More fun from Sarah Kilbride and Sophie Tilley as "Princess Evie's Ponies" reaches book 10 with a dazzling dance or two...

Today sees the release of two initial titles in the "Princess Evie's Ponies" range, but they're not picture books this time - they're the first in a new range of "Young Readers".

As before, Charlotte's eyes lit up when these came in the post. She's previously loved the Princess Evie's Ponies range in picture book form and as her reading ability expands, it's almost perfect timing that these books have arrived for her to read before she settles down to sleep.

"Princess Evie's Ponies - The Forest Fairy Pony (Volume 1)" and "Princess Evie's Ponies - The Unicorn Riding Camp (Volume 2)" should please your pony-obsessed children. Each of the stories comes with pony facts at the back of the book, and bonus posters to collect with each volume.

In "The Forest Fairy Pony" Evie and her new pony friend Arwen (lovely name) travel through a magical glade, encountering a fairy kingdom and all new adventures.

In "Unicorn Riding Camp" Evie finds new friendship and fun and possibly her toughest challenge yet at Unicorn Riding School.

Charlotte dived straight into book one and when I asked her what she thought of them, she just ushered me away with a flap of her hand - which is high praise indeed!

"Princess Evie's Ponies - The Forest Fairy Pony" and "Princess Evie's Ponies - The Unicorn Riding Camp" are both out today, from Simon and Schuster


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

Amelie and Nanette are best friends, and love sparkly shoes, picnics and lovely dresses. When Nanette finds the perfect pair of beautiful shoes in a store, and Amelie has a new dress, it's a cause for celebration - an impromptu picnic party! But the friends forgot the golden rule of picnics - never invite a hungry mischievous dog along. Soon Amelie's dog wreaks havoc as he trashes the picnic, and naughtily tries to play tug of war with one of Nanette's beautiful new shoes! Distracted by a rabbit he soon lets go of his sparkly prize but the shoe is drool-covered and a little bit crumpled, and Amelie's dress is also muddy from chasing him. What can the two do?

Sophie Tilley's book is unashamedly girl-centric. Charlotte lapped it up, loving the fact that one of the characters shares the same name as her cousin - and has an equally impressive set of lovely dresses. It was a bit of a tough read for me as I tend to steer well clear of the 'girly' books, but we had a great time reading it - and wondering when we'd be able to plan a picnic party again (with the mild weather we've been having recently, we might even manage it this weekend, hooray - but I'll leave the sparkly shoes and dresses to Charlotte while I concentrate on the important bit of the picnic, the lovely food!)

Charlotte's best bit: Choosing which pair of shoes she would've bought instead of Nanette's favourite pair

Daddy's Favourite bit: It's a very girly book but it's cute nonetheless, and the illustrations are fabulous!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing)