Best of 2021, Not from 2021

The second childhood of parenting is already corrupting my taste through secondary joy, contrasting with my conventionally mature picks of board games, comics, adventure gamebooks and fighting robot cartoons.

Here is The Best Entertainment That I Happened to Experience Within The Past Year!!!!!!!

Ready, set, come on, let's go!

Babyliography XXI

Sam Usher, Snow

2014 / Library book / 40 pages / UK

**

The delayed gratification wasn't worth it. It wasn't much different from Rain, the author-illustrator taking the popular thematic approach of getting away with writing the same book multiple times.

Jeanne Willis and Ross Collins, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

2021 / Library book / 40 pages / UK

***

One of several films in her current rotation, I didn't expect I'd be reading her the Lewis Carroll original any time soon, but I was still impressed that she sat through this modern rhyming adaptation one and a half times. Glad she didn't want any more though, or I'd be stuck in jaunty meter all day.

Unknown, Peppa Pig: Peppa Loves the Park

2020 / Library book / 16 pages / UK

**

I don't bother counting the customary Peppa or two she wants read on every trip to the library, since that would be acknowledging them as literature, but this was finally a notable one, to someone as easily impressed by moving parts as I. It does make all the other books look even more oddly static though.

  

Various, Usborne Stories For Little Children

2010 / Hardback / 184 pages / UK

****

A compilation of their pointlessly segregated Little Boys & Girls books (I don't want to break it to her that she's not supposed to find the Gingerbread Man fun), this proved to be the follow-up to their Fairy Tales book we'd been waiting for. It doesn't have flaps, but she makes it an interactive experience anyway, mainly pretending to eat and share around all the food while a narrative drones on in the background.

Marion Walter, The Magic Mirror Book

1984 / Paperback / 32 pages / Germany

***

I didn't buy her the same mirror book I had as a child solely for nostalgia purposes, more because it was available and cheap. I always found some of these cryptic half-illustrations a little creepy, so that's an experience to pass on too. She likes it.

Various, The Hutchinson Treasury of Children's Literature

Supplementary favourites:

• Mr Gumpy's Outing
• Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present
• Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlets

Alrightgames: Disney Puzzle – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Disney Puzzle: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Jigsaw puzzle / 1 player

**

Until she catches up (she's a year ahead with her Peppa Pigs, stop pressuring the kid), her more advanced jigsaws are something for Dad to do when she's mucking about in the spare room.

This one took me longer to get around to than Beauty and the Beast, because that had more appealing glitter, but I got about as much out of it as a 36-year-old man.

She likes some of the older Disneys, but was bored by this film. Maybe when she's old enough for the jigsaw, she'll know who all these chaps are.

Alrightgames: Labyrinth

Labyrinth

1986 / Puzzle board game / 2-4 players / Germany

***

More optimistic speculation for enforced screen-break family fun times when my daughter's old enough, it didn't do any harm to get it a bit early. It scales up well to age and ability, but doesn't have a lot to offer for adults without nostalgia to back it up.

I wasn't aware of it in my own childhood, when I was more drawn to less time-honoured works like Rap Rat and Don't Wake Dad. Other families' wear and tear might help to cultivate the illusion that I was a sophisticated child. She must never know the truth.

Babyliography XX(mas)

Rose Walker and Dawn Machell, Christmas Peek-a-Boo!

2018 / Library book / 12 pages / UK

*

Not the most magical secular introduction, but she happily followed the actions. She already liked snowmen and reindeer, the rest didn't make much of an impression.

Heather Amery, Sam Taplin and Stephen Cartwright, Poppy and Sam's Lift-the-Flap Christmas

2019 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

***

Either an authentic revisiting to Apple Tree Farm or a rebadged reprint, this was the only one of our festive reads that captured some of that spirit. We forgot to keep an eye out for the cat though, hope it was alright.

