winnie the Witch in our top ten. Like Meg and Mog, Winnie and Wilbur delight children with their slightly madcap and crazy antics, and spells that don't always go according to plan. For us though, the joy of a new Winnie book is always seeing just how much tiny little detail goes into one of Korky Paul's illustrations (and we also giggle at his various references to Apple computers that seem to work their way into the books regularly).

Charlotte secretly loves Wilbur more that Winnie but still always likes to dress up as Winnie herself every Halloween.



5) Fragoline and the Midnight Dream by Clemency Pearce and Rebecca Elliott

Fragoline and the Midnight Dream is a dark and gothic tale of a young girl who errs on the side of 'slightly creepy' as she stalks the neighbourhood at night, in search of mischief and misadventure. She claims to be as bold as brass and afraid of nothing, but Fragoline (like most little girls) might just be scared of...

...you'll have to read the book to find out what her achilles heel is but it's such a beautiful and darkly woven tale, it's perfect for those torch-lit story sessions as you huddle under the duvet on All Hallows Eve.



6) The Monster Machine by Nicola L. Robinson

Uber-talented artist and author Nicola L. Robinson also happens to be one of the nicest people to converse with on Twitter. We were lucky enough to be sent 'The Monster Machine' for review and we completely fell in love with its cavalcade of different monster characters, as well as the young lad and his dad who end up inventing the machine that creates them. We're massive fans of detailed art, and Nicola's steampunk-esque machines, wild and whacky monsters and a rather neat little nod to 'Titanic' won us over (and from what we read elsewhere, won a lot of you over too! Hooray!) Definitely a worthy addition to our list and a former book of the week too! Yay!


7) La Visite De Petite Morte by Kitty Crowther

We haven't reviewed "La Visite De Petite Mort" yet on ReadItDaddy but it's not for the want of trying. I originally read this in a bookstore in Paris and fell completely in love with it, despite it being one of the darkest children's books I've ever read. Every time Amazon get this in stock it seems to be ridiculously expensive, and goes out of stock fairly quickly but if you're lucky enough to visit some of the really brilliant bookstores over in France, and spot this, grab it with both hands.

French children's books have a knack of dealing with really difficult and surreal subjects and this is no exception. I won't spoil the surprise for you but seek this one out, it'll chill you to the bone at halloween!


8) Little Dragon and the Haunted House by Anni Axworthy


What do you give a little dragon who cries tears of pure gold? No not an onion you rotters, you give them a lovely house to live in all of their own. Only Little Dragon's house seems to already have a few chain-rattling incumbents so what can Little Dragon and his friends do about their ghostly infestation?

This delightful little book scored such a big hit with Charlotte that I didn't think we'd ever be allowed to give it back to the library (Hooray that children don't get fined!!) Monsters, ghosts, and a classic haunted house are all wrapped up in this book's seemingly innocuous covers. Perfect to go along with those halloween sweeties!


9) Black Dog by Levi Pinfold

I know you're probably getting a bit bored with us telling you how great "Black Dog" by Levi Pinfold is. But we won't stop, until you've all bought it and devoured the delicious artwork, the dark tale and the sheer and utter brilliance of one of the best children's books of the year.

"Black Dog" is a tale about confronting your fears when a problem seems bigger than it actually is, but it's told in such a way that it doesn't feel preachy or shouty - but celebratory.

Levi Pinfold is, without a doubt, a heck of a talent and someone to keep a very close eye on in future as we've got a feeling it won't be the last of his books to feature as one of our "Book of the Week" choices.



10) Darkness Slipped In by Ella Burfoot

Oh my, we were really in two minds whether to feature this one as one of our Halloween Book choices. It's dark, and it's actually fairly disturbing if you've a youngster who hasn't quite progressed beyond needing the landing light or a night light on. A little girl switches off the light at night to find that Darkness is actually a playful and slightly mischievous 'thing' that likes to play tricks, likes to grab, likes to dance and above all likes to wrap himself around your most cherished objects until you can't see them. I spotted the potential danger in this book as a bedtime read straight away but in time-honoured fashion, Charlotte was having none of it - and absolutely devoured this dark little tale. Something about his shadowy appearance, his expressions and his spiky hair just made the darkness in this book stick in the mind (and if it works on me, it'll definitely work on your young impressionables!) Nevertheless it's a definite shoe-in for inclusion in our halloween list.

