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Advantages: witty, laugh out loud, loved by children
Disadvantages: wish they were colour pictures

If you want a great story or set of stories to read, to children 6 and above, then I can highly recommend these books. fabulously written by Laurence Anholt, these stories take well known and loved fairy tales, and twist them on their head, giving a great contemporary twist. and they are great value for money - very affordable with pocket money. for example...in Little Red Riding Wolf, the villan of the story is NOT the wolf, but its the big bad ...
...animals of the forest, and she loves nothing better than picking on our hero - Wolfie...or as the author calls him "cutesy wolfie cub!" my class of 6 and 7 year olds absolutely howled and roared with this story, and let out an almighty cheer when the hero of the story changes the big bad girlie for the better. and the hat the wolf wears had me in hysterics too! The pictures are truly brilliant - I can compare it to the simspons in that you look ... Read review

Advantages: magical, lyrical language
Disadvantages: complex plot and language

...new best friend Mina (female). Skellig (male) is portrayed as being very old and frail. Overview: Michael has just moved house and his baby sister is ill. He finds a strange 'being' in his garage (Skellig), he and his friend Mina care for Skellig and help him grow stronger. Michael learns about nature, poetry and the healing power of love. - What the book offers a child reader and how it takes a reader forward: - The main themes of the book are ...
...- The character of Skellig is surrounded by a great deal of mystery and this excites the reader and makes them want to read on to try and find out a bit more about his character. The truth about Skellig is not revealed until the end of the book and the build up will engage and intrigue the reader. - How involved were you in the book? In what ways does it appeal to you as a reader? - The mysterious character of Skellig was particularly engaging ... Read review

Advantages: A wonderful book for children and adults alike
Disadvantages: None at all

This is the kind of book that puts most children's authors to shame. It tackles the real world head on, from a child's perspective, but blends the harshness of a very poor, stuttering, bullied, isolated child's life with an inner world of fantasy and magic and the quiet strength and love of those who struggle alongside him. Joe Maloney is a hopeless truant. He can't cope with school - the walls and gates, the way the teachers expect what he can't ...
...He needs the intense freedom afforded by the wasteland round the estate where he lives: he has skylarks in his head, he understands stoats and rabbits better than people, and a tiger comes for him in his dreams. His Mum tries her best to get him to school, but she does an early shift and a late shift at The Booze Bin so that they can - barely - make ends meet. His Dad was a fair boy, never a part of his life. He has been pursued and analysed and ... Read review

Advantages: Lovely illustrations, catchy story
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit too long for a younger child

The Princess and The Wizard - another wonderful book by Julia Donaldson. This is another one of my daughter's faves although perhaps the story is a little bit long for her at the moment but she loves the pictures, especially the glittery ones. It's the story of Princess Eliza, who gets captured & whisked away (on her 7th birthday of all days!) by a wicked wizard who likes turning people to stone. Luckily before she is taken away, her fairy godmother ...
...colour and changing her shape'. The wizard isn't impressed and replies 'changing her colour and changing her shape will never help Princess Eliza escape'. So Princess Eliza gets seven chances to escape and each day she changes herself into something new, such as a blue fish, yellow chick, green grasshopper... But the wizard always finds her and takes her back to his castle to do some horrible work for him. On her final chance to escape, Eliza realises ... Read review

Advantages: magical, easy to read
Disadvantages: none

This is the touching story of a young boy called Bertie told by his widowed wife after his death to another young boy called Jack after he finds himself in her garden after running away from boarding school (the same school Bertie went to) Bertie grew up in Africa where met his "Butterfly lion" but had to leave him when he got sent to England to go to boarding school. I don't want to give too much of the story away but i think any children (or ...
...which would be easy as the print is large and there are only 127 pages which contain some non-coloured pictures(by Christian Birmingham), which help illustrate and capture the magic of the story wonderfully. I got made to read it for my Uni course, but i am so glad it was this book as its such a beautiful story and had me actually crying in parts! This is the first Michael Morpurgo book i have read, but i will certainly be reading a few others ... Read review