Age: 5+
The small toy with a large personality is back for a new adventure of dramatic rescues and daring deeds. It's holiday time, and Traction Man packs everything, including mint cake and flexible flippers, that he might need at the seaside. Along with his friend Scrubbing Brush, he explores the wonders of the beach and, when his friend is swept out to sea by a giant wave, Traction Man sets out to save him. Soon the two are off on a new adventure that is full of surprises – and even young ladies. As ever, the richly imagined world of Traction Man is packed full of wonderful jokes. Photograph: Cape
Age: 2+
Oliver is having trouble with his noisy sister. There are alarming pictures of the tiny prima donna rejecting bottle and rattle. In an attempt to escape her wailing, Oliver sets off on a flight of fancy: an aeroplane trip takes him to the Arctic and the Tropics and is gliding along splendidly until interrupted by a crying baby – his sister again. The conclusion is a satisfactory and flattering silence as Oliver hugs the bawler until she…sleeps.
Photograph: Hodder
Age: 3+
Julia Donaldson, the newly appointed children's laureate, may be best known for The Gruffalo, but her huge output contains a great many other gems besides. Although The Rhyming Rabbit lacks the brilliant simplicity of The Gruffalo, the tale of a rabbit who can't stop making up verses – much to the irritation of everyone, until she finds a sheep with an equally poetic turn of mind – has a delightful dottiness which is just as captivating. The addition of glitter-encrusted illustrations by Lydia Monks makes it pretty, too.
Photograph: Macmillan
Age: 3+
Fairytales are always being re-imagined and now it's the turn of Michael Rosen and Nick Sharratt to tackle The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Ugly Duckling… Rosen's had a nice idea: the characters write to a fairy godmother in the hope she will rewrite history. And she does, with comic twists: the gingerbread man sloshes on aftershave to avoid being eaten, the three bears pour salt into their porridge, and the three pigs drive a wolf-proof armoured car. Happy endings all round.
Photograph: Walker
Age: 2+
When little Stella can't get her toys to sleep, she becomes Mummy – and tries to quieten them down by reading to them. Eventually she gets two down – with one to go. Finally, even frog surrenders. It seems we have our conclusion: "So the world champion of staying awake must actually be Stella." But we turn to the last page, where three thankful words make us think again: "Or perhaps not."
Photograph: Walker
Age: 3+
Chaconas's rhyme has an impatient skip to its step, as Billy Brown urges his family to hurry on their way to Derry fair. Gillian Tyler's meticulous illustrations explain adult delay: Billy's mother is grating lemon rind for pies; his father is swinging his axe for firewood. Arrival at the fair is celebrated in a lovely four-page spread: inviting one to walk straight on to fairground turf with money to spend.
Photograph: Walker
Age: 4+
The magic of folk tales from long ago and far away is woven into these freshly written stories. Simply but lyrically told, they show how difficulties can be transformed by wonder in some way. In the first story, an ageing desert guide finds a baby girl guarded by a camel after a violent sandstorm; there's only a scrap of ribbon to give any clue to her birth. He takes both home and, as he ages and his sight fails, she becomes his eyes. When strangers arrive and ask for help, it is she who takes up his guiding skills, saves their lives and unravels the story of her past.
Photograph: Walker
Age: 2+
This book features monsters who might be descended from Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, except they are smaller and less scary. They have horns and eyes like boiled eggs (what they eat looks stomach-churningly similar to their eyes… look into Mummy Monster's saucepan). At bedtime, they make a din and shout "I'm not sleepy…" But a moment is all it takes to change everything: the final page is a quiet overview of Monstersville by night.
Photograph: Walker
Age: 4+
There's an epic adventure at the heart of this witty picture book, as seven furry creatures burst out of the small, dark hole in which they were born and set out anxiously to find a new home. Inadequately armed and with no knowledge of the world beyond their hole, they bravely face up to the unknown, make several false starts, enter alien territory and see off opposition before finding a wonderful new world. Young readers will love knowing what the little animals don't as they follow the pictures and recognise the realities that lie behind this freshly observed adventure.
Photograph: Walker
