Ok so it’s driving my absolutely nuts now so out of desperation I’m hoping some wonder Poster in here will recognise my description!
As a child (late 80s early 90s) I had a hard back book which was a collection of stories. I don’t remember much about it expect I’m sure the cover was blue (light and dark) and maybe the illustration on the front was a toy shop window with some marionette puppets in it
The first story in the book was about a little girl who really wants to buy a marionette puppet from the toy shop (maybe a clown) and goes in to get it (either with her dad or grandpa) and they see a little boy in there who also really wants it (possibly with his mum)I’m sure the girl ends up letting the little boy buy it as it’s his birthday and she instead buys another puppet (I think a lion) and Henry two children play together with their puppets
The only other story I remember is about new shoes and old boots. The top of the pay was illustrated so there was a picture of these new shoes poking a tongue out at some old looking boots.
In the story I think it’s about a farmer who buys some new shoes (probably for Sunday best) and the new shoes are really mean to
The old muddy boots. Something ends up happening and the farmer cleans up his old boots and wears them to church ?! And the new shoes are used in the field and gets all muddy!
It’s all a bit vague but it’s been bugging me for ages! I’ve tried searching in various book finding website and Google books but nothing