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The Box of Delights

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The Box of Delights

By: John Masefield, Quentin Blake
Narrated by: Caius Nicholas
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Summary

 ‘Two of the greatest children’s books ever written’ – The Times on The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk.

A magical old man has asked Kay to protect the Box of Delights, a Box with which he can travel through time. But Kay is in danger: Abner Brown will stop at nothing to get his hands on it. The police don't believe Kay, so when his family and the Bishop are scrobbled up just before Christmas, he knows he must act alone …

John Masefield’s classic children’s book is considered to be one of the great works of modern children’s fiction. Magical, fantastical and filled with vivid, rich characters – brought to life in this edition by Quentin Blake’s stunning artwork – The Box of Delights and its sequel The Midnight Folk are a must-read for any child. A genuine fantasy classic in the tradition of Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. If you like Harry Potter, you’ll love this. A wonderful book for early readers aged 8 and up.

Recently adapted for the stage by Piers Torday, bestselling author of The Last Wild.

‘Two of the greatest children’s books ever written’ – The Times on The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk.

©2025 John Masefield, Quentin Blake (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers Action & Adventure Historical Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Pirates Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction Magic Magic Users Classics Time Travel

Critic reviews

‘Two of the greatest children’s books ever written’ – The Times on The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk.
All stars
Most relevant
Fun and magical but the narrator is a little irritating- mostly in the repetitive way he says ‘character said’ in the same tone continually. Made it hard to listen to.

Odd but great

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This book is a classic! it has all those elements - adventure, magic, heroes and villains - that capture the imagination. Also captivating was the narrators skilful use of inflection to bring the text, and the characters, to life. A great listen!

A delightful tale, deftly narrated out of its box!

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Bought for grandchildren for a journey. Really enjoyable to listen to, brought to life by the narrator who had an excellent and clear reading voice. My grandchildren loved the different voices and kept very entertained.

A real joy

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My family and I soldiered through this classic on a long Christmas journey.
It's a great story, although there were parts where we all became rather lost, and John Masefield often dives into extravagant, exuberant and overly verbose prose that doesn't progress the story. Add in quite a lot of 1935 parlance and concentration is required.

But that's as nothing when compared to the abysmal narration by Caius Nicholas. He manages to mispronounce words, puts emphasis in strange places, ignores Masefield's punctuation, creates his own punctuation and rustles up some truly bizarre accents that pull one out of the story. What on earth anyone was thinking when he cobbled a peculiar Scottish (with forays into Irish) accent for Herne the Hunter (an English legend associated with Windsor Forest) goodness knows. It varied each time he attempted it.

I DO know that he certainly didn't make following the story any easier and I shall make a note to avoid anything that he attempts to narrate in future.

Such a shame.
You may be better off trying to find an adaptation than buying this.

Classic story ruined by frightful narration

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A school library must have been where I first encountered this, although I remember being scared by the BBC adaption on VHS! This was a lovely dose of nostalgia. The lively narration lifts the slightly dense prose brilliantly, giving each character life and making them easily recognisable and making light, vivid work of some long and elaborate descriptive sections.

Along with the episodic nature of the various adventures that make up the plot it makes it perfect bedtime story material!

Lively narration adds charm to seasonal nostalgia

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