Becoming Tales

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Xolo — an axolotl who has lived a very long time in a wood-pool, and who asks children one quiet question as they begin to grow into themselves — keeps a stone at the water's edge where things are kept. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a girl of six named Edie runs ahead of her grandad, steps off the path after a glint of light, an...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Thimble — a most courteous crab who returns what others have lost, with a bow, a ledger, and the greatest possible care — keeps an evening watch at the tideline. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a girl of about six sits where the water reaches her toes, having lost her very first tooth in the sea before she could put it under her pillo...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Columbus — a dodo out of time, falling slowly through the centuries with a pocket watch and a collection of carried songs — lands on a quayside in Plymouth in the year 1668. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a boy named Will, waiting on the quay for his father's ship, meets a small grey dodo in a tricorn hat who wants to know the ex...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Tuft — the Garden Watcher, who helps children notice what they'd otherwise miss — has watched over the same garden for eight generations of one family. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a girl of about seven comes through the gap in the wall, told don't look at him — and looks anyway. Tuft goes stone, as he always does, and says...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Fern — who gives children a small thing for where they've been — is walking south for no reason but that one morning she turned. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a child is walking the lane alone, with the kind of bag you pack when you're going somewhere you're not sure about. Fern doesn't stop her, and doesn't ask...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Moot — who says one word, and means everything by it — is sitting in the long grass when a boy comes to eat his lunch. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a boy called Tomas brings his lunch to a field and finds a small, helmeted creature in the grass, looking back at him. Moot only ever says one word — his own name — but Tomas is just th...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Flint — a faerie who shows that accidents can still be beautiful — is blown down a valley by a wind she can't refuse, and lands beside a boy at a river. A gentle bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a boy called Tam is skipping stones at a river for no reason but that he's the right age to. Nobody asked him to; there's nothing he's practising for....

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Tock — a magpie detective who stands up for whoever's about to be wrongly blamed — takes on a new case. A warm, clever bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a boy's library book has vanished from his shelf, and he's quite sure his sister took it. But Tock never closes a case on a hunch. Notebook open and pen at the ready, he follows the...

A Becoming Tale, read aloud. Bramble — who makes children feel truly seen — sits at a crossroads and meets a tired child carrying something too heavy to hold in any longer. A gentle, comforting bedtime story for children aged 5 to 11. In this episode: a tired child arrives at Bramble's crossroads with something they've been holding in for too long. Bramble doesn't tell them it's alright — he simpl...