A Band of Joining-in Stories

Pat Thomson's story collections are always fresh, rich and entertaining and this one is no exception. It includes stories by Pat herself and some retellings all of which offer wonderful read-aloud material which has been specially chosen, as the title suggests, to encourage children to join in with refrains, phrases, rhymes or catch words. There are brief notes on how to tell the tales but most of them read so well that you may not need to refer to them. From the classic Millions of Cats with its chant, 'Cats, here, Cats there, Cats and kittens everywhere' to The Rajah's Secret with the musical noises of the Indian instruments to imitate, this collection should be in every school and home which stills values the art of storytelling and the fun of joining in.