Pip and Posy - The Little Puddle by Axel Scheffler

We've had the Pip and Posy app on my phone for quite a while now but for some reason we hadn't made it to the books themselves. By the by the app is brilliant - do download it if you can, it's full of puzzles and games.

Pip and Posy - The Little Puddle is a sweet picture book about two friends enjoying playing together and then one of them having a little accident! It's a lovely first picture book to read to children who are just starting to listen to stories. It's a bit young for Rosie really but she likes it. I wish we'd got this book when Rosie was potty training because it brings a great softly softly approach to the whole thing. It tells a very simple story and then leaves the child and adult to discuss what has happened. Of course the illustrations are completely gorgeous (it is Axel Scheffler after all). Rosie loves the fact that when Pip has to change he is a bit perturbed by the choice of dresses to wear but then happily wears one. The only niggle I had was that they end up in the bath (I thought he was just over to play?) but it does make for some very lovely pictures - of course it doesn't bother Rosie in the slightest!

I think we will be getting the rest of the series: The Super Scooter, The Big Balloon and The Snowy Day. And what is also nice is that Rosie's younger sister (just turned one) is becoming very interested in books and it won't be long before she will enjoy sitting and listening to a story and this level of text will be perfect for that.

Fancy Dress Farmyard by Nick Sharratt

'There's a party at the farmyard'! This is a fun vibrant picture book - it's actually a little young for my three and half year old but she still loves it. What's great is that it's suitable to read to both my children even with a three year age gap. It has rhyming text (tick for pre-speakers), bold contrasting colours (great for developing those eyes) and lots of interactivity (ideal for the 3 year old). Now to be perfectly honest the six month old doesn't do much more than sit on my knee and try to grab the book to shove in her mouth but I know that she is learning (deep down!) about what you do with a book and the great fun you can have with it.

The rhymes are short and not always that wonderful! But my three year old loves to finish them off for me or even recite them in total (sigh - yes it's one of those, we've read it every night for the last month. It's going to be time to hide it soon!). She also loves to shout out who is hiding beneath the fancy dress costume and when we lift the flap to reveal we make the animal noise, for the benefit of the 6 month old.

At the end of the book you lift the flaps of the barn and all the animals in their fancy dress are revealed. We then always have a heated discussion which goes like this:

'Mummy, which would you like to be?' 

'I'd like to be the pirate.'

'No, Mummy, you can be the princess or the fairy.'

'But I want to be the pirate.'

'Girls can't be pirates.' (shouting!)

'Girls can be anything they want to be.'

'No, you have to be the fairy.'

'Ok, but girls really can be anything they want.'

(frowning!)

'And boys can too, ok?'

'No, mummy. I'm the princess and you're the fairy.' (pause) 'Daddy can be the pirate.' 

(groan)

I think I've even been guilty of saying 'girl power' in one of these discussions before. I just cannot believe that my daughter can be so gender specific! It will get better won't it? I won't be having this argument when she's twelve (to pick an age randomly!). One of the first times we had this discussion she got so upset she started to cry about it. I don't think I ever envisaged having a daughter sobbing her heart out about not being a princess when I first had kids.

For all the crazy politics that go with this book it's definitely one of our current favourites and as I mentioned it is great to read with different aged children.