So there you have it, that little lot should keep your collywobbles wobbling. Don't have nightmares!

I kept mistyping this one as "Mog in the Dog" which might've made for a mildly more entertaining read than "Mog in the Fog". I am at the mercy of Charlotte who always seems to have a habit of finding the Meg and Mog books in the library, even though I try my best to steer her away from them. This is standard Meg and Mog fare. Meg and Mog go on a trip (always leaving Owl at home, what DOES Owl get up to while they're away eh?). Mog gets into trouble. Meg casts a spell, possibly causing more trouble, Meg and Mog fly home. In fact the odd thing is, you could pretty much cut and paste the text from Meg's Mummy straight into this book and I doubt anyone would notice. 

Charlotte loves 'em though so like the dutiful dad I keep getting them and reading them to her.

Charlotte's best bit: "What's that daddy? What's a Yeti?"

Daddy's favourite bit: Buttery tea

Rating: 2 out of 5

We do love a spooky read or three at Halloween, and Penguin have a dazzlingly brilliant selection of books to tempt kids this year, truly something for everyone and all ages.

We'll kick off with "First Prize for The Worst Witch" by Jill Murphy.

Released back in September, this is the latest outing for Mildred Hubble, the titular magical mighty girl who never seems far away from chaos and cauldrons.

Even though she's the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, her heart is always in the right place and she's the best friend anyone could ever wish for.

The story begins as summer term has started at Miss Cackle's Academy. Astonishingly, Mildred has made it through to Year 4 without being kicked out - and this year she has her eyes firmly on a very particular goal. 
But the Detective Society is never far away from danger, and it's clear there's trouble afoot at the Rue.

Jealousy, threats and horrible pranks quickly spiral out of control - and then a body is found.

Now Hazel and Daisy must take centre stage and solve the crime before the murderer strikes again.

Halloween is definitely one of our favourite times of the year. The nights have drawn in, and there's that wonderful wintry atmosphere on the way, the perfect sort of weather to get tucked in with a spooky book or two.

We're bringing you a selection of fantastic titles old and new so let's kick off with an absolute corker of a blog favourite...

"Meg and the Romans" by David Walser and Jan Pienknowski is another new addition to the classic "Meg and Mog" range. Though the late Helen Nicol is a very tough act to follow, David Walser is establishing a whole new set of stories for these beloved character, and in this particular book we see Meg and Mog disappearing back to Roman times - and encountering a rather bombastic Roman Chief!

Their new friend is in need of help! But will Meg's spell get him to London - or should we say Londinium?
Imagine a terrifying war between wizards, a strangely rebellious super-ant called 4179003 (you try thinking up unique names for all your kids when you're an ant!) and a time-travelling television (who wouldn't want one of those) all brought together in a crazy set of stories shot through with Pratchett's trademark wry humour.
With writers such as Jacqueline Rayner, Mike Tucker, Paul Magrs, Richard Dungworth, Scott Handcock and Craig Donaghy contributing to this brilliant anthology, each story stars an incarnation of the Doctor on a brand new adventure in time and space.

It goes without saying that each story also features a frightening nemesis for the Doctor to face, and some of the most popular companions join in so there are appearances from favourite friends such as Sarah Jane, Jo, Ace and Donna.

Illustrated by Rohan Daniel Eason, Tales of Terror will delight, excite and frighten Doctor Who fans everywhere.

When the late great Helen Nicoll passed away, I remember feeling genuine sadness at the loss of such a huge talent - and an author who in no small part introduced me to a great love of reading very early on.

What's this what's this?!? A new Meg and Mog book appeared in the local library's stacks and though it was originally published in October last year, it's taken a while to filter through. Nevertheless it's fantastic to see Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski still producing these fantastic little books for a new generation of toddlers, books I remember loving to bits as a kid. 

