Mirrors: Sparkling new stories from prize-winning authors - Tapa dura

Acerca del autor

Wendy Cooling was a teacher of English in a London comprehensive for many years. She left to head up the Children’s Book Foundation [now Young Book Trust] and initiated the hugely successful Books for Babies scheme. She has edited many anthologies, including Collins Centuries of Stories, and is an acknowledged expert in ,and champion of, children’s books, reading and education.

De la contraportada

'Don't look into the mirror at moonlight, or you will see what animal you are…'

Mirrors have fascinating storytellers for thousands of years, and this anthology confirms that writers in the twenty-first century are still slightly intrigued by them. The collection is a wonderful mix of styles and genres, everything from humour to horror, romance to realism, fantasy to fairytale, new stories which will entice all ages with their glittering reflection of life.

GAYE HICYILMAZ has inspired the cover design with her wonderfully visual 'The Mirrored Garden', made from shattering bits and pieces of peoples lives, and CELIA REES picks up the theme of shattered mirrors in her ghostly story 'Silver Laughter'. There's the hilarious 'Never Trust a Parrot' from JEREMY STRONG in which we meet a vampire parrot; a lively, quirky fairy story featuring a dragon and a princess from KATE THOMPSON and, from VIVIAN FRENCH, a rip-roaring story of 'Selim-Hassan the seventh' whose great-great-great-great grandfather was a pirate! ALAN DURANT has written a spine-tingling tale of terror, 'Rochefault's Revenge', featuring a ghost from the French Revolution and MARY ARRIGEN'S 'Disappearance' has a ghostly theme too, a lively one with links to Aboriginal Australia. MELVIN BURGESS'S 'Whose Face Do You See'? Is a hospital drama where a mirror becomes a symbol of hope. There's a mirror-ball, which revolves and resolves a family dilemma in ANNIE DALTON'S heartening story 'Lilac Peabody' and ANNE FINE'S 'Use it or Lose it' is an acutely – observed story about growing to understand yourself.

MALORIE BLACKMAN weaves an intricate story, 'Watching', around an ageing filmstar reflecting on her youth and ELIZABETH LAIRD'S 'The Fateful Mirror' is a beautiful retelling of the story of Narcissus and Echo. This perfectly complements BERLIE DOHERTY'S magical 'The Girl of the Silver Lake', in which a young girl longs to be a silvery shimmering fish. PAUL STEWART'S extremely creepy story, 'Mirror Image,' will have you reaching for the light switch in the middle of the night. LESLEY HOWARTH sets her story 'mirrors.com' firmly in the modern world with a truly spooky tale of the hidden dangers that can lie behind internet shopping.