Lucy's Book by Natalie Jane Prior

Is there anything greater, as a child and an adult, than finding a book you so love that you read it again and again (and again)?

I remember when I started uni, my favourite place to relax was the library. It had the most amazing old book smell (second only to the library at Harvard - I swear, they should bottle that smell!) and I'd ignore the books that I should be studying (there is a reason I failed Botany) and head straight for the children's fiction section.

There I'd find all of my old friends. Ramona Quimby, Jesse and Leslie (never forget), even Del-Del who gave me nightmares as a child but taught me about grief as an adult. I'd hide away in the stacks and read, all day, piling these favourite stories next to me as I went. There was something so incredibly soothing about revisiting my favourite stories, even now, so many years on.

Not so long ago, while visiting family, I saw this same thing in my gorgeous niece. Despite the stack of new books she'd received for Christmas (and which she sped through in four days) I found her once again was curled up, with a Harry Potter novel so loved that the spine was fraying. I was so thrilled to see the love she felt for her books, knowing that they will comfort her, in years to come, the way that mine favourites have for me.

Lucy's Book is about this kind of love.

Lucy and her Mum go to the library every Saturday. Lucy loves to read but she has a favourite book, that she races to get, every week. She borrows it and borrows it, and lends it to friends who take it around the world, until she can borrow it again, and take it on holiday - until finally - one sad day, the book is no longer there. It was too old, and too loved by everyone, to hold up to one last borrow.

Lucy rushes to the bookstore, but alas, it's out of print.

Months pass by and although everyone who Lucy introduced to the book is on the lookout, it remains missing.

Until....a second hand book sale appears in her village.

This is a love story about books and for everyone who has ever had that special treasured story that they simply had to share with the world. It's about how books bring people together, on a shared journey, and inspire imagination and friendship.

This is a sweet one for kids 5-7, especially those sweet bookworms among us.

the book and the bea x