Babyliography CCVII

Sophy Henn, The Music in Me

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

**

If you mean feelings, say feelings.

Linda Chapman and Biz Hull, My Secret Unicorn: The Magic Spell

2002 / Paperback / 128 pages

***

No pressure to get through the whole boxset of bigger-girl chapter books I bought just because it seemed good value, but still good to have in our stable of magical horse bedtime stories.

Rob Lloyd Jones and Alessandra Santelli, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: The Nettle Princess

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

***

Nice to read a new fairy tale, and some rare nettle representation too.

Fiona Undrill, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Odd Fish!

2020 / School book / 16 pages

***

The most educational of these so far, she wasn't even scared of the goblin shark.

Ben Clanton, The Greatest in the World: A Tater Tales Book

2023 / Library book / 80 pages

***

It's unlikely she would have given this spuddy series a try if it wasn't recognisably by the same creator as Narwhal and Jelly (which only scraped in itself through unicorn references), but it was slightly better than you might expect a graphic novel about three potatoes to be. We made separate predictions for the end twist and we were both right.

Babyliography CCVI

Catherine Baker and Angeles Peinador, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Rock Pools

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

The non-fiction ones are best, even if they insist on weird abbreviations no one uses.

Marvin Berglas, 110 Amazing Magic Tricks with Everyday Objects

2002 / Ebook / 42 pages

***

The same ones that are spammed everywhere, padded out by some shockingly poor ones.

Richard and Lewis Edwards-Middleton and Andy Passchier, My Family and Other Families

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

**

A list of family dynamics with a loosely-draped story. She won't be the only reader disappointed to find that they didn't make the search for the lost ticket a solvable puzzle.

Various, Read with Oxford: Stage 2 – Phonics – Dick Whittington and Other Tales

2018 / Library book / 80 pages

**

Dick Whittington was new to her. She hadn't been missing out.

Laura Hambleton, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Pink Boat, Pink Car

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

She liked the girl one best, because she was a girl.

Babyliography CCV

Jeremy Whitley, Tony Fleecs and Brenda Hickey, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 4

2014-15 (collected 2015) / Hardback / 76 pages

**

She obviously didn't get all the pop culture references in the Discord story, but I never knew what the likes of Animaniacs were referencing either.

Mark Bradley, Bumble and Snug and the Angry Pirates

2021 / Library book / 160 pages

**

Should have left Bumble to them, mate.

Susan Frame and Valeria Issa, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: I Look for Mark

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

Not the most drawn-out hide and seek ever.

Susanna Leonard Hill and Mike Wohnoutka, Can't Sleep Without Sheep

2010 / School book / 32 pages

**

We debated whether the girl was ironically already asleep or just imagining it, and I think she was right.

Dana Simpson, Camping with Unicorns: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure

2017 (collected 2020) / Paperback / 176 pages

***

Another summer comes and goes and more gags are outright repeated, but they're still her favourite bedtime stories.

Babyliography CCIV

Various, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 3

2013-14 (collected 2015) / Hardback / 76 pages

***

Getting slightly obscure already by Volume 3, the pony princess balances out the rubbish dragon, and their unexpected team-up is a fun romp.

Sasha Morton, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Cubs

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

The bear cub eating the fish is the edgiest thing in this series so far.

Jessica Ellis and Parwinder Singh, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Finn Feels Better

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

Phase 3 appears indistinguishable from Phase 2 so far, but it makes her look good.

Unknown, Pokémon Early Reader: Legendary Ultra Beasts

2019 / Library book / 64 pages

**

I'm not sure why she insisted on this in the library, since she has no real interest in the show, but it was refreshing to have a good, old-fashioned boy story for a change. At least until we got to the end of what turned out to be an incomplete prelude episode. They also reuse the same screencap where it doesn't make sense, as if kids wouldn't notice.

Arina Tanemura, Disney Frozen II: The Manga

2021 / Library book / 160 pages

**

I refused to read her much of this pointless adaptation, which is hypocritical as someone who once owned the likes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze equivalent, because I just couldn't be bothered. It was at least amusing to see the verbatim script suddenly giving way to seeming translation paraphrasing when it hit the copyrighted song lyrics.

Alrightreads: Gamesmaster III

Various, My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Curious Case of The Malfunctioning P.R.A.N.C.E.R. and Other Tails

2021 / Ebook / 64 pages

***

Likely the last release from the charming junior RPG before the licence migrated overseas, the concept behind this suite of short, educational adventures is better in principle than execution, since about half of them look too boring to actually bother with. But the baking LARP is sure to be a hit and we can always use a sailing break.

  

Various, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Story of the Seasons

2024 / Ebook / 146 pages

***

As someone who barely grasps the simplified Tails of Equestria, the terminology of this more advanced pony RPG is baffling, but there are plenty of creative sparks and world-enriching details in this sourcebook that are ripe for harvesting, even if the themed adventures themselves aren't so appealing.

Various, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Knights of Canterlot

2024 / Ebook / 98 pages

**

What if your distinctive pony roleplaying experience was completely conventional? Turning My Little Pony into generic fantasy was a fun diversion that Tails of Equestria covered in a pamphlet, but a sourcebook dedicated to running Pony D&D campaigns feels like overkill. You can check out other franchises.

Stephen Chenault, The Mortality of Green

2000 / Ebook / 26 pages

***

I'm not likely to ever play traditionally violent D&D (depending on how the little one turns out), but the adventures are still a good read. I took the sentient tree boss for one of ours, almost unrecognisably watered down.

