Lucy Ladybird by Sharon King-Chai (Templar Books)

We're celebrating today's release of "Lucy Ladybird" by Sharon King-Chai with a peek inside the book and a look at this explosion of colour, with a rather beautiful story at its heart.

Lucy the Ladybird is born without spots, and at first the other ladybirds don't like her at all. Feeling like she doesn't fit in or belong, Lucy embarks on a journey to visit other 'spotty' animals, who are all kind and caring and happily share their own spots with Lucy to cheer her up.

But will Lucy ever be able to fit in with the other ladybirds? You'll have to dive into this beautiful book to find out!

Celebrating sharing and acceptance, and that being different is not a bad thing - this is a superb little book with a fantastic fold-out that younger readers will gasp in awe at (Charlotte actually couldn't wait for that bit in the story and rather naughtily skipped straight to it, but I made sure we read the story properly too, of course).

The great thing about Sharon's art is that we felt we could make our own Lucy Ladybirds up, and try lots of different ways of dabbing spots on her (paint, stickers, cut out card or wrapping paper) to come up with our own colourful ladybirds - so it's a great jump-off point for making and crafty activities too.

It's released today, May 1st 2013, so nip into your local friendly indie bookseller and grab a slice of ladybird-shaped loveliness.

Charlotte's best bit: The riot of colour and charm on the huge fold-out page at the end of the book.

Daddy's favourite bit: Lots of charm and a touching little story. Great for younger bookworms but also a fantastic craft and making inspiration too!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Books)