Anthologies – Past, Present and Future

Anthologies are a well-established form in children’s reading. In early children’s books we-know-best adults enthusiastically seized the opportunity to gather together improving pieces for the moral edification of the child reader. Many of today’s adults have childhood memories of Christmas morning treasure chests of stories, puzzles and poems, and the post-war years saw many books and series which are still useful, although some are now available only in libraries. Margery Fisher’s two collections of extracts, Open the Door and Journeys, were designed to give a taste of pleasures to come, the mixed anthologies of Noel Streatfeild to enhance holiday time. Anne Thwaite’s Allsorts was something to look forward to each year and M. Hodgkin’s Young Winter’s Tales continue to be a sound resource. Large sections of school libraries are still taken up with Ruth Manning-Sanders’ versatile collections of folk and fairy tales, Oxford’s stories from around the world and Hamish Hamilton’s `A Book of just about everything.

The annually produced collection of mixed prose, poetry and pastimes seems to be disappearing, but the anthology form still provides the vehicle for a special production. Some are unusual and useful. Dorothy Butler’s What the Magpie Said, apart from giving us some good stories, was a window into New Zealand’s literature. Gillian Avery’s Red Letter Days provided us with a series of nineteenth-century contemporary accounts of special occasions, some true, some fiction. They added a touch of insight into the world of those children which enhances any history lesson. The Federation of Children’s Book Groups’ second anthology of stories thoroughly tested on hundreds of children is just out.

Sometimes, one person is able to put together a collection so sensitively that it becomes a permanent resource. James Reeves did this with A Golden Land, now revised by Judith Elkin as The New Golden Land Anthology. Most of the material is retained in the new edition and the stories which have been omitted seem to be those which have dated in social terms. Judith Elkin’s main task has been to bring it up to date by adding the work of good modern writers. Philippa Pearce, Joan Aiken, Jan Mark and Bernard Ashley are now represented, as is the poetry of Michael Rosen and Roger McGough. It is still a `lucky dip’ to be tasted at random and grow with the child. For primary and middle schools, it remains one of the best `staffroom shelf’ books assuming, of course, that the children have access to another copy.

Two spectacularly large anthologies appeared last year, Hamlyn’s Illustrated Treasury of Modern Literature for Children and The Puffin Children’s Treasury. Even Fat Puffin could not take off with the 41/21b of this book and neither should be dropped on anyone in the Reception Class. The Hamlyn volume at £7.95 is, like Margery Fisher’s Open the Door, an introduction. Twenty-six authors are included, each with a brief biographical note and titles for further reading. The books chosen are all well-known, Flambards for K. M. Peyton, for example, and Ballet Shoes for Noel Streatfeild. The pieces are all extracts, usually one or two chapters, plentifully illustrated. The ideal reader, one imagines, is someone who likes reading but doesn’t know what to read and hasn’t got anyone to ask! In schools it might be useful for classroom browsing – with the full versions readily available in the library.

The Puffin Treasury is difficult to place. The introduction has a scholarly air and it would be invaluable as a reference tool, especially as it includes some older American material which is not readily available now. It attempts to cover the whole field of children’s literature, starting with nursery rhymes, encompassing myths and legends, poetry, traditional stories, picture books and extracts from novels. It seems to be the personal choice of an American, Clifton Fadiman, who has been associated with children’s books for 75 years. It reminds us of nearly-forgotten authors and illustrators and introduces those who have always been better known in the States. The picture books, however, seem uncomfortable in this setting. Perhaps Beatrix Potter knew what she was doing when she insisted on a little book for Peter Rabbit and most children would rather take Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car to bed with them in a more manageable form. Beautifully illustrated and printed as it is, schools would perhaps be advised to accept it as a gift but to look at it carefully before parting with £15.95, even if the caretaker does leave you a legacy.

In the early days of the `modern’ anthology in paperback, it was Puffin which led the way. Eleanor Graham, Puffin’s first editor in the 1940s, asked librarian Eileen Colwell to put together a series of anthologies for younger children – a section of the reading population not very well served at the time. These Puffin originals – Time for a Story, Tell Me a Story, etc. – are still in print, still a model of their kind and a useful resource.

