One of the occupational hazards of working in a bookshop is that you want to buy so many more books than you actually need or have room for. Surrounded by these beautiful objects all day, you can’t help but covet them. I really do try hard to restrain myself, but sometimes I just can’t resist and have to bring a book home where it gains pride of place on the mantelpiece for a while (until the next one arrives). Sometimes I justify my expenditure with the words ‘first edition’ or ‘signed copy’, which supposedly make a book worth more money in the future (as if I could part with them).

The following five books are ones that I just had to possess this year; I found them completely irresistible and was able to fully justify my purchases – to myself at least!

This is Sadie by Sara O’Leary & Julie Morstad

Sadie is a solitary child who has an incredibly rich imaginative life. You may think she’s hiding in a box, but actually she is on an enormous boat, crossing the sea. Sadie’s perfect day is spent with friends, particularly those found in books; she has been a mermaid, a boy raised by wolves, and has had vivid adventures with Alice in Wonderland.

She is exactly the child I would want to be, should I have the opportunity to live childhood over again. The pictures by Julie Morstad are exquisite and perfectly illustrate this glorious testament to the power of books to stimulate the imagination. Suitable for readers aged two and up (all the way to adult, of course).

Super Happy Magic Forest by Matty Long

For fans of the hero’s journey, Dungeons & Dragons or the Lord of the Rings, this is a hilarious story of a quest to rescue the Mystical Crystals of Life, which have been stolen from the forest. Our intrepid heroes – a troll, a gnome, a fairy, a unicorn and a toadstool – must traverse the icy mountains, trudge through the creepy haunted woods and enter the evil Goblin Tower to find the crystals. Will they make it and what will they find there? You must read it yourself to discover the surprising conclusion to this tale.

There are plenty of things for youngsters to look at on every page, and adults will also love this pop culture-laden quest. Readers aged three and over will laugh out loud with delight.

Ketzel, the Cat who Composed by Leslea Newman & Amy June Bates

My daughter and I love to read true stories and there are plenty of them coming out of America in picture book format at the moment. This one is the true story of a stray kitten found by a young New York composer named Moshe Cotel. When the kitten strolled down the keyboard one day, Moshe wrote down the notes and submitted her composition to the Paris New Music Review One Minute Competition, where it received a special mention. Ketzel the kitten became famous and even attended one of the performances of her piece, miaowing when she heard her name spoken on stage.

This sweet animal story is perfectly complemented by the soft watercolour illustrations of Amy June Bates and is an absolute delight as well as being absolutely true.

What Pet Should I Get? By Dr Seuss

I already wrote a blog post detailing my excitement about the discovery of this previously unpublished Dr Seuss manuscript. It’s a funny and rhythmic tale about two children who really, really want to get a pet but can’t decide from all the different types of pet to be found. What will they choose?

This purchase is definitely justified under the ‘first edition’ rule – after all how many chances do we get to buy a first edition Dr Seuss?

The Singing Bones By Shaun Tan

Home-grown talent Shaun Tan is an internationally famous author, and sometimes I think that in Australia we easily forget how famous he really is. He has won the richest prize for children’s writing, the Astrid Lindgren Prize, alongside many others…and don’t forget that Oscar for his short film of The Lost Thing!

Those of us on Lygon Street were recently treated to a window display at Readings Carlton of the sculptures from his latest book, The Singing Bones. Some lucky people even saw him in the window placing the sculptures oh so carefully. Wow! My New York literary friends were extremely jealous!

The Singing Bones is a profound and imaginative look at some famous (and not so well known) fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, and each sculpture is accompanied by an evocative piece of text that will send you off on a rich, imaginative journey. This is a true work of art that will resonate with fairy tale lovers of all ages. I was lucky enough to get a signed, first edition copy and meet the author, so this was truly a ‘must have’ for my collection.

Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Brigette Barrager

Although I have sung the praises of this book elsewhere, it is just so gorgeous I feel compelled to mention it one last time. For those certain young (or not so young) girls who simply love the idea of unicorns, this book has been written especially for them. There is a unicorn out there, known as Uni, who really truly believes, against all the evidence, that little girls must exist and that somewhere there is a special little girl just for him. If he just wishes hard enough then he is sure his dream will come true.

How Uni finds his special girl is a wonderful story with stunning illustrations that will make any unicorn lover aged two and over squeal with delight. I know I did!

Angela Crocombe