Michael Mearls, Aerial Adventure Guide, Volume Two: Sellaine, Jewel of the Clouds

2002 / Paperback / 32 pages

****

Our story setting already has a sky city, but the few supplementary pages on the wizard's wonky flying tower death trap were inspired and begging to be adapted.

Junior Gamesmaster: Tails of Equestria – Bubblegum Has a Choice (DIY)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Bubblegum Has a Choice

DIY roleplaying game adventure

I don't normally document my five-year-old's improvised doll stories, but incorporate a few dice rolls and apparently they're validated as roleplaying modules? Looks like it!

After seeing her dad step up to GM his own short adventure, she felt like giving it a go, to take back some narrative power and have more say over her beloved character's fate. Coming prepared only with a story hook (the ponies turn into people!), substitute Barbie/LOL dolls, and on-the-fly prompts courtesy of Story Cubes and various figures grabbed from the box, she took us on an emotional journey that ended up in a different place than she may have anticipated, at least consciously, and smoothed the transition to the next generation. Like any good writer, she came up with the title after.

It was also interesting for me to experience being a player for once and having to relinquish my usual godlike powers. Temporarily.

Gamesmaster: Tails of Equestria – The Fountain of Youth (DIY)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Fountain of Youth

DIY roleplaying game adventure

Our* pony characters were approaching the double-figure level milestone of conventional retirement when we'd be too amazing for there to ever be any jeopardy in our adventures any more (although, with the ability to summon angels from the start and re-roll bad throws by recycling basically unlimited friendship tokens, it hasn't been an especially challenging journey), so I wrote a reflective and safe-action-packed story as a possible send-off.

Incorporating a totally original gimmick that hasn't been used in loads of things before, it let us put the junior standees and character sheets from the Starter Set to more use and gave the young player the explicit choice at the end of whether to start over with these same characters or return them to normal while we set off for adventure with brand new, hopefully less indestructible characters.

She chose a bit of both.

* I know I'm not supposed to have a character as GM, but it would feel lonely with just one. She has two herself! See those rules? You see 'em? [Karate chop!]

The Saga of Bubblegum & Angel Rose (& Firebrand, Who Joined After a While, But Never Did Get a Pony Sheet)

• Level 0: A Dragon's Bounty (we can probably retcon that it was them, since we unimaginatively used the stock character standees thereafter)
• Level 1: The Gift Horse (mini) / The Pet Predicament (first bit; didn't like it) / The Curse of the Statuettes (abridged; still figuring it out)
• Level 2: Sky Arrow's Big Flight (Bubblegum achieves a place at the prestigious Wonderbolt Academy; never bothers to show up)
• Level 3: The Cutie Mark Mystery
• Level 4: Judge Not By the Cover (introducing recurring frenemy Discord)
• Level 5: The Sister Springs (mini; Bubblegum achieves magic ice breath, completely forgotten after this escapade) / The Secret of Starfall
• Level 6: The Haunting of Equestria (Firebrand joins the gang; player count remains the same)
• Level 7: Dungeon of the Diabolical Draconequus (inconsequential because it wasn't real) / The Festival of Lights (first bit; seemed bored) / One Good Turn Deserves Another (mini) / Melody of the Waves (introducing Captain Rosella)
• Level 8: The Beasts of Black Skull Island (the gang strikes it rich!)
• Level 9: The Fountain of Youth (the seasoned adventurers decide to rest on their laurels)
• Level 10: Bubblegum Has a Choice (a junior Gamesmaster has other ideas...)

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Frontiers – Kickstarter Promo Pack

Star Realms: Frontiers – Kickstarter Promo Pack

2018 / Deckbuilding card game expansion pack / 2+ players

****

As a struggling parent and lifelong cheapskate, I've never been tempted by Kickstarter backing and its fair-weather promises of exclusive rewards, but it's nice when these eventually make their way down to eBay at bargain prices. At a whopping 41 cards – including ships with a brand new mechanic/gimmick and more Events – this pack is almost a full expansion range in itself, and was annoyingly too enticing to resell for guaranteed profit when it could pimp and expand my Frontiers deck more than 50% right from the start. Curse you, cool things.

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Frontiers

Star Realms: Frontiers

2018 / Deckbuilding card game / 1-4 players

*****

Ah, there it is – the poster child for games I'd like to have, but couldn't justify splashing £20 on at any point over the last few years (a second-edition Urbion might be in that chair now). Since it wasn't getting any cheaper, it had to get better, and when I saw it included in an underpriced eBay bundle with related rare and substantial promos, I decided it was unlikely to get better than this, so I spent slightly more on it. It seemed to make sense at the time.

These new-to-me ships and bases with their cool art and slight mathematical variations were as mildly exciting as anticipated, and I enjoyed getting to know them a bit before mixing them in with all the rest. The roster of new solo bosses was underwhelming and fiddly though, I prefer to stick with blasting the shit out of myself before bed.

Alrightgames: Cat Crimes

Cat Crimes

2018 / Logic puzzles / 1 player

***

Building her deduction skills in the realm of feline noir, I believe this is how Jonathan Creek got started. I got stumped by Beginner puzzle 5, so it may be a while before we're ready for the more brain-bending scenarios.

A cleverer dad than me worked out an algorithm to keep the game going beyond the limited cards, but my five-year-old prefers making up her own on the fly anyway. (Hint: It's always Mr. Mittens. She just doesn't like that guy).