In "Meg goes to Bed" poor Meg has a disastrous attempt at producing a nice wholesome supper for Mog, Owl and herself. With wobbly stripey spaghetti worms crawling off all over the place, poor Meg goes to bed with a rumbling tummy and it's up to Owl and Mog to save the day. 

Though the same slightly disjointed and jumbled page layouts remain, the book has timeless appeal and I almost feel bad for falling out of love a bit with these when they really are great for youngsters (of all ages :)

While you're tapping your foot impatiently waiting for the next Winnie Witch book, treat yourself to a new Meg and Mog book for a spell (pun intended) instead. 

Charlotte's best bit: Animated spaghetti!


Daddy's favourite bit: Still find Meg oddly reminiscent of Ruth from "Victorian Farm" 

Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski's fabulous "Meg and Mog"

This week on #ReadItMD13 we asked our faithful Twitterati to tell us their favourite children's books that are part of a series, or have sequels. You did not let us down, and we've had some fantastic recommendations which we'll come to in a second.

Book series are wildly popular, because parents and children learn to 'trust' a set of well known characters, and they're curious to know what they get up to next. Some of the biggest selling children's books are often part of a series, and some authors and illustrators are experts at spinning new yarns involving characters that have been loved by children for generations.

Series books are seen as important by reading experts too. If a child knows a particular set of characters, they can learn with those characters, increasing the level of their own self reading successfully as the stories grow in complexity. Biff Chip and Kipper (love 'em or hate 'em) are part of a huge collection of early readers / phonics books and despite the odd naysayer, these books have proved wildly popular and extremely useful as the springboard for children to leap into their own reading adventures.

Without further ado though, I'm going to pass over to the wonderful Twitter folk who responded to our call for their fave children's book series. Take it away, folks!

Jake Hayes (@tygertales)

"Mortal Engines and Mr Gum"

Paula Harrison (author of the Rescue Princesses @P_Harrison99

"We got a lot of fun out of the Meg and Mog books!" (We love them very much too!)

Colin West (Poet extraordinaire @mooseandmouse)

"Frog and Toad - Best double act since Laurel and Hardy!"

Booka Uhu (@bookauhu)

"The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, Deepwoods by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell and Protector of the Small by Tamama Pierce!"

Catherine Friess (@cjfriess)

"The Rescue Princesses and Kipper - and Winnie the Witch!"

Simon Tuck (@thebigshoe)

"The My Daddy series! Exceptional! Trailblazing! Spectacular" (and he wrote them so he should know :)

Damyanti Patel (@damyantipatel)

"The Fairy Detective Agency series starting off with Operation Bunny"

Anne Thompson (@alilibrarylady)

"The Claude and Sir Bobbysocks series by Alex T. Smith"

Helen Dineen (@aitcheldee)

"Katie Morag and Sir Charlie Stinkysocks"

Anne-Marie (@childledchaos)

"Martha and the Bunny Brothers by Clara Vulliamy and Hugless Douglas by David Melling" (Hooray! Love 'em!)

We also love: 

Doctor Dog by Babette Cole

Doctor Ted (yes I know, bit of a theme going here!) by Pascal Lemaitre

Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton

The Little Princess by Tony Ross

Miffy by Dick Bruna

Richard Scarry's animal tales

Hilda by Luke Pearson

Gum Girl by Andi Watson

'Sometimes' and 'Just Because' by Rebecca Elliott

Elmer by David McKee

Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence

Any more for any more? Drop a comment in the box below, thanks superchamps!

Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski with their greatest collaborative creation, Meg and Mog

Here at ReadItDaddy we were very sad to hear that Helen Nicoll, Author of the sublime Meg and Mog books, has passed away at the age of 74.

With her long-time collaborator and illustrator friend Jan Pienkowski, Helen created the best selling Meg and Mog books.

From one witch to another, and in this Meg, Mog and Owl tale Meg manages to propel herself back in time and meet cavemen and a particularly large (and extremely hungry) Woolly Mammoth. Of this week's crop of books, strangely this one wasn't that much of a hit with Charlotte though she did ask what "bubble and squeak" was, so I guess I'd better hunt through the library for a recipe book next. 

Not bad but not as interesting or as frenetic as other Meg and Mog books. 

Charlotte's best bit: Og eating all the Bubble and Squeak. 

Daddy's favourite bit: Super cool hip and groovy hippy cavemen. 

Rating: 2 out of 5

As ReaditDaddy weathered the rain and storms of October, we said a sad goodbye to Helen Nicoll, one half of the extremely talented team behind the Meg and Mog books. I loved these when I was a kid, and these were some of the earliest books we checked out from the library for Charlotte when she was really tiny.

Helen and her illustrator cohort Jan Pienkowski gave the world great characters, fantastic (and varied) books that have been loved by generations of children. Even now we find them very hard to resist when we spot them in the library and I'm pretty sure they'll be around when this blog turns into "ReadIt, Grandaddy!" R.I.P Helen.

We touched base with the lovely folk at Springboard Stories, a book and learning resources site and magazine that comes accompanied with a brilliant story book with each issue. The springboard crew can be relied upon for very interesting child learning and book related articles, and they seem to have a knack for snaring brilliant writing and illustrative talent to back up their books and magazine - so we're always keeping a close eye on their twitter feed too (@springboardstories).

Our first book of the week showed the shape of things to come as the first Christmas book dropped through the letterbox, courtesy of the kind folk at Top That! Publishing. "When I dream of Christmas" by Oakley Graham and Patricia Yuste has gone on to become a free download e-book so if you haven't picked it up yet, go grab the kindle version - it's a christmas cracker!

More books through the letterbox, this time courtesy of MyLittleBigTown, a consistently brilliant publisher who have come up with some of the year's funniest (and grossest!) books. "Gorgeous George and the Zig Zag Zit Faced Zombies" gave George, Grandad Jock and Allison a second outing, this time combatting nasty snotty zombies invading the school. Eeek! They don't want brains, they want your bogies! More great stuff from Stuart Reid and Calvin Innes.

MyLittleBigTown also ended up as the recipient of a book of the week award for the rather innovative and original "Anisha's Adventures in Bangladesh" by Moinul Islam and Calvin Innes. A fantastic way of sharing other countries and cultures with children, we loved it and it is still a regular on our bedtime reading list.

Over on the app side of things, we were delighted to be given the opportunity to look at Made in Me's "Me Books" app. Giving children control over their favourite books, allowing them to record dialogue and passages of the book themselves using innovative 'hot spots' on the story illustrations sounded brilliant, and in practice it worked beautifully too. Me Books have gone on to win plenty of awards for their work. Deservedly so!

Lion Hudson have become one of our favourite publishers over the past year, and they kindly sent us copies of Rebecca Elliot's wonderful books to review. "Just Because" deservedly won Book of the Week and had a very personal meaning to me, and certainly struck a chord with Charlotte too. It's been brilliant to see it mentioned in lots of people's "Book of the Year" roundups, and we had some brilliant feedback on our review of it. It's very special so if you haven't met Clemmie and Toby yet, you really ought to.

As October came to a close, Ross Collins came up with a horror double feature as part of our Halloween celebrations. First with "The Elephantom" and then with "Dear Vampa" - Ross even popped by to say Hi on the blog, which was utterly brilliant! What a talented and lovely chap he is!

November was a heck of a month. I still do not know how we managed to squeeze in 69 articles in November given how tight our lives are on time, but burning the midnight oil and dealing with a big beautiful mountain of books really made us very happy and very proud of all the lovely folk we spoke to and emailed.

We followed up our review of "Just Because" by Rebecca Elliott with more brilliant stuff with Clemmie and Toby in "Sometimes". Again an achingly beautiful book that also helped us get to know more book folk like Lion Hudson, who are interested in inclusive and thought provoking books.

