I Love You Nearly Always by Anna Llenas (Templar Publishing)

This is the sort of delightful book that Charlotte seizes with a delighted "WHOOP!"...
"I Love You Nearly Always" by Anna Llenas is one of the most delightfully engineered children's books we've seen this year.

It's a typical 'friendship' tale on the surface, the cosy little story of a woodlouse and his best friend firefly.

Though the two are very different, they're still firm friends.

As you open the book you begin to see why it's so special. Glorious pop-up pages are intermixed with the story meaning that busy little hands will love acting out the tale as it (literally) unfolds before your eyes.

Anna's art style, a mix of fab scribbly drawings and collage work really does stand out on the bookstands but truly it's the fantastic paper engineering that has gone into this that wins us over.

Friends are friends, but sometimes they fall out! Nothing wrong with that!

We love a book that offers something different, particularly when it's dealing with a subject that has pretty much been mined out in children's picture books lately.

Who wouldn't love to have a gently glowing bum!

Utterly entrancing and fantastic, what more can we say other than get out and get a copy right this minute!

Charlotte's best bit: The amazing pop-ups really are impressive (her favourite spreads are the interactive ones)

Daddy's favourite bit: A brilliant way to bring a fun and original idea to a story trope that we've seen a lot of in recent months, a friendship book that uses brilliant art and design to feel wholly original and fantastical. It's another winner from Templar!

"I Love You Nearly Always" by Anna Llenas is out now, published by Templar Publishing (kindly sent for review).