George's Marvellous Medicine - Roald Dahl

Any child who has been left to the tender mercies of a difficult elderly relative will immediately identify with Roald Dahl's hero, eight-year-old George. George's family have a farm and there are no friends around to play with at weekends. When his mum goes shopping one Saturday morning, George is left alone with his obnoxious Grandma.

It would be hard to have any feelings of tenderness for George's Grandma. She moans constantly and never has a smile or a kind word for George. Even when he makes her a cup of tea, she grumbles about the sugar and makes a fuss about having a saucer and a teaspoon, even though George has already stirred the tea for her. After criticizing George for growing too fast, she scares the living daylights out of him by suggesting she has magic powers that could make his fingernails drop off and teeth grow there instead.

George rushes off and shuts himself in the kitchen to plan what he might do to 'shake the old woman up a bit'. He has a wonderful idea. He is due to give Grandma a spoonful of her medicine at eleven o'clock, and he decides to concoct a magic medicine to replace her usual one. George bursts into poetry as he hatches his plan. He goes from room to room in the house with a large saucepan, emptying in all the lotions and potions he can lay his hands on, with the exception of those in the forbidden medicine cupboard. George's Marvellous Medicine contains everything from shampoo to floor polish to canary seed. Even the shed and the garage are raided for anything from sheepdip to engine oil. George cooks it all up on the stove and finds himself chanting a magical verse.

The time comes for Grandma to have her spoonful. As soon as she swallows it, she shoots up out of her chair and then comes straight back down again. When she complains that she is on fire, George pours water down her throat. Strange things happen after this, and Grandma ends up several times her normal height with her head sticking up through the roof of the house.

Most boys would be in terrible trouble for causing such commotion but George's dad, being a farmer, wonders if he can use the medicine on his animals to make them super sized too. There might be a problem, however: will George be able to remember exactly what ingredients and in what quantities were in his original Marvellous Medicine? If not, might the medicine have different consequences?

Roald Dahl has created a fantastic tale in 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. Any reader will feel revulsion towards the nasty piece of work that is George's Grandma, and children in particular will sympathize with George's plight at the outset and cheer him on as he concocts his weird and wonderful mixture. Descriptive language and imaginative ideas will delight and entertain readers young and old.

As always, Quentin Blake's illustrations make a distinctive contribution to 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. Grandma certainly resembles a witch, and we see her aghast as she shoots out of her chair, then deformed in various ways as the medicine works its magic. Little George is sketched in the simplest of ways, yet his expression conveys immediately his feelings at different points in the story, whether scared, delighted or amazed.

'George's Marvellous Medicine' is just over a hundred pages long, but the text is set in a large font and there are so many illustrations that the book will not be daunting for a young independent reader. The sentences are on the whole quite short, and there is a fair amount of dialogue to keep a child interested. The longest chapter is about twelve pages, but even then progress is fast because of the number of illustrations.

This is not a story that has to wait until a child is old enough to read it alone, of course. It is a wonderful one to be shared between parents (or grandparents) and their children as a read-aloud book. As it was first published in 1981, some parents may remember it from their own childhood; if not, it will be a hilarious discovery for two generations at a time.

There is, it should be noted, a word of caution at the beginning of the story, warning readers that they should not attempt to concoct George's Marvellous Medicine at home!

George's Marvellous Medicine

Roald Dahl

Puffin Books

Paperback, 128 pages

ISBN 014132273X

Price £5.99 (Amazon £3.89)

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Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road - Quentin Blake

I first became acquainted with Quentin Blake through his quirky illustrations for Roald Dahl's novels and books of verse when my children were growing up. Dahl's stories are often hilarious in themselves, but Blake always seemed to capture the essence of Dahl's characters in his drawings and add even more to the humour.

Quentin Blake has more recently illustrated stories he has written himself that are wonderful to read and enjoy. Most of them centre on a particular, sometimes eccentric, character. 'Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road', for example, is a bespectacled, grey-haired lady whom we first meet in striped pyjamas and a brown dressing-gown, sitting opposite her smiley dog at the breakfast table. Who would imagine that she later teams up with a Hell's-Angel-style group of motorcyclists who dress her up in a leather jacket and studded collar? This is the fantastical reality of Quentin Blake's world.