Patricia Toht and Jarvis, Pick a Pine Tree

2017 / Library book / 40 pages / USA/UK

**

Overlong slog through the motions of an outdated and environmentally inappropriate Christmas activity. Nice pictures, but we got nothing out of it.

Mark Sperring and Sophie Corrigan, Mince Spies

2018 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

*

She didn't have context for vigilante crime-fighting teams or Christmas tropes, so this wasn't the most engaging read at her storytime session for either of us. An empty supermarket is the most festive of settings.

Unknown, When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney

2018 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

*

The only noisy book we found that day that worked. She wasn't impressed. To be fair, my own rendition was stifled by the public setting, but cartoony Santas never really did it for me either.

Alrightgames: Machi Koro

Machi Koro

2014 / City-building card/dice game / 2-4 players / Japan

***

Another cheap copy of a popular game that isn't exactly up my bustling high street, but might turn out to be a nice and educational family game in a decade or so (she already enjoys the money, at least).

It's like a Monopoly variant run through a Splendor, with similar corporate satire that's so slight, its existence is down to your imagination and values. Successful strategies become similarly obvious after the first game, so maybe the fun starts when everyone's up to speed.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – Cult, Siege & Creativity

Carcassonne: Cult, Siege & Creativity

2008 / Tile placement board game mini expansion / 2+ players / Germany

***

A rather obscure expansion bundle variant for the Chinese forgers to copy (the lack of meeples or mixed materials generally might have decided it), I mainly bought this for the knock-off price and availability, but looking through the excessive list of pointless expansions that were churned out over the decades, it was one of the more appealing anyway.

The blasphemous challenge to the cocky cloisters is right up my street, so the shrines will be mixed in permanently. They add options and character.

The sieges are also well conceived, but a bit more hostile. They might get annoying if they're in every game, unless there's a score to settle.

I'm just leaving the two custom tiles as handy Scrabble-style blanks for now. I only just realised this game is Scrabble.

• The Cult: ***
• Siege: ***
• Creativity: ***

Babyliography XIX

Rod Campbell, I'm Hungry

2003 / Library book / 14 pages / UK

***

There's nothing wrong with this flaps 'n' felt book, it just didn't have much to offer at this point, even with its attempt at a shock interactive ending. She was more excited to re-read Dear Zoo, which she has at home and has read several zillion times.

Unknown, Little Miss Pocket Library

2016 / Board books boxset / 48 pages / UK

**

I was disappointed at the slightness of her mini Mr. Men, but knew what we were in for this time: another of those boxsets she loves to tip out, read aloud herself through memorisation, then assemble into the tableau naming all the familiar and non-appearing characters. I am looking forward to becoming more intimately familiar with them than any of my own favourite things.

Zoe Waring, Peek-a-Boo Baby: Miaow

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

**

It gets a point for the spelling, and it's nice to see some representation for hamsters, but it's a bit bizarre that a book featuring only five animals could only come up with identifiable sounds for three of them. She seemed to find the interactivity beneath her, but enjoyed the mechanical process of lifting flaps, as ever.

Jill Murphy, Just One of Those Days

2020 / Library book / 36 pages / UK

***

The bears were always better than the elephants, and this is more relatable anguish, divided across the whole family this time to cut the dad some slack.

Tiago Americo, My First Touch and Find: Beach

2019 / Library book / 10 pages / Brazil

**

Another unseasonal beach book, combining textures and near-page-size flaps with minor puzzles. She unnecessarily tidied each flap before continuing, even though they turn like pages anyway, which was pleasing. Drop litter around her at your peril.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – The School

Carcassonne: The School

2011 / Tile placement board game mini expansion / 2+ players / Germany

***

Another expansion bought for the price and the sake, plus the little bag's handy for storing all the DIY expansion accessories.

My starting scene was overcomplicated enough before adding this academic insectoid to the mix (lay the River, find a place for the City, add the original starting tile to leave an even number in the bag, find the most open-ended road for the school... maybe I should treat them as variants, after all), but it's a nice competitive mini game that gives some focus before you can relax into the sprawl.

