The Armitage Family Stories, by Joan Aiken

I was excited to read these stories because my children and I very much enjoyed Aiken's first three books in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series. I was disappointed in these, however. So disappointed, in fact, that I have decided not to finish reading them to the girls. Instead we have embarked on The Hobbit. Why read anything less than the best, when there are already too many 'best' books to read? I will allow my children to read the stories of the Armitage family, but when it comes to what I read out loud to them, I'd rather pick something more enchanting.