5+ readers. Award-winning Philip Pullman has long treasured this feisty and magical story from The Arabian Nights. When the young Aladdin rubs a dirty old lamp a genie appears and offers the boy three wishes. Riches? Happiness? Excitement? Three wishes should bring Aladdin everything he wants. But, as he soon discovers, wishes are more complicated than they sound. Philip Pullman captures all the magic and excitement of this perennially popular story in his vivid retelling which is perfectly matched by Ian Beck’s illustrations. The result is a book to treasure.
The Lovereading Comment:
Ian Beck's lavish illustrations summon to mind the fantasy world of traditional folk tales transporting the reader right into the heart of Pullman's mesmerising and full-blooded retelling. Lots of jokes pay tribute to Aladdin’s hugely popular pantomime traditions and there are lavish embellishments to the familiar story of Aladdin, his mysterious ‘uncle’, the Jinnee and, of course, the magic lamp. All is told by Pullman in glorious tongue-rolling language that makes both the mystery and the magic strangely credible. This is a perfect gift which will captivate the entire family.
Aladdin is a mischievous boy from China, who one day finds himself in possession of a magical lamp which, when rubbed, summons the powerful Jinnee of the Lamp. Join Aladdin as he flees from poverty, meets the beautiful Princess Badr-al-Budur and defeats the evil sorcerer Moor.
Philip Pullman one of the most acclaimed writers working today.
He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for Northern Lights (and the reader-voted ‘Carnegie of Carnegies’ for the best children’s book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honour of his body of work. The first volume of Philip Pullman’s long-awaited trilogy The Book of Dust, set in the same world as His Dark Materials, published in 2017, and the second volume followed in 2019.
