It's Only Stanley

The Wimbledon family are fast asleep one night when they're awakened by a strange noise. What is it? Turns out that their dog, Stanley, is howling at the moon. Oh well, never mind - back to sleep.

Yet Stanley keeps waking everyone up with a series of bizarre activities - he makes catfish stew in the basement, he fixes the TV and the oil tank. What can Stanley be up to?

When the Wimbledons find themselves transported to the moon in their pyjamas, it suddenly becomes clear why Stanley was howling in the first place...

Jon Agee's brilliantly inventive and funny rhyming picture book is a perfect repeat read. The rhymes are unexpected and original, and children will be calling out the final MOON! along with the grown-ups.

It's always nice to see a picture book that poses the everyday - a family trying to get to sleep - alongside the fantastical, which feeds children's imaginations about what pets might be up to when the family aren't around...