Baby books: *6 months to 12 months*

• Fave Rave: Max Paints the House
• Honorable mention: Teddy's Busy Day

THIS MONTH'S FAVE RAVE:
Max Paints the House, by Ken Wilson-Max
Max lives in a house with a pig called Little Pink and an elephant called Big Blue. One morning, Little Pink is inspired to paint their house, and goes outside clutching a delicate paintbrush and a palette of different shades of pink to match the dawn sky.
But by the time Little Pink asks Max and Big Blue to look at his creation (every inch of the house has been transformed to pink), the sky has turned blue. So Big Blue makes his contribution by adding blue streaks to the pink with a hefty paintbrush, much to the annoyance of Little Pink. When the 'bright yellow sun shines high in the sky', Max himself is inspired to paint a big yellow circle on the front door. At the end of the book when a rainbow appears, you can guess that the house looks like a colourful compromise.

This is a little expensive for a small-format picturebook, but the energy and humour should appeal to a wide range of ages.

Mum of an 10-month-old comments: "We've had other books by this artist and my daughter really likes them. Nothing is too neat or prissy, which suits my tastes."

Published by David Bennett Books, £9.99

HONOURABLE MENTION:
Teddy's Busy Day, by Lone Morton
Here's a novelty book where the extras all tie in perfectly, allowing children to make their own contribution to the storyline.

Inside the front cover is a friendly-faced cut-out card teddy, who's attached to a ribbon in the spine of the book. The pictures are made up of cheerfully-painted backgrounds, without Teddy, and children can slot the cut-out behind the clear plastic page that falls over each illustration.

They can, among other things, make Teddy peep through the window of his mummy's car and dress him up as a clown.

This is really effective, and in the style of the clip-on paper costumes you may remember as a child if you're old enough. My favourite is the shower scene (no knives!), where water spray painted onto the plastic sleeve is so convincing once Teddy's behind it that it makes you laugh.

Published by Tango Books, £8.99

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