I'm not really picky when it comes to buying books for my 4 year old twin boys, at the moment they cant read but they do enjoy a bedtime story and luckily they are not too fussy what book I read to them either. I'm always in my local charity shops to pick up bargain books.

One of the books we have is Sally's Secret by Shirley Hughes.

This book is a hard covered picture book with a RRP of £8.99 printed on the back. I've never read a Shirley Hughes book before, and to be honest I'm not choosy with authors either but the back of the book lists other picture books written by Shirley, these including 'Alfie Gets in First, Helpers, The Trouble with Jack' and many others.

Sally's Secret is in fact a den, she has made, nothing special or intricate but it's imaginative and beautiful. It's basic storyline portrays a child's imagination perfectly, illustrating how fun and adventurous a child can be with such very simple things. The illustrations alongside the story are beautiful and delicate, appearing almost like professional paintings which add to the imagination for a child as they can really picture Sally's imagination and see what she sees which I really like.

My boys really enjoyed listening to this story and looking at the pictures too, even though the book does look a little girly as it's covered in flowers. The type of things Sally was doing in the story though is exactly what my boys would think and do, such as making houses in all sorts of places - even behind curtains, under tables and inside boxes. Pretending these places are their homes, their special places I can see their imaginations unfold and in this book you see Sally's unfold further when she ventures out into the garden too which is exactly what my boys like to do, as everything just seems so much more magical and real outside in the world. It is out in the garden that the book reveals Sally's new secret which is so simple yet appears so fun.

I bought this book for about 30p in a charity shop and it really is a lovely story which all children could relate to, be it boy or girl.