Mrs Armitage's outing begins when her Uncle Cosmo hands his old crock of a car to her as he now has a new motorcycle. She is not impressed with it but nevertheless sits Breakspear, her dog, in the back and sets off. Various mishaps occur that involve parts of the car falling off, but Mrs Armitage is not fazed; she throws them on the scrapheap each time and continues her journey, eventually arriving in the countryside. Things reach the point where the car has lost all its doors, as well as the bonnet and various smaller parts.

By coincidence she then encounters Uncle Cosmo and his friends coming the other way on their motorbikes. They are so impressed by Mrs Armitage's strange-looking 'machine' that they invite her to go with them to the Crazy Duck Cafe for billiards and banana fizz. This, then, is how Mrs Armitage becomes Queen of the Road.

The illustrations obviously count for a great deal in any book by Quentin Blake. We see poor Mrs Armitage with a succession of glum faces as she disposes of various car parts on the scrap heap, but the builders watching her throw the roof away seem pretty amused. She looks so much happier when she meets Uncle Cosmo and his gang, a motley crew of bearded, booted or in one case big-busted bikers. Breakspear looks delighted as he sits behind Mrs Armitage and they speed off down the country road, followed by the rest of the gang, all beaming amongst clouds of exhaust fumes.

There is a lot of fun with onomatopoiea in this book, with Blake inventing words such as beoing and kerrunch when the car comes to grief. There are generally about three or four lines of text per page in a large font on a white background, so reading is made easy. I have heard of this book appealing to children as young as three and as old as nine, by which age of course they should be able to read it themselves.

'Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road' is a wonderful read-aloud book, but may not appeal to children much younger than four-years-old. There are apparently at least two other books in Blake's series about Mrs Armitage, 'Mrs Armitage on Wheels' and 'Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave'. I shall definitely be looking out for these. Quentin Blake's books are a lot of fun to read, not least because his drawings add so much to the humour of the story.

Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road

by Quentin Blake

Paperback, 32 pages

Red Fox, 2004

ISBN 0099434245

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl

If I had to pick one single writer whose books a child should read, it would have to be Roald Dahl. I spent many fun-filled hours reading his books aloud to my children when they were very young, and they read them again for themselves as soon as they were able to. The perfect one to begin with, as it is not overly long, is 'The Magic Finger'. The heroine is a girl who can zap people with her finger with drastic results.

We are never actually told what the girl's name is, but that doesn't seem to matter. She discovers early on the special power that she has in one of her index fingers which comes into force when she gets particularly angry. She uses it at school one day, when her teacher, Mrs Winter, asks her to spell 'cat' and she spells it 'k-a-t'. Her teacher may have regretted calling her stupid and asking her to go and stand in the corner, as she grows whiskers and a tail after the girl turns the Magic Finger on her. The girl vows that she will never use her Magic Finger again after this episode, as Mrs Winter is never quite the same after her transformation.

It proves too difficult, however, for her to stand by her decision. Worse than Mrs Winter's is the fate of the Gregg family, who live in the farm adjoining that of the girl's family. There are two boys, Philip who is eight (the same age as the girl), and William who is eleven. The girl often goes to play with them, but she strongly disapproves of the fact that they go hunting with their father. At various times they are caught shooting deer and ducks by the girl. She is so incensed that she puts the Magic Finger on them, and this affects the whole family, even though Mrs Gregg was not out hunting. The ducks that Mr Gregg and his sons were aiming at turn round and fly towards them; they continue to circle around in a menacing way.

The following morning, the Greggs awake and find to their horror that they have dwindled in size and grown wings. William and Philip are delighted that they can fly, but they don't fancy the idea of eating worms of course. The Greggs have to spend the stormy night in a nest that they build themselves, as the ducks, who are now enormous, take over their house. The girl feels guilty when she realizes what has happened, as William and Philip are after all her friends. Only when the ducks threaten to shoot the Greggs do they have the chance to return to their normal human selves by promising never to shoot birds or deer again.

The Greggs are in fact transformed after this horrifying experience; they even change their name to Egg. Mr Egg destroys his guns, and William and Philip are seen feeding birds of all kinds. I will leave you to guess whether or not the girl ever uses her Magic Finger again.

