Description

“This is how it all began…” From ‘A Necklace of Raindrops’ to ‘The Patchwork Quilt’, here are eight classic stories to treasure and enjoy. Beginning and ending with a birthday, this spell-binding collection conjures up a world filled with magic, where wishes can come true. A necklace of raindrops that keeps its owner dry in the heaviest rainstorm; a tiger that runs faster than the wind; a huge floating apple pie with a piece of sky in it; a baker’s cat who swells to the size of a whale when his mistress feeds him yeast; a house that stands on one leg – these are just some of the objects and characters that figure in these delightful stories.

Publisher Review

Jan Pienkowski, whose magical silhouttes were never so finely matched as with the wonderful Joan Aiken's fine short stories . . . A treat * Evening Standard * A little dark and often surreal -- Lydia Fulton * Financial Times * A Necklace of Raindrops is something that should be on every child's shelf -- Amanda Craig * The Times * Magic has never been more elegantly shaped than in these effervescent short stories . . . The flight of imagination is delicately captured in Jan Pienkowski's accompanying silhouettes -- Julia Eccleshare * Guardian *