Mabel and Me - Best of Friends by Mark Sperring and Sarah Warburton (HarperCollins Children's Books)

It really is something of a recurring theme on the blog at the moment - children's books that deal with friendship in all its forms. In "Mabel and Me - Best of Friends" we find out what happens when Mabel and her best friend "Me" take a summertime stroll and meet various folk along the way that seem to think Mabel is a little odd.

"Look at those scrawny legs" they say. "What funny ears!" they whisper. But when Me realises just who they're talking about, we find out just what happens when a friendship is tested and examined.

Mark Sperring's gentle text fuses with Sarah Warburton's brilliant illustrations perfectly. We liked the 'twist' mid-story as the narrative deals with Me's misunderstanding. The core theme that friends are friends despite outward appearances, or behaviour, is a good strong basis for a quite enchanting story and it helps hugely that this felt like a "Charlotte" book - ie a book with a little girl at its heart who is fairly ordinary yet extraordinary too.

Charlotte's best bit: "I want a friend like Me!"

Daddy's favourite bit: A lovely story, gentle but funny in all the right places with utterly delicious artwork.

(Kindly sent to us for review by HarperCollins Children's Books)