This story is a wonderful blend of fantasy and the idea that people who are cruel might actually get their just desserts and change their ways. The thought of a little girl having power over those in authority or bigger and stronger than herself is a delightful one. Quentin Blake captures the essence of Dahl's characters in his line drawings and caricatures; children are always depicted with beaming smiles, other than when the girl tries to phone William and Philip and feels guilty when she is answered by a quack!

A child who enjoys 'The Magic Finger' will almost certainly delight in another of Dahl's novels, 'Matilda', once again centring on a girl with magic powers. These stories will keep children absorbed for hours on end. The font is quite small, but there are so many illustrations that reading the text will not seem like a chore to a young child who is an independent reader. 'The Magic Finger', not being too long a story, could also be suitable for reading aloud but perhaps not all at one sitting. I would definitely recommend this novel as an introduction to Roald Dahl, or as an extra one to read if you have already discovered his most famous stories through books or films.

The Magic Finger (Young Puffin Developing Reader)

by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Puffin Books, 2001

Paperback, 67 pages

ISBN 0141311290

Price £3.99 (discounted at Amazon)

Fantastic Mr Fox

Roald Dahl is the grand master of the children's story. First published in 1970, 'Fantastic Mr Fox' may not have the reknown of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', but it is a tale full of excitement and imagination. After almost forty years, it can still compete with the best of children's literature that is being published today.

Before we even meet Mr Fox, Roald Dahl introduces us to three obnoxious farmers who go by the names of Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Dahl really goes to town with his characterization here. Farmer Boggis keeps chickens and is a prime specimen of obesity because he eats three whole chickens along with dumplings for breakfast, lunch and supper every day. Farmer Bunce, on the other hand, has thousands of ducks and geese. He is a pot-bellied dwarf whose diet consists of doughnuts stuffed with goose liver paste. He seems to persist with this regime even though he has a stomach ache and a bad temper because of it. Lastly, there is Farmer Bean who keeps turkeys and has an apple orchard. No, he doesn't eat turkeys: he merely brews cider from his apples and drinks it by the gallon. He is extremely thin but very clever. These three farmers are so despicable that the local children chant a rhyme about their meanness when they see them. It is actually quite surprising that they manage to co-operate with each other, given their unpleasantness.

Co-operate they must, however, if they are to have any chance at all of outwitting Fantastic Mr Fox. Mr Fox has a wife and four little foxes to feed, and every evening he asks Mrs Fox whether she would like a chicken, a duck, a goose or a turkey. He then steals off to the appropriate farm and brings back the chosen bird. He is a wily creature who approaches the farm with the wind blowing towards him, so he will pick up the scent of a farmer lying in wait with a shotgun and quickly change direction.

Boggis, Bunce and Bean are furious and eventually decide they must hide outside Mr Fox's hole and shoot him as soon as he emerges. The story follows their frustrated attempts to do away with Mr Fox and his family, who always manage to dig further down and evade the farmers. The foxes are horrified when tractors are brought along to dig them out, but Mr Fox comes up with a plan to dig tunnels along to each of the farms and steal enough food and cider for a party. Help is enlisted from other animals, all of whom are invited to a great feast. Even the rabbits come along to enjoy great bunches of carrots.

Foxes are often portrayed as villains in children's stories, 'Chicken Licken' being a good example. In 'Fantastic Mr Fox', however, we find ourselves rooting for the family of foxes in the face of the drastic measures taken by the three loathsome farmers. The story moves along at a fast pace through chapters of about half a dozen pages each, and it's unlikely any child will have the chance to get bored.

Quentin Blake's wonderful illustrations contribute hugely to bringing the story alive. The animals are seen as life-size in comparison to the chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Mr Fox sports a stylish jacket and neck tie while Badger wears a waistcoat. Snouts and eyes are exaggerated, and the animals more often than not have beaming, enthusiastic smiles. The farmers, on the other hand, are grumpy, miserable souls. The illustration of two tractors with their headlights beaming makes them look like two monsters with sets of fangs, ready to gobble up an creature that should get in their way.

'Fantastic Mr Fox' is intended as a read-aloud story for children aged three to seven, or as a read-alone book for those aged nine to twelve. Three might be a little young, especially to listen to the whole story at one sitting. A confident independent reader younger than nine might easily tackle the book, as the text is set in a large font, sentences are short, and of course there are delightful illustrations on almost every page.

