London Folk Tales for Children

London Folk Tales for Children brings together traditional tales, ballads, imagined histories and stories gathered from Londoners past and present. Anne Johnson and Sef Townsend range from the River Thames and Tower ravens to the streets, hills and buildings where local legends have taken root.

The collection includes Bessy of Bethnal Green, fortune telling on Gypsy Hill and the song of a chimney sweep, alongside stories of Victorian street life, babies who become flowers, a two-headed bird and a child travelling alone across the world. It also reflects London’s changing communities, showing how people arriving from many countries have added languages, music, food and stories to the city’s folklore.