Any boy who turns up on their first day of school sporting a straw boater and a yellow-and-lime-green striped blazer is bound to turn a few heads. And just a quick glance at the extraordinary array of equipment Marshall Armstrong sets out on his

into children's books

Horrid Henry’s Christmas Play by Francesca Simon (Orion, £4.99)Horrid Henry wants the starring role of Joseph in his school nativity play, so is appalled when it goes to his younger brother, Perfect Peter. Worse still, Henry only has one measly line

, bird, fish and all of Sean’s other cuddly toys to yawn too, as the narrative passes along. If your child has never noticed how easy it is to start yawning when someone else does, this will be a great book they will enjoy again and again – until

Colours by Orla Kiely (Egmont, £9.99)It is hardly surprising that the queen of gorgeous graphics, Orla Kiely has come up with a colours and objects baby book that is as sophisticated as it is simple. It’s not just reds and blues – tasteful greys

the majority of children had mastered the basic foundations of literacy within one year or less of starting school, but that the English-speaking children took two and a half years, even though the children were matched in general educational ability and social

Shimmy shaking their way onto the dancefloor, the skilled dancers at the sparkling launch of fashion model Agatha Relota's book, 'Carla and Leo's World of Dance', certainly brought the pages to multi-coloured life. Having been a dancer before a

After studying art at Manchester Polytechnic and London Art School, Lauren worked in a variety of jobs, including painting dots for Damien Hirst. In 1999, her first two picture books were published I Want A Pet (Frances Lincoln, £5.99) and Clarice

and rips it to shreds and arranges it in her bed like it’s a collage. And I think Lucy Locket was once a very famous film star but is now in retirement! Characters in the book seem to have descriptive/straightforward names e.g. Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes

Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs Puffin, £5.99I was so impressed with this book when I was a child that I actually wrote to Mr Briggs to tell him that I had a brilliant idea for a Father Christmas sequel. He wrote back sending me a