THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR A GOLDFISH by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (Bloomsbury, £12.99): WHEN Dad is left to look after the children, he does nothing except sit in front of the TV reading his newspaper.

So the narrator of this extraordinarily quirky picture tale swaps him for his friend's goldfish. Mum is furious when she comes home and insists on getting him back. However, by now Dad has moved down a whole chain of extraordinary swaps involving a guitar, a gorilla mask, a rabbit and other silly surprises. When they eventually get Dad back he is STILL reading the newspaper and totally obvious to his strange adventure. (Age 6-9)

A PIPKIN OF PEPPER by Helen Cooper (Doubleday, £10.99)

A GORGEOUS array of colours lures you into this endearing book about a youngster lost and safely found. When Cat, Squirrel and Duck make pumpkin soup, they find they have run out of salt, so they set off for the big city to buy some. But young, naive Duck is side-tracked by the pepper shop and loses the other two. Tears and a big police search ensue until the three are happily reunited and return home to make soup that, though over-peppered, is the most delicious ever. (Age 3-5)

INTO THE FOREST by Anthony Browne (Walker, £12.99)

HERE'S a strange, haunting and visually stunning reworking of the Red Riding Hood story by an outstanding children's illustrator. A little boy's father disappears in the night. The next morning his mum sends him out with cakes for his sick granny and he takes a short cut through the forest. There he encounters all sorts of fairy tale characters before reaching granny's house. The voice which answers his knock sounds strange and terrifies him - but it IS his granny - and there's his dad, who only disappeared from home because he was called out to look after her. (Age 5-8)

A CHAIR FOR BABY BEAR by Kaye Umansky and Chris Fisher (Oxford,£4.99)

TO enjoy this story, little ones need to know the tale of Goldilocks. When Baby Bear wants to replace his chair that Goldilocks broke, he persuades his long suffering mum and dad to make the long journey into town to buy a new one. All the way there, he fantasises about chairs fit for pirates or kings but nothing meets his expectations and they return home empty pawed. But waiting on the doorstep is a a brand new chair from Goldilocks herself. (Age 3-5).

Published: 18/01/2005