Children & Books: Vintage Children’s Classics Family Fete

We went to this family fete, organised by Vintage publishers, last summer with kids of various ages and all had a great time. Of course bookworks will especially love it, as they will see some of their favourite characters brought to life, but really, this is a fun day out for everyone. There will be face painting, a treasure hunt, a pirate stilt walker, lots of games and things to do like making your own mad hatters hat or guessing the number of sweets in a giant jar to win loads of prizes – and all of it is free. For any budding artists, illustrator Adam Stower (who has just done the illustrations for the new editions of The Railway Children and Five Children) will be giving two workshops at 12 and 2pm – all you have to do is show up and join in. And if you do have a bookworm in your family, make sure you check out Vintage’s new website, worldofstories.com , which is launching this week, to coincide with their new Children’s Classics series, which will include lovely new editions of old favourites like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, as well as more contemporary reads like John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.