It's Not Fair by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

We bought an iPad. I've quite fancied one since they came out, but the real Apple fanboy in the family - almost-8-year-old Harry - has been desperate for one. So we finally bought one and Harry described it as a "dream come true."

We've downloaded quite a few picture book apps, which I'll write about another time, but the first actual picture book we downloaded was Amy Krouse Rosenthal's I'm Not Fair.

I love Rosenthal's books - particularly Yes Day, which is also illustrated (beautifully) by Tom Lichtenheld (who, I just realised, also wrote and illustrated the wonderful E-mergency!) - and It's Not Fair is another treat, written in rhyme (which doesn't always work without an American accent!), children and more complain about how life isn't fair. You know, like children do ALL THE TIME.

But the most successful part of this book was the following:

'Why can't I have curly locks?'
'Why can't I have my own box?'
Why now, chicken pox?!'

Since I was reading it to 3-year-old Joe, who is indeed suffering from chicken pox. He was so excited to see it in the book, it was hilarious. (The book also features a 'Complaint at Law in the Circuit Court of Fairness' that I'm sure many parents will appreciate.)

One thing I will say is that after spending the day playing with book apps, a plain old book seemed a bit, you know, limited. This is, I know, ridiculous, since I've been reading books for 40 years and, at the time of reading It's Not Fair, had had the iPad for about four hours, and yet I found myself tapping the picture and expecting it to do something. Sigh. You can, however, zoom in, which was great for looking at the chicken pox up close and is also good for isolating particular words or parts of pictures.

Squish Rabbit by Katherine Battersby

I read Squish Rabbit via We Give Books, a fantastic site created by the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation that donates to selected charities for each book read online.

I was attracted by the cute, uncluttered cover and the book is equally cute and uncluttered. It's the story of a little rabbit named Squish because he's so little he keeps getting, well, squished. He's also so little that people don't notice him, so he's lonely too. Eventually, of course, Squish finds a friend and the illustrations of them meeting each other are really adorable. In fact, every page is adorable. I love it when illustrators manage to convey emotion in such simple characters.

I also love that Squish makes himself a friend and also, at one point, has a tantrum - I'm sure many children will identify. It would be a great book for a child who is struggling to make friends - perhaps one who has just started at nursery or preschool.

Squish Rabbit is a really sweet book that I'm pleased to have discovered. I'll definitely check out the 'real' version one day too. I suspect the illustrations are even more lovely in 'real life'.

E-mergency! by Tom Lichtenheld & Ezra Fields-Meyer

How would you manage if you couldn't use the letter E? Not very well, I'd imagine. (I've used it ten times in this post already.)

In E-mergency, the letters of the alphabet all share a house and, one morning, E falls down the stairs. ("Eeeee!") The other letters all rally round and once the "EMTs" have "rushed in with an IV, ready to perform CPR", she's rushed to the ER.

They letters get together and nominate O to replace E while she recuperates. On TV, there's a "Spocial Bullotin" to announce the news. D and C go to Washington to alert the government. The other letters go on the talk shows (including O). But for some reason, E just isn't getting better. But then they realise. One person is still using the letter E and it's the narrator of the book...

This book is such good fun to read (although also quite tricky), plus it's crammed with so many jokes, that I still haven't read them all (we particularly love the letter P in the bathroom). My boys both love it and because I'm holding some of the gags back, I know we'll continue to enjoy it for a while to come.

Thanks so much to Tina of ABRAMS & Chronicle Books for sending it.

The Great Explorer by Chris Judge

Another wonderful library find, I picked this one up because of the bright and happy cover and then took it home because I liked the theme of exploring.

Tom finds out that his 'Famous Explorer' father is lost in the North Pole and sets off to rescue him. The journey does not go well. His ship runs aground on an iceberg. His hot air balloon pops. He's attacked by a bear. But every time something goes wrong, Tom comes up with a solution and carries on to find his father.

I loved how resourceful Tom was and how even when things went horribly wrong, Tom kept his purpose and even enjoyed the adventure. This is reinforced by the glorious illustrations, which are, yes, simple and retro (just the way I like 'em).

The book brings up lots of discussion points too - about exploring and transport and wildlife in other parts of the world. We all really loved it. It ends with Tom and his father pondering their next adventure. I can't wait.

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

It seems redundant writing about an Oliver Jeffers book because everyone knows how awesome they are, surely. In fact, after I mentioned on Twitter that I'd picked up Stuck at the library, I got lots of tweets telling me how fabulous it is. They were right too.

It all begins when Floyd gets his kite stuck up a tree. To knock it down, he throws up his "favourite shoe". When this doesn't work - the shoe also gets stuck in the tree - he tries his other shoe... which also gets stuck. He then tries pretty much everything he can get his hands on - from a pot of paint to a big boat (really) - and it all gets stuck.

There are a couple of bits that made me laugh out loud and a brilliant entertaing-for-the-adults ending that's also great for asking children what they would do in the same situation.

After I read it to Joe for the first time, he asked for 'a song about the Stuck book' at bedtime. And I had to make one up. I don't think you get much higher praise than that. (Joe requesting a song, not me singing - that was probably more of an inadvertent insult.)

See also: The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers