If you think about it this way, there’s not that much distance between Matilda and A Monster Calls. In A Monster Calls, the boy is trapped by this terrible thing of his mother dying. Similarly, Matilda is in a tragic situation; she’s totally trapped at home and in school and then she finds a way out of it. Shnipp the dog loves to play fetch with Julie and Lara in the park, but she doesn't love their annoying laughs. So one day she decides to run off. It's not long before Shnipp finds a new life with Bessie the Bagel Lady, eating delicious bagels every day. These books use humour as a way of dealing with serious topics, using techniques such as hyperbole to throw light on these issues but it doesn’t mean that the issue itself and the raising of the questions isn’t just as serious. Babe couldn’t be further from the stereotype of pigs as the grotty, greedy, gruel-hogging farmyard bottom feeders. This orphaned piglet not only wins the hearts of Farmer Hogget and the animals on the farm and of course us, the readers, he perfects the art of shepherding proving that a pig can be so much more than just a swine. 2. Templeton from Charlotte’s Web by EB White and Garth Williams

There just aren’t enough books out there that cast a fly as the hero. Well done Tedd Arnold, from me and all those of the Dipteran kingdom. Thanks to you my swatter is well and truly retired.

Miss Trunchbull has to go down in history as one of the most evil fictional members of the children’s literature school staff. I have to remind myself she is fictional because this character gave me nightmares as a child. She’s feared by both the staff and pupils at Crunchem Hall (and me) so nothing gave me more joy than Lavender’s classroom prank with the newt. The easiest and best way is for two or three teachers to get together and have a little mini-reading group, just chatting about books. They can talk about it from their own point of view or possibly talk about what their own child or class thought of it. Start small, try to make it regular and more often than not it will take hold.

Badger is a true champion of the five-second-rule. Well, more like the half an hour rule, because it took that long to get through this side-splittingly funny picture book, with my son rolling around on the floor in hysterics. OK. It was me. I was rolling around on the floor in hysterics. Hannah Shaw’s illustrations are beyond hilarious. This book works from nursery into LKS2. My three year old managed to make a connection from a Viking helmeted Fluff to Cressida Cowell and her How to Train Your Dragon characters, showing some visual literacy from Ross' illustrations. She was keen to remove her eyeball too, copying Jeff the Juggler, enjoying reading for pleasure, and came up with a response of "I wish we had a fish", deriving even more joy from an accidental rhyme. I understand what you’re saying, and your comments are valuable, but I’m gonna ignore your advice.” 9. Badger from The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards and Hannah Shaw

About Michael Rosen

After my father passed on, I felt really alone in my sense of grief and loss until I found Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (with illustrations by Quentin Blake). More recently, sharing A Great Big Cuddle (his poetry book for pre-schoolers, illustrated by Chris Riddell) with my two-year-old daughter has led not only to some lovely mother-daughter cuddles, but also to her developing a greater vocabulary and enjoying how funny and amazing the English language can be.