Look what’s dropped anchor! Our all-new Storytime Issue 30, with a brand new story section, Tales from Today! Read more about it below.

I always put in links to the portfolios of all the illustrators we’ve collaborated with, so please do take a look at their work. We’re passionate about working with and supporting illustrators globally, as well as new writers.

If you’re interested in contributing to our Tales from Today section, find out more about it here. Our first Tale from Today is Alfie the Pirate. It’s the story of a young boy, a secret treasure map and a pesky arch-enemy. It’s illustrated by Jen Taylor and we love the artwork!

Our Famous Fable, The Goat and the Fox inspired a very well-known phrase. You’ll need to get the issue to find out what it is! Check out the wonderful illustrations by Bruno Nunes, who also illustrated Anansi the Spider for us in Storytime Issue 4.

The Indian tale, King Dirty Feet, was a joy to work on and I hope you have fun reading it. It’s inspired by a poem by Nobel prize winning writer Rabrindanath Tagore.  The illustration team La Studio brought the story to life very vibrantly!

Our new poetry series, Alphabet Zoo, returns with animals beginning with the letter B. This time, readers can learn about the beaver, brown bear, boa constrictor, baboon and bandicoot. And don’t forget to download our free Factsheet and activity pack too. Tim Budgen provided the illustrations once more, and he will be working with us on the whole series.

Our second poem in the issue, The Little Kite by Katherine Pyle has a powerful message of perservance and self-belief, delivered in a charming way. Lim Zhi Lin created the sweet llustrations.

We’re so happy to include another great Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, which just sparkles with wit, cheeky humour and wisdom. A tale for our times. It also features Storytime’s first bottom, which should delight and fascinate plenty of young readers. Bare bums aside, it’s a great fairy tale and Tel Coelho‘s illustrations are just perfect. (Tel also illustrated our Tortoise and the Geese fable in Storytime Issue 10)

In a little nod to Valentine’s Day, we’ve got our version of the Greek myth Pygmalion, which you might know better as My Fair Lady. We’ve called it The Statue that Came to Life and Carmel Ben Ami created its extraordinary comic-style illustrations.

Finally, fairy fans will treasure our Welsh folk tale, Elidor and the Golden Ball. It’s about a boy who skips school and finds himself in Fairyland playing the best game of football he’s ever had! Nina de Polonia illustrated it and she has added some gorgeous details. She’s no stranger to folk tales, as she illustrated Lazy Jack for Storytime Issue 9.

Plus, of course, there’s all the usual activity ideas, puzzles, drawing, a pirate adventure game, two brilliant book recommendations and our monthly competition.

We’re really proud of this new issue, excited by our new contemporary story section and pleased to be committing to two poems in the magazine too. As ever, we hope it gives you many brilliant bedtime stories together. I’m always happy to hear from you, so drop me a line on Twitter or Facebook with any comments or questions.

Happy days!