Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, has chosen her favourite poems for children for this stunning collection of classic and modern verse, exquisitely illustrated by multi-award-winning illustrator Emily Gravett.

Each night, in the hours between supper and bedtime, the Tear Thief carries her waterproof, silvery sack as she steals the tears of every child who cries. But what does she do with all those tears? This warm, poignant and beautifully illustrated story offers a thought-provoking message and a starting point for sharing childrens emotional responses.

It's the night before Christmas and a young girl creeps like a mouse down the stairs, determined to find out for certain whether Santa is real. But she falls asleep within seconds... Soon, Santa and his reindeer land on her roof-top and when he bursts out of her fireplace she is woken up to a room filled with magic. As she watches him fly off into the night, she knows that she will never forget this sight because, at Christmas, the best gift of all is belief. Carol Ann Duffy's twenty-first-century reworking of the Victorian Christmas classic is filled with her characteristic warmth, wit and imagination and, illustrated by the sophisticated, romantic and truly original Rob Ryan, it will be the perfect gift this Christmas.