Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles - Rupert Kingfisher

Enchanting, first in a series about Madame Pamplemousse, a mysterious but eminently sensible shopkeeper who sells edibles in the back streets of Paris.   Madeleine, sent during the school holidays to help her uncle, Monsieur Lard, in the kitchen of his restaurant, the terribly greasy "Squealing Pig" is treated not as an assistant chef, but at the kitchen porter, scraping all the leftovers from the plates, and washing them, up to her elbows in dirty water.  And then, one day on an errand, she finds herself in Madame Pamplemousse's shop, the one with Edibles over the door, and only candles for lighting inside, and the magnificent one eyed cat Camembert (with an eye patch!) as the assistant. 

There's a bit of magic going on in this book for children, and it's truly a modern fairy tale with a happy ending.  The characters are horrible, or kind, or helpful, depending on who Madeleine comes across, but all are somehow believeable. This would make a great read aloud book for Grandparents or parents who love to read - or for an early  reader.  If I was having this read to me, I'd not want to stop until the end, and I would certainly want to know about the next book in the series.!