Unpersuaded by my alternative suggestions, Rowan was determined to have a superhero theme for his 4th birthday party. I admire parents who can persuade their 4-year-olds to have a party theme of an adult’s choosing… Thus far, I’m not one of them.

At least I get a say over the cake…

Inspired by Harry and Horsie, first blogged about by Lou right here.

Of all the superheros, Harry might just have to be my favourite. Katie Van Camp and Lincoln Agnew capture the spirit of little boys becoming super heros and cleverly sidestep the fighting and guns, with a ’super duper bubble blooper’…

(Did you know Harry is a celebrity baby of sorts? I just discovered this.)

It was very wet and very cold on the day of Rowan’s party, and despite four-year-old energy levels and being cooped up in the garage for most of the party, Rowan and his friends were absorbed by a reading of Harry and Horsie.

The costumes were calling out for a photo, a la the cover of Play All Day.

But the highlight? A patch of sunshine and a good half an hour of ’superhero flying’: jumping off the slide and into the beanbag.

We are loving Dorothee de Monfreid’s Dark Night in our house at the moment. I have to admit I was tempted to censor a ’scary’ book like this one, but Rowan’s adoration of it reminds me again how much kids can revel in stories about their fears. Some of the best stories in children’s literature have childhood fears at their centre – like Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are and many Roald Dahl books.

Dark Night begins with a single menacing line: “It was a dark night.” which immediately reminded me of a favourite of my childhood, Funnybones by Alan Ahlberg. (Stay tuned for a When We Were Little post…) On this dark night we find Felix and immediately emphathise with him – he is “very little and very scared”. Felix hears a noise and hides himself inside a hollow tree. It’s a wolf! But the adventures don’t stop there – the wolf is scared away by a second animal – a tiger! And then the tiger is scared away – by none other than… a crocodile!

De Monfreid is incredibly good at putting herself in the mind of a preschooler. The elements of this story are so appealing – Rowan’s top three scary animals are represented, and the story gets even better when Felix finds a door to a secret passage where he finds hot chocolate and a friendly bunny!

What I love most about this book is that without heavy handedness or a hint of moralising, it contains a beautiful message of empowerment. At the suggestion of his new friend the rabbit, Felix learns to conquer his fears in an unexpected way. In the words of School Library Journal: “the two small, peaceable beings turn the tables, not once, but twice on their terror-inspiring counterparts. A little cool-headedness, a dollop of ingenuity, and a big helping of friendship convert a hopeless situation into a gentle and downright funny triumph.”

Dorothee de Monfreid is a French author, and has published at least 12 books in France. So far she has one other book that has been translated and published in English, I’d Really Like to Eat a Child, which Rowan also loves. According to her bio, the subjects of her other books span cats, bunnies, elephants, stinky monsters, and cake. I can’t wait to read them all now – especially her series about Coco the elephant. Check out these illos of Coco who just wants to read quietly, while her friends all hassle her to find out the ending…

||Dark Night is available from the We Heart Books store||

A while ago Rowan started asking us to read him a ’story with our hands’. This means using our hands to make a book shape and making a story up. He usually requests ‘only three’ stories which is sometimes a bit taxing for the cogs of my imagination…

At three and a half, Rowan has loved hearing our made-up stories, something I remember loving when I was little too. What’s even nicer is hearing him make up the occasional story with his hands too.

This development has also coincided with Rowan’s new enthusiasm for exploring the breadth of his bookshelf. Not so long ago I remember the phase when Rowan wanted the same few books over and over every night. Now he requests a book he’s never had before, or one we haven’t read for ages. Scary as it is, it isn’t difficult for us to find several new books on Rowan’s shelf that we’ve never read together before. Proof of how much I’ve spent on picture books over the years…

‘Stories with our hands’ are quite convenient when out and about, like at a cafe. Rowan has realised, however, that my hands are otherwise occupied when I’m driving. When we are in the car the request from the back seat is ‘Please can we have a story with your brain, Mama?’

Would love to hear how ‘made-up’ stories are/were told in your house…

We are definitely in the midst of the ‘Why?’ phase with Rowan. Seems like it has already been going on for a while and friends tell me that it keeps going for a lot longer again… I know it’s healthy, but sometimes I just like to get through a page of a book at bedtime without five questions about the story and the illustrations.

