Babyliography CI

Simon Philip and Lucia Gaggiotti, I Really Want to Shout!

2020 / Library book / 40 pages / UK/Italy

**

Overlong for its point. She's still a bit literal-minded for the symbolism.

Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, The Princess and the Wizard

2006 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

Repetitive but convincing modern fairy tale.

Lydia Monks, Rabbit Races Ahead

2019 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

Rabbits are more altruistic than hares.

Unknown, My Little Pony activity booklet

2009 / Ebook / 8 pages / USA

**

I don't know what this is from, but it passed a couple of minutes and taught us some names.

Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott, There's a Unicorn in Your Book

2021 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

Another series stretched by courtesy of the same stock characters, but she enjoys them and they're free, aren't they? It's better than Peppa Pig.

Babyliography C

Kes Gray and Garry Parsons, Nuddy Ned / Nuddy Ned's Christmas

2013/16 / Library book/ebook / 64 pages / UK

**

A bit heavy on the innuendo, but she's spared from knowing what those look like yet.

Ruth Brown, A Dark, Dark Tale

1981 / Hardback / 32 pages / UK

****

She enjoyed this in an anthology, but it was worth upgrading to the full-size, unabridged, even creepier art.

Axel Scheffler, Pip and Posy: The New Friend

2016 / Library book / 32 pages / Germany

**

Mostly predictable, but the seagull stealing the dog's ice cream was some unforeseen excitement.

Heather Pindar and Barbara Bakos, Froggy Day

2018 / Library book / 32 pages / UK/Hungary

**

Some familiarity with weather reports and the surrealist movement might have seen her at least crack a smile.

Lucy Cousins, Maisy's Circus Show

2022 / Library book / 10 pages / UK

*

Someone else has a circus, there are her mates, go on, move them about. Do you still get anything out of this?

Babyliography XCIX

Unknown, Peppa Pig: The Story of Peppa Pig / Peppa's Magical Unicorn

2010/2018 / Ebooks / 64 pages / UK

**

I think we're done with Little Miss, but I could have done without this reversion.

Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

1957 / Hardback / 64 pages / USA

***

This always looked a bit harder and less quirky at the end of her collection, so I told her all year that we'd wait until Christmas, by which time it was on the same level as her library books. She didn't get as much out of it as Fox in Socks and the like. Dickens next year.

Sam Taplin and Federica Iossa, Usborne Sound Books: Arctic Animal Sound Book

2022 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Italy

**

Some only get a footstep noise when their vocalisations are presumably unimpressive.

Libby Frost and Lucy Fleming, Princess Snowbelle and the Snowstorm

2017 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

Deceptively wholesome cash-in on Frozen fever, with a dash of My Little Pony and probably other ingredients I've been spared so far. The back covers shows they're already desperately milking it as a franchise. I suppose this is what it takes to survive these days.

Unknown, Disney Pixar Finding Nemo: The Graphic Novel

2010 / Hardback / 48 pages / USA

**

When it's bedtime and your parents don't let you just watch things. It doesn't count as her first proper comic. I think my equivalent was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

Babyliography XCVIII

Viviane Cohen and Colette David, Mr. Grumble

1990 / Library book / 32 pages / France

*

The French era remains sarcastically on brand with a bloody wizard doing it.

Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, Snowball

2018 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

Not really any applicable lessons, unless we get into metaphor.

Sam Taplin and Ana Martin Larranaga, Usborne Touchy-feely Sounds: Don't Tickle the Reindeer!

2022 / Library book / 10 pages / UK/Spain

**

Noisy fluff? It's so crazy, it just might work.

Willow Evans and Tom Knight, My School Unicorn

2020 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

Presumably there'll be unicorn-themed books to guide her every step of the way to adulthood. At least this one found a pun.

Jennifer Christie and Lyn Fletcher, My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie's Special Day

2009 / Ebook / 24 pages / USA

*

She's already got two parallel generations on the go, so I kept her away from older ponies for simplicity until she saw something appealing in this cover. I can't say I really get the crossover appeal of the later series, but it's Breaking Bad compared to this shite.

