Twenty of the finest children"s authors have each woven a brand new tale around one century in the stunning and unique anthology Centuries ofStories, and together have come up with an amazing celebration of storytelling for the new millennium. Michael Morpurgo"s "In Ancient Time" breaths an intense life into the friendship between Jesus of Nazareth and a young follower who travels from Glastonbury to Palestine, while Jean Ure tells of a time-slip between two young boys and their dogs in "The Valley of The Crocuses". Mary Hoffman writes of a young girl in who wants to be a boy in sixth- century Cornwall in "A Taste Of Freedom" and Melvin Burgess takes us back to the days of the Viking sacrifices in the extraordinarily chilling "Odin"s Day". The list of excellent authors goes on and on--Bernard Ashley, Vivian French, Jacqueline Wilson, Adele Geras, Malorie Blackman, Pete Johnstone, Geraldine McCaughrean, Jenny Nimmo, Margaret Mahy, Jeremy Strong, Gillian Cross, Alan Durant, Theresa Breslin, Annie Dalton, Robert Swindells, Henrietta Branford--and together they have produced possibly some of the finest work any child , or indeed, any adult, is likely to encounter. A truly breathtaking selection which demonstrates the length and breadth of talent available to young readers, Centuries of Stories is a fitting anthology to celebrate 20 centuries of life. And the best of the bunch? Impossible to judge, each one is sure to strike a chord with someone, opening young minds to the endless possibilities of the past and the future. (Age 10 and over) --Susan Harrison