The Three Wishes - David Melling

When a king and queen go away for a few days and appoint their knight and his horse as babysitters to the prince and princess, it sounds like an easy task. Soon, however, the knight and his steed find there is too much tidying up to do, and the knight says he would rather fly out into a 'night of surprises' than babysit any longer. The horse is afraid that magic might indeed make them fly out of the window, and it does.

Outside, they land on top of an old lady riding a donkey. Her bag of spells spills, so she offers the knight and his horse three wishes if they can catch the spells for her. This is another task that is not so simple, but they manage it. The grateful old lady and her donkey vanish in a puff of smoke, leaving magic in the air.

Unfortunately, one extremely naughty spell is still on the loose. It teases the poor knight, making plants grow out of his hair. He asks the horse to make a wish, but the horse thinks of himself and asks for a bucket of carrots and some fluffy slippers. The knight says, 'I wish you hadn't done that,' thus squandering the second wish. He and his horse are not pleased with each other, but they agree to make the third wish together. Oh dear, the knight then has carrots growing from the extremely long plants in his hair, along with the fluffy slippers on his feet. The horse ends up wearing the knight's armour but the knight soon gets it back. The horse trims the unruly carrot plants into a neat shape, but they just grow back again. Fortunately, the prince and princess hear all the noise and come out to see what is going on. They simply pull the carrot plants out by the roots and lead the knight and his horse back inside the castle. The next day finds them all busy doing some DIY and happily play acting. Babysitting doesn't seem so bad after all, although the horse secretly wishes he could have those carrots and fluffy slippers again.

'The Three Wishes' is not of course the first story about being granted wishes and wasting them, but David Melling serves up his version with originality and plenty of humour. His illustrations are always a delight. As the story starts, you feel almost as though you are turning the pages of a mediaeval manuscript. At various stages of the book, we see the knight with a banana skin on his head, a carrot tree growing out of his hair, and down on his hands and knees giving the little princess a ride on his back. The colour scheme throughout centres around autumnal greens, oranges and browns, although the old lady wears a blue dress and the princess has a pink nightie. The horse in his various ridiculous situations will be a great source of amusement for any child.

The text is in a large, clear font and usually on a white background. When it is superimposed on an illustration it is always on a light colour to make for easy reading. There are never more than a few lines per page, but occasionally the lines swirl around, following for example the movement of the really naughty spell. This is of course a read-aloud book, but because of the strong element of humour I'm sure that young independent readers would enjoy it too.

'The Three Wishes' is a sequel to Melling's 'The Kiss the Missed' and 'Good Knight, Sleep Tight', both of which are also very popular with three- to four-year-olds. This is a lovely series that most adults will enjoy sharing with young children. I borrowed a copy of 'The Three Wishes' from the library, but I would say that it is worth buying and could make a great Christmas present. If your family hasn't yet enjoyed the magic of David Melling's picture books, I would definitely encourage you to do so.

The Three Wishes

David Melling

Paperback, 32 pages

Hodder Children's Books, 2008

ISBN 9780340931530

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)

Winnie in Winter

Having had so much enjoyment from reading aloud Winnie the Witch and Winnie Flies Again, I was on the lookout for more of Valerie Thomas's stories about our beloved Winnie and her black cat Wilbur. This witch is not just for Hallowe'en, of course, and the next book I found at the library was Winnie in Winter.

It's not just winter, it's a severe winter, and Winnie's garden is covered in snow. Even her yellow and red striped tights hanging on the washing line have icicles drooping from them. Winnie is not enjoying it; she is indoors, hanging up Christmas decorations, when her black cat Wilbur comes in through the cat flap with frozen whiskers.

Winnie realises of course that she can do something about this inclement weather. She dons her winter woollies and picks up her wand. Wilbur follows her out into the snow in anticipation. When Winnie waves her wand five times and utters the magic 'Abracadabra', the snow disappears and we find Winnie relaxing on a deckchair in her garden, under a cloudless blue sky where the sun shines brightly. Wilbur is enjoying the summer weather just as much as Winnie is.

