I was the proudest mummy in the east a few weeks ago. We went up to Edinburgh to visit my auntie and ended up in the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile. Charlie was borrowed to have his picture taken with Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, for a newspaper article about the Scottish Storytelling Awards.

As he sauntered off to have cake with the Scottish media and assorted literary types after his 'shoot', with not a backward glance, I could just hear the chat: "We must have lunch when you're next in London Charlie darling" etc. I trailed after hoping for a leftover pain au raisin.

Julian Donaldson kindly gave the boy a copy of her hilarious new book The Troll, and it has since become my favourite thing to read with him. When he gets out something wet like Thomas the Tank Engine or Peppa Pig, I produce The Troll instead.

What happened to Thomas the Tank Engine? It used to be cool, and quite chaotic, with tales about engines derailing and smashing into the Fat Controller's house, coming to a stop at the breakfast table covered in egg, that sort of thing, and now it's gone all dull and health and safety-fied. We're not even allowed to call the Fat Controller by his real name anymore- he's now become the Stout Gentleman. I do hope that if Thomas the Tank Engine dies off- and that is the way things are headed- the fat man who controlled the engines will always be remembered as the Fat Controller.

There's a great exhibition of illustrations from childrens' books at the Arts Centre in Darlington at the moment, with original drawings by brilliant cartoonists Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake, among others.

The chaotic illustrations of these two in particular look fantastic close-up.