Noni the Pony by Alison Lester

Noni the Pony is a sweet and simple story about a pony and her farmyard friends: Dave the dog and Coco the cat.

The story is told in simple rhyming text - "She lives on a farm at Waratah Bay, and likes eating apples and carrots and hay." This makes it a satisfying story to read aloud and the language is very accessible for very young children.

Noni the Pony has very sweet illustrations that are very engaging for even the youngest reader. The colours are really lovely - the cornflower blue sky and green grass capture the colours of outdoor Australia beautifully I think.

There is also lots in the story for young children to relate to, such as the way that Noni gets scared in the dark. There are lots of nice messages about kindness and friendship in the story - with the help of her friends Noni overcomes her fear of the dark and feels much braver.

We borrowed Noni the Pony from the library and it is a book we have both enjoyed very much. With two kids under two, our trips to the library are a bit of a mixed bag at the moment - Maximilian randomly throws things into the book bag and I just grab handfuls of whatever board books are available before leaving in a rush, so what we end up with is a bit of pot luck :) but this story was a real hit from the first time we read it.

Alison Lester has published over 25 picture books for children since 1985, so her books are always a very safe choice!

This board book is a lovely size and shape and perfect for little hands to enjoy. I'd recommend this book for all ages - even the youngest babies will find something to enjoy in this sweet tale.

Along Came a Bedtime by Ian Whybrow and Guy Parker-Rees

Bear and baby bear are having a bath before bedtime when along comes a cheeky duck. Duck isn't ready for bed and so begins this romp of a story!

Along Came a Bedtime is a playful story featuring lots of fun animals and animal sounds that Maximilian really enjoys. All the favourite animals are here - bear, duck, cat, dog and cow!

The cheerful illustrations are perfect for this fun story - simple and colourful.

This book has great rhythm and rhyme. I love to read it aloud and Maximilian loves to chime in with all the words he knows. There are lots of animal sounds to engage your child throughout the story and I really love the way the baby bear talks in baby language - 'dop' for stop etc. I think this would really engage young children just learning to talk. We also love the repetitive counting : 1, 2, 3, go! Maximilian loves to count on his fingers then shout Go!

A simple but really fun book that we were lucky enough to stumble across at the library. Definitely one we'll add to our home library!

Maisy's Fire Engine by Lucy Cousins

Fire engines are big in our house right now!

Maximilian has several toy fire trucks and he learned to make a siren sound around a month ago and it is now one of his favourite sounds.So, when he found this board book in his book box recently, it was immediately a big hit.

Like all Maisy stories, this is simple and short - Maisy and Cyril are firefighters and when testing the fire hose Cyril wets little black cat. The cat then climbs onto the roof of the shed and Maisy climbs the ladder to rescue it.

Lucy Cousins' illustrations are bright, colourful and engaging and the short story and simple text make this a great book for the very young - there isn't enough content to interest older toddlers. The version we have is also the "shaped board book", which is nice for little hands to hold and easy to turn the pages.

As parents, we generally avoid branded character stories and shows, as we aren't fans of the way that everything is branded these days. I only bought this book as it was at a discount bookstore for $3.95 and I was looking for hardy board books to add to our collection.

Having said that, this is a great little book that Maximilian is really enjoying right now - as of yesterday his new word is "again" - so I read this story 4 times in a row this morning - "again", "again", "again"!!