On the Omnibuses: May

Various, The Mammoth Book of Classic Chillers

Hilda Hughes, The Birthright (1931) ***

Ghastly visitations and less ditzy than it first appears.

Guy Endore, Lazarus Returns (1935) ****

This loathsome metamorphosis is even creepier if you take the non-supernatural view.

William Hope Hodgson, The Island of the Ud (1912) ****

I enjoyed this pulp pillaging horror more in isolation than when working through the whole sea shanty songbook.

Guy de Maupassant, Fear (1909) **

An unconvincing case for a wacky theory.

Charles Whibley, Twelve O'clock (1926) *

A weak Believe It or Not! panel padded out like it's a proper story.

Edgar Allan Poe, A Descent into the Maelstrom (1841) ***

A bit of a strange pick, but the awesome terror of (super)nature adds some diversity.

Ambrose Bierce, The Stranger (1909) **

Beware the dull spectre who talks your ear off!

Basil Tozer, The Pioneers of Pike's Peak (1897) ****

A noble effort to induce arachnophobia.

John Russell, The Fourth Man (1917)

Unprecedentedly skipped, as it didn't look like the sickening racism of the opening was going to let up or be ironically subverted. Nice pick, twat.

Bram Stoker, Dracula's Guest (1897) ****

More of the best foreboding Dracula stuff, but the novel didn't need to be slowed even further.

Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) *****

Any excuse to read the best thing in literature again.

Various, The Mammoth Book of Contemporary SF Masters

Jack Vance, The Miracle Workers (1969) **

Customarily genre-blending medieval SF, conventionally too long even at a novella.

Poul Anderson, The Longest Voyage (1960) **

Future sailors explore another primitive hereafter. Is this going to be the theme of every story?

Cordwainer Smith, On the Storm Planet (1965) ****

A draining excursion to a tumultuous universe. I'm interested to return, after ensuring the hatches are well-battened.

Edgar Allan Poe, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Miscellaneous Poems (1827–50) ****

Some atmospheric fancies, but it's understandable why these are always pushed to the back of the collections.

Faves: 'The Haunted Palace,' 'The City in the Sea,' 'Dreamland'

Poems in My Youth / In Youth I Have Known (1827–47) **

Uncharacteristic fluff and interminable epics.

Babyliography XLIV

Fiona Watt and Katie Melrose, Usborne Musical Books: Carnival of the Animals

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/USA

**

They weren't the first to do it, but this one adds a morbid supernatural dino bone dance to potentially creep toddlers out.

Axel Scheffler, Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Frozen

2019 / Library book / 28 pages / Germany

***

An old idea, even to her. Mixing up names and descriptions advances the idea, but overcomplicates the fun. Crafty of the author or publisher to theme it by climate zone, this may already be one of many sequels.

Unknown, Animal Peep-Through: My Jungle Friends

2022 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

**

Overlapping layers are a better tease of what's next than those rubbish tab books, and the roleplaying mirror is employed for more than vanity, but the text may as well have been lorem ipsum for all its use.

Eric Hill, Spot Goes on Holiday

1985 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

**

The ominous danger of the first book ramps up with an aggro hippo that Spot's dad seems indifferent to. I don't want to go to the beach, daddy.

Maja Andersen, Once Upon A Time... There Was a Little Bird

2021 / Library book / 16 pages / USA

**

It taught her (okay, us) some tree species and covered migration quite nicely. I skipped the dumb fable finale, which might be missing the point, but she wanted to read it four more times regardless.

Babyliography XLIII

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

1963 / Library book / 40 pages / USA

***

I preschooled up on this when my daughter was still gestating and enjoyed it in theory. Now we've tried it out, she wasn't really bothered, and her lack of enthusiasm was contagious. It's no Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Sam Taplin and Ana Martin Larranaga, Usborne Sound Books: Dance with the Dinosaurs

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Spain

**

The noisy books seem to be getting louder and more annoying, or maybe I'm approaching a meltdown. It does attempt to encourage physical activity, but pressing the buttons was enough interactivity for her. Just give her a Game Boy and be done with it.

