The one in which we attempt to be literary - well nearly

Hi my name is surprise mum and I am a book addict.

That actually wasn't a tough admission, it's try I am a voracious reader, I devour books and consume them like some people do chocolate. My favourite people tend to be the same.

As Isobel is definitely one of my favourite people and she is heading the same way, so we have been reading ALOT; and like all little bookworms we are big fans of the Gruffalo and all things Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler.

I suspect everyone has heard the theory that there are only actually seven stories, and everything is a variation upon a theme but I was very surprised to hear a Turkish fairy story where the Hodja (wise man) advises a man who feels his house is cramped to take in all his pets and then remove them in order to appreciate the space he has - Squash and a Squeeze anyone?

Then I was reading the new Scarlett Thomas book the other day (a great book, full of fascinating literariness, has inspired me to read Aristotle's Poetics next), and one of the characters recounts a chinese fairy tale about a tiger who captures a fox. the fox makes the tiger walk behind him to prove that actually the fox is the scariest animal - sounding familiar?

At first I admit to being miffed that they weren't original stories, but now I think good on them for invigorating the originals, if they carry on like this we have many more to look forward to but I'd love to know which one inspired The Snail and the Whale.