Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig and the School Concert, by Dianna Neild (Scholastic, $18.99, pbk).
Piggity-Wiggity lives in a busy household of 11 pigs but he is bored because none of his brothers or sisters has time to do anything with him - they are all too busy rehearsing for the school play.
But when the final scene opens, and the lead pig is overcome by a terrible cough, it is Piggity-Wiggity who saves the day.
This is a very witty and entertaining story written in rhyme.
There is a lot of fun and enjoyment to be had in reading and listening to it.
Well-illustrated.
Suitable age: 3-7.
I think poor Mum and Dad were hoping for a sleep-in but instead they are woken up and taken on an early-morning journey.
It took a while for the children I read the story to to realise the parents' bed was the boat, and I'm sure some children still don't believe me! Wonderfully illustrated in watercolour and colour pencil.
A great book with which to snuggle up in bed with your children.
Suitable age: 2-5.
Lucy's mum is always bellowing about the fact Lucy doesn't do the dishes or tidy up her room.
Lucy becomes fed up with being the only one who has to do the dishes so she comes up with a clever plan to make washing up easy.
This is definitely a different type of story to ones I have read recently.
To me this story feels like it's a bit long and it gets lost in one or two places.
However, children I read the story to did seem to enjoy the overall concept of the book, even if some parts didn't make sense to them, and it does have fun illustrations.
Suitable age: 3-6.
, by Chris Gurney (Scholastic, $18.99, pbk).
Poor Hester has a blister right on the tip of her tongue so she goes off in search of a blister remedy to try to solve her problem.
She asks everyone to help her but during the process of searching she ends up with a rather unexpected result.
This book was an instant hit with many of the children at kindy.
It is delightfully written, has great rhythm and a really fun storyline.
There are also lots of wonderful opportunities for the reader to play around with expressions and be quite theatrical.
A thoroughly enjoyable book to share.
Suitable age: 2-7.
, by Ken Kimura (Gecko Press, $19.99, pbk).
Mother and Father Frog encourage their 999 little tadpoles to grow big and strong, but in the process they outgrow their small pond.
They must set off to find a new abode, but during their travels a hungry hawk swoops down and tries to snatch them.
This is a charming story with an exciting twist.
I was pleased to see this story contains more than just the usual numbers of one to five, or one to 10, as this opens up a new area of numeracy for discussion.
I thought the cute pictures were quite simplistic but the children I read the story to were really taken by them.
Suitable age: 2-7.
, by Helen McKinlay (HarperCollins, $19.99, pbk), is a rather fun and quirky tale about a grandma who goes to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.
This would be a great book if you have relatives who live in London.
However, the children I read to had no life experience to link themselves to the story to help make sense of it, and it therefore lost their attention very early on.
Even the part where grandma takes out her false teeth confused many children as a lot of grandmas still have their original teeth.
Suitable age: unsure.
, by Masayuki Sebe (Gecko Press, $19.99, pbk), is an extremely attractive dinosaur puzzle/game book which consists of 12 different puzzles.
Boys in particular seem to be drawn to the very colourful and cute dinosaur illustrations.
While the illustrations appear to be aimed at quite young children, in my experience the puzzles have only been solved by much older children - who thought the illustrations were a bit babyish.
This book would make a wonderful birthday present for someone or it could be a great book for a wet winter's day.
Suitable age: 6-8.
Paula Benson-Gamble is a Dunedin mother and kindergarten teacher.