I was hoping it would give some love to the ever-neglected roads too, but it's all about cutting them off. At least The Labyrinth has found its mischievous calling.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne DIY expansions

Having the out-of-print edition of Carcassonne makes wasting money on unnecessary expansions both harder and easier. Fortunately, some expansions are more about the concepts than the components, so there are plenty of opportunities to enhance your game on the cheap with some pick 'n' mix accessories and intellectual property theft.

The Count of Carcassonne

• Carcassonne Start Tableau
• Purple mega meeple

The city tiles from the old expansion were more recently reprinted as a physically and thematically satisfying slab to give players yet another optional starting point for their games. That was the main reason I bought it (slapped down after The River, for historical accuracy), but I thought I might as well add a substitute no-frills Count figure while it's there.

The expansion mechanic that rewards self-serving favours done for your rivals might prove to be an interesting twist when I'm finally tired of the regular game, but this early on, it's mainly an annoying distraction in a game that's already battling analysis paralysis as it is.

King & Robber Baron

• Orange messenger meeple
• Orange robber meeple
• Pen and paper

Encouraging epic city and road building with the lure of bonus points, this was one of the more desirable mini expansions out there, unfortunately only available at unreasonable prices and bundled with other mini expansions I already have or don't want.

The official release includes some unique tile configuations that presumably contribute to its mechanic and would have been nice to have, but I just gave up and ordered some cheap, unrelated pieces based on lesser expansions to stand in for the character tiles.

You could use anything, but it's handy that they released a completely unrelated robber token. The messenger doesn't really look like a king, so maybe he can be called the duke or something. 'King' seemed a bit too grandiose anyway.

Minor as it is, this is the add-on I most wouldn't want to play without. It also makes note taking necessary to keep track of city and road sizes, and that makes the whole thing look more sophisticated.

The Apprentice (The Phantom)

• 6 x mini meeples

The Phantom expansion seems potentially game-breaking to me, but its minimal components are inviting DIY abuse. You can buy unofficial hollow meeples, but even those are pricier than I'd like for such a basic add-on, and they're too similar to the teacher anyway.

Since it only needs a token that's identifiable as yours, but distinguishable from your other pieces, I gave the theme a rational rewrite and made it your young apprentice, represented by a 12mm mini meeple (16mm regular and 19mm big follower pictured for comparison).

It balances out the big one quite nicely. I don't know why they didn't just make it like this in the first place. I suppose they are a bit fiddly.

Updates 2024

• I donated the Start Tableau to simplify things, I only used it as landscape filler anyway.
• The 'Apprentices' are too fiddly to bother with most of the time.
• The Monasteries in Germany, etc. mini expansions are almost entirely cosmetic, but have a nice rule about lying a monk on their side to score vertically and horizontally rather than in the square that can easily be adopted for standard cloisters/shrines.
• I don't like most of the house rules out there, but a free turn if you close a gaping hole in the map seems like a fair reward.

Babyliography XVIII

Eric Hill, Who's There, Spot?

2005 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

*

I think we read this one before and it failed to register, what with it being such a generic, pointless revival. Money for old rope, I guess. She obediently lifted all the flaps and was neither surprised nor impressed by their contents.

Daisy Hirst, I Like Trains

2021 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

A nicely detailed train ride that celebrates the minutiae of the experience rather than the hardware. Her own choo-choo craze was less intense.

Judith Kerr, One Night in the Zoo

2009 / Library book / 32 pages / Germany

***

Its magical narrative take on counting might be a bit distracting as their main numbers book, and frankly irresponsible as their main wildlife book, but it doesn't hurt as a refresher.

