Discussion: Received, thank you. And on...

Received, thank you. And on my birthday, so thoughtful.

Halfway through the first story and enjoying it so far. Just checking it's suitable material for a bedtime story for the kids.

Frostbite, I told the printers it was time sensitive.
Ricky, I'd be interested to hear your determinations on suitability.

Finished the first story. Definitely suitable. Whether it'll fly is another matter. Haven't yet managed to predict that accurately yet.

Hobbit and Harry Potter - (mostly) boring. Earthsea trilogy - they loved it. Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife ditto. Ms Cross's Iliad and Odyssey had them on tenterhooks, but only because I persuaded them to hang in there through the boring Iliad bit (The fault of Homer, not of the abridger).

We've tried a load of the more recent books for kids their age and generally we don't get to the end usually because all three of us get bored. Yet they love The Letter for the King and Secrets of the Wild Woods although I can't see what these have over Tolkien or Harry Potter. Jack loves Robohunter and Judge Dredd - "Kill the fleshy ones" - but Ella hasn't quite seen the light as yet.

I think something a bit quirky, with rhododendrons, could be good. Will let you know - still 150 pages of Wild Woods to go. Going to try them with Salman Rushdie also.