BOOKS: PICK OF THE WEEK

Children's Literary Festivals Tue to Fri South Bank Centre & Barbican Pit, London

London hosts two literary festivals aimed at children over the half-term break.

Topping the roster on the South Bank at the "Imagine 2005" series is Jacqueline Wilson (below), who previews her forthcoming novel, Clean Break. John Agard, Val Bloom and Michael Rosen open the festival on Tuesday (11am), performing poetry that combines Caribbean Creole and "standard English". In other events are the illustrator Anthony Browne and the storyteller Jan Blake, while Ian McMillan presents his Big Family Show, a compendium of humorous verses and tales, on Wednesday afternoon.

At the Barbican, "Book Me!" takes as its theme the Greek myths, opening with Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton's recreation of Homer's The Odyssey. Geraldine McCaughrean reads from her tales of Prometheus, Phaeton and Icarus, while the Wee Stories Theatre for Children conclude the festival with Labyrinth: Mystery of the Monster in the Maze, a stage work retelling the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

South Bank Centre, London SE1 (0870 380 0400) Tue to Thur; Barbican Pit, Silk St, London EC2 (0845 120 7550) Tue to Fri