Lunch Boxes Don't Fly; Poppet; Super Molly and the Lolly Rescue

These three books, aimed at ‘developing readers’, are cheerful, brightly coloured and robust. Rosen’s collection of pieces on the theme of food contains old and new material whose rhythms and repetitions are patterned on humorous conversations. Korky Paul’s gut-wringing illustrations are suitably demented ornaments to meandering rhapsodies about chewing gum, eating with your mouth full, and that reliable source of inspiration, school dinners.

King-Smith contributes a brief tale about a taboo-breaking friendship between a mouse and a baby elephant. Such friendships are forbidden amongst the elephants because of the pernicious myth that all mice are intent on running up the insides of their trunks. After Momo the mouse has convinced Poppet the elephant of the silliness of this belief, they embark on a bold attempt to heal the rift between the two animal communities. This is a beautifully written little story with a lightly delivered lesson about tolerance and prejudice underlying the fun.

Postgate’s saga about a girl living in an ordinary village who comes home to find that her parents have been kidnapped by the Wicked Women’s Institute has some marvellous inventions in it, including a super-hero lollipop lady who rides into battle astride the tool of her trade, and a witch who turns people into items of furniture. This is unadulterated slapstick skilfully shaped into a brief, engaging story.

The humour, pace and direct language of all three of these books should appeal to the target audience, perhaps establishing a motivation to read more substantial books by the same authors; more advanced readers in search of some light relief might also find the set attractive.