How Do You Weigh an Elephant? (Cassette 1) ¦ Never Mind! (Cassette 1) ¦ We Didn't Think of Ostriches (Cassette 1) ¦ The Magic Rattle (Cassette 2) ¦ The Four Friends (Cassette 2) ¦ Listen All of You! (Cassette 2)

All these stories are currently being broadcast on Radio 5's excellent 'Read and Listen' series produced by Joan Griffiths. The books and cassettes make an irresistibly attractive and educational sound collection. The books are lavishly and vivaciously illustrated and the print large and clear. The stories cover a wide cultural background: the children illustrated on the school farm trip in Listen All of You! are multi-cultural; the children in The Four Friends are Indian and there's a Chinese Emperor in How Do You Weigh an Elephant? The narrators are chosen to complement and fully exploit the genre of the stories. The presentation is varied. Michael Rosen's own son plays a part in his effective drama about his lost football. Mum goes out and leaves Gran a list of all the things the children aren't allowed to do in We Didn't Think of Ostriches, which Sheila Hancock reads with great animation. All the stories are lively and entertaining; great at home or school for children to increase their reading confidence either by listening and following, or for listening before trying to read. With the National Curriculum's emphasis on Listening Skills, primary school teachers will find this a particularly useful series.