Mine! By Jerome Keane and Susana De Dios (Orchard Books)

With a cover that leaps out at you in bold colourful style, and a great little core message about sharing and friendship tucked away inside here's a rather attractive little book from Jerome Keane and Susana De Dios.

"Mine!" introduces Horse and Fox, who are bored one day and in dire need of something to do. Bored bored bored! When something unexpectedly drops out of the sky near them, it's only a matter of time before both Horse and Fox want to play with the mysterious thing that has appeared.

Each hopes the other hasn't noticed, but of course they have - and thus begins an animated discussion about who the object belongs to.

"It's mine!" says Horse.
"No, it's mine!" says Fox.

They argue and bicker, but can Horse and Fox learn to...share?

This will have an air of familiarity to it for any parent who is struggling to teach their little ones the value of sharing and playing together (lord knows we struggled with this one but it was very encouraging to see that we weren't the only parents at Charlotte's nursery who had problems getting their kids to share!) An amusing little tale with a superb twist and payoff at the end, guaranteed to slot nicely in before bedtime. Lovely!

Charlotte's best bit: Laughing out loud when she saw how Horse and Fox's problem was rather neatly solved!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A moral tale with amusing consequences, very nicely written and illustrated.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Orchard Books)