The Dressing Up Box

In this story, children choose costumes from a trunk and imagine becoming the people and creatures who would wear them.

The Frolleys have to move from their beloved house at 32 Sunshine Avenue to a place with dripping taps, stinky carpets and ants. But they have brought something with them that can turn any house into a home. The Dress-Up Box is a story about childhood, belonging and the power of imagination.

Against the backdrop of war, a group of children barricade themselves in an abandoned townhouse, cherishing what’s left of their innocence with the help of a dressing-up box... A deep-sea diver takes to being suspended for hours at a time on the end of a line not long enough to reach the seabed... An aging widower moves into the shed at the end of his garden to plan out his ‘endgame’ surrounded by a lifetime’s worth of hoarded curiosities... The characters in David Constantine’s fifth collection are all in pursuit of sanctuary; the violence and mendacity of the outside world presses in from all sides – be it the ritualised brutality suffered by children at a Catholic orphanage, or the harrowing videos shared among refugees of an atrocity ‘back home’. In each case, the characters withdraw into themselves, sometimes abandoning language altogether, until something breaks and they can retreat no further. In Constantine’s luminous prose, these stories capture such moments in all their clarity; moments when an entire life seems to hang in the balance, the past’s betrayals exposed, its ghosts dragged out into the daylight; moments in which the possibility of defiance and redemption is everything. Praise for The Dressing-Up Box: 'A quietly furious and moving collection...' - A.L. Kennedy 'Precise in their intensity, unsettling, suddenly and unexpectedly luminous, these stories will stay with you and unfurl within you.' - Lucy Caldwell 'A beautifully crafted tender, evocative collection. Full of wisdom and light.' - Irenosen Okojie 'David Constantine's fifth collection of stories is a fierce and tender meditation on our struggle to live - a lyrical and plainspoken portrait of humanity at its pernicious worst and its suffering, creative, resilient best.' - Carys Davies

Play dress up with Angelina Ballerina in this 8x8 storybook! Angelina Ballerina loves playing dress up as much as she loves ballet, so her grandparents help her make a dress-up box of her own! And dressing up is even more fun when Angelina’s friend Alice and cousin Henry come over to play. © 2020 Helen Craig Ltd and Katharine Holabird. The Angelina Ballerina name and character and the dancing Angelina logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited, Katharine Holabird, and Helen Craig.

So many things to choose from and so many games to play! What wonderful things will you find when you open up the Dress-Up Box?

What do you wear to a dress-up party? Here are some ideas!

Based on the principles of synthetic phonics, this book supports the government's 'Letters and Sounds' programme used in schools.

Amber loves playing dress-up with her friends, Pearl and Lily. But Amber's dressing-up box isn't like any other ... When Amber puts on a raggedy skirt there's a magical dazzle of silver light and the next thing she knows, she's in the middle of Cinderella's fairytale world! With the Prince's ball coming up, the ugly sisters are bossier than ever, but Amber is determined to escape the scrubbing, serving and cleaning. With a little help from Buttons, she escapes - but it's not long until she's back in the cellar again.