Simply Read Books
Robert Louis Stevenson's poem gets a beautiful new home in this book with retro-feel drawings. The poem itself is obviously wonderful and so are the illustrations. Small and perfectly formed, it's easy for the toddler to hold and turn the pages. The thick board material is handy for children who like sticking things in their mouth. The toddler loved it, and the baby even managed a look before trying to eat it. A lovely wee book that would make a fantastic stocking filler. Photograph: PR
Puffin Books
I love The night before Christmas and already own a well-read version. This one is the same story but the illustrations take us to an African village. Santa is a Rastafarian and the reindeer have traditional African-print leg-warmers, which I now want. This is just so beautiful and full of colour. It really is just a gorgeous book, and the toddler, who is probably sick of me reading the other Night Before Christmas, has really enjoyed the illustrations in this one,. She was also quite happy that this chap was also Santa and requested it again and again. I think this is a great one to add to the collection of Christmas tales and goes some way to explaining how Santa manages to cover the globe. It's the African leg-warmers that make it possible! Photograph: PR
Puffin Books
This is a tale of a mouse who dances all the time and wants to become a famous ballerina. She works hard and practises everyday and her dream is achieved. I liked the hard-work-pays-off message that was hammered home - time, effort and doing your chores are what will get you success! The mice are intricately drawn and the attention to detail is fantastic, right down to the small cheese pies that mother mouse bakes. It was a gentle read and quite a calming story so we read it for bed-time. We have started a dance class (stage mother) so Minnie she knows about tutus so that caught her attention. It's a lovely book that I am sure any dance enthusiastic child would love to have in their collection. Photograph: PR
Macmillan
I am a huge fan of Emily Gravett – the lady can do no wrong in my eyes. Not sure if Mins is quite so taken with her as I am but, hey, I'm the one reading the books here, so tough! This one is about a meerkat who thinks it would be nice to go on a wee holiday, and we follow him off on his adventures. There are postcards to read and lots of pictures to look at, in quite dark and muted colours, so maybe that's why the toddler didn't take to it. I think this would maybe suit an older child than mine as Minnie wasn't really enamoured with it and the baby just wanted to rip the postcards out of the book. I will be keeping it safe for when they are a bit older. Photograph: PR
Egmont
This is a very pretty book to look at. The fact I found the story as dull as dishwater was a shame, as it really is beautifully drawn. The beasties live under Daisy's new bed and tell her a different story every night to help her settle into her new room. I found the story really boring but it isn't aimed at me. Minnie didn't seem that impressed either and we didn't get to the end; maybe an older child would appreciate it a bit more and understand that the beasties living under Daisy's bed are not scary but nice things. Photograph: PR
Egmont
Baby Jake scares me. I'm not sure why, but it's not my favourite show on Cbeebies. The toddler, however, thinks it's fab, so what do I know? This is basically just an episode of Baby Jake in book form, very colourful and bursting with pictures and mad crazy things, like hamsters dressed as astronauts. If you have a Baby Jake-obsessed child then this is the book for you! Photograph: PR
Puffin
It's Moomin's birthday and his parents give him a button, his friends ignore him and then he has a party and it's all good! But what is Moomin? Minnie thought he was a "woof woof", but I haven't a clue what he is. Weird names rubbish story line and dodgy drawings - I didn't get this at all. Photograph: PR
