The Princess in Black

About 20 minutes at an unhurried pace, including a standard allowance for page turns, pictures and participation, from a word count of 2,079. Stopping for a longer conversation on every page will add more time.

Ages 5-8 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 2 sentences a page and vocabulary at 3 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.

Yes - this is one of the few that is still fine on the fortieth reading, which is why it scores 5 out of 5 with us.

It helps that it has a refrain a child can join in with. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.

Probably, and fast. The book leans on a repeated refrain, and at 5 out of 5 for re-read tolerance it survives the nightly repeats that get a book memorised. Expect your child to chant the pattern back before they can actually read.

Not yet. At vocabulary level 3 out of 5 and 2 sentences a page, it is a read-aloud book rather than a first solo read. Read it to them now, and hand it over in a year or two.

Yes, it belongs to the Princess in Black series. It stands on its own, so you can start here without reading the others in order, then move to the rest if it lands.

We tag it with princesses, superheroes, monsters, secret identity and goats. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.