One of my [Stephanie's] favourite parts of parenting so far has been getting to discover great new books together with my son. Even before he was born, I’d started collecting some of my old favourites from my own childhood, but for this post I wanted to talk about three books we discovered together and both love. The linking theme is independence: all three of these books feature characters going out into the wide world without their parents, dealing with strange adults and facing the unknown, just like every little kid eventually has to do.

I’m Not Scared by Jonathan Allen


Baby Owl ventures out into the woods at night, carrying his stuffed owl with him. He’s not scared…or at least, he won’t admit he is, despite all the interfering adults who keep on startling him by popping up out of the darkness to worry about his feelings.

My son and I laugh and laugh when we read this book. The writing is sharp and funny, the pictures are hilarious, and I love that at the end, when Papa Owl whispers: “It’s okay to be a little bit scared of the dark,” feisty Baby Owl immediately says to his stuffed owl: “He means you, Owly.” Baby Owl is not about to learn any silly moral lessons himself…but his story is wonderfully reassuring, as well as funny, for little kids to read. (And as a parent, I’m intensely grateful for picture books that make me laugh on the hundredth re-read!)

There’s an Ouch in my Pouch! by Jeanne Willis and Garry Parsons


Poor little Willaby Wallaby hasn’t left his mum’s pouch on purpose. He was kicked out by a terrible ouch! He leaves in disgust to find a better pouch to live in, but none of the other animals he meets have suitable pouches…and it’s only his good bouncing skills that save him when Ma Dingo tries to trick him into visiting the “pouch” in her mouth! In the end, he returns to his own mum (and the baby sister who dislodged him) but realizes that he doesn’t need a pouch any more – he’s a big boy who can happily bounce at his mum’s side instead of hiding in the shelter of her pouch.

My husband and I both love reading this book to our son because of the incredibly bouncy, dance-able rhythm of the text, as well as the humour of the story and the pictures. We cursed the tongue-twisting nature of the words the first few times we read the book, but our son loved it right away, and we both came to love it too – once you’ve got the knack of the text, it rolls off your tongue and is sheer fun to read, in a very tactile way.

Piglet and Mama by Margaret Wild and Stephen Michael King


When Piglet wakes up and finds herself alone, she’s scared but determined. She sets out to find her mama and won’t let anyone stop her – not even all those well-meaning adults who try to distract her by offering to play with her themselves. Sometimes, no one but Mama will do – and when Piglet finally does find her mama, her joy shines off the page.

I can’t imagine any little kids who couldn’t identify with Piglet from time to time – and the lovely ending of this book is perfectly designed to elicit real-life cuddles for the mamas (or daddies) reading it. It would be worth reading for that benefit alone, even if it weren’t so sweet and well-done.

Every little kid has to face the world without their parents from time to time. Whether it’s in the care of a relative, a childminder or a nursery teacher, it can be an awfully scary feeling. These three books are reassuring as well as funny and smart. I can’t think of a better combination.

I (Zoe) will be tracking all of these down! J is very keen on asserting her independence at the moment (“No Mama, me can do it!”) and I think she’d love every one of Stephanie’s choices. We have I’m not cute by Jonathan Allen and both girls think it’s extremely funny so I can well imagine that I’m Not Scared will also be a big hit.

Some songs that might go with these books include:

Some crafty projects that could be fun after reading these books include:

Thank you Stephanie for a wonderful selection of books today! If you’d like to find out more about Stephanie you could visit her website, say hello to her on her blog, or read the first chapter of her new novel. And if any of you have suggestions as to other books that would work well alongside these, please let us know via the comments

A touch-and-feel book of the highest order, great for babies and young children alike (both J (1) and M (4) adore this book), Ethan Long has created a grumpy duck who absolutely. does. not. want. to. be. tickled.

Unfortunately for the duck, tickling him is pretty much irresistible; first there is his soft, furry tummy crying out to be felt, later on a rubbery foot and a fluffy armpit. Despite his protestations, each time the duck is tickled he bursts into howls of laughter, but still, he refuses to give in. Eventually, at the top of his voice he yells “STOP TICKLING ME!“

There is a moment’s peace whilst the grumpy duck fumes, but then something in his stance softens… “Well, come to think of it, maybe you could just tickle me a little right here.“… and before you know it, grumpy duck’s mood has changed completely and he’s asking for more!

If you can let your hair down a little to really get into the spirit of making the duck laugh, I can absolutely guarantee you and your young readers will end up smiling and giggling with this book. It’s a situation we’re all familiar with as parents – the kid wants to be a little aloof and rejects our kisses, or cuddles (or tickles), but actually, deep down, when he or she can be brave enough to let their guard down, they adore the affection and play, and for capturing and so eloquently expressing this truthful experience of childhood and parenting Ethan Long’s book already scores highly.

