Bedtime is more than a time on the clock in our house, it’s an event.

One that is looked forward to with great relish by my three-year-old boy and there is always a long negotiation around the number of bedtime stories to be read.

A new book is cause for great excitement and so the arrival of three recent releases by Penguin Random House were very well received.

Angry Owl and His Tree, The BIG Book of Bedtime Stories and The BIG Book of Fairy Tales were all excellent bedtime entertainment.

All three come in both English and Afrikaans, which was a plus for us as we are a bilingual household.

I am always looking for great Afrikaans books to add to our library.

Let me start with our favourite: The BIG Book of Bedtime Stories (R190).

This delightful treasury of stories features charming characters and delightful illustrations, each with a hidden message.

What a win!

We have a number of favourite tales, like the funny tale of Superchimp, which are requested again and again.

Angry Owl and His Tree by Kerryn Ponter was also a sweet story and at only R70 it’s a bargain buy.

The story presents the changing of the seasons to young children in a charming manner, and is a good touch point for talking about dealing with change.

The owl struggles through the way his tree is changing but not only did he come to accept it but, he understood the value of the changes.

The BIG Book of Fairy Tales by Saviour Pirotta (R190) is full of all the classics including Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, The Gingerbread Man, Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, Goldilocks, The Snow Queen and Hansel and Gretel.

My only gripe with the book is that while reading the stories to our son my husband and I realised that some of the classics have quite questionable morals.

Puss in Boots encourages lying to get ahead in life, Golidlocks is a juvenile delinquent and housebreaker and Hansel and Gretel were quite happy to eat someone else’s house… that said the illustrations are beautiful and the retelling of these timeless tales is perfect for younger children.

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