Zoe's Rescue Zoo - The Playful Panda. By Amelia Cobb, illustrated by Sophy Williams

I've read lots of the Zoe's Rescue Zoo books now and this is my second favourite because the two very cute panda cubs named Mei Mei and Chi chi sound ADORABLE!

Zoe is the main character and she lives in a rescue zoo, which is owned by her Great Uncle Horace. Each time, Zoe has a different adventure but it always involves a very adorable animal.

Her mum (the zoo's vet) is always a bit worried when her uncle Horace goes away because he's a very old man so he could get hurt but he always comes again with another cute animal for the zoo.

Meep is a small, grey mouse lemur and Zoe's very best friend. He hates being in a cage or even the lovely big enclosure that great uncle Horace fixed up for him so instead he lives in Zoe's house. Zoe doesn't think it's strange to be woken up by elephants trumpeting or to have millions of animals in her back garden. I would love to be her! She always comes up with a brilliant plan.

This book is a bit threatening when Mei Mei goes missing on picture day, because she's supposed to be put on TV! Even the mayor is there. So Zoe has to hunt everywhere to find Mei Mei - she could be anywhere in the zoo - and Zoe has to find her fast before mean old Mr Pinch realises Mei Mei AND Chi chi aren`t in their enclosures. Otherwise Mr Pinch will be angry and probably blame Zoe.

I liked how much drama there was in this book and read it twice!

Rosa loves this series of books. She likes that it always works out in the end, but there's still lots of drama and a big dollop of cuteness. Meep makes her laugh and she's learnt about different animals along the way. 7+ - Rosa's Mum

Zoe's Rescue Zoo - The Playful Panda

Written by Amelia Cobb and illustrated by Sophy Williams

Published in 2013 by Nosy Crow

The Rescue Princesses - The Ice Diamond. By Paula Harrison

Maya and her friends go up the mountainside and see lots of diggers ruining the wildlife and scaring the snow leopards. Maya and her friends have to help them.

When they find out Maya's uncle is responsible they are angry but the King doesn't believe them and he makes them serve the other kings and queens and speak politely all morning! The ice diamond is a special diamond set in the king's throne, and when it goes missing the friends have to prove to the king that it's all down to the horrible uncle.

I like this book - it uses lots of good adjectives (a describing word) like "pudgy", which makes you feel like you're right there watching it all happen. When I got to the part where they found out who was in charge of the diggers I kept saying 'that stupid man' because it made me really angry that he had lied! I was happy when he was finally banished from the castle.

It was an exciting story and Maya and her friends did some really daring things that I would never do. I feel like I'm a bit like Princess Maya because we both love animals, we both like climbing and having friends around and we're both a bit adventurous. What's different about us is I do some little things and she does some really really big things.

There's lots more of these Rescue Princesses books and I'm going to try and read as many as I can!

The Rescue Princesses - The Ice Diamond by Paula Harrison

Published in 2014 by Nosy Crow

117 pages

The Magic Faraway Tree - The Folk of the Faraway Tree. By Enid Blyton

I've read this book once and now I want to read it again and again.

It's about 3 children and a visitor. The children have discovered in past books that they can walk into the woods and get into the Faraway Tree - a tree so tall you can't see the top, where magical people live and different magical lands come and go.

The visitor's name is Connie and at first she's nasty and bossy and doesn't even believe in the Faraway Tree until she finally sees it. By the end of the book she is sad to leave and she's had lots of amazing adventures - like visiting the Land of Treats and Roundabout Land. The children see their good old friends Silky the fairy, Moon-

Face and Saucepan Man.

I liked how it was exciting and you could never tell what was coming. There's lots of fun things about it and I like the way they all get soaked when Dame Washalot pours her dirty water down the tree. It was scary when the Faraway Tree was wilting and everyone was getting really worried about it. I thought it would actually die because this is the last book, but I don't want to spoil the ending! I think you should read it!

Another classic from Enid Blyton. Rosa enjoyed Saucepan's silly poems and wanted to join the children when they were in the Land of Birthdays! This is a longer book, but each visit to a different land breaks it up into lots of brilliant mini stories. 7 or 8+ - Rosa's Mum

The Magic Faraway Tree - The Folk of The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

Published 2014 by Egmont UK

210 pages