Any parent who has despaired of prising their child away from the laptop, iPad, PlayStation, Xbox or whatever other high-tech device they are glued to, will find it hard not to laugh out loud at Lane Smith's delightful homage to the joy of reading, It's a Book. Smith's concept is simple yet deeply satisfying. Through a wry exchange between an IT-savvy donkey, a book-loving monkey and his pet mouse, the illustrator of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales takes a playful look at the role of books in our technology-obsessed age and mounts a charming defence of the printed word.
Why have a book when you can have an iPad? What good is a thing made of paper that doesn't scroll, require a mouse (the non-squeaking kind) or communicate via text-speak as opposed to full-length words? Smith subtly and cleverly gives us the answer by demonstrating the power of a good story to trump whatever gadget you care to throw at it.
Older children 7 or 8-plus will love It's a Book too. But I wonder whether irony-free younger ones might greet it with blank expressions, despite the cute illustrations. There's no risk of that, however, with the latest offering from illustrator Nick Sharratt and author Elizabeth Lindsay. Socks is a daft, dippy, very silly and highly funny "socktastic celebration of the nation's favourite footwear". A follow-up to Pants and More Pants, it takes readers on a tour of Sockland where everything and everybody from Goldisocks to the socksophone player to the hipposockamus is made of socks: stripey ones, spotty ones, Argyll patterned, checked, you name it.
My unofficial judging panel (aged 5 and 8) insisted on this book being read to them three times over, laughing more with each go, and begged for it again the next day, which tells you how well it is likely to please small people you might be trying to keep away from screens.
Almost as popular was My Granny Is a Pirate, the amusing and endearing tale, told by a would-be pirate, of his swashbuckling granny who so she tells him sails the seven seas with a talking parrot on her shoulder, terrorising other pirates, capturing their ships and stealing their booty. It is crime writer Val McDermid's first book for children inspired by her love of Treasure Island and is so infectiously readable I am sure it will not be her last. Arthur Robins's illustrations are delightful, and there is a charming Swallows and Amazons-era innocence to the story, written in rhyme.
Most children love rhyming, and even those who don't will enjoy The Rhyming Rabbit, the new title from the seemingly tireless children's laureate Julia Donaldson. The story of a rabbit who cannot stop spouting poetry, it boasts glitter on every page, according to a sticker on the cover. But there are also cute poems, and, as you'd expect from the author of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, a strong narrative with universal themes of friendship and being the odd one out. Lydia Monks's illustrations are hugely appealing, too.
Feeling lonely is the subject of Rachel Bright's Love Monster, a warm-hearted tale about a misfit finding a soulmate when he least expects it. Bright's main character is the only funny-looking creature in Cutesville a world of fluffy kittens and cute bunnies which isn't easy. So he goes in search of love and, just as he's about to give up, meets The One: a girl monster who looks just like him, only orange. The last page shows them walking off into the sunset, hand in hand. It's a sweetly inspiring story aimed at encouraging little readers to take positive action when life is not going their way.
Giles Andreae's new monster story, I Love You Little Monster, sounds similarly promising but somehow fails to deliver. Featuring a mummy monster who only finds the words to express her love for her offspring when he is asleep, it reminds me of Sam McBratney's classic Guess How Much I Love You but misses the mark by dint of its flowery, slightly sickly language, which may at a pinch appeal to parents but will leave most children cold. Jess Mikhail's illustrations are sufficiently captivating, however, to sustain young readers' interest to the end.
