Winnie's Big Bad Robot by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

If you've not yet met Winnie the Witch then you're in for a treat.  Winnie's a loveable, slightly accident prone witch who's not afraid to try new things with the help of some magic and her trusty cat Wilbur. E discovered her books in his school library and is devouring the series on a nightly basis.

In our latest title, Winnie's Big Bad Robot, Winnie uses her magic wand to bring her art project robot to life.  Almost immediately Winnie realises this was a bad move as he steals her wand and starts turning the garden creatures into robot frogs and ducks.  No one is safe and before you can say 'Abracadabra' the robot turns Winnie into a robot witch!  Wilbur quickly realises that he's the only one who can save the day ... and so he does.

With order safely restored and the robot reduced to a pile of junk, Winnie sits back in her deckchair to enjoy one of her special drinks and a little downtime with Wilbur.

E absolutely loves the illustrations and when I asked him why he liked the Winnie books so much he simply said, "Because they're funny".

A big bonus in this book are the sheets of stickers in the back perfect for making your own robot.  We had a great time with ours and I hope you will too!  Learn more from the website dedicated to all things Winnie.

Standing in for Lincoln Green by David Mackintosh

David Mackintosh is an author/illustrator/graphic designer with a distinctive style that gives his main character, Lincoln Green, an energy and sass that's well deserved and reminds me just a bit too much of the little guy in my house.

So who is Lincoln Green and why does he need a stand-in?  He's a kid who fancies himself a bit of a cowboy but behind this bravado Lincoln Green just wants to avoid all the boring things in life like chores and dental appointments. Preferring to spend his time drinking fizzy sarsaparilla and eating hotdogs, Lincoln Green invents a 'stand-in' to take care of his dirty work. All seems to go swimmingly until his 'stand-in' decides he wants to have fun too.

Standing in for Lincoln Green is full of humour, an engaging main character double act and superb illustrations and design.  I just can't get enough so expect to see more of David Mackintosh's books popping up here again soon.

For more of Mackintosh's work visit his website Profusely Illustrated. He also made a fun short film about Standing in for Lincoln Green that you can watch here: