First published in 1842, Robert Browning's poetic version of the legend about the lost children of Hamelin is sub-titled 'A Child's Story' and was originally intended only for the private enjoyment of Willie Macready, young son of the famous actor. Once in print, it became a perennial favourite with generations of children (and compilers of poetry anthologies for children!) Kate...

A reissue of TALKING TURKEYS by street poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Talking Turkeys is an unconventional collection of straight-talking poems about heroes, revolutions, racism, love and animal rights, among other subjects, that will entice many new readers to poetry. It is his very first ground-breaking children's poetry collection - playful, clever and provocative - this is performance poetry on the page...

When ten-year-old Rebecca Randall leaves Sunnybrook Farm to go and live with her aunts, Miranda and Jane, in Riverboro neither she nor her aunts know quite what to expect. And with Rebecca around it's usually the unexpected that happens anyway. In fact it is this gift for the unexpected that means that life is never quite the same again for...

Ahmed drives his donkey cart through the streets of Cairo, delivering butane gas cylinders to his father's customers. He knows everyone and has a part to play in the life of the city. He is proud to be strong enough to help his family, but most of all he is proud of his precious secret, a secret that he keeps...

One of the great nineteenth-century folklorists, Joseph Jacobs collected stories from oral sources and made scholarly notes on their origin, but he deliberately recorded them in a plain and direct style which he thought suitable for children and which makes them 'supremely tellable'. First published in 1890, his famous collection includes all the well-known tales, such as JACK AND THE...

Doctor Dolittle's Zoo is an animal home, not a prison, and the animals come and go as they please. But a visitor to the Rat and Mouse Club reveals a mystery at nearby Moorsden Manor, which Tommy Stubbins and the animals are determined to solve. ...

Laughter is an egg with a crick-crack face that can hide in the heart of the human race. Tummy tickling, rib-cracking and even wee-yourself laughs can all be found in the pages of this eggstraordinary collection of poems, riddles, jokes and ballads from the wonderful John Agard. ...

Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are two strikingly different sisters. On their father's death, the Estate goes to their brother John who, encouraged his his wife, goes against his father's wishes of looking after his sisters and step-mother. They retire to a cottage in Devonshire, but not before Elinor and Edward Ferras become mutually attracted. In Devonshire Marianne falls desperately in...

From the Eastern folk tales that make up the vast collection known as THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS certain stories - of Aladdin, Sindbad and Ali Baba - have become everlasting favourites with children and a magical ingredient of Christmas pantomine. First introduced to Europe in the early eighteenth century by the French orientalist, Antione Galland, who translated and bowdlerized...

Julia and Nathan have no friends to speak of. They're misfits of Mrs Henrey's class - awlays the last to be picekd for the team, and always without a partner. Then they discover a stash of money in a deserted house and suddenly, instant popularity seems just around the corner. But so is trouble, in the shape of the adults...

From a voyage to Africa to a dog detective solving mysteries in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, these adventures are as enthralling as any in the Doctor's eventful life. ...

When ten-year-old Rebecca Randall leaves Sunnybrook Farm to go and live with her aunts, Miranda and Jane, in Riverboro neither she nor her aunts know quite what to expect. And with Rebecca around it's usually the unexpected that happens anyway. In fact it is this gift for the unexpected that means that life is never quite the same again for...

Every child's bookshelf should start with a collection of nursery rhymes so that these fantastic and nonsensical verses (some so old their meaning is long forgotten) are among the first magical words to sound in a child's ear. This collection of over two hundred rhymes was assembled in 1903 with the family in mind ('Tradition in the nursery has acted...

The skeleton lay on its back. The jaws gaped and one arm lay across the chest as through flung there to ward off a blow . . . The Tangle is a long, narrow stretch of derelict land, a wilderness of weeds and rubbish with an old railway tunnel yawning blackly at one end. No-one - not even bullying Gary...