We got to know Child's Play, a publisher who have consistently produced some of the most important children's picture books of the year. Along with Beth Cox (an ex Child's Play employee and an expert on diversity and inclusivity in children's books), Child's play have introduced us to so many stunning books and kindly sent us a huge box full of brilliant stuff to review (which took us quite some time to work through, but oh boy was it ever worth it!)

Two books from Child's Play, "Rabbityness" and "The Flower" meant we had to double up on Book of the Week as both Charlotte and I struggled to choose between them. They are both so brilliant and well deserving of a place on any child's reading list. We've sneaked a peek at some of the things coming up from Child's Play in 2013. They really are going to knock our socks off again next year, without a doubt.

Charlotte enjoyed Book Week at her school in November, choosing to dress as "Nugget" from Jonny Duddle's brilliant "The Pirates Next Door" (which was a Book of the Week). It was quite something seeing the reaction of her teachers and her classmates. Most of the girls turned up as princesses, it was great to see Charlotte choose something quite different (and could be a key reason why all the boys in her class think she's really cool!)

November crept out quietly with our wish list of books to stuff into our christmas stocking. We're backing the internet campaign to make sure a child gets 'a book in every stocking' - a campaign started off by Sarah Poynton, so please make sure you take a look at her blog and see some of the brilliant book recommendations made there (as well as ours, of course!)

The air of December turned chilly, and we had a light dusting of snow. As the month began, Charlotte began her preparations for the school nativity play (which was brilliant!) and naturally publishers, authors and illustrators gave us lots of christmassy festive cheer and brilliant snowy books. Philip Bell from Beachy Books got in touch and sent us a copy of his awesome "Jack and Boo's Snowy Day". Beautiful flowing prose and photographic illustrations from Eleanor Bell make the Beachy Books stand out. We were very happy to be given the opportunity to review one as we've been admiring them for ages.

Innovative children's app developers DuckDuckMoose dropped us an email and we happily covered their ranges of utterly fantastic apps and worksheets. We've been happy to see children's apps really coming on and heading in fantastic directions in 2012 and we cannot wait to see what developers do in 2013. With many of you cuddling iPads and tablets you've received for Christmas, you're very well prepared for a year when apps may finally come of age and be properly recognised as a very valuable way to reach children and educate, delight and involve them in fantastic stories and content.

Once again we made sure we trumpeted the campaign to stuff a book in every stocking and we hope the campaign snowballs and continues on until Christmas 2013 when we'll definitely be doing it all over again.

Maverick Books popped us a copy of the brilliant "Sparkle's Song" by Samantha Hale and Maria Ruiz Johnson. As we've previously said on the blog, Maverick have come out of nowhere to establish themselves as a brilliant independent publisher in 2011 / 2012 and we've taken a sneaky look at some of their upcoming 2013 releases (like "Tabitha Posey was Ever So Nosy" by Julie Fulton and Jona Jung, and the utterly beautiful "The Cautionary Tale of the Childe of Hale" by Rachel Lyon and Vanina Starkoff) so we know they're going to go from strength to strength next year. Chief Maverick Giles Paley-Phillips is probably one of the nicest people you could tweet to on Twitter so be sure to give him a follow.

Phew, we're almost there. As Christmas loomed on the horizon, publishers showed no signs of sipping mulled wine, munching mince pies and slowing down. Book news and fantastic 2013 previews came thick and fast all month, and we were delighted to take an early look at "No Bot - The Robot with No Bottom" by Sue Hendra, courtesy of Simon and Schuster Children's Books (which is due out on January 3rd).

As we draw our rather long (but hopefully very interesting) series of posts about 2012 to a close, we really hope our readers and our wonderful contacts in publishing, PR, writing and illustration (and our brilliant brilliant fellow book bloggers, educational advisers, teachers, librarians, tweetfolk and parents) stay with us through to 2013 and continue to wow and inspire us as they have all year.

