The Worst Princess (the best dragon!)

The Worst Princess

Written by Anna Kemp and Illustrated by the divine Sara Ogilvie (Of Dogs Don't Do Ballet fame)

Sue is a Princess with her eyes on the prize keen to bag herself a dashing and buff Prince worthy of her affections. (aren't we all!)

As if by fairy tale magic a gorgeous beau appears to rescue Sue from her tower (after battling numerous obstacles including a hilarious Viking astride a stinky pig!) the Prince “rescues” Sue from her tower and takes her back to his kingdom for a life of luxury and a gypsy wedding style dress for every day of the week. What more could any budding Princess desire?

In true Jeremy Kyle style the handsome prince is not all he is cracked up to be, especially for such a gregarious and vivacious Princess. Sue calls on the assistance of fearsome dragon with flashing eyes and this dynamic duo take care of that pesky rascal prince and teach him a harsh butt burning life lesson.

With beautiful textured paper and luxuriant gold foiling this luscious picture book deserves multitudinous readings and re-readings.  Sara’s carefully considered illustrations maintain a magical spontaneity and each page bursts with colour and character and Anna’s faultless rhyming text is bountifully entertaining and tittersomely chuckle packed. 

This is a hilarious twisted fairy tale and one of the best “Princess saved by Knight" rip-ROAAAAR-ing stories I have seen in a long time - It also includes one of THE best picture book dragons in this fair kingdom!

I enjoyed this book so much I wanted to bite it let alone sniff it!

Galloping upon the back of a fearsome dragon in your direction in paperback VERY SOON - Grab a copy and live happily ever after!

THANK YOU to the lovely peopleingtons at
Simon and Schuster for sending us a copy - we salute you!

Calling all letter fans, It's Operation Alphabet!

Hmmm I'm not really sure what I can tell you about this next book, It's supposed to be TOP SECRET.. But you're a trust worthy bunch so I guess there's no harm in telling you a leeeetle bit about this snifftacular gem!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Don't tell anyone!

Operation Alphabet - Written by Al MacCuish, Illustrated by Luciano Lozano and Designed by Jim Blestas Published by Thames and Hudson

Let me start at the beginning, I'm not ordinarily a curtain twitcher but this particular morning I had my snout sticking through the nets just checking whether the neighbours had trimmed their lawns when I spotted a mysterious character in a long mac and a trilby hat - He was heading straight toward Book Sniffer Towers with a package wrapped up in brown paper and string!

In the blink of an eye he left it on the doorstep and in an instant was gone. I was intrigued as excitements of this nature rarely happens in outer suburbia!

It was a parcel from The Ministry of Letters no less! 

Not only did it contain TWO .. yes TWO sheets of alphabety spaghetti stickers of a most gleesome nature AND a personalised certificate but a copy of a book I have been admiring for some time now *pa pada pa pa paaaa- trumpet fanfare* Operation Alphabet

That's Mouse the cat's butt - not a mysterious badger!

The mystery and intrigue continues as you are drawn through the slot in a magical top secret post box which happens to double up as Operation Alphabet HQ,The Ministry of Letters - Only known to the elite, her madge the Queen, The Prime Minister,  Spies (no doubt including the sultry chap who delivered my copy), cats .. oh and now PUGS!
Our adventure starts on Charlie Foxtrots first day at school where after a long day catching 40 winks at his desk and general day dreaming his teacher announces  a test that very Friday on the alphabet!

A ginger letter ninja!

Charlie is flummoxed and baffled by the alphabet and in the depths of despair is saved from an imminent test failing disaster by the letter S (Stan) and the letter O (Ollie) - I too shall hence forth in such emergencies be using the phrase "Holy Macaroni".

Colonel A rallies the alphabet troops and they embark on a first class dash across the city to help Charlie. After a near miss with a ravenous cat, a nail biting motorbike ride with a duchess and a spectacular Oompah band Charlie finds himself familiar with his new found alphabet friends and aces the school alphabet test with flying colours.

This is a seat gripping-tea-sipping-alphabiting-hunk of a delightful book!
A real beaut and a must for any young sprogs shelf or equally for the fan of the finest picture booky loveliness.

A+ for Operation Alphabet!

Absolutely Bloomin Crackin'

THANK YOU to The Ministry of Letters for sending me a copy of this droolsome treat!

Follow them on Twitter @MOLtweetdept and visit the website here!

Walk like an Egyptian....

As I sit here on my cushion it strikes me that everyday suburban life can be ever so dreary at times, it's times like these that I am grateful for bite sized packages of adventure and so I don my fez and lay my paws on
An Egyptian Escape written by K.A.Gerrard
and masterfully illustrated by Emma " Lips" Dodd

The much undervalued graphic novel format is just about blooming perfect for young pups about to fledged the picture book nest but hesitant about colossal standard format fiction.
An Egyptian Escape is the second book in this blossoming series for young readers (The first in the series being
 A Roman Rescue ) featuring Charlie (who has very fashionable shoes) and his dog Bandit (a dashing looking pup if ever I saw one)

Bright, absorbing, non-condescending and packed with thrill per minute adventure these books will be relished and I'd bet my bottom dollar consumed in one sitting.

In this Charlie and Bandit adventure our intrepid pair find themselves hurled feet first back to Egypt in 1906 where they quickly become embroiled in uncovering the hidden secrets of the Egyptian tombs.
Making friends, solving mysteries and getting up to a smattering of mischief are just the start of this adventure which includes some very comedic slap stick scenarios between a posh chap and a vest wearing man in a fez! (what's not to like!) 

As a bonus treat once you have finished the story there is a fabulous fact filled notebook at the back of the book, brimming with enough intriguing information for the brain boxes amongst you to win even the toughest pub quiz.

Emma's illustrations are engaging and accessible and perfectly compliment Kelly's thoroughly researched and entertaining texts.

Right I'm off to hunt for a time travel portal in the garden!  see you last year!

Toodle Pip!

NB - For teachers resource notes visit templarco.co.uk

What's that pong? ....It's Whiffy Wilson!

Whiffy Wilson
Written by Rhyme Master Caryl Hart
and illustrated by Leonie Lord

Sniff sniff... you know I'm a big fan of sniffing.. but sometimes there are some pongs which are just too ponky to sniff... Whiffy Wilson is one such stinky critter. As charming as he is he's been working extremely hard cultivating an unbearable stench.. he is a walking advertisement for Lynx deodorant!

Grimey pants, matted fur and fungus between his toes he is cruising for a bath and no mistake! Eventually the stench becomes too much and in order to dodge the inevitable bath he decides to run away from home....  

Whiffy Wilson is soon sniffed out by an inquisitive and sweet smelling young lady by  the name of Dotty who shows Whiffy that being clean and fresh and not ponky is fun because it means you can get all mucky again.

Teach your little ankle biters that bogeys and bum boils can easily be avoided with a quick scrub-a-dub-dub in the old tub!

Caryl has a wizard-like mastery of rhyming texts and this one is the bees knees (especially the bit about washing his.. erum bum! tehehe)

I recommend you hop in the tub with Whiffy at the soonest opportunity!

CHECK OUT carylhart.com for some he-he-hilarious Whiffy activity sheets!