The paperback revolution, hand in hand with the expansion of television, has brought `spin-off’ anthologies. The BBC’s Jackanory and Play School have generated material of a very diverse nature – from folk tales to the Jubilee – all neatly timed for reading aloud. A newcomer, the puppet Pob, has just put his name to a collection of original stories for young children with a very starry cast of authors. In reality the commissioning and collecting was done by Anne Wood, following Jean Russell, Aidan Chambers and Peggy Woodford in this relatively recent approach to anthologising.

When Eleanor Graham commissioned Eileen Colwell she had identified a gap that needed filling. With the huge expansion in children’s publishing, is there still a place for anthologies? Paperback series for older readers – mainly of the ghost and horror variety – still apparently flourish. The Corrins and Eileen Colwell sell well in Puffin. But sales of hardback anthologies are falling off, though teachers still claim to find them invaluable. Increasingly `classic’ collections are appearing in full-size paperback editions but very few hardback publishers are still committed to the form. If we value them, perhaps we had better make our support known.

Ideas about what constitutes an anthology seem to be changing. Modern collections are less recreational. They are no longer the thinking child’s annual. Instead, they are purposefully directed to particular age groups or themes. It is true that some of these thematic collections lend themselves to being produced in large series, much in them being of doubtful quality but it is equally true that a good modern anthology is something very good indeed.

Talking to Publishers

Ideas about anthologies are changing and in some quarters there seems to be a degree of uncertainty about their future.

At Dent, editor Vanessa Hamilton sees anthologies as `a difficult area’. Eight or nine years ago, they were very popular and sold well. Dent, of course, have a link with the old tradition in that Noel Streatfeild’s Holiday Books are still in print. (Careful searching in them reveals remarkable gems to support project work, such as Rumer Godden’s account of a hot Christmas in India.) Dent have also published eleven `horror’ collections by Helen Hoke, an American publisher who turned to anthologising in retirement. Senior Citizens in the United States clearly have nerves of steel. The twelfth collection, however, will not be published here because of falling sales. Today, Vanessa Hamilton favours short story collections by single authors and this policy has given us the excellent work of Margaret Mahy. She has also commissioned Rhodri Jones, well-known to English Departments, to do a collection entitled A Fine Mess You’ve Got Us Into. This looks promising news as it is a collection of comic disasters. If there is anything a class likes better than a disaster, it is a funny disaster. As far as anthologies are concerned, she has some doubts but is keeping an open mind for the future.

One publisher who not only has a commitment to anthologies but to high quality anthologies is Faber. With the work of compilers like Barbara Ireson, Kathleen Lines and the Corrins, they cover the full age-range. Their editor, Phyllis Hunt, sees anthologies as being a good first introduction to various kinds of literature. They offer a way into reading for those who will not immediately tackle a long novel. She feels that the old `lucky dip’ collection is less popular but is confident that purposeful anthologies, tailored to particular needs will continue to be successful. She begins by choosing a compiler who may then work with an age-range or a theme. It may then take two years to put the anthology together. Permissions have to be negotiated and, in extreme cases, fees may affect the choice of material. Titles are usually a joint decision and there is consultation on illustration but covers have become a very complex affair between editor, compiler, illustrator and designers. Like most people involved in modern anthologies, she does not favour too much in the way of editorial notes.

One particularly valuable service which Faber performs is to bring back good collections in paperback form. The Faber Book of Greek Legends, edited by Kathleen Lines, is to reappear, as are stories from Tales of Magic and Enchantment in a new setting. The new version will be called The Faber Book of Magical Tales and is interesting because of the unusual interpretation of the term magical, part being fairy tale and part being taken from the old Romances. Also in paperback is Barbara Ireson’s Faber Book of Nursery Stories, a welcome return. This compiler’s two good hardback collections Fantasy Tales and Tales Out of Time were joined last year by an anthology for upper and middle schools called In a Class of Their Own, school based stories from writers who range from Norman Hunter to Iris Murdoch. Paperback anthologies for children to gobble up are still in good supply, but we rely on publishers like Faber to provide us with varied collections of a high standard. Clearly, if we want them, we must let them know by buying them.