The animals that were hibernating, however, are not so pleased. The sun wakes them up too early, and all they want to do is go back to sleep. The flowers that begin to grow wilt under the blazing sun, and Winnie starts to worry a little. But then the problems really begin: crowds of sun-worshippers flock to Winnie's garden; they trample on her flowers, bathe in her pond and drop orange peel on the grass. Unable to stand the crowds and their noise, Winnie retreats indoors. The last straw for her is when she notices someone selling ice-creams in the garden. Seizing her wand and once again waving it five times along with her shout of 'Abracadabra', the spell is reversed. You can probably guess the reaction of the sunbathing crowds, whilst Winnie and Wilbur realise that winter is not so bad after all, especially when you can keep warm and cosy indoors with a toasted muffin and hot chocolate or a saucer of milk.

Korky Paul's illustrations always contribute enormously to the enjoyment of Valerie Thomas's stories centring around Winnie and Wilbur. In Winnie in Winter we see Wilbur struggling through the snow as he stalks a multi-coloured bird trying to drink from the frozen pond, and a strange array of yawning birds, reptiles and mammals that have been rudely awoken from their winter slumbers. The sunworshippers look a little like a section of the crowd from Glastonbury festival (without the mud), and there even seems to be a Winnie impersonator fleeing when snow falls once more on the garden. In that same picture, don't miss the Santa Claus riding on his sleigh high in the sky between the towers of Winnie's mansion.

This is of course a very entertaining story, but it is also useful for teaching young children about the different seasons of the year. It brings up the question of animals hibernating, and shows that flowers cannot grow all the year round. Then there is the matter of invading other people's privacy and creating a disturbance that doesn't have to be tolerated. It's serious stuff, but it's dealt with in a delightfully humorous way.

This is essentially a read-aloud book, probably for ages three to six. The illustrations are double-page spreads and many have just a few lines of text on one of the two pages; at most you will encounter twenty-three short lines of text over two pages, but usually it is quite a bit less than this. The book could therefore appeal to a fairly confident young reader, especially with so much humour and so many imaginative illustrations.

I would urge any young parents not to let their children grow up without enjoying the tales of Winnie the Witch and Wilbur; I'm sure that these are books that will provide entertainment to share over and over again. Winnie in Winter is available as an individual book or as part of a collection of six Winnie the Witch stories. Definitely recommended.

Winnie in Winter

Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

Oxford University Press

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0192726452

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Winnie flies again

Having been spellbound by Valerie Thomas's original Winnie the Witch story, I was sure I would enjoy other books in the series just as much; the second one I read was Winnie Flies Again. Hoping that Winnie's beloved cat Wilbur would again feature prominently, and that Korky Paul would provide the illustrations, I was not disappointed on either score.

It is no surprise to find that Winnie travels by broomstick, or that Wilbur accompanies her, sitting on her shoulder. Imagine the freedom, with no traffic lights to tie you down. However, at one time the skies were empty, but of course they eventually become chock full of helicopters, hot-air balloons, aeroplanes and rockets. One day Winnie has a nasty collision with a helicopter, and poor Wilbur loses two of his whiskers. Further accidents ensue: Wilbur's tail is bent by a hang glider, and then he loses a clump of fur as Winnie crashes into the turret of a very tall building. Winnie herself is left hanging from her broomstick by her legs, and she decides that action must be taken.

When Winnie waves her wand, the broomstick is transformed into a bicycle. Pedalling proves to be hard work, and Winnie lands in a pond. She experiments with a skateboard and then a horse, but they both turn out to be equally hazardous. Winnie and Wilbur eventually decide to walk home, but even then Winnie falls down a hole. She decides that a cup of tea and a muffin are in order, not forgetting a saucer of milk for Wilbur of course. Neither of them get what they are after, but Winnie is in fact offered a solution to her problem. If you want to know what it is, you will have to read the book.

The story is full of mishaps, and this has allowed Korky Paul to go to town with his illustrations. If you have never seen Winnie the Witch, you might be surprised by her attire. She has yellow and red striped tights on her spindly legs, ridiculously pointed blue shoes, and a pointed hat decorated with stripes, stars and moons rather than the usual plain black variety. Her nose is long, pointed and red. Splashes of bold colour stream across the page whenever she waves her wand. Many of the illustrations are double spreads, and we sees an aviator, an Indian and a pirate as well as bird's eye views with towering turrets.

