The summer holidays are well underway here in the UK, so we thought we’d celebrate summer with all-new Storytime Issue 48. In this exciting new issue, you can cool down by diving into the ocean with narwhals, catch the sun, share a shadow and even build a sandcastle. Plus there are many more wonderful stories, poems and activities inside. We’ve even got a narwhal game for you!

We hope you enjoy the super summery theme and that it helps keep your Storytime sessions alive over the holidays. It’s a subject we’ve touched on before, but away from school, many families let reading slide over summer and reading skills then regress by the start of the new term.

The best way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to keep reading fun. Don’t turn it into a chore or a bore (“you can only go out and play after you’ve done some reading”), instead make it something to look forward to – a reward at the end of the day or for tidying a room. See 20 Great Places to Read this Summer for some ideas. Give reading positive associations and your children will want to do it all year round.

We think Storytime Issue 48 has just enough fun and adventure to keep them engaged and inspired. Who can resist a story about four little children sailing around the world? Here’s what’s inside our summer issue along with links to our highly valued and brilliant contributors.

Inside Storytime Issue 48

We open the issue with an ode to building sandcastles, gorgeously illustrated by Fiona Dulieu. If this doesn’t make you hanker after a trip to the beach with buckets and spades, then we don’t know what will. If you can’t get there, make a sandcastle card in our Storytime Playbox section instead.

Next, we dive into the Arctic with Harry the Narwhal and his family. What are narwhal tusks for? They’re more useful than you think, as you’ll find out in this debut story from writer Flo Davis. It’s illustrated by Martuka, who we are so lucky to work with again. (Martuka also illustrated The Little Mermaid for us in Storytime Issue 24.)

Things heat up in our myth from Polynesia and New Zealand, which follows demigod Maui as he decides to force the sun to slow down. Catching and taming the sun isn’t as easy as it looks, however. Our sizzling illustrations for this superhero story were created by Alberto Badalamenti.

Our Favourite Fairy Tale in Storytime Issue 48 was penned by lord of the limerick, Edward Lear. It features Four Little Children Who Went Round the World, and is full of quirky details, weird creatures and perilous moments. It also comes with custard-loving mice and chocolate drops! Kids will love the story and the illustrations too, which are by Alejandro Mesa.

The Tug of War is a tale from Africa and it stars one of the continent’s favourite tricksters, the hare. He outwits two of the continent’s biggest beasts in a battle of wit and strength. It’s a great story with action-packed illustrations by Gerardo Baro. (Discover the cool lessons you can learn from Trickster Tales here.)

Soaring into the issue is our second poem, The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It’s a short poem, but it packs a lot of punch. It’s a mini masterclass in writing poetry and is often used in primary schools. Our illustration is by Stephanie Fizer-Coleman, who is the perfect fit. If you haven’t ogled her 100 Birds project yet, we highly recommend it!

For Storyteller’s Corner, we bring you Melusine’s Mystery – a tale from Europe about a knight who falls in love with a mysterious woman, but she refuses to let him see her on a Saturday. Find out what she’s up to in the issue. We’re really happy that Elena Iarussi illustrated this story, who also did a beautiful job of our Estonian myth about the Milky Way in Storytime Issue 36.

Finally, our fable travels to the Middle East for a journey across the searing hot desert. Sharing a Shadow has an obvious moral message and everyone gets their just desserts, but in a funny way. Illustrator Laura Proietti helped us bring this story to life with the perfect palette of colours.

 

Who says you need to go away in summer? Stories have the power to take you anywhere and everywhere, and in Storytime Issue 48, we hope we’ve given you a trip to remember. If you’re still not sure and want to have a closer look at our latest magazine, you can flick through here.

School subscribers get a special resource and activity pack to go with this issue, inspired by all the featured stories and poems. If you’d like to know more about this, visit our Storytime for Schools site.

If you enjoy this issue, we hope you’ll love the next one even more. We’re launching a whole new series of exclusive stories, featuring all your favourite fairy-tale characters. Make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe today!

In the meantime, send us pictures of your sandcastles – either real ones, junk-modelled cardboard creations or sandcastle cards. We’d love to see how creative you can get. Share them with us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!

 

Happy holidays from the Storytime team!