The Small Adventures of Swoozy Noon — Michael Lawrence

Swoozy Noon lives with her parents and Longfellow the cat in a big old house in a very flat part of rural England. There's a small cottage attached to the house: the shop from which her parents sell antiques and memorabilia. Lots of old things come and go in the shop and the house, and Swoozy Noon has conversations with many of them (including a musical box, a suit of armor and a grandfather clock) as well as her yet-to-be-born baby brother and a snowgirl built with her best friend Archie Cornflake on the wintery village green. The Swoozy Noon tales make perfect bedtime reading, especially read by adults to children.