Freya has discovered the rhyming joy of the queen of picture books Julia Donaldson & the beautiful illustrations of Axel Scheffler (who she got to hear at the Stratford Literary festival when she was only a few weeks old)

It started with the Gruffalo which she demanded be read to her on a daily basis, both at home & nursery. It was the only book she would let us read for about a month & her favourite character without a doubt was the Gruffalo. Bryn also loved this book when younger & was always ready with the line ‘don’t you know there no such thing as a Gruffalo’. It’s a book we’ve read countless times & I imagine more to come. A classic picture book with a clever little hero & a monster with the right balance of fearsome & cuddly.

Having a number of the Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler books we gradually weaned her off the Gruffalo & now her daily bedtime reads are Zog and Room on the Broom. She easily recognises the illustrative style & likes studying the pictures. Zog is not a favourite of mine, I have never found the story or the rhyming refrain particularly strong. Freya however is a big fan and the highlight seems to be when I bang the page as Zog crashes into a tree.

Room on the Broom is a spectacular hit & is a favourite of the rest of the family too. Having recently been to a few storytelling sessions I was inspired to add a few props to the story which has been a great success (although tracking down all the toys at bedtime can be a tad fraught). She loves making the toy puppy bound across the page & shouting out ‘mines’ when we get to the phrase ‘Buzz of that’s my witch’. This is a lovely simple tale of friendship with the opportunity to shout ‘whoosh’ every couple of pages.