Julia Donaldson, Author Extraordinaire

If you haven't heard of the Gruffalo, then you must have been living in a cupboard, Harry Potter style, for the last 10 or so years. The Gruffalo was a huuuuge success for Donaldson and her illustrator of choice, Axel Scheffler.

Now reaching a new audience as a theatre production as well as the Christmas television feature that was later released as a DVD, The Gruffalo also appears on a range of stationery, lunchboxes and greeting cards. There's a sequel (The Gruffalo's Child), a song book and a pop up puzzle book. Gruffalo-mania is loud, proud and everywhere!

And so, very quietly, with no song and dance, Zog has arrived. Published in August 2010, Donaldson's new book for children follows the adventures of the accident-prone Zog the dragon at school. Cleverly tapping into recent movie trends, such as Shrek Forever After and How To Train Your Dragon, Zog features Donaldson's characteristic gentle and humorous rhymes and Sheffler's dynamic illustrations.

With all the mishaps that befall Zog, surely rescuing a Princess is the least of his worries. Unless, of course, that Princess doesn't want rescuing....

Buy the book or borrow it from your library. You won't regret it!

Side By Side

Last night my two-year-old daughter went to bed early. She was shattered and was asleep before we had finished reading the Maisy book that she had chosen.

When it came to 6.30pm my four-year-old son had his bath and hopped into clean pyjamas. But he was worried about waking his sister up if we went into their bedroom to read as we sould usually do. So as a rare treat he came into Mummy and Daddy's room. We snuggled on the bed, covered our feet with the blanket and laid on our tummies, side by side, the book spread out in front of us.

We looked at every page in detail. We talked about who wrote the book and who drew the pictures. We imagined the studio where the illustrations were devised. We talked about the front page and the back cover. We make sound effects and put on funny voices. We relished every single page, talking about everything, pointing and laughing, imagining and dreaming. We cuddled up, our shoulders touching, as he invented a story with him as the hero. I felt so proud and emtional to see his imagination developing so well and to see him growing up.

He was tired when we had finished and I carried him to his bed. As I tucked him up he said "Mummy, can we do that again tomorrow before bed?" His experience had been so special that he wanted to repeat it, to cherish it.

And the funny thing? I don't even remember what book it was that we read. It wasn't important.

Pants by: Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt

Here in the UK, we like a little bit of silliness. And the sillier the better when it comes to children! If you can find a book that combines this whimsical silliness with the familiarty of a regular rhyme then you're on to a winner as far as your young readers are concerned.

The US readers among us will now be questioning why trousers are funny. The Brits reading will probably be sniggering into their cups of tea. Pants are knickers, undies, tighty whiteys, call them what you will. And, quite honestly, when you're two years old, nothing is funnier than PANTS!

When my son was potty training we used to read Pants by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt almost every night. It ticked all the boxes for him. And Mummy could put on silly voices whilst reading it. Even now I only have to say "Fairy pants, hairy pants, run away from scary pants" and he's off, running, and looking for me to chase him.

With simple rhyme and camber, it's an easy read for the parent. It's not overly long so if you end up reading it night after night as I do (and I now do to my two year old daughter) it won't have you groaning and rolling your eyes. It's fun and it's frivolous and, whilst it carries no deep hidden moral, it does help to make something that can make adults and children alike blush much more approachable.

Nick Sharratt's illustrations are clear, bright and imaginative with lots of primary colour to attract the little ones' attention. The prolific Nick Sharratt has written and illustrated many books for children and won numerous awards for his picture books, including the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the Children's Book Award 2001. He has also enjoyed great success illustrating Jacqueline Wilson books, loved by inbetweenies everywhere.

Although the rhymes are probably too simplistic and the illustrations too basic to hold the interest of a four-year-old for very long, younger children will delight at the utter childishness at the heart of this book.