The importance of reading aloud to children cannot be underestimated, and this anthology is designed not only to facilitate that but to help inculcate a love of books in youngsters, especially those who regard reading as uncool or too much like hard work.

Absolutely impeccable anthology of short poems and prose excerpts designed for self-contained readings at bedtime. It’s intended not only to entertain but to encourage children to seek out literature for themselves.

Reading aloud should be a pleasurable experience for both the reader and the listener and this book will do so much to promote this. I feel sure that it will become a well-thumbed family favourite and will work brilliantly in schools and libraries too. It would also make a lovely gift. Highly recommended.

This new anthology brings together a wide range of poetry and prose ideal for reading aloud with children. With a foreword by former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo, it incorporates a lively and diverse selection of both well-known and well-loved favourites, and less familiar material which may be new to young readers...Each piece has been selected by the Reader Organisation, a UK charity for reading and health, with the aim of capturing children's interest and imagination. Ideal for classroom use as well as bedtime reading, this is a delightfully varied and enjoyable collection.

As a present for anyone who can find a child to read to it is A VERY GOOD IDEA. This satisfyingly thick anthology of poems and stories contains more than 60 choices of good stuff...as an added help, a reading time is given for extracts from longer stories.

The aim isn’t merely to entertain at bedtime but to entice children to explore the world of fiction and broaden the scope of their reading. If the book encourages even one person to discover the work of Russell Hoban, say, or Joan Aiken, or Jack London, then it will have performed a great service. But it is likely to encourage many. A splendid idea, admirably executed.

Many years down the line, memories of those happy shared times in which lessons are disguised as pure enjoyment for both reader and listener will be recalled as golden days.

As in the first volume there are plenty of heart-stopping moments and a generous dollop of gore, but nothing most teens and confident readers can't handle: in fact, the problem will be to persuade them to put the book down. In short, it's both gross and engrossing!

The Whispering Skull frees Stroud to let his flair for spectacle run riot, resulting in several deftly constructed set-pieces far more akin to true horror than the ghost house antics of the first book.

As in the first instalment, Stroud manages to perfectly balance grisly encounters with gleefully sarcastic humour.

This is quality reading for young and old. Bring on those ghosts, but first hand me my rapier!

There's a dark, macabre air to these books that Stroud handles with an expert touch, perfectly balancing the supernatural with witty repartee and serpentine plots (no one could ever accuse Stroud of dumbing down). After The Screaming Staircase, our trio is back with a second instalment to sort out a seriously creepy talking skull trapped inside a glass jar. Ghost-busting has never been more engrossing.

The spine-tingling performance of Lyons’ narration will keep listeners on the edge of their seat.