Who remembers Ali Bongo’s Book of Magic? There were lots of great ideas in it, but there was one particular plum: The Apple and the Block of Gold. A young prince decided to make his way in the world and his father offers him a choice of two precious objects – a ripe apple or a solid block of gold. The prince chooses the gold and it is openly placed into a box which the prince carries with him. After a long journey, the prince finds himself in a desert; the block of gold is getting heavier and heavier and he begins to wish he’d chosen the apple. He opens the box to throw away the useless block of gold…and finds, miraculously, that it has changed into the apple! So where IS the block of gold? Why, it’s back at the castle! A terrific story – but it’s more than that: we have added a routine in which the children participate all the way through, so that they are fully involved from beginning to end.
