Rosie's Magic Horse

Description

A story that could have come only from the imagination of Russell Hoban, vividly brought to life by the picture-book supremo Quentin Blake. This story begins with an ice-lolly stick. Its sweetness gone, it lies discarded and lonely ... until a little girl called Rosie comes along. She places it carefully in her cigar box, full of other sticks. "Without our ice-lollies we are nothing," says an old stick. But this new stick wants to BE something and into the minds of all the old sticks he plants dreams ... maybe they can be something, too. What about Rosie? That night she dreams of helping her parents pay the bills. And so, at the stroke of midnight, magic and dreams collide and a HORSE gallops out of the cigar box! His name is Stickerino. "Where to?" he asks Rosie. "Anywhere with treasure!" she answers and hops on his back. Then begins an adventure like no other ... ice-lolly mountains by the sea, caskets of gold, and pirates foiled by a stickling ice-cream van.

Russell Hoban is the renowned author of many acclaimed novels for grown-ups, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction. He once described himself as "an addict to writing" and wrote more than 50 books for children, including such classics as Bedtime for Frances, How Tom Beat Captain Najork, The Mouse and His Child, and The Sea-Thing Child. Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011. Quentin Blake is one of the world's foremost illustrators, best known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen and, most famously, Roald Dahl. His books have won numerous prizes and awards, including the Whitbread Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the 2002 Hans Christian Anderson Award for Illustration, the highest recognition internationally available to creators of children's books. In 1999 he was appointed the first ever Children's Laureate, He was appointed an OBE in 1988, and subsequently was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2005 New Year's Honours List for services to Children's Literature, is an RDI and has numerous honorary degrees from universities throughout the UK. He received a knighthood for 'services to illustration' in the New Year's Honours for 2013, and became an Honorary Freeman of the City of London in 2015. He is a Trustee of The House of Illustration, a centre in London for exhibitions, educational events and an activity related to the art of illustration.

Quirky, imaginative and inspiring, this fun-filled book is simply delightful! * Kids' Book Review * Russel Hoban takes us on a wild adventure * The Book Chook *