Magnetic Dressing Up Princesses - Nat Lambert

"It's the evening of the magical Enchanted Ball and nine beautiful princesses need your help! They are so busy having fun that they don't have time to choose what to wear!" ...... and it's your mission to dress each princess with some of the many items of clothing or accessories ready for their night out!

The Magnetic Dressing Up Princesses book reminds me of the old school style of paper dolls books, where you used to pop out a picture of a girl and then fold the paper items of clothes around her creating lots of different looks, however with more modern twist the princesses are illustrated on seperate pages and the clothes and accessories are small, thin magnets which stick to each page. There are 9 princesses in total, 1 per page, each with a different theme including Fairy Tale, Medieval, Rainbow, Hawaiian, Egyptian, Snow etc....and each comes with a description of the clothes they like to wear. There are over 50 magnetic pieces which are kept in a small compartment at the top of the book, these include skirts, tops, shoes, crowns, accessories etc.... in a wide range of designs and colours

Apart from the initial introduction and the description on each page there is no real story to the book which can be taken one of 2 ways, if you want a nice story book to sit and read alongside the creating fashions part then this will be a let down however if you're happy just creating the designs and making up your own stories then this is a great book, it gives your little one a small challenge in finding the right pieces to create the look each princess describes but they can also mix and match pieces creating endless combinations of different looks, all the while they can be making up their own stories and personalities for their princesses.

The illustrations of the book are very colourful and cutesy, they remind me of the illustrations used on the Tracy Beaker books and other books by Jacqueline Wilson, a soft, hand drawn effect with simplistic features and detailing, they are very appealing to younger girls like my 6 year old daughter, naturally there are lots of pinks and purples appealing to the pink princess girls out there but there is also a nice mix of other bright colours meaning it will appeal to less girly girls too. The text on each page is bold, black and easily read depending on your childs ability, my little girl is a very strong reader and manages the book with ease, reading each section and finding the outfits or free styling and creating her own looks for each character but for those who need a little help Mummy, Daddy, big sister etc.... could be on hand to read the short descriptions and help find the pieces. I have sat down with my little girl a few times and read the book through with her while she creates the fashions, which is great for a little Mummy & Daughter time, however she's far too independant to really want my help and is just as happy playing on her own.

The book is lovely quality and the pages are nice and thick, though not so chunky as to make the book bulky and heavy, the magnetic pieces are nice and slim allowing you to create looks on the pages and close the book up without the pages bulging too much, however they aren't so thin that they are easily bent or that the printed images peel off easily. Personally I make sure my little girl puts the magnetic pieces back in the provided compartment so they don't get lost, they do stick well to the pages but with movement will slip around and could easily become lost, especially the smaller accessory pieces like jewellery and crowns.

My little girl enjoys playing with this book and likes to make up stories as she goes a long, she has a few favourite princesses that she always returns to but generally she will spend a nice long time playing quietly, swapping and changing magnets and she doesn't miss the story aspect as she has a fantastic imagination as well as a large collection of princess and fairy tale books. My little girl recieved the book as a gift but it retails at £4.99 and can be bought straight from the publishers site here- http://www.topthatpublishing.com/title?i​d=5502

If your little one is like mine and happy to create her own story to match the book then I could recommend this book as a fun activity book however if you're after something with a story to follow then this is not the book for you.