Age 1-3

This is the eighth picturebook about Wibbly, the cartoon pig with a toddler’s character. Inkpen draws endearing figures with a minimum of marks to convey a maximum of information, and is both funny and observant about very young children. This book, about the way toddlers defer bedtime, uses among its time-honoured techniques repetition, with a question and answer on each page, as we follow the bath, drink and tooth-brushing of the evening routine, which is irresistibly sidetracked by counting steps, drawing, looking at books and bouncing on the bed. The pictures, crucially, give toddlers more to think about than the text tells us, showing, for example, that Wibbly Pig’s three soft toys go everywhere with him (or her), and that Wibbly’s dreams recap the day’s experience. They feature Goldilocks’s three bears, already encountered in a storybook, the blue whale played with in the bath and the moon seen from the window, all with fantastical embellishments. The text uses the shapes children first learn to write, and a fold-out finale makes for a satisfyingly interactive finish.

IS IT BEDTIME WIBBLY PIG? by Mick Inkpen

(Hodder £9.99)

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• Jane Bussman's Top 10 journalism tips
• Why do Pynchon, Ballard and Wallace provoke such online loyalty?
• The Sunday Times 100 best holiday reads