At The Bodley Head, they are also committed to high quality anthologies, particularly for eleven to twelve years and over. In their case, they no longer publish mixed anthologies; instead they ask their compilers to commission original short stories from different authors. This policy has resulted in quite stunning collections from authors who have been challenged to produce a short story although they might not normally write in this form, or indeed for children at all. The editor, Margaret Clark, says that this takes a long time because they are all original commissions but her compilers are full of praise for the speed with which the Bodley Head manage things. They also publish in their own original paperback so the books are quite quickly accessible to schools. Margaret Clark sees the value of these collections as being the inherent values of the short story form. They are indeed short. They can be picked up at odd times. More than that, a short story is in many ways open-ended, it leaves questions. What happened before? After? She feels strongly that there should be no editorial notes. At most, there may be a note about the author, but no ‘schoolish’ bits. She works with her compilers on the details like titles and covers, also referring to the complexity of the cover problem. These days a great number of people are involved. The most fascinating aspect of The Bodley Head approach is that they are offering writers an opportunity to write in a form that used to be quite usual but is now too little encountered outside women’s magazines. It is a very demanding but particularly rewarding form, and through these anthologies children may meet authors they know quite well, plus others like Trevor Story whom they may not yet have read, exercising high level writing skills. These collections not only provide compelling private reading but are rich in implications for shared exploration.

Talking to the Compilers

Eileen Colwell is a compiler who gracefully spans the whole post-war period and whose collections – both the Storyteller’s Choice series and the books for Puffin – remain as enjoyable and useful as ever.

Her choices for the first Puffin collection were informed by real experience as she was beginning story hours in her library and was telling the stories herself. Her material was personally `tried and tested’; she knew very well how these stories would read aloud and how they would be received, and this is the secret of their enduring usefulness to teachers and parents. Each of her collections has a particular age range in mind but she aimed to include a little `stretching’ material, and always some traditional stories. As an accomplished story teller, she naturally uses her own retellings, and it is this practical background that led her to mix prose and verse, aware that changes of pace and opportunities to participate hold the audience.

Compiling anthologies, like all publishing, is subject to economic pressures. Eileen Colwell’s contract required her to put the collections together and obtain permission to reprint from the copyright holders, paying the fees out of her royalties. Some material, as always, was just too expensive and regretfully had to be left out. The illustrations were not her concern, however.

She says a fairly autocratic line was taken over such matters! More recently, she has put together a collection called Bedtime Stories for Ladybird.

Some of us are lucky enough to hear Eileen Colwell `live’ at book events but we can all benefit from her long and rich experience in her collections.

Sara and Stephen Corrin are best known for their anthologies which are directed to particular age groups. Reassuring for parents and providing a guide for teachers, Stories for Under-Fives right through to Stories for Tens and Over has proved a successful set of varied collections. Sara Corrin, herself a teacher, knew what it was like to `rummage through lots of books’ to find just the story which is needed. Every time she read a story she liked, she made a note of it and, gradually, as the collection grew, certain groups fell together into relationships which laid the foundations for the different anthologies.

Although the stories are collected individually, Sara has interesting views on the value of an anthology as a whole, something which adds to the value of each separate part. For example, the stories range widely over different cultures, drawing on the folklore of the world. There are fascinating differences of detail, but beneath there are many parallels. They convey a feeling of our common culture and she hopes this strikes the children, too. She also aims for a collection which reflects the balance of human feelings – humour, sadness – a range of emotions. From experience, she knows that a story can appeal to their intuitive feelings. When story telling she learned that children can respond to motivation in a quite subtle way from an early age. She makes the very important point that stories can make the abstract accessible to very young children. She also values anthologies for their particular usefulness in introducing books to younger children. The short stories demand a less concentrated effort. Favourites can be recaptured more easily. She recognizes that special stories stay with the reader and become precious. She hopes the collections contain what she calls ‘keepies’ to which children can return again and again.

