Stories for 7 year olds ed. by Linsay Knight

Ill. by Tom Jellett. Random House, 2012. ISBN 9781742756622.
Stories for 8 year olds ed. by Linsay Knight. ISBN 9781742756808.
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Short stories. With authors like Jacqueline Harvey, Phil Cummings, Deborah Abelah and Vashti Farrer contributing stories to this series (and there are two more, one for 5 and one for 6 year olds), Random House can't go wrong. Short stories are always sought after: a teacher wanting a five minute filler before the bell, or wanting to model a story writing exercise in the classroom, or parents wanting a short story to read before bed, or a child wanting to read something within their operating range, these books contain a wide range of stories designed to please.
For 7 year olds, the range includes a very funny story by Phil Cummings inspired by the pool in his home town where one of his classmates decided it would be a good idea to take a surfboard. Another by J. B. Thomas tells us why the crow's feathers are black, another by Michael Pryor shows us a group of disappearing goats, while another by Morris Gleitzman cleverly parallels a science experiment to raise lots of laughs amongst the readership. Each is distinctly different and funny, and the book includes information about each of the authors at the end, as well as a page about when the story was first published, revealing that some have been published before and some are new. We are lucky that some of these hidden gems have been given a second outing.
For 8 year olds, the range of authors include Paul Jennings, Andy Griffiths and R. A. Spratt, with stories as strange and different as they could possibly be. Both of these books will be a hit in the school library.
Fran Knight