Even tiny children looking at a picture book are using their imaginations, gleaning clues from the images to understand what is happening, and perhaps using the throwaway details which the illustrator includes to add their own elements to the story.

I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.

he cut through the 21st Century Gallery, past the big plastic statues of Pluto and Mickey, animal headed gods of lost America

Sometimes, on our way through the world, we meet someone who touches our heart in a way others don't.

I was fascinated by The Lord of the Rings from about the age of eight and that lasted well into my teens.

But boys will be boys, even the ones who are only girls dressed up: That's one of the rules of the world.

That's the trouble with a story spinner. You never know what's real and what's made up. Even when they are telling the truth, they can't stop themselves from spinning it into something better; something prettier, with more of a pattern to it.