This may not be Roald Dahl's most famous children's story, but it is certainly one worth introducing to a young child. They will delight in poking fun at the farmers and enjoy following the thread of the animals working together to outwit them. There is never a dull moment in 'Fantastic Mr Fox'.

Fantastic Mr Fox

by Roald Dahl

Paperback, 96 pages

Puffin, 2007

ISBN 0141322659

Price £4.99 Amazon £3.19

Dahl's Dirty Beasts

Some children may grow up thinking that poetry is an art form that is stodgy and boring, or has to revolve around lofty ideas. If that is the case, they cannot have been introduced to Roald Dahl's 'Dirty Beasts', a collection of nine verses each featuring a creature that is either particularly frightening, very clever or quite extraordinary in some way. The book is likely to delight anyone who has enjoyed Dahl's 'The BFG', 'George's Marvellous Medicine' or 'The Twits', amongst others.

'The Pig' opens this anthology: a pig with a massive brain, who wonders what the purpose of his life is. He is clever enough to work it out:

'“They want my bacon slice by slice

“To sell at a tremendous price!

“They want my tender juicy chops

“To put in all the butchers' shops!”'

You can probably guess what happens when Farmer Bland comes to feed him the following morning.

No less gruesome is the verse about 'The Crocodile'. Not the best choice for bedtime reading, as this beast smears boys with mustard before crunching them, and devours little girls with butterscotch and caramel:

'It's such a super marvellous treat

When boys are hot and girls are sweet.'

A single page is then accorded to 'The Lion', who doesn't beat about the bush when it comes to telling us his favourite food. We are then introduced to 'The Scorpion' and told to be thankful that we in England will never find one in our bed – or will we? 'There's something moving on my feet'...

'The Ant-Eater' looks quite cuddly in comparison but beware, looks are deceiving. 'The Porcupine' teaches us the all-important lesson of having a good look before we sit down anywhere. A poor little girl fails to do this before settling on a 'comfy-looking little mound' to eat her favourite raspberry-cream chocolates that she has just bought with her pocket-money:

'My backside seemed to catch on fire!

A hundred bits of red-hot bits of wire

A hundred prickles sticking in

And puncturing my precious skin!'

A very costly visit to the dentist ensues, as mum seems to think he is the best person to remove the prickles. He seems to take great delight in doing so, and well he might with fifty guineas to come as payment.

We might expect 'The Cow' to be a less threatening beast, although Miss Milky Daisy is no ordinary cow but one that grows a pair of gold and silver wings. The crowds come to see her dive, swoop and loop the loop, and all but one of the onlookers clap, cheer and behave well. Can you guess what punishment is inflicted on the 'horrid man' who insults Daisy? Now we know why this anthology is entitled 'Dirty Beasts'.

The final verse in the collection, 'The Tummy Beast', describes a young boy who is convinced that there is someone in his tummy:

' “It's true!” I cried. “I swear it, mummy!

There is a person in my tummy!

He talks to me at night in bed,

He's always asking to be fed.” '

The poor boy's mother doesn't believe a word of it. She thinks it's just a 'silly asinine excuse' to be greedy and eat sugar buns and biscuits all day long. To look at this specimen of childhood obesity, you might tend to agree with her. I'm afraid, however, that 'darling mother' nearly dies when she actually hears the beast in the tummy snort, grumble and then actually demand nuts, chocolates and sweets. It's all too much for her.

Quentin Blake's imaginative caricatures add even more to the feeling of fun in this book. He really goes to town on the creatures in 'Dirty Beasts', where The Ant-eater devours an eighty-three-year-old woman (mistaking 'aunt' for 'ant'), flinging her in the air by her pony-tail. In 'the Toad and the Snail' we see grinning Frenchmen brandishing knives as they chase a giant toad; this turns out to be a magic toad who turns first into a giant snail and then into the 'gorgeous, glamorous, absurd, enchanting Roly-poly bird', a beautiful shade of blue with a multi-coloured, stripy tail, on whose back a little boy rides.

