Author:  Aiken, Joan 
Interest age: from c 9 years
Published on 5 November 2009 by Penguin Random House Children's UK (Jonathan Cape Ltd) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 108 pages
222 x 160 x 16 | 432g
'This is how it all began...' From 'A Necklace of Raindrops' to 'The Patchwork Quilt', here are eight classic stories to treasure and enjoy. Beginning and ending with a birthday, this spell-binding collection conjures up a world filled with magic, where wishes can come true. A necklace of raindrops that keeps its owner dry in the heaviest rainstorm; a tiger that runs faster than the wind; a huge floating apple pie with a piece of sky in it; a baker's cat who swells to the size of a whale when his mistress feeds him yeast; a house that stands on one leg - these are just some of the objects and characters that figure in these delightful stories.