Fiona Watt and Stella Baggott, Baby's Very First Fingertrail Play Book: Garden

2016 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

***

Pretty and educational. Following snail trails is easier than mazes.

Adam Hargreaves, Mr. Men at the Park

2015 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

My gut instinct is to avoid the cash-in franchising of the once-collectable series, but it's not like the originals were all that good anyway. With the benefit of hindsight and market research, these are probably better, and she sat through it. Go crazy.

Mick Inkpen, The Blue Balloon

1990 / Library book / 28 pages / UK

****

This '90s next-generation flap book is the best we've read together for a good while. If it had been in my own nostalgia, I would have passed it down sooner. It's a shame the big flap was all ripped to ruin her experience. Little bastards.

Alrightgames: Snakes and Ladders

Snakes and Ladders Wooden Board Game

~100AD / Roll-and-move board game / 2+ players / India

***

Just the sturdy wooden board picked up cheap (we're rolling in dice and counters here), she enjoys it already, provided she's allowed to ignore the rolls and Totoro can instantly climb an imaginary ladder to the top row. Fine by me, I wasn't itching to play it properly anyway.

Babyliography XLII

Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Funnybones

1980 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

She never tires of A Dark, Dark Tale, so I chose this for the intro, but it drags on afterwards as the eviscerated duo while away the night bone idly.

Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter, Bear in a Square

1998 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

**

A functional shapes refresher, or essential supplement if you keep forgetting the one you have at home doesn't even include the rectangle.

Yu-hsuan Huang, Sing Along With Me!: A Sailor Went to Sea

2020 / Library book / 10 pages / Taiwan

**

Screen-free DIY YouTube or a musical interval at the library.

Eric Carle, The Very Busy Spider

1985 / Library book / 32 pages / USA

***

Another implicit invertebrate instructional. Excessively repetitive, but the farmyard parade might disguise it.

Camilla Reid and Ingela P. Arrhenius, Peekaboo Love

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Sweden

***

It's better than reading literally the same one every time, I suppose.

Alrightgames: Just the Opposite

Just the Opposite

Mini jigsaw puzzles / UK

**

It won't be long before she's doing them from memory rather than deduction, so I'll resist pointing out the bleeding obvious so she can get the benefit. The distinct Lucy Cousins artwork didn't escape her notice ("Maisy!"), whether this was a true collaboration or a shady copycat job, which might explain why it's so hard to find details about.

Babyliography XLI

Marion Billet, Listen to the Seaside

2020 / Library book / 14 pages / France

**

She gives their introductory musical ones a spin on every library visit, but their ambient efforts are lacking compared to Usborne's. We've become connoisseurs of the medium.

Unknown, Winnie-the-Pooh: Hide-and-Seek – A lift-and-find book

2019 / Library book / 20 pages / UK

*

Offensive flaps that don't obscure much in the first place and need to be held closed to avoid revealing the remaining limbs. It adds some counting in a pitiful attempt to secure another star, but I won't have it.

Aimée Chapman, Robyn Newton, Kylie Hamley, Louise Wright and Anne Passchier, Follow My Heart: Finger Mazes

2018 / Library book / 14 pages / UK

***

I'd considered getting her some themed sequel or other after the original amused her for a few days, but glad I didn't bother now. It's more of the same, only less so.

Sara Stanford, Peppa Pig Sticker Activity Book: Seasons

2021 / Paperback / 20 pages / UK

**

A few activities to pass limited time, worth it when discounted to less than a quarter of full price.

Sam Taplin and Ag Jatkowska, Usborne Musical Books: The Animal Orchestra Plays Beethoven

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Poland

*

Toddlers will delight to hear the composer's biography read aloud accompanied by random snippets of his music with no attempt at engagement. For a noisy book, it was also just too darn loud.

