Burglar Bill, Cops and Robbers & Funnybones

These Ahlberg book and cassette titles have just been re-released and re-packaged with a boxed cassette. Inventive sound effects, Bernard Cribbins' creative narration and the superb Ahlberg illustrations, make for excellent products, even though the cassettes are short. The story including sound effects is on one side; on the other is the same story with turn-over tones for reading practice.

Burglar Bill is a favourite. He marries Burglar Betty, they become reformed characters and provide a home for Betty's baby who cries and laughs so realistically on the tape. Full of zip and humour.

Cops and Robbers is a story, told in funny verse, of 'this peg-legged, baby-faced, villainous crew / Who'd pick the pocket of a kangaroo'. Bernard Cribbins makes the most of the racy rhythm, refrains and punchy full rhymes - a good way to show children that verse can be fun.

In Funnybones, the big skeleton, the little skeleton and the dog skeleton set out to find someone to frighten. With its repetition - 'Down the dark, dark staircase, there was a dark, dark cellar ...' - it's a great story to be read aloud. The spooky narration and sound effects - like the big skeleton scratching his skull for inspiration and the hooting owl - add atmosphere and humour. The simplicity of the vocabulary and clarity of the text, along with the irresistibly attractive artwork, make this a particularly good package for reading practice.