So last night I could hardly believe it when Rowan sat absolutely absorbed and completely silent as I read him for the first time A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley and illustrated by Jim La Marche.

The book tells the story of a friendship between a bear and a woman who lives for a time in a woodland cabin. The bear stumbles upon the cabin and sees the woman reading. He is very curious about the square object that she holds, which at times makes her laugh, and at others afraid or pensive. Day by day the bear gathers courage until he is able to lie close to the woman. For the shortening days of summer, and until the leaves change colour, she reads to him. And although the bear can’t understand her words, he feels the emotions conveyed through her voice. Her words make a story: a story for her bear.

I’m not sure which aspect of the story was so captivating for Rowan – it could have been the idea of a wild bear meeting a human for the first time, or perhaps the bear’s perspective, learning about the existence of books and the power of storytelling. Whatever the reason, it was wonderful for me to share a book with him that is very special to me – it was Lou who gave me my copy and I think it is such a beautiful story about the wonders of reading.

I also love Jim La Marche’s illustrations – I reviewed another beautiful book of his, Albert, here. He has such a talent for illustrating light and shadow, and this is done so beautifully again for the woodland scenes in A Story for Bear.

||A Story for Bear is available in the We Heart Books store||

An update from motherland… thanks everyone for the lovely comments and emails. Otto is doing very well – we are lucky that so far he seems very settled baby. This is considerate of him as Lou and I have been very busy with preparing the store for Christmas and Magnolia Square. Otto will be coming with us to Magnolia Square – he may just be the youngest member in the audience at our storytime sessions.

Here are some photos of cuddles with Rowan…

Planning to post some photos of some corners of Otto’s nursery soon.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea is one of those books that I don’t recall having on my bookshelf as a child, but it nevertheless made a big impression on me and I remember it very fondly. It has been on my mental wishlist for ages, and when some colleagues gave me a bookstore gift voucher before I went on maternity leave last month, I used it to buy two picture books. One had to be a beautiful hardback edition of this book.

Rowan is into tigers in a big way at the moment – he is obsessed with David Attenborough documentaries – so we have both loved reading this book together.

A little girl called Sophie opens the door one day to find a big, furry, stripey tiger on her doorstep. When the tiger asks if he can join them for tea, Sophie’s mummy invites him in. But the tiger turns out to be very, very hungry – he not only eats all the food and drink on the tea table but proceeds to raid the kitchen, eating all the food on the stove, in the fridge, and even all the water from the taps.

Eventually the tiger leaves, and Sophie and her mummy are left to figure out what to do – there is nothing for supper and Sophie can’t even have a bath because all the water has been drunk from the taps…

First published in 1968, The Tiger Who Came to Tea is gloriously old-fashioned. Taking place in the days of the milkman and the grocery boy, it is a time when daddy’s supper was prepared in time for his arrival home and going out for dinner was practically unheard of. I love Sophie and her mummy’s outfits; Sophie’s purple pinafore and checkerboard tights are perfect!

I think one of the reasons I loved this book was the fact that it presented elements of fantasy as real. The scenario of a tiger appearing at the door appears perfectly reasonable, as is the idea that the water can be drunk from the taps. When Sophie and her mummy go to the supermarket to replenish supplies, they make sure that they buy a big tin of tiger food. What else do you buy in case a tiger were to stop by?!

The text is beautifully understated – I especially love the page showing the family walking down the High Street on their way out to supper. You can tell how special the outing is to Sophie, how rare it is for her to be out in the street after dark…

So they went out in the dark, and all the street lamps were lit, and all the cars had their lights on, and they walked down the road to a cafe.

Judith Kerr also wrote the series of picture books about Mog the cat, and I only realised tonight that she was author of a young adult novel that I dearly loved, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. If you are familiar with her books, you should definitely read this lovely interview with Judith published in the Telegraph.

||The Tiger Who Came to Tea is available from Amazon||

Rowan has recently been able to spend some time with his great grandmother, my Nana. Here they are reading a few weeks ago.

My Nana was an amazing person, and an inspiration to me. She went to university at a time when not many women did. She was a pharmacist and co-ran a small business, at the same time as having four children under 9. She made legendary Anzac biscuits. She had a big family of children, grand-children and one great-grandchild, Rowan. How lucky he is to have known her, and to have shared with her some good books.