The Marvellous Mend-it Shop
Perry Emerson and Laura Borio
Little Tiger Books

A magical tale about the power of story-telling and how a mother and her child, Max, discover a very special shop.
When Max accidentally breaks his mum’s special charm bracelet he is distraught. He knows it’s her favourite possession (other than him) but Mum doesn’t get cross; instead she tells him the story of what happened when she herself was small and broke it.
Off she went in search of help and was surprised to come across a strange-looking shop she’d never seen before: it’s called The Marvellous Mend-it Shop and it’s absolutely crammed with treasured trinkets of all kinds.

Suddenly there comes a loud voice calling “Next!” It’s a talking mole who takes the bracelet, decides it’s a complicated case but can be fixed and sends her to a lift up to the Department of Treasures. Therein she’s greeted by a smartly clad tiger who tells her that anything can be mended. Out steps the narrator (Mum as a child) and she hears first a whisper and then singing. Thereupon she opens her palm to reveal the broken bracelet and one at a time the charms are re-fixed onto the chain.
That though is only a small part of the tale for there follows an encounter with a bear

talking about how to make the charms sparkle and thus bring the bracelet back to life.

The book ends with Mum’s wise words about stories and what the right one at the right time can do.

Bursting with magic and with a wealth of wonderful tiny details in Laura Borio’s whimsical scenes, this is a smashing book to share with a reception/ KS1 class: it will, one hopes, spark the imaginations of listeners who will go on to create their own magical stories.