Lily and Bear by Lisa Stubbs (Boxer Books)

For quite some time now, mysterious postcards showing an adorable little girl and a gigantic cuddly bear have been popping through our letterbox. What on earth was going on?

Now we know, because a rather wonderful book (accompanied by even more lovely little postcards) has arrived to brighten up our lives.

We automatically love books that have both friendship and creativity at their core. "Lily and Bear" has a wonderful central character, Lily, who (like both of us) loves nothing better than to draw and paint, scribble and crayon, drawing anything that springs to mind.

(we love the fact that Lisa Stubbs drew on her own children's creativity for the book and also made a feature of their gorgeous artwork in the book and the end-papers too! What a fantastic idea!)

Lily draws Bear, and her life changes forever. Far from being lonely any more, Lily now has a huge furry cuddly friendly companion to play with and go on adventures with (and to draw with).

The message about friendship in the story is reinforced when Bear decides that he'd rather like to do some bear-y things from time to time too, and Lily as a true friend can't wait to go fishing, wandering in the woods and building shelters.

True friends forever.

There's so much to love about this book (from Lily's brilliant dress sense - not a million miles away from Charlotte's - to bear's sheer size yet quite dainty nature). A lovely book that was well worth the wait!

"Lily and Bear" is out today, 2nd April 2015

Charlotte's best bit: Going fishing with Bear!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A gorgeously creative warm cuddly and friendly little book, love it!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Boxer Books)