A magic story, says award-winning author Berlie Doherty, is "a story that casts a spell on the reader, so that they can't get it out of their minds or their dreams." In its own way, each of the ten stories she has chosen to include in this book casts such a spell. Here are tales from all round the world - from Australia to the Shetland Isles full of strange and wonderful happenings: where people fly, a hare grants a wish, a child is found in a seashell, fruits become precious jewels, seals cast off their skins to appear as beautiful human creatures...Some are happy stories, others haunting and sad, but all have the power to enchant - as too do the magical pictures by Kate Greenaway Medallist Juan Wijngaard. Look, read and you will be enthralled.

 

There are 120 pages in this book. It is an anthology. This book was published 2001 by Walker Books Ltd .

Berlie Doherty is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. Doherty has won many awards, including the Carnegie Medal twice. Toby Forward was born in Coventry. A parish priest, he now divides his time between the church and writing picture books and fiction for children, such as the widely acclaimed Wyvern Quartet. Toby lives with his wife near Hull. Juan Wijngaard, whose parents are Dutch, was born in South America. He came to London in 1970 and studied illustration at the Royal College of Art. He has won the Mother Goose Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal.