Knight School by Jane Clarke and Jane Massey

Knight School has been a very handy book for us recently. It tells the story of two friends Little Knight and Little Dragon who are starting school.
But... they go to different schools! Little Knight goes to school in the daytime and Little Dragon goes to school in the nighttime.

Little Knight and Little Dragon love going to school but they get a bit fed up that they never see each other anymore - until they concoct a plan to have a mini adventure out of school time! They disappear off and find a brand new friend to watch some stars with. Their daddies eventually catch up with them and after the initial worry realise that the friends just want to spend some time with each other again. 

This is a particularly good story for us right now because Rosie has just started school but she is going to a different school from her best friend. They have gone from spending at least two days a week together to virtually not seeing each other. So reading a picture book which helps to explain this, and also points out that you need to make time to see your friends, is very helpful. We just have to hope she won't plan to meet her friend after dark for an adventure!

The illustrations are very sweet and there are lots of gentle funny moments. My two year old has been enjoying reading this with us as well so it bridges the age gap from two to five pretty well. I particularly like the scene at the end where they hold a big fete/summer party. I'm hoping to emulate it for my daughter's birthday party!

Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Cornelius van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

When Rosie picked up Princess Grace in the library I inwardly sighed because it was another pink and sparkly title and I'm really trying to give her a good mixture of influences. But when we read it together I was pleasantly surprised.

It's the story of a girl called Grace who loves stories about princesses and then acting them out (pretty similar to Rosie really). Then one day at school they're told they are going to have a float in a parade to raise money for charity and two of the children will be chosen to be princesses. Grace starts to research what princess costume she might wear and the more she looks into it the more she realises that the life of a fairytale princess is really quite dull. So she asks her teacher for stories of more exciting princess and her teacher comes back with some great examples of warrior princesses and countries different variations of traditional fairytales such as Cinderella. Grace decides she would like to dress up as more exciting princess and her Nana offers to make it out of the Kente cloth that she has bought back from The Gambia.

The interjections of Grace's Nana and Ma throughout the story are very nicely done. Particularly Nana's 'There's more than one way to be pretty' which Grace later repeats when they ask if she's sure she wants her costume to be made out of the Kente cloth.

I don't usually prefer illustrations that look real (apart from Shirley Hughes) but I've really warmed to the artwork in this book and think some of the expressions captured are lovely. The cover is pink and sparkly as I mentioned and it's totally what made Rosie pick it up so I guess it works!

The character Grace stars in a series of books. The first one was called 'Amazing Grace' and was commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal. We're going to look out for that one next! Mary Hoffman also wrote an article for the Guardian explaining her reasons behind writing what a first glance seems to be another pink and sparkly book for girls. She has my heartfelt thanks!

You Can't Eat A Princess by Gillian Rogerson & Sarah McIntyre

This picture book ticks many boxes for us. Princess - yes (groan but actually I approve of Princess Spaghetti, she's ballsy and likes chocolate, it's all good). Aliens - yes (when we look at the night sky and we pick out what we can see Rosie also always mentions aliens, hmmm!). Chocolate - yes (we both love chocolate, who doesn't?). So I guess we were always going to love it. I also enjoy reading Sarah McIntyre's tweets and blog posts - partly because she's based in our old stomping ground around Greenwich.

It's Princess Spaghetti's birthday but her father, King Cupcake is missing. It turns out he's been kidnapped by aliens who are rather partial to a juicy human. It's down to the princess to rescue him in the Royal Rocket. Once she's located him she tries to persuade the aliens of the joy of chocolate instead of eating humans by inviting them to her birthday party.

This story was so successful the first time we read it that the next day we did a complete re-enactment of it before breakfast. For some reason I had to be nearly every character while Rosie directed me, but that's another blog post.

I love the text, I think it's imaginative and reads really well. And the illustrations are fab, except for the fact that they make me a bit hungry!

Princess Poppy by Janey Louise Jones

Princess Poppy is not my favourite book series to read to Rosie but she loves it and so I think it would be unfair editing on my part not to mention them on this blog!

We have several of the Princess Poppy's 'The Birthday', 'Twinkletoes', 'The Fair Day Ball' and 'The Play'. There is also one called 'The Wedding' which we must get since Rosie loves weddings! Possibly something to do with having been a flower girl four times in her short life so far!

Princess Poppy is a bit of a spoilt brat to be honest! She's impatient for her birthday presents on her birthday and gets in a grump that no one is up and about before breakfast to make a big fuss of her. She has loads of treats at the fair and then wants a pretty dress that she has no money for and doesn't want to work for it. She wants to boss everyone about during 'The Play' and watch them work while she does nothing. She gets impatient when she Twinkletoes the pony isn't well enough to ride. And worst of all she gets to do everything she wants in the end! Not without learning a few life lessons but she is indulged and spoilt most of the way! I think this might be why Rosie loves the books!

So not my choice but if you have a little girl then she'll probably love them!

The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie

The Worst Princess has become a firm favourite in our house in a very short space of time. Partly because it features a princess, a prince and a dragon. Good stock characters that tick all of Rosie's boxes! But also because it's funny, a good story and gorgeous artwork. It makes me wish I could draw half as well!

I love this book because it's about an anti-princess. She doesn't want to be pretty and sit around in dresses and wait for her prince to come back. She wants to be out having fun, preferably with her pal the dragon! With my darling daughter completely obsessed with the colour pink and wearing pretty dresses I'm glad there is a book to show her that being a bit of a tomboy can be a lot more fun. I'm sure she'll find that out for herself anyway but it's a refreshing read!

The rhyming text is great too, with lots of references to tea! It's really funny that the Princess is called Sue (it definitely helps the rhyme along!) and can't stand her prince who's rescued her - he is a rubbish prince, admittedly. There are quite a lot of picture books that turn the myth and legend of fairy tales around and I think this is one that really works!