In putting the collections together, the first criterion is to find a story with a really strong, colourful story line which will make an impression. A successful short story has one central dramatic episode, a complete emotional experience. She has a good example of how powerful such an experience can be in describing one child’s retelling of Rumpelstiltskin to his father. Having first apologised for not taking his father on his lap (clearly the correct arrangement for story – telling), he punctuated his narrative with reassurances that, of course, the Queen did keep her baby in the end. She is aware that such stories bring out deep feelings and looks for those which relate to `some aspect of the human condition’. These may then be arranged by age group – although the titles acknowledge that age banding can only ever be a general guide – or by a particular theme. A Time to Laugh, for example, brought a spice of humour or a funny twist to each story. Round the Christmas Tree is a collection for younger children and so concentrates on the excitement of Christmas and the benign feelings engendered. The Faber Book of Christmas Stories is intended for slightly older children and thus concentrates more on the old legends and the atmosphere of sharing, loving and giving. The most recent Corrin collection is Pet Stories for Children. Pets mean a great deal to children, Sara feels, and demonstrates it by a reference to a child who was being consoled for the death of a pet by an adult with the words, `It’s not as if it was one of the family.’ The child replied, `He was one of the family.’ The stories range from real-life accounts to Joan Aiken’s Arabel’s Raven and a wonderfully complicated Russian story about the school pets. The latter are both the sort which seem improbable but prompt adults to cross their fingers just in case. The Corrins prefer complete stories but do use extracts if they stand on their own. Being a story teller, Sara uses her own retellings when necessary but if the original is particularly beautiful, she prefers not to tamper with it. They are fortunate in that they can use Stephen’s own translations for the Andersen stories. They are also involved in the practicalities, seeking their own permissions and cooperating with editor and illustrator on titles and illustrations but the main task is to create a collection, balanced in content, mood and length, of stories which will mean something to children. For the future, they promise this year an anthology of `15 fantastic tales’ called Imagine That!

Aidan Chambers‘ interest in anthologies is directly related to his strong feelings about the short story. He sees it as a very important form for children, having a special place in schools. It has a practical value, being short enough for children to enjoy, giving them the pleasure and satisfaction in managing it all in one go. It has more than manageability, however. As one of The Bodley Head compilers, their policy of commissioning original stories permits him to approach some of our best children’s authors, not all of whom normally write short stories, and get from them some of their best work. The quality of the resulting anthologies shows that the authors have responded to the challenge of this exacting form in both structural and imaginative terms.

Aidan Chambers clearly enjoys this opportunity. He asks writers whose work he admires and describes the sort of story he requires, having a particular theme in mind. The latest collection, A Sporting Chance, started from the thought that, despite its popularity, there are few sports stories for children. As the idea developed, sport became a metaphor for life. It is possible, he explains, to write stories which include, focus on, involve sport but which at the same time, illuminate something else. The authors understood him very well and writers like Jan Mark, John Gordon, Philippa Pearce and K. M. Peyton have used sports as diverse as tennis and greyhound racing as a background to stories of young people taking a chance on life. Having assembled the stories, the compiler’s job, in Aidan Chambers’ view, moves into its second important phase. To turn a collection into a good anthology, the arrangement must be so managed that the sequence and juxtapositions add an element of their own. The analogy he uses is that of a picture gallery. Each picture must have qualities of its own but if skilfully hung, the whole can add up to a special exhibition, having qualities in its own right. Not everyone will read a collection in this way, but he feels that extra level must be there for those who can see it.

He stresses that he feels that it is a considerable privilege to work with the authors. Some, like George Mackay Brown, he has never met. Others, like Jan Mark, share with him thoughts about the special qualities of the short story form. He sees himself almost like a manager in a repertory company, valuing the chance to see how his talented actors work. All his authors have a strong stylistic voice and although he uses popular themes, they are often interpreted in unconventional ways. In Ghost After Ghost (sparely and elegantly illustrated by Bert Kitchen), the stories are linked by the theme of child hauntings. In Out of Time, the ideas are not the usual SF ideas, but rather of the relationship of time to now. The stories are enjoyable at an immediate level and perhaps demonstrate that good authors are particularly accessible in the short story form.

Aidan Chambers sees that there are changes in the pattern of publishing anthologies, in his view due to economic worries and production problems. He, too, asks whether children actually like short stories. He is nevertheless totally convinced of the particular value of the form. His personal wish is to do an anthology which experiments with narrative, one where the form is of principal importance – but the publishers have yet to be convinced! His next collection will be more ghost stories for The Bodley Head. If you have not used these collections yet with secondary and upper school groups, try them. The collaboration between this particular compiler and some of our leading authors should not be missed.

Peggy Woodford writes excellent novels for teenagers but she also compiles anthologies for older readers. The three she has done for The Bodley Head amply justifies their policy of commissioning original short stories. They are The Real Thing, You Can’t Keep Out the Darkness and Misfits.

She has full control of the commissioning and starts by approaching writers she personally thinks will be good in this particular context. They need not be famous authors, indeed John Blake is published for the first time in Misfits. She also uses authors who do not normally appear on children’s lists. The result is an intriguing diversity. After her romantic novel, Please Don’t Go, her collection of love stories, The Real Thing, followed naturally. Her own contribution connects directly with the novel. You Can’t Keep Out the Darkness is a set of stories, all different, but linked by a single theme – the loss of innocence. Here, she brings together authors with a recognized reputation for writing for adolescents, like Robert Westall and Jan Mark, with more daring choices, such as William Sansom and John Wain. In approaching authors in this way, she knows that she takes a risk. There is no guarantee of the result. Where necessary, she does not hesitate to edit, feeling that she is responsible for the whole and it is her job, she says, to get the balance right. Her third collection, Misfits, is unexpected. All the central characters have difficulty `fitting in’. Sometimes they dual with a single adversary, sometimes with the whole system and sometimes with themselves. The stories are immensely subtle in comparison with the average teenage `love or rebellion’ writing, yet they are compelling in their introspection. They will take the teenager reader further than most books of this kind.

With themes like these, it is no wonder she feels strongly about covers. The subtlety of the content could so easily be torpedoed by a `romantic’ cover. Everyone talks about this problem with a faint air of despair but Peggy Woodford is realistic about the difficulties. She has taken covers into schools to show her teenage audiences and although they usually groan in the right places, they will often approve of one she thinks especially inappropriate! The problem is crucial but not easily solved. She does not make any claims for the special value of anthologies, unless it is to introduce authors whom readers might not otherwise meet. In Peggy Woodford’s case, imaginative and skilful selection does ensure that her readers meet particularly interesting and different authors and her chosen themes are very close to the concerns of her teenage audience.

Which Stories?

A question five thousand children helped their parents and teachers to answer in the preparation of…

An Anthology with a Difference

In April Hodder and Stoughton publish Our Best Stories, a collection of fifteen stories specially selected for reading aloud and ranging in age-appeal from 4 to 12 plus. Anthologies, of course, are published every year. What is different about this one is the way the stories were chosen; children, not adults, gave their views and reactions all along the line, and this unique collection reflects their preferences one hundred per cent.

A glance at the list of contributors shows that children know a good thing when they see one – Ted Hughes, Bernard Ashley, Philippa Pearce, Terry Jones and Michael Rosen all came out ‘on top’. But arriving at the fifteen ‘best’ stories, choosing an illustrator and deciding on a format was a long and complicated business, and took over three years.

A book with two editors (Anne Wood and Ann Pilling), a ‘steering committee’ and over five thousand children busy giving their plain, unvarnished reaction to the dozens of stories read to them by parents and teachers, may sound like a recipe for disaster. But if Our Best Stories was going to be a genuine ‘Children’s Choice’ it was obvious that this rather unwieldy mechanism could not be dispensed with. Anne Wood founded The Federation of Children’s Book Groups in 1968; Ann Pilling, a children’s writer, had been a member for ten years. In May 1983, after a meeting with Hodder, they set the first wheels in motion: a questionnaire was sent out to every group in the Federation (over seventy groups, as far apart as Ipswich and Kirkaldy), and to some forty individual members, from Banbury to Blyth.

The replies established that everyone was keen to have a new anthology (Stories for Children, edited by Anne Wood, was compiled by the Federation in 1977). While opinions varied about content, age-range and format, it was unanimously agreed that the new book should improve upon the old. It must be bolder, brighter, better planned, and it must not reflect a certain (undeserved) Federation ‘image’, that of a group of earnest literary ladies, solemnly discussing what children ought to read, while the kids themselves are gleefully glued to a TV screen.

Using the nationwide network of members the editors and their committee worked for several months, seeking opinions and suggestions, having material tried out, and noting children’s reactions at every stage. Initially the groups were asked to send in their own `best’ stories. The first list, though long, was conservative and among the tried and tested favourites there was a dearth of new names, almost certainly reflecting cuts in library and school spending which mean that many new books have not been widely available. More letters went out and members came up with more suggestions.

