Stories for a Prince by various authors / artists (Hamilton Publishing Inc)

Here's a book we previously only owned as a story CD (my wife points out that it was originally hers on Story Cassette), but spotted in book form at the excellent Fire Service Book Sale which was held just up the road from us on Saturday. You can read more about the book sale on the excellent Abingdon Blog (the Abingdon Blogger was even lucky enough to get a ride in the massive fire engine crane that was hoisting people up into the big blue yonder for most of the day).

Stories for a Prince collects together tales told by children for the (then) 16 month old Prince William (and illustrated by some superb children's book illustrators including one of our faves, Babette Cole - who illustrated the Nessie story in this book). There's something quite involving and inspirational about the way kids write. Free of the need to nail down their narrative precisely, but with the free-flowing imagination to build deliciously interesting characters, kids could teach adult authors a thing or two and this collection of tales features such a diverse set of stories and interests that even though the book is nearly 20 years old, the tales still work when told to kids of today.

Short bite-sized stories, beautifully illustrated. Books like this should happen a lot more often (if you're reading this, publishers, make it happen!) - It'd be really interesting to see what the differences are between the stories those 80s kids came up with and what the current generation of kids would write in a world dominated by videogames and apps.

Charlotte's best bit: Nessie and Bessie!

Daddy's favourite bit: Naturally, Babette Cole's illustrations for the above story.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Book of the Week