Puffin Classics bring together the very best children's stories for a whole new generation. In this sequel to FIVE CHILDREN AND IT, the magical adventures of siblings Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother continue. It's startling enough to have a phoenix hatch in your house, but even more startling when it talks and reveals that you have a magic carpet on the floor. The vain and ancient bird accompanies the children on a series of adventures through time and space which, magic being what it is, rarely turn out as they were meant . . . Introduced by award-winning fantasy writer, Robin McKinley.

And entrancing combination of magical fantasy with real-life complications. Gerald, Cathy and Jimmy wake a beautiful princess from her hundred year sleep in an enchanted garden. It's really only Mabel, the housekeeper's niece - but the garden really is enchanted, and the ring she slips on really is magic! The children find themselves in some funny, some awkward, some frightening and some absolutely magical situations before everything gets sorted out.

Over four hundred years before the birth of Christ, the island of Eriu is a patchwork of feuding kingdoms, wide plains, and impassable bogs. Battle, intrigue, betrayals, and courage are part of life for the Celts who call Eriu home, while from their underground halls the mysterious aes sidhe seduce brave warriors, turning men in to kings and binding them with fearsome geis.

Conall Mac Gabhann is content with his apprenticeship to the local blacksmith. Content, that is, until his family is slaughtered in their home.

Two men share responsibility for the massacre: a mad Irish king and a dissolute Roman. Conall will have his vengeance on both, or die in the attempt.

Accompanied by his childhood friend Brion o Cathasaigh and the veteran warrior Fearghal o Maoilriain, Conall's hunt takes him northward through unfriendly kingdoms and treacherous bogs to a confrontation beyond the ancient earthworks of the Black Pig's Dyke.

Along the way, Conall will gather an army, and come to the attention of the aes sidhe. An apprentice blacksmith could become a king with their help-if he so desires."

At the end of Five Children and It the five children promised not to ask the Psammead for another wish as long as they lived, but expressed a half wish to see it again some time. They find 'it' again in a pet shop in Camden Town, and their magic adventures start over again.

'It' leads them to a magic amulet - half of it actually - which they use it to try and find the other half. It takes them back to ancient Egypt and Babylon. The Queen of Babylon visits them in London, bringing all her ancient customs with her - which is awkward. They visit the lost continent of Atlantis. They see Julius Caesar in the flesh. But none of these adventures run smoothly, and if they forget the 'word of power' or lose the amulet, what in the world will happen to them?