Babyliography XCVII

Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty, Ten Little Robots

2018 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

Industrial horror remake of Five Little Ducks. It's left ambiguous whether they really survived or they just made new ones.

Emma Adams and Mike Byrne, Who Pooed in My Loo?

2020 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

The unicorn is just one of an imaginary parade. They know what they're doing. Hook, line and sinker. As if poo isn't enough of a draw already.

Daniel and Heidi Howarth, Little Hedgehog's Big Day

2015 / Library book / 24 pages / UK

**

With unrelatable concerns and a misleadingly archaic uniform, this wasn't particularly helpful.

Viviane Cohen and Colette David, Little Miss Busy

1990 / Library book / 32 pages / France

**

More petit mademoiselles.

Adam Hargreaves, Mr. Rude

2003 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

Authentically drab revival.

Babyliography XCVI

Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, Supertato

2014 / Ebook / 32 pages / UK

***

She doesn't have the basis for superhero parodies and puns yet. I hope it doesn't make her suspicious of peas.

Unknown, The Elf on the Shelf: Search and Find

2020 / Paperback / 40 pages

***

At least this cash-in rip-off is on theme.

Roger Hargreaves, Mr. Impossible

1976 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

**

The most overpowered Mr. Man baggsies several potentials in one.

Adam Hargreaves, Little Miss Inventor

2018 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

*

These are basically a scam at this point.

Nick Sharratt, Octopus Socktopus

2009 / Library book / 20 pages / UK

**

At least this churn bothers with flaps and rhyme, however desperate.

Babyliography XCV

Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton, Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Monster / Little Dragon

2018/2021 / Library book/Ebook / 64 pages / UK

***

I started getting into it when the dragons flew around the map. We have to find excitement in kids' media where we can.

Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton, Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Unicorn's Christmas / Baby Unicorn

2019/2021 / Ebook / 64 pages / UK

**

More inevitable spin-offs.

Julia Donaldson and Victoria Sandøy, The Christmas Pine

2021 / Library book / 32 pages / UK/Norway

**

The inside story of the growth, murder and postmortem displaying of a plant. I hadn't noticed at the time that it was written by the official children's author general and thus a treasured classic.

Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, Oh, Christmas Tree!

2019 / Library book / 32 pages / UK

***

A Christmas tree with attitude. Makes a change from the usual festive fluff.

Jane Porter and Carolina Rabei, Let's Get Ready for School

2022 / Library book / 32 pages / UK/Moldova

***

Extremely carefully worded and practical advice, most of it relevant to preschool too. Off she goes.

Ranking the Red Dwarf episodes again

Last year, I put myself through the unenviable chore of rewatching My All-Time Favourite TV Series Ever to refresh my opinions so I could complete a Ganymede & Titan anniversary poll with more painstaking accuracy than the usual hazy recollections, going back as far as the late '90s in some cases.

I'm not writing it all up again, so here's one of these:

Alrightreads: Films III

Chris Darke, La Jetée

2016 / Ebook / 96 pages / UK

***

This delicate fetishisation of the anti-cinematic sci-fi curio sadly failed to conclude with the auteur deflatingly admitting that he just couldn't afford to make it move.

Matthew Solomon, The Gold Rush

2015 / Ebook / 112 pages / USA

**

Some insights on the improvised production process, but mainly a tedious catalogue of alternate versions and lawsuits.

Alex Dudok de Wit, Grave of the Fireflies

2021 / Ebook / 104 pages / UK

***

War = sad. There's not a lot to unpack there, so we're instead given the backstory.

Les Martin, Blade Runner: A Story of the Future

1982 / Audiobook / 91 pages / USA

***

I read Dick's novel before I saw the film, but this middling photonovel would have been helpful for older kids, shelving the symbolism to clarify implied background and character details.

Jeff Harvey, Ghostbusters: Book of Shapes

2021 / Ebook / 10 pages / USA

*

An imperfect primer aimed at pathetic parents who will only teach their kids if they get some semblance of nostalgia out of it. No, you're not having Paw Patrol!

On the Omnibuses: December

Charles Dickens, The Complete Novels

The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) **

As slight as the eponymous chirper and as disproportionately chatty.

See? This ungainly omnibus isn't putting excessive strain on the bookshelf for nothing.