But this is a great book for several more reasons too! I love the book because it’s genuinely interactive – not only do we interact with the book, but inevitably we end up tickling each other and trying to make each other laugh. Indeed, Tickle the Duck! allows reader and listener to be plain silly, and sometimes we all need that little bit of help to really let go and play. I also think that the use of different materials to feel is put to exception use here – rather that just pictures of animals with (at best) a list of adjectives (you know the sort of shiny Dorling Kindersley touch and feel book I mean, I’m sure), here there is a real reason to touch the fabric and run your fingers through it.

Last but not least, I think this book is great because the humour genuinely works for both adult and child – so many books (and especially films) nominally aimed at children require an adult’s knowledge of the world to find them funny, to get the double entendres, but not so with this book.

So yes, as you’ve no doubt gather, Tickle the Duck! comes highly recommended indeed.

Mostly Tickle the Duck! has inspired lots of tickling and telling of (terrible) jokes, which has all be great fun. But it also inspired us to make our own touch-and-feel book, combining fabric scraps and The Shape Game. Here’s how we did it:

1. M, J and I went through all my fabric scraps and chose a selection which included all different sorts of textures. We ended up with some velvet, lace curtain, fake fur and satin to name but a few.

TIP: If you don’t have a stash of fabric scraps, you could (1) use bits of old odd socks, worn out t-shirts, jeans ripped beyond being cool, and any other fabric that would otherwise perhaps be thrown out, or (2) visit a fabric or upholstery store – they often have (cheap or even free) remnants, scraps or sample books that you could use.

2. Next we made our basic book to later fill with the fabric scraps. We cut a load of pieces of card (ours were about A5 size, but yours could be whatever size you like) and punched holes in them using a hole puncher, taking care that all the holes lined up with each other. We happened to have a couple of pieces of card we’d used for marbling which we decided to repurpose as our book cover, but your cover could be just another couple of blank pieces of card which you decorate however you like.

TIP: If you don’t want to make your own book you could just use a blank notebook from a stationery shop. We made our own book because (1) we had the time and (2) the pages with fabric stuck on them get quite thick and we wanted to make sure there was enough room for them without getting squashed.

3. We returned to our scraps of fabric and checked them for size – we made sure they fitted on to our pages, and if they didn’t we cut them into any old shape that would fit. The idea is that the fabric pieces are randomly shaped, not looking like anything in particular – so using fabric scraps literally as you find them is great – no need for any further cutting!

4. We glued one piece of fabric to each page ie we took a sheet of card and glued fabric on one side. The other side of the card was left blank.

5. Once the glue was dry out came the pens and M turned each piece of fabric into something eg added arms and legs to make it a person, or wings to make it into a bug. This was inspired by our playing of The Shape Game.

6. I asked M to describe the pictures she had created and I typed up her accounts, printed them off and stuck them on the blank sides of the card, making sure the appropriate description was opposite the relevant picture. I had wanted to use Font Capture to create a font of M’s handwriting, but this part of the plan fell by the wayside, so I just used a regular font already on the computer.

7. The pages of the book, now full with images and text, were bound using 2 of the rings you can find on very cheap keyrings – it’s important to use the cheap versions as the wire only overlaps a short way, making it much easier to thread the wire through the holes punched in the paper.

Tip: You could use ribbon or cord instead to bind your book, or even just a regular ringbinder, depending on the size of your pages.

8. We sat down with some milk and biscuits and had a good read and enjoyed running our fingers over the different materials

Not only was this fun to make and read, it has also enabled me to take part in Sew, Mama Sew’s Scrap Buster Contest so we’re all winners!

Tickle the Duck!: *** (3 stars)

Whilst playing with all the lovely fabric scraps we’ve been listening to Tickle Me by The Heptones and With a giggle and a hug and a tickle and a kiss by Barry Louis Polisar
Alongside Tickle the Duck!, we’ve been enjoying another Ethan Long book – Stop Kissing Me! – where our old friend grumpy duck can’t showering a reluctant poodle with affection

This also seems a good post to mention The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which was “founded to honour those books that simply make us laugh”. Here are this year’s shortlists:

The funniest book for children aged six and under

The funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen

The only one of these we’ve read is The Pencil (Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman) and it’s definitely a good read, and will make you smile. The winner will be announced on November 10, so I hope to get a few more of these books out from the library before then!

What books and activities really make you and your kids laugh? I’d love to hear about the last time you really roared with laughter!