Finally, there’s a chapter called “The Social Issues”, featuring Briggs’s poignant graphic novel Ethel and Ernest, about the lives of his parents, and the terrifying nuclear holocaust drama When the Wind Blows. This handsome volume should bring sighs of joy all round on Christmas morning. It’s a voyage through his career as author and illustrator, taking in “The Early Years” (including The Fairy Tale Treasury – I remember that one!), “The Nursery Classics” (The Snowman, Father Christmas and The Adventures of Bert) and “A Gallery of Characters”, with the unforgettable Fungus the Bogeyman and Ug. Mrs Green’s the reason that Mum is cross, but before we find out why, we travel back through all the other people who’ve been jostled, insulted, woken up, scratched and yelled at on one day. McKee’s fizzy, busy illustrations follow the trail.Perhaps Blooming Books by the glorious Raymond Briggs (Cape £19.99) is even more of a treat for parents than for kids.

More straightforward anthropomorphism features in Billy Tibbles Moves Out! by Jan Fearnley (Collins £9.99). The story’s pretty soppy, but parents worn out with constant screams of “That’s mine!! Tell her she can’t have it!” will like the way it tackles that crucial issue of sharing nicely with siblings. More original is Who is Mrs Green? by David McKee (Andersen £9.99), a McGuffin of a title, as Mrs Green recedes further and further away in this tale of city people locked in a chain-reaction of irritation. (Cool dads will notice that it comes from graphic novelist maestro Neil Gaiman and his regular collaborator, artist Dave McKean.) What happens when the wolves come out of the wall, asks Lucy? Why, then it’s all over Who says so? Well, everybody… Kerstin Meyer’s cartoons complement Cornelia Funke’s funny story, rather than the other way about. Princess Violetta is horrified to hear that the big tournament is not a chance for her to show off her own fighting skills, but a way of finding a suitable suitor.

Funke shows Violetta struggling to be a knight, not just being boringly feisty and instantly competent. Cornelia Funke is also the bestselling author of The Thief Lord and now Inkheart (Chicken House £12.99), fantastical novels the kids can tackle when they’re a bit older.The Wolves in the Wall (Bloomsbury £12.99) is a truly imaginative tale matched by a visual treat of painting, collage and drawing. Baseball Little League is just not that evocative over here.A confused auntie could even be forgiven for thinking that authors sometimes rely too much on the wonderful talent of their illustrators to flesh out a thin tale. Michael Terry’s animals – pigs especially – are adorable, but although The Gossipy Parrot (Bloomsbury £9.99) shows he’s just as good on lions, monkeys, crocodiles and snakes, the story is distinctly unthrilling.The Princess Knight (Chicken House £10.99) gets it just right. The artwork, by Loren Long, is striking, but the book is very American in imagery. (Even though the prose is a bit ordinary.) A starker example of the power of the Big Name is Madonna’s second book for children, Mr Peabody’s Apples (Puffin £12.99). Not quite so tiresomely didactic as The English Roses and much less girly, it still has a wholesome message, about the malign power of gossip.