Tea in the Sugar Bowl, Potato in My Shoe

The title gives a flavour of this repackaging of the nine musings from four of Rosen's earlier books. Typically he plays with words and ideas taking us from a catastrophic breakfast through to a more peaceful bedtime with visits to the seaside and doctors in between. Each episode is illustrated in Blake's inimitable, zany style. Giving children time to allow themselves similar flights of fancy to those in the author's 'What if ...' is something I fear is being squeezed out thanks to today's over-packed curriculum: if this volume offers nothing more than an opportunity to ponder that question, it is worth every penny.