A great new collection of poetry, wide-ranging in both form and subject matter. Full of Brian Patten's wonderful wit and moments of beauty as in GERANIUMS IN THE SNOW: Like children snuggling down under a white duvet Slowly the red geraniums Vanish under the snow. Brilliantly complemented by Chris Riddell's illustrations. ...

NO TURNING BACK by Carnegie-medal winning author Beverley Naidoo is the powerful and moving story of Sipho and his struggle to survive on the city streets of Johannesburg in the 1990s. It is one of The Originals from Penguin - iconic, outspoken, first. South African society is on the brink of a huge change as apartheid comes to an end,...

Grandfather is off on an expedition to the North Pole to find the Last Polar Bears and with him goes Roo - a dog of character and strong views. The intrepid explorers set sail on the good ship Unsinkable and embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Eccentric, moving and very funny, their story is told through a series of...

Now you see them, now you don't... What would you do if you could become invisible? Creep around, unseen? Listen in to other people's conversations? Twins Carrie and Conrad, and their friends Peter and Charlotte do all these things, and much more, when a new girl at school - Rosie - shows them her secret: how to make yourself invisible....

The deeds and misdeeds of Uncle Silas, the rural reprobate, were renowned in the short stories H E Bates published in the 1930s.In this collection the stories are presented in full, accompanied by the original drawings by Edward Ardizzone that perfectly capture the little reed-thatched house atop a violet-banked lane.Over the course of ninety-five years Uncle Silas found the time...

Twelve Shakespeare plays presented afresh by Leon Garfield in narrative form. These are not simple retellings, but more like a refashioning of the dramas as stories, which remain true to the essential spirit of the original versions. The author has captured all the richness of character, plot, mood and setting in Shakespeare's works. It is the perfect introduction to Shakespeare...

A second collection of poems based on familiar themes..... ...

A collection of six fun-to-perform playlets based on Roald Dahl's bestselling story. Each short play, based on THE TWITS, highlights the key points in the story and some can be acted by groups of children while others only need a couple of actors. Similar format to the The BFG, and The Witches: Plays for Children Adapted by David Wood, a...

Lydia, Christopher and Natalie are used to domestic turmoil. Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and fro between their volatile mother, Miranda, and Daniel, their out-of-work actor father. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will supervise the children after school - and Daniel gets the job, disguised...

Doctor Dolittle loves animals - and he can actually talk to them as well! It's a good job too when there is a disaster looming. A lone sparrow warns the Doctor that the Cape Stephen Lighthouse is not working and a ship is sailing towards rocks. Between them, Doctor Dolittle and his animal friends save the day and get the...

The land of Welkin is in trouble! Not only is it at risk of flood, but now the rat hordes are on the move, fighting to gain dominance over the other animals.... Sylver's search for the elusive humans - their only hope - leads him and his intrepid band of weasels to an enormous ruined castle, deep in the heart...

A brilliant new collection of poems. The poetry contains the clever word-play, rich ideas and humour associated with Roger McGough. It includes a series of poems about the exploits of some gangster cats and verse based on CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS by Saint Saens. ...

The classic fantasy adventure of a lost prehistoric world. Journalist Ed Malone is looking for an adventure, and that's exactly what he finds when he meets the eccentric Professor Challenger - an adventure that leads Malone and his three companions deep into the Amazon jungle, to a lost world where dinosaurs roam free. ...

Nicholas Highgate, separated from his parents during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, is smuggled to the mainland by his Chinese nurse and disguised as a Chinese boy. As he grows to manhood he witnesses the atrocities and deprivations of the Japanese occupation and is himself drawn into the Communist resistance activities. The book ends when the Japanese surrender and...

Natasha's story is set against the background of the Russian Revolution as she and her family flee persecution. Her story is dramatically and cleverly linked with the present as her heirs search for her will. The will can only be found through a trail of literary clues from classic children's books. ...