The humour here will not, of course, be to everyone's taste, and some of the ideas will be frightening for very young children. Slightly older independent readers, however, who appreciate this kind of humour will have plenty of fun going through this collection and letting their imagination run wild. The illustrations will provide a delightful source of encouragement. The only drawback is that the poems are not split into stanzas, and in a few cases there are as many as thirty-six continuous lines to a page. This could prove a little confusing or off-putting to a young reader who is still gaining confidence.

To anyone who has enjoyed Roald Dahl's novels but has not yet experienced his poetry, I would definitely recommend this collection of verse. I would also suggest it for children who perhaps need encouragement to read poetry and who will not be frightened by the ideas here but will see the funny side to them. There is plenty of rhythm and rhyme, and plenty of entertainment to be had.

Dirty Beasts

by Roald Dahl

with illustrations by Quentin Blake

Picture Puffins 2001

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0140568239

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Slobbages and wampfish roes, courtesy of Dahl

If I compare my sons' childhood with my own, I don't think there is much that I envy them, but one thing that I would pick out would be their access to Roald Dahl's books. Reading them aloud when they were very young, I think I got as much enjoyment from them as they did, but very soon they were devouring them by themselves. I was surprised to discover that 'James and the Giant Peach' was first published in 1961, as I was not aware of it until at least twenty years later. I thought we had gone through the whole range of Dahl's novels, poetry books and autobiographies, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across a collection of his 'Songs and Verse', which does contain some previously unpublished material.

Having recognised Quentin Blake's delightful style of drawing on the front cover, I was initially disappointed to find that he has not illustrated the whole book. I needn't have been, as there is a fantastic variety of styles from the twenty-six artists who have contributed, including Babette Cole and Gerald Scarfe. Blake has written the foreword and has provided drawings for the opening of each section.

The anthology is divided into seven sections, the first of which is 'There are things to see and do'. This opens with 'The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me', a familiar one to most Dahl fans. Then comes 'The Centipede's Song' from 'James and the Giant Peach', where Dahl lets his imagination run riot over the centipede's diet:

'I often eat boiled slobbages. They're grand when served beside

Minced doodlebugs and curried slugs. And have you ever tried

Mosquitoes' toes and wampfish roes

Most delicately fried?'

It might be quite surprising that the second section is entitled 'Best behaviour', as not many of Dahl's characters behave particularly well. Examples are the Queen in 'Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs' and Goldilocks in 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', both taken from 'Revolting Rhymes'. Then comes 'Concerning Augustus Gloop', whom we all know from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory': well, he isn't exactly a paragon of virtue. I love the double page from 'Concerning Mike Teavee' where Posy Simmonds' depictions of a purple dragon, an orange elephant, Mr Toad and Squirrel Nutkin amongst others are interspersed with each four lines of verse.

The section ends with a previously unpublished poem, 'The Shark':

'He lay there gnawing, nibbling, munching,

Chewing, burping, grinning, crunching,

Until the whole of little Jim

Was pretty much inside of him.'

Be careful, dear parent, this is a bedtime story that might lead to nightmares.....

Section three deals with 'Unlikely creatures' and begins with 'The Grobes' from 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator', shown descending into the 'quelchy quaggy sogmire'. 'The Ant-Eater' from 'Dirty Beasts' looks quite cuddly but beware, looks are deceiving. 'The Tummy Beast', also from 'Dirty Beasts', describes a young boy who is convinced that there is someone in his tummy:

' “It's true!” I cried. “I swear it, mummy!

There is a person in my tummy!

He talks to me at night in bed,

He's always asking to be fed,” '

After quite a few more creatures, we reach the fourth section, 'Poisonous possibilities'. You will probably guess that 'George's Marvellous Medicine' features here, along with Goldie Pinklesweet from 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator', who lives to regret experimenting with Granny's laxatives:

'We're sure you do not wish to hear

About the hospital and where

They did a lot of horrid things

With stomach pumps and rubber rings.'

There is a lesson to be learned in that one.

In part five, 'Look who's here', we meet the Grand High Witch from 'The Witches', decreeing a punishment for a witch who dared to answer back:

'An idiotic vitch like you

Must rrroast upon the barbecue!'

Other delightful females included here are Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from 'James and the Giant Peach', the former trying to hide her fat tummy, the latter the pimple on her nose.

