Babyliography CXCIV

Various, My Little Pony, Vol. 2: Smoothie-ing It Over

2023 / Library book / 120 pages

**

Brony-baiting lore interrupted by lessons in empathy. She mainly enjoys spotting Amy Mebberson's art.

Heather Amery and Stephen Cartwright, Usborne Farmyard Tales: The Hungry Donkey

1990 (updated 2017) / Library book / 32 pages

**

Another boring story salvaged by educational activities.

Emma Adams and Katy Halford, Unicorn and the Rainbow Poop Save Christmas

2021 / Library book / 32 pages

*

I was worried the book was constipated, but it delivered at the end.

Unknown, Peppa Pig: George's Birthday

School book

**

Y'know.

Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara and Sam Rudd, Little People, Big Dreams: Helen Keller

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

***

She picked out a Princess Diana one that I was worried to be too sad, so I recommended this cheery one about a deafblind girl instead.

Babyliography CXCIII

Fiona Undrill and Jon Stuart, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Tick Tock and Mick

2021 / School book / 16 pages

***

Introducing contrasts via awkwardly adding not to sentences. She accidentally abbreviated one "can not" to "can't," don't get ahead of yourself.

Nancy Tafuri, The Donkey's Christmas Song

2006 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Baby Jesus chuckles at ass noises. She read the simpler words, helped a little by all the repetition.

Various, My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship, Volume 2

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

***

Not bad for repackaged filler compilations. Better than those Turtles videos themed around a character, but that's not the highest bar.

Ben Clanton, Narwhal's Sweet Tooth: A Narwhal and Jelly Book

2024 / Library book / 64 pages

***

One of the funnier ones and more good lessons.

Jamie Smart, Max & Chaffy: The Cupcake Mystery

2023 / Library book / 128 pages

***

Extremely cute little mystery broken up by some easy rounds of Where's the Disembodied Rabbit Head Thing?

Best of 2024, Not from 2024

Continuing to rest in the comfort zones of retro styles, but my new calling as a junior roleplaying Game Master kept me from stagnating and got me scribbling furiously on notepads again. Welcome to this year's influential round-up of Some Things I Liked This Year, Not Necessarily Also Produced This Year, Although Some Were.

On the Omnibuses: November–December 2024

Various, The Mammoth Book of Contemporary SF Masters

Brian Aldiss, Total Environment (1968) **

Grim, pervy dystopia from the era of Star Trek.

Frederik Pohl, The Merchants of Venus (1972) ****

Ancient alien archaeology makes a good tease for the series. I'd read it before, but only just got the Shakespearean pun.

Gene Wolfe, The Death of Doctor Island (1973) ****

I remembered this being a surreal classic, but it was less mind-blowing the second time.

Robert Silverberg, Sailing to Byzantium (1985) ***

Frittering away eternity doesn't sound so bleak to me, though the billennia could start to drag.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Haunting Tales

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time (1848) ***

More emotionally complex than A Christmas Carol, though not as good. None of them were, predictably, though I'd read The Chimes again. Now I'll have to come up with a new tradition.

Nurse's Stories (1860) ****

A celebration of literature's power to inspire and traumatise kids.

The Bagman's Uncle (1837) ***

Ghosts or time travel, either way fairly mundane.

Alrightgames: Diablo II TCP/IP Game

Diablo II TCP/IP Game

2000 / PC action roleplaying game / 1-8 players

*****

I thought it would be fun to play a PC game cooperatively with my daughter, using her parents' laptops over a local network, and my knowledge of the medium was so limited that I resorted to this inappropriately scary and relentlessly violent classic. The terror was mitigated by her inexperienced Bowazon having a vigilant Paladin bodyguard who levelled up and hunted for useful items in his spare time when she was at school. You're welcome. If she starts having nightmares about Corpulents regurgitating our bones, it's back to Barbie makeover apps.

Alrightgames: Goat Simulator – Pocket Edition

Goat Simulator: Pocket Edition

2014 / iPad sport/simulator game / 1 player

****

More dynamic and a bit naughtier than her unicorn flight simulator, I knew she'd have fun making messes, knocking people down and blowing shit up in the restricted free trial environment, even if she found some of it creepy.

Alrightgames: Star Fluxx Guess What

Star Fluxx Guess What

2024 / DIY deduction card game / 2 players

**

The regular game's a bit wordy for a five year old (even for a thirty-nine year old), but she enjoyed this flawed improv variant of guessing the two Keepers/Creepers on the chosen Goal card, which could be roughly sorted by category and traits that are variably difficult to explain. She insists the 2001 monolith is a phone.

Alrightgames: My Little Pony – Tails of Equestria – Melody of the Waves

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Melody of the Waves

2019 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2+ players

*****

Maybe even better than the Halloween one, this (relatively) free-roaming adventure on the high (and musical) seas required less advance preparation while also encouraging improvisation as we sailed between various islands and dealt with other diversions according to a five-year-old's whims. We're both players and games masters at this point.

She was also fully on board with the musical aspect, an authentic touch that I hadn't realised had been lacking in previous adventures.

Babyliography CXCII

Zanna Davidson and Nuno Alexandre Vieira, Fairy Unicorns: Wind Charm

2017 / Paperback / 112 pages

***

Completing the 672-page chapter book series, slightly out of sync. Onward to 672 pages of Fairy Ponies.

Tony Mitton and Diana Mayo, Snow Ghost

2020 / Library book / 32 pages

**

The ghost wasn't scary. A shame, really, it would have livened things up.

Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara and Rebecca Gibbon, Little People, Big Dreams: Kylie Minogue

2024 / Library book / 32 pages

**

An illness always keeps her interested.

Penny Dale, Dinosaur Dig!

2011 / School book / 32 pages

**

Historically accurate documentary. The combo of dinos and construction equipment was a bit boy for her taste, so I mainly focused on the weird spellings of numbers.

Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara and Juliana Vido, Little People, Big Dreams: Harry Houdini

2022 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Lacking singers, I suggested this from the other junior biographies for possibly being more dramatic, but it managed to avoid it.

Babyliography CXCI

Raina Telgemeier and Ann M. Martin, The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and Mean Janine

2020 / Library book / 192 pages

**

No fascinating diseases this time, and she doesn't have a sibling to be jealous of.

Peter Bently and Ben Cort, The Shark in the Dark

2009 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Not the fun peep-through one, just a rip-off of Swimmy. She knew what was going on.

Dana Simpson, Unicorn Bowling: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure

2016 (collected 2019) / Paperback / 176 pages

***

Whether it's the lure of other comics or the repetition that she's also started to notice, we're getting through this one more slowly than usual. I may have stocked up excessively, but those buy 3 get 1 free offers seemed like a good idea in the summer.

Ben Clanton, Narwhalicorn and Jelly

2022 / Library book / 72 pages

***

It took seven books to go full unicorn bait, which is impressive restraint. The frivolity even has a nice message this time.

Natasha Paul, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Nip It! Dig It!

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

Some quite strangely named bunnies, but helpful for learning various combinations of similar letters, at least.