Nick Sharratt, Ketchup On Your Cornflakes?
1996 / School book / 24 pages
****
The surprise 90s date gives this the innovative edge over all the modern equivalents, most of which are admittedly by the same author-illustrator. It made such an impression in her school book group that she talked about it all the way home.
Dana Simpson, Unicorn Crossing: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure
2014-15 (collected 2017) / Paperback / 176 pages
****
We've synchronised on seasons again, and I appreciate the attention to details like seasonal foliage and clothing in the daily comic strip, even if the child protagonist conventionally refuses to age.
Various, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 1
2013-14 (collected 2014) / Hardback / 76 pages
***
Nice character-based compilations of some of the more obscure 'Pony comic ranges, even if the mean cloud in the Rainbow Dash story might have contributed to the young reader's night terror. Bad weather.
Charlotte Raby and Beccy Blake, Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: Pat it
2021 / School book / 16 pages
**
Jumping from wordless books to two words a page that she could read by spelling them out, this is more like it. Though I was disappointed by the poor continuity of the sandpit shape between pages.
Alison Murray, The Little Green Hen
2018 / School book / 32 pages
**
Palette-swapped fable of friendship, forgiveness and flooding that bizarrely forgets to end on a rainbow.