Part six entitled 'All together now' brings us songs from the Giraffe, the Pelican, and the Oompa-Loompas amongst others. There is a rather menacing start in 'Crocodile Rhymes' from 'The Enormous Crocodile':

'The sort of things that I 'm going to eat

Have fingers, toe-nails, arms and legs and feet!'

This is another one that might scare the youngest members of the family.

The seventh and final section is 'And a few surprises' and contains five previously unpublished pieces, two of which take us right back to Dahl's school days. He obviously developed a hatred of umpires whilst playing cricket:

'Out on the shining square there stands a man -

A mope-eyed sot, a gutless leprechaun,

White-coated, black at heart, Hell's sacristan!

I think all umpires should be shot at dawn!'

Equally hated was Mister Unsworth, who twisted boys' ears until they came right off and littered the floor.

I haven't mentioned every song or verse here, as there are forty-one in total, eleven of which have not been published before. The index lists the verses according to the novel or poetry book that they come from, ending with the unpublished pieces.

The illustrations are so diverse that it is difficult to decide which work best, and everyone will have a personal favourite. I love the Roly-Poly Bird in his jagged yellow tree by Emma Chichester Clark, and the craziness of Neal Layton's drawing for 'I'm Going Going Going'. Some will prefer the softer touch Alexis Deacon uses for 'The Nicest Creatures in the World' featuring James of Giant Peach fame. Then I'm attracted again by Emma Chichester Clark's double page spread for 'There's No Knowing What We Shall See' with its Pink-Spotted Scrunch and Biddy-Bright Hen. Babette Cole charms me in 'Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs' and Satoshi Kitamura brings a delightful oriental slant to the dentist's surgery in 'The Porcupine'. Gerald Scarfe's caricature of 'A Nobleman Visiting Coutts' is a masterpiece.

The poetry is zany, delightful, grotesque, fantastic in the true sense, and yes, sometimes a little scary. But there is nothing else quite like it – I don't think the world will ever have another Roald Dahl.

This is a beautiful book to read, to look at and to handle. The illustrations are all in colour, the font is a comfortable size, and the quality of the paper is excellent. It would make a wonderful present for any Roald Dahl lover who wants a book to treasure. I shall use it for reading practice with pupils having private tuition: they love the humour of Dahl, and this superior quality of book with delightful pictures should whet any child's appetite. We can occasionally offer something better than a paperback!

Songs and Verse by Roald Dahl

Published by Jonathan Cape, London

192 pages ISBN 0 224 07038 X

Price £14.99 Hardback (Amazon £9.89)

A few of the best

If a love of books is instilled in our children by reading aloud to them at an early age and then sharing books and listening to them read as they begin to learn, let's hope that books will still be a pleasurable source of entertainment for them alongside television, computers and games consoles as they grow older. I have chosen several authors here and focused in most cases on a particular book as an example of that author's work; each author writes for a certain age group, ranging from three- to four-year-olds through to early teenagers. Let's start with the youngest group.

BABETTE COLE

Young children will love the humor and colorful, lively illustrations of Babette Cole's 'The Trouble with Grandad'. Grandad gets into a pickle because of the enormous vegetables he grows: he wins all the prizes at the Vegetable Show and makes other competitors jealous. When a rival gives him a tomato plant that becomes taller than the police station, Grandad is put in prison for growing a dangerous vegetable. All attempts to destroy it fail, so Grandad is released to see if he can solve the problem himself. He discovers that an enormous caterpillar is hidden inside it, which emerges and devours the tomato. When the prisoners decide to escape, they are so frightened of the caterpillar that they run back into jail. The caterpillar turns into a chrysalis and crashes into the police station. Grandad and grandson manage to escape the wrath of the chasing policemen by flying off on the back a a giant moth that emerges from the chrysalis. On returning to his allotment, Grandad hollows out a huge cucumber complete with windows and a clock tower, presenting it as a new police station. The police are delighted, but they have to protect their station from marauding giant slugs.

There is plenty of fantasy and humor here to delight young readers, and illustrations fill the greater part of each page. I find the one of the huge caterpillar happily sleeping on the roof of the police station particularly attractive. If children enjoy this story, there are others in the series such as 'The Trouble with Mum', who is in fact a witch.

