Charlie and Lola Alphabet

When Lauren Child drew the first Charlie and Lola books, before the concession got taken up by both the tv animators, and the affiliate makers of toys and t-shirts and 'inspired by the stories of' books, she made one very smart design decision.

One of the key elements of those original books was the collage effect: wallpaper, soft furnishings, and Lola's dresses were all made from torn scraps of old paper and fabric. And the same patterns are repeated across all the books, and then got incorporated in the TV cartoons, and now here they are too, on this alphabet set.

It's smart because it means she can do anything with her characters; put them anywhere, change their hair or their facial expressions, and they're still instantly recognisable as part of the Charlie and Lola universe. And, just as it's been recognised that our kids - scarily - pick up the branding of chains like McDonalds or Starbucks at a very early age, so too can my daughter see a scrap of one of those patterns and recognise it for exactly what it is.

Having said all that, all I really wanted to add is that I do find the Charlie and Lola alphabet set really rather appealing: probably because those first small scraps of collage that Lauren Child put together were beautifully chosen. Other characters and elements of the show are on here too, and, cleverly, they reflect the letter they are on - so, peas for P; Marv for M, and so on.