They say that when we turn eight, you become a ‘big kid’. Oh well… we are now eight, and we feel that we have grown a lot alongside our readers! Storytime has built an amazing library of stories, we have created a wealth of extra activities every month, we have created digital issues and we have made every story available in audio form for bedtime and reading along!

Our dream of becoming the place you could go to for the best stories, in any format you like, is now real! And guess what? We couldn’t be prouder to create a magazine that is loved by so many children all over the world. To know that kids in over sixty countries are reading and cherishing out stories in a dream coming true… a dream that started in September 2014!

So what are we doing to celebrate our eighth birthday? We are bringing eight fantastic new stories to the party! We made sure that many fabulous creatures were invited. The host will be Queen Koko, the most fabulous gorilla you will ever meet! She really did exist, and she was super clever too. She learned to communicate using sign language and loved kittens (like we do too)! If that’s not enough to melt your heart, Josh Cleland will make sure you fall in love with his illustrations!

What party would be complete without a dragon story? Moe Ali makes The Dragon of the North take over our centre spread and this epic scene shall make everyone curious to read our fairy tale! Will the magic ring of King Salomon hold as much power as it promises? And will you be able to spot all the treasures in this story?

You know we have loved animal tales from the start and have featured hundreds of them – because animals make us laugh and teach us valuable lessons, too! The Fox and the Leopard is about two beasts who get into a debate about who looks the most fabulous – but in the end it’s the wise tortoise who teaches us that we are all beautiful in our own way. And we hope you know that you are beautiful too – just the way you are! Tomislav Zlatic had fun with these fab line-up of forest creatures.

If you need cuddles and a little mystery, then The Goblin in the Garden might interest you! The brand new Worlds of Wonder section will take you to magical places where the most wonderful adventures can happen! This one is set in an old garden – which shows that enchanting things can happen even in the most ordinary places. Lauren Emmon makes it extra-special with her soft shades and beautiful compositions.

But since we are talking about wonders… we are also bringing one of the Seven Wonders of the World into this special issue! (We think Storytime should be the eighth wonder, of course – did we mention we are eight and wonderful too? Yay!) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were famous for their beauty in ancient times, and Sara Michieli helps us to imagine what they would have been like. If you would like to learn more, our Teaching Resource pack this month is all about wonders – old and new!

Our bedtime story is about a classic English hero and making friends… because we would like to remind our readers that the best things in life are the ones we share! Share a picnic, share a skill, share a story! Do it together and create life-long memories. Robin’s Picnic is all about sharing – and it’s made even more vibrant by the illustrations, provided by the talented Lauren May!

It’s back-to-school time too, so we thought you would have fun reading about How the Alphabet Was Made! Rudyard Kipling had a great take on that, so we brought his wonderful tale to the party, along with superb illustrations of Estrella Bascunan. We hope you will giggle along Taffy’s ideas and spellings – and don’t forget to make your own words in the Playbox! There are many alphabets and stories about how they were invented, but this is certainly one of our favourites! 

Our eighth story in this issue is a Chinese folk tale about a very clever girl who becomes The Young Head of the Family. She solves problems and riddles and has brilliant ideas and we hope you will agree that Carol Rempto’s art is equally brilliant. When have you seen a girl arriving riding a buffalo before? That has got to be a first! 

To wrap this celebratory issue in style we are happy to present – drum roll – our latest competition: Create a Comic! It’s open to all readers aged 4- 9, and we are inviting you all to create a comic strip starring your favourite animal! It can be funny, cute, sci-fi or zany, but it should be totally original! We have created an awesome accompanying pack of resources for this competition which you can download here – and you can use it for help and inspiration! The winner will be published in Storytime next year – and it will be our first-ever comic strip in the magazine! How exciting is that?

We will be eating cake and blowing candles all month long, and we are wishing that your month too is sprinkled with sugar and decorated with rainbow icing! Thank you for being such awesome readers and for loving our stories! Here is to many more years and tales to come!

With love from all of us at Storytime Towers!