What we’re reading: Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton 

Small children are natural thrill seekers and explorers. They live for the moment and love to laugh.

But what they think is perfectly reasonable behaviour is not necessarily what their parents do.

Baby Bookworm is 10 months old now and on the move. He’s not interested in toys – he just wants to shove twigs and electrical cables in his mouth, empty every bookcase of its contents and hit his dad’s very expensive guitar.

I think my most used word these days is “No!” – and while he definitely understands it, he doesn’t understand why I’m trying to spoil his fun.

If he could talk, I think he’d have a lot of sympathy for the playful puppy protagonist of Oh No, George!

The story follows this boisterous dog’s attempts to behave while his owner Harris goes out. But chasing Cat, eating cake and playing with rubbish are just too tempting…

Award-winning author and illustrator Chris Haughton’s distinctive designs make this book especially eye catching for little ones.

He uses a bright but limited palette in all his work and Oh No, George! is a riot of oranges, pinks and purples.

You can almost see what a whirlwind of activity George is as the pictures leap from the page.

When Harris returns to a wrecked house, poor George is cowed. He sighs: “I said I’d be good. I hoped I’d be good, but I wasn’t.”

It tugs at your heart strings because you know he’s not naughty, just young.

I must remember that next time Baby Bookworm decides to pull all the clean washing off the clothes horse before eating the pot plant…

Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, £5.99 (board book), Walker Books. Available from Amazon

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