‘Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, I’m sick of wearing yellow!’ declares the pomposity of puffed-up Mr Toad, intends staying in bed until he gets what he wants – a new blue suit, like those worn by the Moon. Meanwhile, the roosters haven’t crowed, the cows need milking ... saplings want their dew and it’s bitterly cold, and so Mother Nature, Father Time, King Neptune and the Moon set out to solve the problem, with help from the Celestial Tailor. The results are ridiculous and enjoyably rude.

Rise & Shine is an inherently silly – and largely successful – book. Character dominates plot, and the images, with their immediate impact a wealth of comic, apposite detail to discover, outshine the text. (Shown covers of the three books here reviewed, children reached for Rise & Shine.) King Neptune has a fishtail moustache, crab epaulettes and a golden bath plug dangling from his chain of office; Mother Nature is a bandy-legged charwoman, followed by and feeding animals throughout the book; Father Time’s necktie hangs askew like the hands of a clock; and so on.