Mr Nosy

Don't you love other people's book collections? Especially their children's books: full of old, familiar but forgotten faces, and some new ones that you otherwise would never have found.

We've just had two weeks of blissful quality time, not only with each other but with friends. And with friends, and their children, come a host of new stories. THE GIANT JAM SANDWICH, one of those delights which little a knows and loves from school but we don't have at home. And TIDDLER, a new Julia Donaldson with plenty of opportunities for audience participation (Tiddler? Tiddler? TIDDLER'S LATE!!!) And best of all, the chance to nose around in a friend's childhood library: lots of Miffys we haven't had before, and PIPPIN AND POD what naughty mice.

Now I can't decide whether we should have those books in our library, or keep them as treats when we get to nose around othere people's houses. Because I find books bring you memories - of where you were when you read them, or first read them. So maybe the Giant Jam Sandwich will always evoke a window seat in Lyme Regis for all of us, and that's something I'd love as much as it becoming part of the fabric of little a's childhood.