CHILDREN can enjoy classic Christmas tales thanks to today's Lincolnshire Echo.

A collection of festive stories penned by Charles Dickens is the latest offering in our on-going literary promotion.

The book, which costs just £2.99 with a token from today's Echo, was given the thumbs-up by school children before the Christmas break.

Pupils from Hartsholme Primary School in Lincoln said they enjoyed the book, which includes A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket On The Hearth.

Benjamin Smith, nine, said: "Usually, I like to read adventure stories, but reading stories like these get me in the mood for Christmas."

Fellow classmate Clea Strathmann, also nine, said: "A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite Christmas stories, including The Night Before Christmas."

Meanwhile, Millie Buckthorpe, 10, said: "I like reading, and I like to read Christmas stories with my family on Christmas Eve to get me ready for Christmas Day."

The first story in the book is A Christmas Carol.

It tells the tale of bitter old man Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a complete transformation one Christmas Eve when he is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The ghosts warn him to change his ways before it is too late.

The Cricket On The Hearth also contains a miser who learns to change and grow, and tells a tale of how the Christmas season can melt the coldest of hearts.

Finally, The Chimes: A Goblin Story Of Some Bells That Rang An Old Year Out And A New Year In tells us that nobody is born wicked, and that poor people have the same right to seek improvement and happiness as the rich.

The book of Christmas classics can be picked up for just £2.99 with a token printed in today's Echo.

Christmas Stores by Charles Dickens is the 14th book in the 25-title series, which so far has included such tales as Treasure Island, Robin Hood, and The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Still to come in the hard-back collection of children's classics are Mary Norton's Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Mark Twain's classic, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, and Little Women, by Louise May Alcott. Next week, look out for Peter Pan, by JM Barrie.