The Laboratory

In the run up to Christmas, it's good to have books that you always read this time of year. Susan Cooper's sequence of children's books The Dark Is Rising is a firm favourite, especially the second one in the set, also titled The Dark Is Rising. From the 1970s, it's all about a choirboy from a large family who discovers magical powers and a responsibility to gather six Signs and save Christmas. Published by Puffin (naturally) it's an easy read for 8 year olds and up, and certainly this 54 year old still enjoys it. But even better, the BBC have produced a new audio version from Theatre de Complicite headed up by Simon McBurney (Archdeacon Robert in Rev).  You can find it at  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvp7 and with 12 episodes, you can start it this week and finish it by Christmas. But do read the book too. Susan Cooper is an excellent author for both adults and children. There are even readathon groups on the socials where people synchronise their reading...

We all have Christmas traditions, and one I'm sure we've shared before is Adam reading Susan Cooper's 1970s Puffin sequence The Dark Is Rising. A lot of adults of a certain age loved the books and the second one is set at Christmas time, so it's an ideal holiday to read all 5 books. There is a beautiful set of hardbacks published by The Folio Society, who have Susan Cooper on their website reading extracts and being interviewed about the books. The first one in the sequence is called Over Sea, Under Stone and follows 3 children as they discover treasure on the Cornish coast. They have a mysterious Great-Uncle who turns out in the later books ... well, that would be telling!