"Roger Hargreaves," Little Miss Whoops

2003 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

*

She likes Mr Bump, but wasn't impressed by the female reboot. It somehow runs out of copycat ideas half way through, so just lists as many forms of transport as they need to fill pages before caving in and bringing Bump back. She's got Moana and Kiki as role models, she'll be fine.

Jill Murphy, Whatever Next

1983 / Library book / 31 pages / UK

****

Less relatable, rereadable and helpfully-titled for recognition than Peace at Last, but still a nice companion. It's no A Grand Day Out, but better than Meg on the Moon.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – Inns & Cathedrals

Carcassonne: Inns & Cathedrals (Die Erweiterung)

2002 / Tile placement board game expansion / 2-6 players / Germany

****

My most extravagant individual indulgence since Atmosfear, I was initially annoyed at how mandatory this add-on was widely considered to be, and the idea that I'd be stuck with an incomplete game without it. But looking into it, I had to grudgingly concur. (Anyway, if all games conveniently included their expansions from the start, it wouldn't be so easy to work around my £20 limit).

It's a little on the puny side, but the new additions integrate seamlessly (which is more than can be said for most of the other weird expansions) and the new mechanics add more options and a little devious strategy to what was basically a precocious kids' game. As an optimistic dad, it's nice to have optional difficulty settings.

This was all clear to me before I bought it, so I could either continue to waste time every day on consumer research in the tireless quest to save a few pounds at some point in the future, or I could mix it in from the start and stop trying to appease myself with cheap tat in the meantime.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – The Labyrinth

Carcassonne: The Labyrinth

2016 / Tile placement board game mini expansion / 2+ players / Germany

**

Expansions don't come more mini than this: a fanciful way for one lucky player to connect four roads into one that helps to balance that underpowered feature in the base game and to menace grand infrastructure projects in larger expansions.

But let's face it, I bought it because it looks pretty and because a single-tile expansion is the cheapest path to indulgent satisfaction for the search-by-price-lowest-to-highest collector, even if their plan to flip a spare and make it even cheaper was neutralised by eBay fees.

I stopped buying myself biscuits and other unnecessary consumables when I started getting silly with expansions. These snacks are better for my teeth.

Babyliography XVII

Nick Sharratt, Elephant Wellyphant

2007 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

**

She doesn't have the vocabulary to get the puns and its novelty subversions failed to blow her tiny mind. I can't remember if it had flaps and things – if not, dock a point.

Marion Billet, Listen to the Baby Animals

2017 / Library book / 14 pages / France

***

I'd managed to avoid noisy books until now, thanks to them tending to be checked out of the library, but these authentic field recordings were less annoying than tinny nursery rhymes or character voices or something. I'm just surprised she only wanted to go two rounds before moving on, but they had others.

Marion Billet, Listen to the Carnival of the Animals

2020 / Library book / 14 pages / France

***

This musical interpretation of animals' personalities for toddlers would be a bit disappointing if you thought you were getting more nature sounds, but as someone who loves the mimicry of 'A Lark Ascending' and Beethoven's Sixth (not so much Rimsky-Korsakov's, mind), I appreciated it. We'll be on Bowie's 'Peter and the Wolf' in no time.

Eric Hill, Spot Goes to the Circus

1986 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

***

This old-school tyke hasn't caught on like the Mr. Men, but she still picked him off the shelf, maybe recognising him from that story she always skips in the treasuries. This was a more entertaining escapade than most at least, complete with inappropriately death-defying stunts.

Lucy Cousins, Little Fish and Mummy

2019 / Library book / 22 pages / UK

*

I wonder if Lucy Cousins actually wrote these rhymes or they just had a ghostwriter come up with something adequate while they literally copy-pasted all the same images from the first book in different configurations. Lazy cash-in crap, but that's educational in itself.

Alrightreads: Nonomninovember

Robert Sheckley, Immortality, Inc.

1959 / Audiobook / 152 pages / USA

****

This is why we can't have nice things. More cynically satirical than Philip K. Dick, this tale of reluctant and unhinged undead is still comfortingly straight compared to his other novels.