Special thanks from Charlotte and Phil

A very huge thank you to the publishers, PRs, authors, illustrators and app developers who have been kind enough to supply items for review this year. A huge tip of the hat, pat on the back and raised glass to:

Random House Children's Books
Usborne Children's Books
Maverick Publishing
Child's Play International Publishing
Top That! Publishing
Lion Hudson Publishing
Little Tiger Press
Blue Apple Books
Quirk Books
Made in Me
Strata Books
Templar Publishing
MyLittleBigTown Publishing
Bloomsbury Publishing
Francis Lincoln Children's Books
David Fickling Books
Wasabi
Simon and Schuster Children's Books
KiteReaders
J & J Gill Publishing
Beachy Books
Springboard Stories
Abingdon Library
Mostly Books
Letterbox Library
YoYoMe
KWS
Maggie & Rose
The Phoenix Comic Collective
Nosy Crow
Anorak Magazine
Meadowside Children's Books
Oxfordshire Library Services


...and just a very small selection of the superb individuals who have inspired us to keep on doing what we're doing (brilliant Twitter chums too!)

Beth Cox
Marie ChildLedChaos
Ellie elephantthai
Helen Dineen
Giles Paley-Phillips
Philip Bell
Peter Abbey
Alex daddacool
Anne Booth
Shoo Rayner
Louise Yates
Jane Hissey
Julia Dweck
Matthew Cordell
Sarah Cowan
Guy Parker-Rees
Richard Collingridge
Sam Pope
Paul Harrison-Davies
Jez Alborough
Colin West
An Vrombaut
Adam and Charlotte Guillain
Jamie Smart
E.J. Gill
Jemma Parsons
Jess Smart Smiley
Paula Hubbard
Jo Empson
William Bee
C.J Harper
Mr Ripley
Rebecca Elliott
Debi Gliori
Andrew Weale
Jen Outlaw
Louie Stowell
Tracey Kewley
Jane Considine
Elaine Aldred
Ben Towle
Harriet Venn
Levi Pinfold
Sally Poyton
Jim Field
Tape Face
Toca Boca
Back Streeter (The Abingdon Blogger)
Ian Whybrow
Emma Reynolds
Mike Byrne
Leeza Hernandez
Hannah Cumming
Luke Pearson
Garen Ewing
Jenni Desmond
Julie Fulton
Izzy Penguin
Paula Harrison
Ame Dyckman
Go Comics
Charlotte Cooke
Juliet Brough
David Melling
Sam Usher
Zoe Waring
Neal Layton
Mark Thornton
Chris Haughton
Four Little Testers
Zoe Toft
Loll Kirby
Peter Bently
Mark Chambers
Nadia Shireen
Lauren Bennett
Marta Altes
The Booksniffer
Laura Clempson
Ministry of Stories
Emma Dodd
Gary Northfield
Clara Vulliamy
Louise Chadwick
Babette Cole
Mo Willems
Viviane Schwarz
Melanie McGilloway
Michelle Robinson
Valerie O'Riordan
Lydia Monks
Neill Cameron
Sarah McIntyre
Cressida Cowell
Eric Carle
Barefoot Books
Colin West

....and so many many more!



Without a doubt though this blog wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my wonderful wife @thestrollingmum and of course The Boss - Charlotte - who both inspire, enchant and enrich my very existence on a daily basis. Love the pair of you to bits!

Happy new year and here's to a prosperous 2013!

Phil & Charlotte @ ReadItDaddy

Published by Puffin



Oh dear. I think we've overdosed on Meg and Mog books and it took a slightly lacklustre entry in the series to finally turn Charlotte off the books altogether. Though this could coincide with her interest in dressing up as a Princess rather than dressing up as a witch (oh the humanity, a month before Halloween too!)

This Meg and Mog adventure sees the Trynamic Trio off on a picnic in a distinctly odd looking vehicle. As you've come to expect from Meg's spells, things don't quite go according to plan when she tries to conjure up a magic car to take them on their day out. Though it's a fairly throwaway story it has its moments, but Charlotte really didn't think much of this in comparison to the other books in the series we've covered in this blog. Ah well...

Charlotte's Best Bit: Mog's choice of car. 

Daddy's favourite bit: Meg hanging upside down from a branch with her dress over her head. 


