The tale of an unlikely friendship, and a technical challenge that will need more brains than brawn...

Here's a welcome reprint for a book that is glitzy, glamorous and full of feline charm. "Glitter Kitty" tells the tale of a glamour puss who is getting ready for an evening's soiree at a local dance contest.

Cuddles can't resist lovely clothes and shoes, so she spends the day dashing around town helping her friends and shopping for an exquisite new outfit to wow the dancers at the competition with. After a long day of shopping though, Cuddles needs a nap (shopping IS tiring business after all). But Cuddles oversleeps! EEK!

Will Cuddles make the contest in time? With a little help from her friends perhaps...!

Glitter Kitty is glam and unashamedly girly but Charlotte is a huge Lydia Monks fan, and we loved Mara Bergman's story - in particular the many moggy characters that Cuddles meets (who could resist a charming cowbow-esque ginger tom called Sugarboy!)

Younger readers will love the textured glitter-encrusted pages, perfect for exploring fingers - and the story is a lovely length to polish off before bed where your little ones can dream of slinky cats, glitter balls and the cha cha!

First published back in 2005, "Glitter Kitty" by Mara Bergman and Lydia Monks will be re-released in softcover format in September by S & S Children's Books.

Charlotte's best bit: Cuddles extremely fashionable taste in shoes. They're a real wow!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Full of brilliant characters, a luxurious look at feline life!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Though we're predominantly cat people (meow!) at ReadItDaddy Towers, we cannot resist a doggy picture book and "Best Friends" by Mara Bergman and Nicola Slater is an absolute stunner.

This lovely little rhyming story tells the tale of Dexter, Daisy and Lily - three very different doggies and their very different owners. Like most dogs, Dexter Daisy and Lily are fun and mischievous and like nothing better than getting up to all sorts of shenanigans in the local park. The dogs and their young owners all meet up and soon chaos and fun ensues, and along the way the children find out that sharing and playing together is a huge amount of fun.

What caught our eye about this book, other than the utterly stunning retro-flavoured art by Nicola Slater is Mara's pitch-perfect rhyming and the glorious energy the book exudes from every page spread. From end paper to end paper, it's a charmer and if your little ones are pet obsessed, they'll love the story while you'll knowingly nod at some of the amusing antics that happen as the tale unfolds. Really love this!

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte fell hopelessly in love with Daisy. Such a natty dresser!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun rhymes, utterly beautiful illustrations, a canine classic if ever I've seen one!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hodder Children's Books)

This is an interesting little book. At first glimpse it reads and feels a bit like a simple tale of some children being menaced by an alligator. But peel back those layers, looking for the subtle hues underneath its reptilian belly and there's more to "Snip Snap Alligator" than meets the eye.

Three children are at home when suddenly an escaped Alligator creeps slowly into the house, scaling the stairs, worming his way around corridors in search of easy meat. With each turn of the page the book seems to become more menacing, the alligator grows in the minds of the children and in the way he fills each page spread - until the children stand up to him and frighten him so much that he scampers off.

We read this through a few times before it began to sink in that it'd make a very powerful anti-bullying story. Make no bones about it, the alligator has no redeeming features, he's menacing and snaps his jaws - but when the children stand up to him he's as cowardly as they come. Describing something so terrifying but also describing how to deal with something that scary, the book really does seem to work on several levels but for children who have had issues with bullying, it speaks to them in a language they'll absolutely understand.

One last thing - the Amazon write-up on this book describes it as being like "We're going on a bear hunt" - Er, how? That completely passed me by!

Charlotte's best bit: The children standing firm and winning out in the end

Daddy's Favourite bit: Subtle, dark, menacing but also very cleverly uplifting at the end.