Hugo the hippo has his routine. He always goes skating with Bella the bird. In fact he always does everything with Bella. So when Bella makes a new friend and announces she's going to the playground with Cressida (a crocodile) instead, Hugo feels a bit miffed. Once at the playground, everything seems to be made for two — the swings, the see-saw, even playing leapfrog. And whichever way the friends pair up, there's always someone who feels left out. But there is something that they can all enjoy together and, when they discover it, it proves that three really is better than two! With wonderfully quirky illustrations from new talent Simon Rickerty and a great read-aloud text, this is a made-for-sharing picture book.

Hugo is in no doubt as to what he and Bella should go as to the Hippo-Bird Fancy Dress Party. They will go as the princess and the pea and he will be the princess (of course!) leaving poor Bella to be the pea. Indignant, Bella refuses. She has a better suggestion — they will go as a mermaid on a rock and she will be the mermaid (of course!) leaving a huffy Hugo to be the rock. Hugo is not happy. But neither is Bella. They just can't decide on a costume and things reach a crisis when they both flounce off saying they don't want to go to the party at all. After time to consider, both Hugo and Bella calm down and (privately) both choose to dress as a pea as a gesture of making it all up to each other. So when they both arrive at the party as peas, Hugo and Bella announce proudly that they are 'two peas in a pod, just as it should be' underlining the message of the book that friendship is all about give and take. With wonderfully absurd illustrations from new talent Simon Rickerty and a great read-aloud text, this is a made-for-sharing picture book.

Naughty Toes is narrated by a little girl called Trixie. At the start of the story she compares herself to her sister, Belinda, who is, we are told, a ballerina. Trixie, however, is not. And we go on to discover Trixie's anti-ballet tendencies in the dancewear she picks out at the shop, the dismay her unconventional technique elicits from her stern teacher, Madame Mina, the way she does her hair, eats an ice-cream, and the part she is given in the end-of-term show-a rock! But Trixie does have talents, even if they don't quite fit the rules of a ballet class, and it's the class pianist, Mr Tiempo, who can see that Trixie would rather be doing a toe-tap than a twirl. Trixie is full of free-spirited energy and she knows her own mind. At the end of the book, we discover how the contents of a mysterious box-left backstage for Trixie after the end-of-term show-allow her to step out and shine... as a tap dancer!