The rich seam of tales surrounding the legend of King Arthur were always something I'd intended to introduce Charlotte to at some point. I thought that she'd be completely entranced by the stories of the Knights of the Round Table but the books I've got at home (Mallory's "Le Morte D'Arthur etc") are all a bit grown up. However, there are children's books out there that serve as a gentle introduction - including this latest addition to the fantastic Usborne "Sticker Dressing" range.

"Sticker Dressing King Arthur" shows some of the most famous scenes from the Chronicles of King Arthur, from the young boy pulling the sword out of the stone setting his destiny to be king of England - to later life and the formation of the Knights of the Round Table.

Each scene comes with an associated sticker sheet, so little ones can have fun sticking on clothes and accessories to the characters while reading and learning a little bit more about the legends. Naturally Charlotte was instantly drawn to the story of Arthur retrieving Excalibur from The Lady of the Lake (particularly when she found out that her uncle lives not far from Dozemary Pool, apparently the site of this particular legendary scene so I guess we'll be visiting there soon!)

The Sticker Dressing range aren't just about 'dollies' - this is a great book to serve as an introduction to Arthurian legend and we'll be looking at more Arthur stuff very soon on the blog. Stay tuned!

Charlotte's best bit: Arthur and The Lady of the Lake and The battle with The Green Knight

Daddy's Favourite bit: Gorgeously presented and a fab intro to the rich tapestry of legend surrounding King Arthur

(Kindly sent to us for review by Usborne Books)

We've dressed a lot of dollies with our Usborne sticker books, now it's time to help a certain royal couple move into their dream house with the "Royal Doll's House Sticker Book".

With over 200 stickers to choose from, there's plenty of scope for dreaming up a des-res fit for a future King and Queen, and their new royal baby.


Charlotte enjoyed the book very much, but we still find that we need to 'supervise' quite a bit. She's a stickler for things going in the right rooms and places, and I often think it'd be fun to just encourage her to 'run riot' with the stickers and put them on whichever pages she likes (but she isn't having any of it!).

We were slightly disappointed that towards the end of the book, a lot of the bigger stickers weren't quite cut properly so a few were ruined as we tried to detach them from their backing sheets (not our cludge-fingers, just not quite enough depth to the cut around the stickers). We have had this a few times before but not with Usborne books so it was a little unusual - and the cause of great frustration at times!

However, the quality of the illustrations and the book itself couldn't be faulted. The timely subject matter and the sheer number of stickers to include in each scene meant that (with a few moments to point out which stickers belonged on which pages) we had Charlotte completely and utterly entranced for hours while she meticulously kitted out Will and Kate's bedroom, or baby George's nursery. Personally I loved the dream kitchen!


There'll be more very soon from the Dolls House sticker range - as there's a rather fantastic looking Victorian Dolls House Sticker Book on the way. Watch out for a feature and a review of it very soon!

Charlotte's best bit: Designing the perfect nursery for little George

Daddy's Favourite bit: Gotta love that kitchen! Perfect place to store all those wedding presents like coffee makers and juicers

(Kindly sent to us for review by Usborne Books)