Magic beans. Sow them. Plant them. Watch children grow.
'If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!' - Shel Silverstein, Poet
Each and every one of the stories in this anthology is a magic bean: a wondrous tale that will capture your imagination. Prepare to be dazzled by Rapunzel's golden tresses. Prepare to be moved by the suffering of the Little Mermaid. Prepare to laugh yourself silly as 'Mr Sultana' struggles to get the better of a little red rooster!
Lovingly crafted by the finest authors and illustrators, these 'magic beans' will delight, thrill and thoroughly entertain.
ADELE GERAS was born in Jerusalem and travelled widely as a child. She started writing over twenty-five years ago and has published more than 80 titles. Ithaka was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Chirldren's Book Award. She lives in Manchester with her husband and has two grown-up daughters and two grandchildren.
Anne Fine is one of our most distinguished writers for children. She has written over fifty highly acclaimed books and has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and both the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Carnegie Medal twice over. Anne was appointed the Children’s Laureate from 2001-3, and her work has been translated into over forty languages. In 2003 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Anne lives in County Durham.
Henrietta Branford was born in India in 1946 but grew up in a remote part of the New Forest. Her first novel,
Royal Blunder, was published in 1990. After that she wrote many different sorts of books, from picture books to teenage novels, including
Dimanche Diller (Smarties Prize and the Prix Tam-Tam) and
Fire, Bed and Bone (Guardian Children's Fiction Prize). After her death in 1997 a prize was established to commemorate her and her editor Wendy Boase - the Branford Boase Award for a first novel.
Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain’s bestselling and most beloved children’s authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold.
As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children’s Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children’s Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame.
Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings.
Find out more about Jacqueline and her books at www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk
Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the
Noughts & Crosses series,
Thief and a science-fiction thriller,
Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of
Pig-Heart Boy and a Pilot Theatre stage adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of
Noughts & Crosses. There is also a major BBC production of
Noughts & Crosses, with Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s entertainment company) curating the soundtrack as executive music producer. In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature, and between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children’s Laureate. Most recently Malorie wrote for the
Doctor Who series on BBC One, and the fifth novel in her
Noughts & Crosses series,
Crossfire, was published by Penguin Random House Children’s in summer 2019.