Some ‘golden oldies’ were circulated, Victorian pieces, popular in their day; more animal tales were added, and more humorous stories. Nationwide testing started in earnest, and the reports came pouring in.

The committee had its problems. Stories thought to be sure-fire favourites by one or another (William and the Show, Kevin Crossley-Holland’s haunting tale The Dead Moon, Mrs Craik’s Prince with the Nose) were all given the thumbs down. Out they went, the committee firmly reminded itself that the book was not their choice but the choice of children all over the United Kingdom. It also emerged that some titles had not been tested at all, because of adult `reservations’. David Henry Wilson’s hilarious A Death in the Family was one example. A plea was sent out for groups to read all the stories offered, though the test report forms did allow for reservations to be aired, and adverse comments were not taken lightly.

As work progressed the children’s remarks on what they heard were collected, and many of these are published in the anthology. `It would have been more exciting if she’d drowned’ says one child, of The Woman Who Always Argued. `He won’t do that again in a hurry’ comments James, of The Balaclava Story.

The stories which survived this rigorous process and made it into the book are arranged in three groups of five: `Young’, ‘Middle’ and ‘Older’. Against each title the time taken to read aloud is given, and at the end of the collection each author chosen is described briefly, and a list of their other books is supplied too. Every story reads extremely well and the final choice certainly reflects the fact that a really good tale can cross age barriers, for these are all stories to share. The `Frog and Toad’ books are often used as early readers, yet The Lost Button, in its tender good humour, is as heart-warming to read aloud as it is fun to hear.

There is no substitute for a book, shared on the lap, or curled up on a bed. Main Hedderwick’s endearing cover drawing illustrates this perfectly. Never before has the reading habit been so threatened by TV, video recorder and home computer. In such a climate this new anthology is important, and a look at the top fifteen stories is cheering. Not only does the choice indicate a consistent appetite for really good writing but many of the favourites, both modern and traditional, have a strongly moral flavour. In spite of the confused world they live in it really does seem that the children who made this book want good to triumph.

One hopes the story is not true of the Children’s Editor who once found a small boy sitting in her office and ran out screaming ‘A child! A child!’ Nevertheless, there is some justification in the view that the `kiddy lit’ experts are not always in touch with the children they serve. In compiling this anthology the selectors went for guidance straight to those the book was meant for, and in doing so set themselves a long and complicated task. But they trust the title of the collection explains it all.

It was arrived at only after lengthy discussion of endless possibilities. `Lift Off’, ‘Hear Hear’, ‘How Does This Grab You?’, ‘Switch On Your Ears’ and many others all eventually hit the waste paper basket, and Our Best Stories emerged as the one to go for. How often does a child talk of its ‘best’, meaning its ‘favourite’ things? The word does double duty here: the children chose their favourites, and their favourites were their best.

Ann Pilling joint-editor with Anne Wood of Our Best Stories has been a member of the FCBG for ten years. She also writes for children under her own name (Year of the Worm, Henry’s Leg) and as Ann Cheetham (the Black Harvest series for Armada).

Our Best Stories, edited by Anne Wood and Ann Pilling, is published by Hodder and Stoughton (0 340 35998 6) on April 7th, at £5.95.

A list of anthologies

(Compilers in alphabetical order)

Aidan Chambers

A Sporting Chance, Bodley Head, 0 370 30668 6, £3.95 pbk

Out of Time, Bodley Head, 0 370 30532 9, £3.95 pbk

Shades of Dark, Patrick Hardy, 0 7444 0019 8, £5.95

Ghost After Ghost, Viking Kestrel, 0 7226 5772 2, £5.95; Puffin, 0 14 03.1461 X, £1.75 pbk

Ghosts That Haunt You, Viking Kestrel, 0 7226 5605 X, £5.95; Puffin, 0 14 03.1428 8, £1.50 pbk

Eileen Colwell

(Paperbacks mentioned all published by Puffin)

Bedtime Stories, Ladybird, 0 7214 7521 3, £2.75

Bad Boys, Kestrel, 0 7226 5027 2, £5.95; 0 14 03.0530 0, £1.50 pbk

More Stories to Tell, 0 14 03.1062 2, £1.50 pbk

Time for a Story, 0 14 03.0282 4, £1.25 pbk

Tell Me a Story, 0 14 03.0159 3, £1.50 pbk

Tell Me Another Story, 0 14 03.0210 7, £1.50 pbk

A Storyteller’s Choice, Bodley Head, 0 370 010515, £4.95

The Magic Umbrella and Other Stories, Bodley Head, 0 370 11020 X, £3.25

Sara and Stephen Corrin

(All in Faber hardback and Puffin paperback unless otherwise listed)

