Ripping things to do

Follow in the footsteps of your favourite childhood heroes, from the Borrowers to the Famous Five, from Milly-Molly-Mandy to Winnie the Pooh.With Ripping Things to Do on lazy Sunday afternoons, in the garden, when you're poorly, in the kitchen and even in your dressing gown, plus ripping things to make and cook, Jane Brocket's book is bursting with inspiration, imagination and 'I Want to Do That!' moments, whether it's putting on a good old-fashioned talent show (Dancing Shoes); hosting an impromptu tree party (Pippi Longstocking); sending an SOS message(The Five Find-Outers); or treating young adventurers to a lovely, hand- and heart-warming hotpot (Winter Holiday). There are step-by-step illustrations for the more practical skills, like building a treehouse or learning semaphore, and delightful introductions to the stories that inspired each adventure, so that you can rediscover exactly what was so great about the books from your childhood, and even share them with the next generation. 'We wanted to be like the children in books,' says Alice in The Story of the Treasure Seekers, 'only we never have the chances they have!' If only she'd had RIPPING THINGS TO DO! A nostalgic treat for grown-ups, it is guaranteed to banish boredom, and have you enjoying the kind of amazing adventures other children can only dream about.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.