Pretty Minnie in Paris

Pretty Minnie in Paris by Danielle Steel is a Paris story for 5 year olds about a very small dog with an outfit for every occasion.

What happens

Minnie is a white, long-haired, teacup-size Chihuahua. She belongs to Françoise, and she loves to wear shoes.

The two of them go everywhere together except school. The top of the Eiffel Tower. Their favourite bistro. The Jardin du Luxembourg on a bicycle.

Françoise likes pink and purple and anything that sparkles, and so does Minnie.

There is one thing Minnie will not stand for, and that's her snowsuit. When it goes on she rolls over with her legs straight up in the air like a beetle on its back, and she stays there until it comes off again. (Honestly, who could argue with that?)

Françoise's mother designs clothes, so the best days are the ones spent in the workrooms where the hats and gowns and fancy shoes get made. Better still are the fashion shows, which are full of people and photographers and noise.

And that's the trouble. At her very first show it's all a bit much for a dog the size of a teacup. Minnie jumps down, slips behind the curtain and is gone. Françoise can't leave her seat to look, and she starts to cry.

So there's a lost-pet wobble in the middle of this one, which is worth a thought if your reader is the sort to go very quiet when an animal goes missing in a story. It doesn't last long. The whole story is only a few hundred words, so you can read ahead in a minute and know exactly what you're getting into.

What's lovely about it is how seriously Minnie takes her own life. She has opinions. She has a job to do at the workrooms, or thinks she has. She is not a pet who happens to be in Paris, she's a Parisian with a girl.

What to read next

If you've got a reader who likes a small animal with a great deal of dignity, Anatole and the Cat will go down nicely after this one. Anatole is a mouse who bicycles into Paris every night to work as the official cheese taster at a factory, and nobody there has the faintest idea he isn't a man.