A Necklace Of Raindrops

Description

"A gift book to treasure - Joan Aiken's captivating story collection is now reissued with Jan Pienkowski's beautiful original illustrations" " The cat sat on the mat. Lots of cats do that, everybody knows. And nothing strange comes of it. But once a cat sat on a mat and something strange did come of it. In Joan Aiken s classic story collection, the strange often happens, and with fantastic consequences... Characters spring out of their books and chase around the room, cats grow bigger than elephants, and houses on legs lay eggs. Buses live on clouds, patchwork quilts become flying carpets, and pies float away when they have a corner of sky baked into them The magical meets the everyday in these much-loved modern fairytales, now in a beautiful new edition with Jan Pienkowski s original silhouette illustrations."

"Joan Aiken was born on 4 September 1924 in Rye, East Sussex and produced one of her best-loved works, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, in 1962, the first in her highly acclaimed series, the 'Wolves Chronicles'. Many classics followed, and Joan was awarded the MBE for services to Children's Literature in 1999. Much loved as a writer of astonishing imagination for adults and children alike, she died on 4 January 2004 at the age of seventy-nine. b>Jan Pienkowski was born in Warsaw in 1936. After creating his first book at the age of eight, Jan went on to excel in his chosen field of design, working in such diverse areas as television, theatre and greetings cards. Published in 1968, A Necklace of Raindrops was the first of several wonderful collaborations between Jan and Joan Aiken - and it was also the very first book Jan illustrated. He has since twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration, and has created many instantly recognizable classics."

Magic has never been more elegantly shaped than in these effervescent short stories . . . The flight of imagination is delicately captured in Jan Pienkowski's accompanying silhouettes -- Julia Eccleshare * Guardian * A Necklace of Raindrops is something that should be on every child's shelf -- Amanda Craig * The Times * A little dark and often surreal -- Lydia Fulton * Financial Times * Jan Pienkowski, whose magical silhouttes were never so finely matched as with the wonderful Joan Aiken's fine short stories . . . A treat * Evening Standard *