[Funnybones: a Bone Rattling Collection] [By: Ahlberg, Allan] [November, 2010]

Funnybones

by Allan Ahlberg

There is a dark, dark house and in that dark, dark house in a dark, dark cellar live some ...skeletons.

Things are going 'bump' in the night in this hilarious collection of 'Funnybones' stories! This volume includes 'Ghost Train', 'Bumps in the Night' and 'Skeleton Crew'.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

Paperback

About the author

Allan Ahlberg was one of the UK's most acclaimed and successful authors of children's books - including the best-selling Jolly Postman series. Born in Croydon in 1938, he was educated at Sunderland Technical College. Although he dreamed of becoming a writer since the age of twelve, his route to that goal was somewhat circuitous. Other jobs along the way included postman (not an especially jolly one, he recalls), gravedigger, plumber, and teacher.

Ahlberg wrote his first book when he was thirty-seven, after a decade of teaching - a profession that he maintains is "much harder" than being a writer. He says that if he hadn't become a writer, he would have loved to be a soccer player. He was married for many years to fellow children's author Janet Ahlberg, with whom he often worked. Their daughter, Jessica Ahlberg, is also a children's author.

Reviews

[Tracy Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this story to my five-year-old who loved it. This book has the trademark strong rhyming patterns of Alan Ahlberg (who could forget “on a dark, dark night”) and the illustrations are bold and colourful and go well with the story, adding an extra dimension for the astute child.

There are three tales in this book, each of them short enough to read in a few minutes whilst satisfying enough to make it feel like a worthwhile bedtime story. My son sat through all three stories with rapt attention – not bad for a boy who's main hobby is fidgeting.