They say they always know you’re up to something when the house goes quiet…

Exploring his mother’s bedroom, a little boy discovers THE LIPSTICK. It begins on his lips, where it looks very good – MWAH! But then it goes for a little walk … squiggle, squiggle … on the mirror … scribble scribble … on the shiny floorboards … smudge smudge. And even on the fluffy cat. Uh-oh! What will happen when Mum, Dad and big sister see all this mess?

From the team behind Angry Cookie comes a hilarious and joyous story all about artistic expression, self-confidence and supportive, accepting parenting.

It was really quite hard to decide what I thought about this book. Part of me loved it and part of me was horrified. Think of the John Lewis advert for home insurance, that was banned, and you have a similar story inside this book.

A little boy finds his mum’s best lipstick and decides to use it all over the house, on the walls, on the furniture, even on the cat. He blames the lipstick for making him draw everywhere.

As a parent, I was thinking ‘what on earth!’ why did no one see him drawing all over the house, it must have taken him ages, and what a mess he has made, as well as ruined his mother’s lipstick. However, I can totally see a child finding the book amusing and giggling along, just make sure you explain that it is not alright to do this as you don’t want them copying the story.

The book is illustrated beautifully and captures all the moments perfectly. This is a tale of one young boy showing his artistic side and having lots of fun and this is what childhood is all about, though maybe a large sheet of paper and some crayons would be better for your children!

Laura Dockrill is a performance poet and novelist whose wonderfully inventive and creative approach to life is reflected in the rich and vividly imagined worlds she creates. Laura lives in London.

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