It all sounds so unfortunate, but there is plenty of humour here whilst our sympathy goes out to the characters, especially Wilbur, who has a pretty thin time of it. Children love the story as well as the riotous, colourful pictures that go alongside it. You cannot really go wrong reading aloud the Winnie the Witch series of books to children; it certainly doesn't have to be Hallowe'en. I would say that a suitable starting age is probably three, going up to five or six.

This is an ideal book to read aloud, and possible a suitable one for a fairly confident young reader as well. There isn't a huge amount of text on each page, in fact sometimes there are as few as three lines on a double page. The pictures would probably do a lot to encourage a struggling reader to continue to the end of the story.

If you know and love the Winnie the Witch stories, there is a six-in-one collection of them available at £14.99, or as little as £9.89 on Amazon. If you are yet to make the acquaintance of Winnie and Wilbur, this story is available for £4.49 on Amazon. I recommend it without the slightest hesitation.

Winnie Flies Again

by Korky Paul (illustrator) and Valerie Thomas (author)

Oxford University Press

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0192726463

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Albert visits the cloud children

I have only recently discovered John Burningham's children's books, and I wonder why it has taken me so long to do so. The Financial Times describes Burningham as 'one of the best writers in the business', whilst the TES states that 'the language of children is Burningham's'. I wasn't over impressed by 'Mr Gumpy's Outing', but I nevertheless borrowed 'Cloudland' from the library and was particularly glad that I did.

'Cloudland' appeared to be a tragic story at the outset. Albert, a young boy, is out walking in the mountains with his parents, and they are actually above the clouds. Albert's father suddenly realises that it is beginning to get dark and urges his wife and son to hurry down whilst they can see where they are going. Poor Albert, however, almost immediately trips and falls off a cliff, leaving his parents feeling devastated. At this point I wondered whether this story would be just too tragic to read to young children, but then I found that Albert was safely caught by the children who live in the clouds.

The central part of the book shows Albert having fun during the days he spends with the cloud children. Together they play jumping games, make thunderous noises, swim in the rain, paint rainbows and go racing in the wind. As much as Albert enjoys all these amazing activities, the time comes when he begins to feel homesick and the Queen of Cloudland hears him shouting 'I WANT TO GO HOME.' Will she be able to send him back to Earth to be reunited with his grief-stricken parents?

Visually this is a stunning book, although I think it has to be said that many of the illustrations will be better appreciated by adults than by children. Well, why not, if it is adults who are reading the book? There are some double-page spreads with little or no text at all, where drawings of the characters are superimposed on breathtakingly beautiful photographs of mountains, sunset skies or storm clouds with pink-tinged edges. Children, however, will surely love the sketchy drawings of the cloud children holding out their hands to catch the falling Albert, banging drums and cymbals to create thunder and lightning, or jumping through billowing clouds. It is a wonderful book for allowing the imagination to run riot.

The text is in a large clear font. Sometimes there are as few as three lines per page, sometimes there is a whole page of text broken into short, well-spaced paragraphs and perhaps including a small, black-and-white sketch. There is quite a bit of dialogue, which helps to bring the characters to life. This could be a suitable book for confident young readers to tackle independently, especially as the illustrations will prove attractive and give hints to the storyline. The only problem is that the people of Cloudland occasionally utter magic words such as 'Hee ho goggle gralley fumble', or 'Teetum waggle bari se nee.' These are wonderful-sounding phrases that usual result in fits of giggles when reading the story aloud, but they might not be so easy for a young child to try to read on their own. Adult help could be needed there.

I have discovered some wonderful picture books for young children over the course of the past few months, but this has to be one of the very best in terms of both the originality of the story and the excellence of the illustrations. There is enjoyment to be had for the adult reader and the young child who is looking and listening; imaginations are stimulated in new directions. Don't hesitate to borrow it from your library, but also give it serious consideration as a present that I'm sure will be treasured.

Cloudland

by John Burningham

Paperback, 48 pages

Red Fox, 1999

ISBN 0099711613

Price £6.99 (Amazon £5.24)

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.