Alrightgames: Cirque Circular Puzzle

Cirque Circular Puzzle 1000 Pieces

2020 / Jigsaw puzzle / UK

**

Donated

My jigsaw renaissance proved short lived, or maybe I just chose poorly. Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Pizza Power Puzzles spoiled circular puzzles for me early on with their innovative slice format, and I didn't find this low-quality adult equivalent to be as amazing as the box humbly claims. Back in the charity shop system with you, even if it did cap off my games tower quite nicely for a while.

Babyliography XL, not in the size sense

Eric Litwin and James Dean, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

2010 / Ebook / 40 pages / USA

**

This could have been a good introduction to colour mixing, if it covered more than what they already know from applying colour to blank page. The song's shit as well.

Ronne Randall and Richard Merritt, My Very First Storytime: The Three Billy Goats Gruff

2018 / Paperback / 32 pages / USA/UK

***

You'd be a pretty lax parent if you waited until they were able to grasp some of this vocabulary and do the finger maze before you read them any other stories, but this is a nice addition to her fairy tale canon, especially with the annual-style puzzles at the end. The memory of my own childhood version adds bonus nostalgia, though this troll is less nightmare-inducing.

Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott, Noisy Digger

2021 / Library book / 12 pages / UK

**

The most annoying of these so far. She liked making noises happen, but there isn't a child who'd prefer this weird, squashed hybrid over a noisy digger toy.

Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott, Noisy Animal Search and Find

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

***

The cover boasts of an extensive menagerie, but an arbitrary selection process decides which animals are honoured with sound. Humane hunting activities on every page add value if you bought the expensive book, but they're unlikely to get a look-in when you're working through the library's latest noises.

Camilla Reid and Ingela P. Arrhenius, Peekaboo Sun

2021 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Sweden

***

The same thing as the others, but she couldn't get enough of it. Their market research and beta testing must be spot on.

On the Omnibuses: April

Dan Simmons, The Hyperion Omnibus

The Fall of Hyperion (1990) ****

The more straightforward but mandatory second half (of the first half), it falls far short of its predecessor's classic status, but makes up for the loss of the variety show with satisfying closure.

Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / James and the Giant Peach / Fantastic Mr Fox

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) *****

The most glaring oversight from my childhood, which can only be down to school and library shelves not having a copy when I thought to look, but even today I was captivated by its psychedelic-industrial aesthetic and comestible body horror. Maybe his best, but I've still got gaps.

Fantastic Mr Fox (1970) ***

Lessons in pragmatism and subjective morality as a subterranean siege turns into a blow-out piss-up. This 'cider' sounds scrumptious!

Babyliography XXXIX

Unknown, Peppa Pig: My Peppa Adventure

2022 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

A very nice idea for an early, minimally-interactive book (presumably nicked, based on their track record). Lots of decisions amounting to nothing of consequence, she'll be on the Lone Wolfs in no time.

Mandy Archer, Peppa Pig: Peppa's Storytime Fun

2015 / Hardback / 145 pages / UK

**

A bit soon for another sextet, but I've had enough of the last one since reading the back half became part of her bedtime routine EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. (This has remained unchanged, of course). This was also the only remaining omnibus without overlap, so I thought I might as well get it out of the way, as is best for undesirable obligations.

P. D. Eastman, Go, Dog. Go!: P. D. Eastman's Book of Things That Go

1961 (1997 abridgement) / Ebook / 24 pages / USA

***

Apparently a severe abridgement of the celebrated classic, we read it through enough times in a row to make up for it.

Kevin Henkes, Waiting

2015 / Ebook / 32 pages / USA

***

The picture book equivalent of a gentle music box. Likely to be favoured in the rotation for the therapeutic benefits.

Mo Willems, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

2003 / Ebook / 40 pages / USA

***

She enjoyed the interactivity, but it would've been better with optional routes for little delinquents who want to defy authority. As it is, that's left to parents to improvise. I've done my school, leave me alone.