The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin (Bloomsbury Publishing)

It's the perfect weather for cloudspotting and we love this as a weekend activity. Lying in the grass, gazing up at the sky - either spotting shapes or trying to pull clouds apart with awesome MIND POWER!

Franklin is "The Cloudspotter" in Tom McLaughlin's new picture book, a solitary fellow with a singular obsession. In the clouds he can lose himself as he spots trains dashing by, complete with carriages, planes swooshing across the sky or tall ships with billowing chimney stacks.

One day, however, a lonely dog decides that she'd rather like to join Franklin in his cumulonimbus collecting. This breaks Franklin's concentration though, and he's so used to being alone that having a big soppy friendly dog around really isn't going to work out. He comes up with a plan to rid himself of the pesky pooch (who we adored from the moment we saw her and actually began to think Franklin was a bit of a rotter, sending her off into the great unknown in a hot air balloon!)

Will Franklin realise though that sometimes, to be a successful cloudspotter, you need someone else to pass on your observations to? After all, what's the point in gazing out of the window and spying a cloud that's exactly the same shape as a submarine if there's no one else around to see it?

A lovely touching little tale that made us want to snuggle among the clouds ourselves (and no doubt we will be out there again this weekend, watching all the clouds drift by - we always love the dragon shaped ones best!)

Charlotte's best bit: She fell completely in love with the nameless dog who tries to befriend Franklin (and spots lovely bone-shaped clouds, nom nom!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: A cuddly cloud-filled story of friendship and imagination. Blissful!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)