CLEVER POLLY AND THE STUPID WOLF by Catherine Storr has twelve stories written for the author's daughter, who was scared of the wolf under the bed! Drawing occasionally on well-known fairy tales, and skillfully blending fantasy and reality, these stories are bursting with humour, originality and charm. And Polly, not scared at all, outwits the wolf on each and every occasion! There is a sequel called POLLY AND THE WOLF AGAIN, also published in the A Puffin Book series of children's modern classics.

'I'll dress up as a human being and Polly won't have any idea that I'm a wolf . . .' When Polly opens the door and finds a large black wolf standing on the doorstep waiting to gobble her up, it's the wolf that has the surprise when Polly invites him in! Clever Polly isn't frightened at all and has a plan that's bound to outwit the big, bad but very stupid wolf.

One day the front door bell rang and Polly went to open the door. And there was a great black wolf who said he had come to eat her up. He was quite surprised when Polly said she didn't want to be eaten. 'Oh, yes, ' said the wolf, 'I am going to eat you. But first tell me, what is that delicious smell?' 'Come down to the kitchen, ' said Polly, 'and I will show you.' She led the wolf down to the kitchen. There on the table was a delicious looking pie. 'Have a slice?' said Polly. 'Now, ' said Polly, after the third helping, 'what about me?' 'Sorry, ' said the wolf, 'I'm too full of pie. I'll come back another day to deal with you.' The wolf did come back again whenever he was hungry, but Polly outwits the wolf on each and every occassion! These twelve storeis, written for the author's daughter, who was scared of the wolf under her bed, are bursting with humour, originality and charm.

When Catherine Storr’s daughter was very small, she was afraid of the wolf under her bed, so every night her mother would tell her a story in which Polly outwitted the wolf. These bedtime stories eventually became the collection Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, a wonderfully thrilling and reassuring series of adventures in which the clever, independent, and unstoppable Polly fools the persistent, hungry young wolf time and again. In a match much like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner but more polite and quick-witted, Polly and the wolf develop ever-more complicated ways of turning the tables on each other as they grow older and, in Polly’s case at least, wiser. Three more collections of stories followed the original Clever Polly, all hilariously inventive variations on a much loved theme, and all of the stories are collected here for the first time.

'I could get in,' Marianne thought, 'if there was a person inside the house. There has got to be a person. I can't get in unless there is somebody there.' A powerful and haunting classic about a girl haunted by her own dreams. Ill and bored with having to stay in bed, Marianne picks up a pencil and starts doodling - a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night she has an extraordinary dream. She is transported into her own picture, and as she explores further she soon realises she is not alone. The boy at the window is called Mark, and his every movement is guarded by the menacing stone watchers that surround the solitary house. Together, in their dreams, Marianne and Mark must save themselves . . . The perfect gift for children aged 8+, this well-loved classic will delight a new generation of readers of the Faber Children's Classics list.

Vicky and Stephen . . . find they have an inexplicable ability to see momentary flashes of the near future, most of which foretell all too clearly the developments of a very unpleasant plot. In the face of daunting scepticism, they persist in using their extra-sensory insight to track down the villains. This is an exciting and complex novel.