I think there are two kinds of children's book. The big glossy numbers that usually relate to a TV show, and are not very well written, and then there are the wonderful stories that children listen to with all their attention. The Helen Oxenbury books about Tom and Pippo are like that, and the pictures are beautifully drawn. I bought Tom and Pippo and the Bicycle when one of my grand daughters was about two, and she was enthralled by it at the time. My own children loved the books written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes, especially 'Alfie gets in first' and 'Dogger'. Our copy of Dogger is so well read that the spine has disappeared, and the pages are falling out, but we can't possibly throw it away. My younger son used to anxiously hold his breath when we got to the part where the toy dog gets lost at the school fete and ends up for sale on the toy stall. Even though we had read the story a gazillion times, there was still that dreadful wait ...