Can you believe we’re at Storytime Issue 55 and this is our first cover featuring a dragon? It just goes to show how many fantastic stories are out there battling it out to make the cover. In fact, we love the cover of Storytime Issue 55 so much (gracias, Leire Martin!), we almost want to put a dragon cover on every issue of Storytime. We’ll just change the name to Dragontime, okay? Deal? Deal!

If you have ever doubted the power of human ingenuity and imagination (when science wasn’t available to say otherwise), just look at dragon stories and mythology. Why come up with a dull explanation for events when you can blame a dragon? Incidentally, it’s actually a dragon’s fault there’s a tiny typo in that story. Honest. It’s true!

Anyway, back to our lovely new issue – of which we are very proud and excited (apart from the harmless typo). For those who don’t already subscribe to Storytime and are yet to experience its magic, we like to take a closer look at each story and thank our wonderful contributors. So before we get carried with (or by) dragons, find out more here.

Inside Storytime Issue 55

 

Illustrator Georgia Broseghini graces our pages again with artwork for our newest Storyland Adventure. In this issue, Little Red Riding Hood has to face her fears and walk through the woods to visit granny again. Will she listen to advice this time and stay on the path? Naturally, the Big Bad Wolf tries to live up to his name.

Stan and the Dragon is a fun and adventurous fairy tale from Romania featuring a character who uses brains rather than brawn to outwit two dragons. Oh, and he has 100 children! The gorgeous cover (those colours!) and internal illustrations are by Leire Martin.

How the Elephant Got Its Trunk, sometimes called The Elephant’s Child, is by Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book. This tale comes from his collection of Just So Stories, and we have updated it for a modern, younger readership. Marilisa Cotroneo illustrated this story and gave us the gorgeous cuddling elephants at the end. School subscribers will get a free classroom pack to use with this story. It contains a glossary, lesson ideas, activities, quizzes, comprehension tests and more. Find out more on our Schools site.

We had a lot of fun also updating the classic days-of-the-week nursery rhyme Monday’s Child (is full of grace… remember?). In Storytime Issue 55, it’s called A Musical Week and you can see kids and animals rocking out, playing instruments and having a great time. Special thanks to illustrator Carolina Grosa for bringing it to life. You can also download the original version here.

Storytime Issue 55’s fable, Cat Trouble has been updated too. It’s a fresh new version of the Aesop classic, Belling the Cat. As ever, there’s a thought-provoking moral to discuss. Plus you can admire Erica Salcedo’s fun illustrations. We love the raspberry mouse hat!

For our Tales from Today section, we bring you Squirrel Spy School. You know how there’s always one sneaky squirrel who gets to the bird feeder first? Well, in this story, you can meet him and witness a bird backlash! Mili Koey’s art for this is so full of energy.

You can travel to Ecuador for our Around the World Tale. It’s truly magical and Lujan Fernandez‘s illustrations are a joy. When an Incan ruler requires water from a golden lake to cure his illness, a little girl sets off with her llama to save the day. Along the way she meets magical birds and fierce lake guardians. Though she has a little help, she’s brave and heroic.

Finally, Storytime Issue 55 ends with a Norse myth and Loki – as usual – is the cause of everyone’s problems. This time, he’s blackmailed by a giant into getting hold of Idun’s powerful anti-ageing apples. As you can imagine, Odin is unamused, especially by his new grey hairs and wrinkles. Good shapeshifting fun – and illustrator Saoirse Louise gave us a great cast of mythical characters.

So Why Subscribe to Storytime?

What other children’s magazine takes you around the globe and brings you eight stories old and new in every issue? Shares fantastic illustrations from talent all over the world? Squeezes in poetry, puzzles, activities, printables, games, colouring, book reviews, quizzes and competitions too? In Storytime Issue 55, we’ve poured in as much good stuff as we can to help your children develop a love of reading – and set them up for life. You can read more about that here.

If you didn’t subscribe in time to catch this particular issue, don’t worry – you can pick up Back Issues in our Storytime Shop. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in seeing what’s coming next month (it’s a goodie!), check out our Issues page.

 

Be a hero this month – read lots of stories! And make friends with a dragon. They’re not all bad.