Count Karlstein or The Ride of the Demon Huntsman; Spring-Heeled Jack -- A Story of Bravery and Evil

These very welcome re-issues make available once again two of the most hilariously clever children's books of the past few years. With plots where the action never flags, where characters are invariably larger than life and where the jokes tumble over one another, these are stories surely guaranteed to appeal to even the most determined non-reader. But they will also have a very considerable charm for the bookish (young or old), especially those tuned into all sorts of mischievous literary and textual allusions, not to mention a wealth of supporting material in the form of mock period advertisements and mock erudite bibliographies. The illustrators' strip-cartoons, far from being mere decorations of the text, are themselves an integral part of it, demanding - sometimes quite challengingly - that they too be 'read' and, for full appreciation, re-read. In short, these books are indispensable additions to the reading experiences of all children - and of all ages.