 

Michael Moorcock, The Eternal Champion

1962/70 / Audiobook / 484 pages / UK

**

A favourite writer of my favourite writers, I've wanted to crack open Moorcock for a while, but bloodthirsty sci-fantasy just isn't my thing, as my lack of Warhammer probably attests. Maybe he wrote some funny ones?

Rob Grant, Colony

2000 / Ebook / 288 pages / UK

***

I'd unfairly dismissed the ex-Red Dwarf writer's subsequent sci-fi comedy project in the past due to idiotic fan entitlement and what might have been a bad audiobook abridgement, but reappraisal of Backwards made me want to give it a proper try. It was funny after all, if more sadistic than strictly necessary.

Philip Pullman, The Collectors

2015 / Ebook / 24 pages / UK

****

The best and most tangential entry in the His Dark Materials miscellany, which turns out to be ripe for expansion after all, as long as he's the one doing it.

Philip Pullman, Serpentine

2020 / Ebook / 67 pages / UK

***

An insubstantial interlude to perk us up between publications or if you're just desperate for more. I'll read them all.

On the Omnibuses: November

Various, The World Treasury of Science Fiction

Brian Aldiss, A Kind of Artistry (1962) ***

Fascinating first contact collapses into Game of Thrones shite.

Philip K. Dick, Second Variety (1953) ***

I still haven't properly cracked open his short fiction, but this cautionary technofear parable didn't feel like the one you'd highlight for your anthology, outside of its ongoing prescience.

Keith Roberts, Weihnachtsabend (1972) **

Enough with Nazis already.

Robert Bloch, I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell (1955) **

Lame satire building to an inevitable twist. Is this the best he's got?

Samuel R. Delany, Aye, & Gomorrah... (1967) **

I don't really get the New Wave.

Stanislaw Lem, How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface (1977) ***

A welcome second helping of electro fairy tale nonsense.

Joanna Russ, Nobody's Home (1972) **

Disconcerting utopia.

Gérard Klein, Party Line (1973) ****

Life hands you an indecisive cheat mode.

Lewis Padgett, The Proud Robot (1943) ****

Adventures of a noir Dirk Gently and his vain can opener.

Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore, Vintage Season (1946) ***

Connoisseur voyeurs.

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, The Way to Amalteia (1984) ****

Humbled space survival. Let's just stay at home.

Terry Pratchett, The Rincewind Trilogy

Interesting Times (1994) ****

The first Rincewind book I've really enjoyed, and one of the better Discworlds generally, this might be down to Terry P's writing maturing, its take on Chinese alt-history and notions of civilisation and revolution being more interesting than the customary stock fantasy adventures, or even just the glut of puns.

Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions

In Praise of Darkness (1969) **

Ageing introspection. No fun at all.

Brodie's Report (1970) *

A conscious regression to the humdrum biographies of his earliest writing, because that's what we read Borges for. Labyrinths is all the abridged bibliography you need.

A. A. Milne, Best-Loved Winnie-the-Pooh Stories

Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees (1926) ****

A private story from father to son, made public to shame other parents into raising our game. Properly funny too, I should have been reading these instead of Noddy.

Pooh Goes Visiting and Pooh and Piglet Nearly Catch a Woozle (1926) ***

More logical, less substantial and down-to-earth vignettes after the flight of fancy, the animation adaptation is more notable for upsetting my toddler.

Piglet Meets a Heffalump (1926) ****

Infectious incompetent optimism.

Eeyore Has a Birthday (1926) **

A last-minute turnaround doesn't keep this from being generally depressing.

Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest (1926) ***

A kidnapping farce is successfully executed, but the mother doesn't really mind.

An Expotition to the North Pole (1926) ****

Improv epic.

Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water (1926) ****

Self-explanatory.

Christopher Robin Gives a Party (1926) ***

A sweet wrap-up.