One day, Boy and Girl head down the hill with a picnic basket and meet a fancily dressed Sheep, Pig, and Duck. They all set off to find the perfect place to sit outside — until they see Bull coming! A short-lived chase segues into a gentle interactive text as the friends wend their way from an idyllic outdoor world to a welcoming house on a hill.
Tune in as a father reads his children a bedtime story about the exploits of two villains, Filth and Vacuum, and their wicked plan to suck all the money out of the banks and cover everything with muck and slime. Who is strong enough to save the world? Not Steel Man, nor Flying Through the Air Very Fast Man, nor even Incredible Big Strong Green Man. It may just be a job for clever young Brad Forty, who transforms himself into . . . Extremely Boring Man! His superpower is making people fall asleep — but will it work on the children listening to this story?
Amy may never have spent a night away from home, but today she declares that she wants to spend not one but three nights at her grandma’s house. So she packs a bag, and off she goes. During the day, she and Grandma have a lovely time, but when Amy is alone in bed she starts to miss her mother and her baby brother and their dog, Bonzo. Luckily Amy has brought her three best things for a visit, which offer a heartening taste of home — in the most remarkable ways! From the stellar creative pair of Philippa Pearce and Helen Craig comes a wonderfully reassuring bedtime tale.
Watch a tiny seed grow through the seasons into a fine pear tree with this beautifully-presented book.
Prince Albert comes up with a royally creative solution to Queen Victoria’s modesty concerns in this true story that reveals an overlooked splash of history. Poor Queen Victoria! She loves to swim, but can’t quite figure out how to get to the water without her devoted subjects glimpsing her swimming suit. (Because, of course, such a sight would compromise her regal dignity.) Fortunately for the water-loving monarch, it’s Prince Albert to the rescue with an invention fit for a queen! This quirky tale about the longest reigning monarch in British history is as fun as it is authentic, and the book includes a picture of the actual bathing machine Prince Albert created.
As a bear strolls through the forest, he meets a lonely gorilla, a noisy crocodile, a lion, and even an elephant. They all look as if they are missing something, so the bear steps in to save the day, using his magic pencil to draw just what they are looking for. Originally published in 1988, this enchanting story by a picture-book master is available again for a brand-new audience.
Jamie and Emily try to clean up Hilltop stream with help from their little Tomte friends. Tomtes are small creatures, who only children can see. They live in ancient woods and like to help people and animals. Hilltop Farm has not been thriving: crops are failing, the animals are badly behaved and Bella the cow is ill. Poor Farmer Robinson puts the farm up for sale. But Emily and Jamie are determined to save the farm, so they ask their friends the Tomtes for help. Together, the Tomtes and the children look after Bella, milk the goats and plant seeds. They pick wild berries, collect eggs and make cheese. Can they persuade Farmer Robinson not to sell the farm? This is the second book about the helpful Tomtes who live in Hilltop Wood.
Iris understands that grown-ups are afraid of lions, but when she finds one in her playhouse she knows he is kind so she keeps him hidden from her parents for as long as possible.
Although it sometimes seems that parents are just there to boss their children around, they are also good for many other things, from mending toys, kneecaps, and clothing to telling bedtime stories.
In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and sixteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan’s father is the world’s most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his seventeenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch—or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust—not even family, not even the girl he loves?