The King and Wizard Stories by Neil Johnson, illustrated by Victoria Flack, with music composed by Stuart Warren

Each book contains six stories set long ago and far away in the Kingdom of Vàldovar (if a map ever existed which showed the whereabouts of Vàldovar, it has long ago been lost). The central character in each story is King Ferdinand the Thirteenth who finds himself confronted with a series of tricky problems threatening to disturb the peace of his land. The King solves each problem with the help of his friend The Wizard-who-lives-in-the-Wood. The Wizard’s proposed solutions are always rather odd, and King Ferdinand can never see how they can possibly work, but they always do – and usually in the most unexpected way. The language in which these delightful stories are written is elegant and not oversimplified either in terms of vocabulary or grammatical construction, and the positive values of kindliness, courtesy, consideration for others, honesty, truthfulness and faithfulness are always at the forefront, though the Author avoids being at all ‘preachy’. These are timeless tales that will be read with pleasure by young and old alike.