KIDS’ BOOK OF THE WEEK

THE IMAGINATION CHAMBER

By Philip Pullman, Scholastic, £12.99 (ebook £7.99)

★★★★✩

The many worlds

Philip Pullman has created are already impossibly rich, but fans will be pleased to discover yet more layers in this series of sketches and snapshots.

Each page is a window offering tantalising glimpses into the characters of His Dark Materials and the not-yet-completed trilogy, The Book Of Dust.

The witch Serafina Pekkala hovering above a field at night, taking in the stillness of a silence that contains multitudes. Lyra as a child, eating too much cake during a visit from an eminent writer and hiding her vomit under a rug. And Will, a surgeon in training, needing to obscure the true precision of his hands – a legacy from his time as bearer of the subtle knife.

Slim in volume only, less is more with this quiet, beautifully crafted companion book. A wonderful stopgap for fans impatient for the highly anticipated Book Of Dust finale.