After seeing a Christmas show, Max decides he’d like to write a play, so he asks D.J. Lucas to help him. At the same time, he has to cope with a bossy, talkative babysitter and a new man in his mother’s life. Little by little Max comes to terms with sharing his mother, and his play reveals some of the turmoil in his life.
Taylor loves birds and collects eggs. He has the rare opportunity to enhance his collection when a pair of red kites nest nearby. The only problem is, the red kites are extremely rare – only twenty-five are left in the country. Taylor’s father, a gamekeeper, is under orders from his boss, the landowner Reg Harris, to kill the kites, who are birds of prey and will go after Harris’s grouse population. For Taylor, the temptation also to take the eggs from the kites’ nest becomes insurmountable when Harris actually asks him to do the job, even though it is illegal. Pangs of terrible guilt follow, and although Taylor tells Harris he’s gotten rid of the incriminating evidence, he secretly salvages and hatches one egg. But as soon as the bird is born, elaborate plans must be made to keep its existence a secret in order to save it from being shot during the approaching hunting season.
A witty, city kitty goes on a wild journey in this lively picture book illustrated with a retro vibe and discovers that there’s no place like home! City Kitty Cat loves driving his cab through the city, visiting museums and eating at fancy restaurants. But then he makes some new friends who convince him to join them in their wild home. Can a city kitty call the jungle home sweet home?
If you ever see a box of cornflakes offering a free lion, ignore it. This is the story of two brothers who didn’t and then ended up with a grizzly bear, a cranky old crocodile, and a huge gorilla, instead. Anything can happen in this wildly wacky tale.
When Dog’s bed looks so inviting to his numerous animal friends that a teetering pileup of coziness ensues, a sneeze triggered by Mouse’s presence on Elephant’s trunk temporarily frightens everyone away.
When the power goes off one night, Nina conquers her fear of the dark by going out and trapping one of the fireflies lighting up the sky, and she has fun playing with him until she realizes his light is growing ever dimmer and she must set him free.
A prophecy and a broken cane given to him in his childhood help a simple peasant and his children, who have power over wind, fire, and water, to defeat a wicked emperor who was once the peasant’s friend.
There are certain animals that make suitable pets, like a cat, a dog, or a guinea pig. Then there are others that make, well, unusual pets, like an octopus, a warthog, or an elephant. They’re too large, too messy, and maybe a tad too free-spirited with a tendency to break things like tables, floors, and even ceilings.
Daisy’s mum and dad are always too busy to listen to a word that she says, so when, one day, she tells them that a big purple rhino has just walked into the house and taken a chomp of her pancake, guess what? That’s right – nobody listens! But there’s a surprise in store for Mum and Dad when they discover that a big purple rhino has gone missing from the zoo. Perhaps they should have taken more notice of what Daisy had to say. Kids will love this funny story about a little girl and her most unlikely new friend.
Jumping over the moon is fine as long as you don’t trip and end up needing cow-size bandages. And having a blackbird peck off your nose can leave a person very sore indeed. Led along by bright, humorous illustrations and an energetic rhyming text, little readers will have fun guessing who the next Storyland victim might be, following hints like, “Who could be covered in egg?” and “Who went up and tumbled down?”