The Faber/Puffin Book of Modern Fairy Tales, 0 571 11768 6, £6.50; 0 14 03.1546 2, £1.75 pbk

Stories for Under-Fives, 0 571 10371 5, £6.95; 014 03.1100 9, £1.50 pbk

Stories for Five-Year-Olds and other young readers, 0 571 10162 3, £5.25; 0 14 03.0839 3, £1.75 pbk

Stories for Six-Year-Olds, 0 571 08114 2, £5.95; 0 14 03.0785 0, £1.95 pbk

Stories for Seven-Year-Olds, 0 571 05823 X, £4.50; 0 14 03.0882 2, £1.75 pbk

More Stories for Seven-Year-Olds, 0 571 11196 3, £5.95; 0 14 03.1347 8, £1.75 pbk

Stories for Eight-Year-Olds, 0 571 09332 9, £5.50; 0 14 03.0975 6, £1.75 pbk

Stories for Nine-Year-Olds, 0 571 11409 1, £5.25; 0 14 03.1342 7, £1.75 pbk

Stories for Tens and Over, 0 571 10873 3, £4.50; 014 03.1364 8, £2.25 pbk

A Time to Laugh, Faber, 0 571 13416 5, £1.95 pbk

Round the Christmas Tree, 0 571 13151 4, £4.50; 0 14 03.1777 5, £1.50 pbk

The Faber Book of Christmas Stories, 0 571 13348 7, £5.95

Pet Stories for Children, 0 571 13642 7, £5.95

Helen Hoke

(All published by Dent)

A Chilling Collection, 0 460 06988 8, £6.95

Venomous Tales of Villainy and Vengeance, 0 460 06163 1, £6.95

Tales of Fear and Frightening Phenomena, 0 460 06118 6, £6.95

Terrors, Traumas and Torments, 0 460 06853 9, £6.95

Thrillers, Chillers and Killers, 0 460 06885 7, £6.95

Barbara Ireson

Fantasy Tales, Beaver, 0 600 20056 6, £1.10 pbk

The Faber Book of Nursery Stories, Faber, 0 571 13278 2, £4.95 pbk

In a Class of Their Own, Faber, 0 571 13474 2, £5.95

Kathleen Lines

The Faber Book of Greek Legends, Faber, 0 571 09830 4, £6.50; 0 571 13920 5, £4.95 pbk (May 86)

The Faber Book of Magical Tales, Faber, 0 571 13648 6, £3.95 pbk

Noel Streatfeild

The Noel Streatfeild Summer Holiday Book, Dent, 0 460 05850 9, £6.95

The Noel Streatfeild Christmas Holiday Book, Dent, 0 460 05849 5, £6.95

Peggy Woodford

The Real Thing, Collins Cascades, 0 00 330002 1, £2.35

You Can’t Keep Out the Darkness, Bodley Head, 0 370 30293 1, £4.50

Misfits, Bodley Head, 0 370 30824 7, £3.95 pbk

Other anthologies mentioned

The New Golden Land Anthology, edited by Judith Elkin, Puffin, 0 14 03.1521 7, £2.95 pbk

The Puffin Children’s Treasury, selected by Clifton Fadiman, Viking Kestrel, 0 670 80505 X, £15.95

The Illustrated Treasury of Modern Literature for Children, Hamlyn, 0 600 30911 8, £7.95

Pob’s Stories, edited by Anne Wood, Fontana, 0 00 672638 0, £1.50 pbk

What the Magpie Said, edited by Dorothy Butler, Puffin, 0 14 03.1480 6, 95p pbk

Stories for Children: For Reading Aloud by Parents, edited by Anne Wood, Hodder & Stoughton, 0 340 21386 8, £4.50

Play School Stories, BBC/Knight, 0 340 28086 7, £1.25 pbk

Play School Stories 2, BBC/Knight, 0 340 34843 7, £1.50 pbk