The Lost Smile: The Fabulous Five, written by Julia Stebbing and illustrated by Zuzanna Lipinska, is a heart-warming picture book aimed at 4-7 year olds and is the first book in The Fabulous Five series. It is written in catchy rhyming verse, beautifully illustrated and is a story of friendship.
One morning, Jasper Cat wakes up knowing not all is right with him. He can’t quite place his finger on it but after looking at himself in the mirror and with a bit of deduction and deliberation he realises that he has lost his smile. But Jasper has some very good friends; Dora Dalmation, Mimi Mouse, Freddie Flea and Robbie Robin, who also notice that his smile is missing, and they join him in the search to find it.
Overall, The Lost Smile: The Fabulous Five is a charming and delightful story of friendship and kindness between five animal friends. It has been written in delightful rhyming verse that children will take delight in hearing or reading for themselves. When Jasper Cat loses his smile all the other animals, his friends, drop everything they are doing to try and help him find it, and they do, just not in the way everybody thinks.
The Lost Smile is a nice book to read to kids at bedtime, especially in the run-up to Christmas with its kindness theme. The simple story is catchy with its rhyming verse and portrays a very powerful message that good friends, and friendships are very powerful motivators, a quite enchanting story.
It isn’t just the charming text that the young readers will love, it has been beautifully and adorably illustrated by Zuzanna Lipinska and complements the story extremely well. The colours are bright, the images not too cluttered or fussy and are at times humorous giving lots of talking points throughout the book. There are even some illustrated colouring pages at the end of the book for the kids to colour in.
The Lost Smile is the first book in a five book series featuring the five animal friends – The Fabulous Five: Jasper Cat, Dora Dalmation, Freddie Flea, Mimi Mouse and Robbie Robin.
The Lost Smile is an enchanting and engaging story that will capture the imagination of young children, with them wanting to read it again and again. Perfect for telling stories of kindness and friendship.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99 (Paperback) / £1.99 (Kindle)
For more information, visit www.stickybunpublishing.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
