I hadn't come across Wibbly Pig until my daughters were bought this 'Is it bedtime Wibbly Pig?' book written by Mick Inkpen last Christmas. I was however familiar with the author from his series of Kipper books which my nephew used to love and hoped that this would be as good. I have since discovered Wibbly Pig on BBC2 so my girls can watch his adventures too.
My girls loved this book from the first reading when they were about 18 months old, as our copy was paperback we didn't get it out straight away as they were still destroying board books and didn't think it would last long.

We have had a similar bedtime routine for our girls since they were tiny that involved a story in our room before they go into their room and cots. This book is great as it tells the story of Wibbly's Pig's bedtime routine and how he tries to make it last as long as possible to put off going to bed. Every night I ask my girls which story they would like and they shout 'pig, pig!' one of them crawls over to where the book is kept on top of the wardrobe for me to lift her up to get the book down. We then settle down on the bed or floor to start reading the story, the girls don't always stay put but know the story so well that they come over to join in with their favourite parts.

Each page asks Wibbly Pig a question and he replies such as 'Is it bedtime, Wibbly Pig? No silly! I'm still in the bath!' and 'Shall we close the curtains, Wibbly Pig? No. I want to look at the moon.' Ending with Wibbly Pig asleep and dreaming which is a fold out page. I don't know if I should admit that we had been reading this story every night for a couple of months before we realised this fold out page existed, the story ended without it and it wasn't obvious it was a folded page when new. The girls liked the new improved ending though which includes characters from the story in his dream such as the 3 bears from his bedtime story.

This book has lovely illustrations and Wibbly's toys Pigley, Flop and Dimple feature on each page and it is fun to help your little one spot them. My girls also get involved on other pages such as helping Wibbly Pig count the stairs as he goes to bed and bouncing along with Wibbly when he isn't tired. They also like to draw Pigley in the bathroom mirror like Wibbly does!

Would I recommend?
Yes, it's a firm favourite to the extent that I wonder when they are ever going to let me read something else at bedtime.
Does this book signal bedtime? It does for my girls as soon as we say good night to Wibbly Pig they make their way to their room to be put in their cots. Do they then go to sleep? Well no but you can't have everything!