Amelie and Nanette - Sparkly Shoes and Picnic Parties by Sophie Tilley (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Amelie and Nanette are best friends, and love sparkly shoes, picnics and lovely dresses. When Nanette finds the perfect pair of beautiful shoes in a store, and Amelie has a new dress, it's a cause for celebration - an impromptu picnic party! But the friends forgot the golden rule of picnics - never invite a hungry mischievous dog along. Soon Amelie's dog wreaks havoc as he trashes the picnic, and naughtily tries to play tug of war with one of Nanette's beautiful new shoes! Distracted by a rabbit he soon lets go of his sparkly prize but the shoe is drool-covered and a little bit crumpled, and Amelie's dress is also muddy from chasing him. What can the two do?

Sophie Tilley's book is unashamedly girl-centric. Charlotte lapped it up, loving the fact that one of the characters shares the same name as her cousin - and has an equally impressive set of lovely dresses. It was a bit of a tough read for me as I tend to steer well clear of the 'girly' books, but we had a great time reading it - and wondering when we'd be able to plan a picnic party again (with the mild weather we've been having recently, we might even manage it this weekend, hooray - but I'll leave the sparkly shoes and dresses to Charlotte while I concentrate on the important bit of the picnic, the lovely food!)

Charlotte's best bit: Choosing which pair of shoes she would've bought instead of Nanette's favourite pair

Daddy's Favourite bit: It's a very girly book but it's cute nonetheless, and the illustrations are fabulous!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)