JK Rowling is quoted on the cover of the most recent edition of The Little White Horse - and I can see just why she loved it. It is a charming book - in the old-fashioned sense of enchanting and putting a glamour on the reader. Set in early Victorian England, it is a lovely and encouraging book. I missed the strong Christian message as a child, but even on rereading it as an adult, I did not find it intrusive. It is a tale of courage and learning what one is capable of achieving.

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How characters and stories can consume us.

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Ballet Shoes was published in June 1936 and is still one of the best depictions of how girls and women can navigate the world and gain independence.

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This week, in 60 Weeks 60 Books, I take a look at Twelfth Night, where Shakespeare revisits the missing twins trope he first deployed in Comedy of Errors, and has his characters play one of the meanest pranks in drama on the hapless Malvolio. 

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Remembering Enid Blyton's gift for giving children agency and excitement - and why reading bad books is not necessarily bad for the reader.

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In which the reasons that Paddington is definitively the Best Bear in the World are explored, plus a little trip to the Biba shop in Kensington.

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This episode includes a reading of Where the Wild Things Are - it may be frightening to some of a vulnerable disposition.

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Winnie the Pooh has sold millions of copies, been translated into 75 languages and analyzed by academics. But really, he's simply a very human Bear of Little Brain.

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Taking a look at Alec Ramsay, hero of The Black Stallion and how he helped me change my name.

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How Wind in the Willows embodies England and what makes a home.

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