FRANCESCA SIMON

Once children become independent readers, there are few who will not appreciate the tales of Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon. Henry is the bane of his parents' life: he throws food, squashes pet beetles, and steals tent pegs to make a camp fire. His brother Peter is the exact opposite of him. When Henry decides to be the perfect angel for a change one day, Peter is so annoyed that Henry isn't being his usual self that he eventually picks up his plate of food to throw at Henry. He misses, and his dinner lands on top of Mum's head instead. Henry finds it hilarious and doesn't even mind being sent to his room for laughing.

This is another series of books with comical illustrations, this time in the form of black and white drawings by Tony Ross. We see caricatures of pirates and ballerinas, or Henry and his neighbor Moody Margaret mixing up a concoction of Glop. The first book in the series includes a story of Henry's dance class as well as his camping holiday. Other titles in the series include 'Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy' and 'Horrid Henry and the Mummy's Curse'. There are enough female characters in the stories to encourage girls to read, as if they are likely to need much encouragement when the tales are ridiculously funny.

ROALD DAHL

By the time a child has finished with Horrid Henry, they will be old enough to discover the delights of Roald Dahl's novels. The perfect one to begin with, as it is not overly long, is 'The Magic Finger'.

The heroine is a girl who can zap people with her finger with drastic results: her teacher may have regretted calling her stupid, as she grows whiskers and a tail after the finger is turned on her.

Worse still is the fate of the Gregg family, caught shooting deer and ducks by the girl. She is so incensed that she puts the Magic Finger on them. The following morning, Mr and Mrs Gregg and their two sons have dwindled in size and grown wings. They have to spend the stormy night in a nest, as enormous ducks take over their house. Only when the ducks threaten to shoot the Greggs do they have the chance to return to their normal selves by promising never to shoot birds or deer again.

A child who enjoys 'The Magic Finger' will almost certainly delight in another of Dahl's novels, 'Matilda', once again centring on a girl with magic powers. Follow this book with 'The BFG', a tale of a Big Friendly Giant, or 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. Humor in 'The Twits' is taken to the somewhat vulgar extreme; for something more serious, try Dahl's 'Danny the Champion of the World'. Illustrations again form an important part of these books, and are almost always by the amazing Quentin Blake, who captures the essence of Dahl with his line drawings and caricatures. These stories will keep children absorbed for hours on end.

TERRY PRATCHETT

For children aged nine to twelve, Terry Pratchett's 'Only You can Save Mankind' is the story of Johnny Maxwell who has an unexpected experience whilst playing a computer game. My younger son, when at the top end of this age group, was a reluctant reader, but when he discovered Terry Pratchett's novels, all that changed. Other Terry Pratchett novels that will appeal to children of this age are 'Johnny and the Bomb', in which Johnny Maxwell becomes a time traveler; 'The Carpet People', a fantasy first written when the author was only seventeen; and 'Truckers', the first of a trilogy about little people called nomes who are searching for a new home. The books are full of humor and highly imaginative.

ANTHONY HOROWITZ

Young teenagers, especially boys, are almost certain to enjoy Anthony Horowitz's series of novels that center on the hero, Alex Rider. The plotlines are very detailed and full of tension, involved as they are in the world of espionage. The first in the series is entitled 'Stormbreaker', in which Alex is recruited by M16; it is both thrilling and fun to read. Female characters are sadly lacking, however, so the series may not appeal to the majority of girls.

FRANCES RIDLEY

If, however, your young teenage son is still struggling with reading (and this is not uncommon), I would suggest Frances Ridley's 'Download' series, published by Rising Stars. Each book focuses on a topic such as motocross, mountain climbing or racing cars, so a book can be chosen that will tie in with a young teenager's interests. Ridley presents information in a magazine-style layout, using relatively easy vocabulary alongside colorful illustrations; a short story is also included in each one. The books can also appeal to younger, more confident readers who have particular interests in the topics in this series.

There are of course many other authors such as J. K. Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Philip Pullman that will appeal to children. I have perhaps concentrated here on books that contain a strong element of humor (with the exception of Horowitz and Ridley), as this is likely to encourage reluctant readers. The books by Cole, Simon, Dahl and Ridley also feature excellent drawings or colorful illustrations that play a large part in helping less confident readers to follow the text. If your child is not a natural bookworm, share the books with them and read aloud; you might be surprised how much enjoyment an adult can find here too.