 

We've often been lucky enough to interview authors and artists and sometimes we sneak in a very unfair question. "Which do you prefer? Cats or Dogs?" As part of our #ReadItMD13 theme week all about awesome animals we thought we'd take a look back through the ReadItDaddy archives and turn the question on ourselves. Are we predominantly cat-obsessed or are we canny about canines instead?

It was a tough challenge. When you're faced with some of the greatest characters in children's picture books, how can you possibly choose favourites?

On the cat side, our favourite characters (amongst others) include:

• Mog (the forgetful cat from Judith Kerr's peerless books)
• Mog (the witch's cat in Meg and Mog)
• Chester (From Chester's Back)
• Splat the Cat
• Moonpie, Andre and Tiny (from "There are / aren't cats in this book by Viv Schwarz)
• The Tobermory Cat
• Ginger (from Charlotte Voake's excellent books)
• The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat
• Wilbur (from the Winnie the Witch books)
• Red Cat and Blue Cat (and Yellow cat too) from Jenni Desmond's book of the same name
• Six Dinner Sid
• Amazing Mr Zooty
• The Cat in the Hat
• Backstage Cat (again from Jenni Desmond with Harriet Ziefert)
• Keith (the cat with the magic hat)
• Tootsie (from "Please don't torment Tootsie" by Margaret Chamberlain)
• Holly (from Ruth Brown's book of the same name)

Elastogirl (sigh) how I love thee!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp and Sarah Ogilvie

Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling (a metric ton of strong female characters, not least of all Hermione!)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lundgren

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

The Giant under the Snow by John Gordon

The Rescue Princess Series by Paula Harrison (suggested by Catherine Friess)

The Emily Brown Series by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton (also suggested by Catherine Friess)

The Little Princess Series by Tony Ross

Winnie the Witch Series by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

Meg and Mog Series by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

Whizz Pop Granny Stop and Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble by Tracey Corderoy and Joe Berger

Hello Hello by Matthew Cordell

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Chloe by Peter McCarty

Red Knit Cap Girl by Naoko Stoop

Just Because and Sometimes by Rebecca Elliott

Kahu the Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (suggested by KM Lockwood)

Millie the Detective and the Diamond Ring by Jacqueline Pye

Witch Child by Celia Rees (suggested by Sally Poyton)

Some cracking suggestions over at The Nerdy Book Club Blog

Any more for any more? Drop a comment below, thanks!

Hooray and hooroosh! It's happy launch time for a book that is written in wonderful rhyme.
We love Elli Woollard, she is so poetic! She makes our faux verse look rather pathetic!
She's here with a new story, magically told. Which tells tale of a wizard all creaky and old.
His name? Why it's Woozy, and with his pet pig, he can conjure a spell with a dance and a jig.
He lives in a village called Snottington Sneeze. Which may give a clue to his latest new wheeze.
The people are ill, they complain and they wail. "Call for Woozy the Wizard, make us well without fail!"
But poor Woozy's wand droops, and his pig is no help, as the villagers sneeze, grumble, snortle and yelp.
Woozy calls on his other friends, borrows some spells. But there's still no success, just some sulphuric smells.
With red spots on their bots, and snot-runners green the people are desperate, whiny and mean.
But through patience with patients, and warm woolly socks...Woozy somehow makes good, makes the news, Woozy ROCKS!

Elli's new series of rhyming stories for Faber and Faber are a delight, reminding us in turn of many brilliant children's classics like Meg and Mog and with Al Murphy's bold illustrations and Elli's pitch perfect rhyming (far better than our dreadful efforts) this is sure to tickle a few ribs.

Woozy the Wizard - A Broom to go Zoom will be arriving next March so watch out for it vrooming into a bookshop near you.

Check out Elli's brilliant poetry site "Taking Words for a Stroll" if you want to read more from this talented lady!

Charlotte's best bit: Woozy makes the news, hooray!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Phew! It's a long one this but a great little book to slot in when your own tiddlers are feeling a little under the weather and want an entertaining rhyme to cheer them up!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Faber and Faber)