Top 5 books about portal adventures for under-12s, chosen by Ben Miller

Ben Miller’s new book The Night We Got Stuck in a Story finds two children going through hollow of a tree into a storybook land, where wind and rain rage and a mysterious creature lives. Here, he picks other great tales that take us through a portal.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis 

THE classic portal story. Four children find a magical snowbound land in the back of a wardrobe. As a child I loved that the door to Narnia was inside something as ordinary as a wardrobe. It sends your imagination spinning!  

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 

A young girl falls down a rabbit hole into a world of Mad Hatter tea parties and angry playing cards. My daughter Lana loves the idea of being able to jump into a fantasy world and meeting all the colourful characters.  

The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton

Elves, pixies and talking creatures live in a magical tree, the top of which is a portal to a world of adventures. And what child wouldn’t want to be friends with Moon-Face or Silky the Fairy?  

• The best children’s books of 2022… from Oliver Jeffers to Dara McAnulty and more
• The website offering a new way to find diverse children’s books
• Top 5 books about children and nature, chosen by CC Harrington

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

In the iconic scene at King’s Cross station, Harry and his pals travel from Platform 9 ¾ into the magical world. This series is great at showing the magical world alongside the real world. 

Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James 

When classic children’s book characters like Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland start appearing in a bookshop, our hero Tilly must join forces with them to solve a mystery.

The Night We Got Stuck in a Story by Ben Miller is out in paperback now (Simon & Schuster, £7.99).

You can buy it from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.