The Puffin Book of Five-minute Stories

The nineteen stories in this collection chosen for their read-aloud qualities range from the well-loved 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' and 'Red Riding-Hood' to Margaret Mahy's 'The Horrendous Hullabaloo' and Allan Ahlberg's 'Miss Dose the Doctors' Daughter', and includes the neoclassic 'The Little Wooden Horse'. Several of the tales are traditional in origin presented through such voices as Michael Rosen ('Clever Cakes') and Pat Thomson ('Clever Cakes') and Pat Thomson ('Ticky Picky Boom Boom' -- an Ananse story). The mood, reflected in Cox's friendly illustrations, is essentially light-hearted though each of the stories embodies depths of meaning to extend the imagination beyond the five-minute telling time and with the potential to open many new doors.