Watch Quentin Blake''s Clown , a major new TV animation narrated by Helena Bonham-Carter, this Christmas on Channel 4. The perfect gift for sharing with friends and family all year long. When a box of toys is thrown away, a determined clown sets out to find a new loving home for himself and his friends. Told entirely through pictures, this award-winning and heart-warming adventure starring one of Sir Quentin Blake''s own favourite characters is filled with hope, joy and friendship. Sir Quentin Blake is one of Britain''s best-loved and most successful author-illustrators, and was made the Children''s Laureate in 1999. He has won the Whitbread Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, and the Kate Greenaway Medal among others. Praise for Clown : "I was gripped all the way through to the happy ending" Daily Telegraph "Quentin Blake, a master of graphic eloquence..." Guardian "An astonishing tour de force " Margaret Clark in Books for Keeps
Read-along with the story in this book and CD edition!
One night Max puts on his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another, so his mother calls him 'Wild Thing' and sends him to bed without his supper.
That night a forest begins to grow in Max's room and an ocean rushes by with a boat to take Max to the place where the wild things are. Max tames the wild things and crowns himself as their king, and then the wild rumpus begins.
But when Max has sent the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet, he starts to feel lonely and realises it is time to sail home to the place where someone loves him best of all.
Takes you on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.
Lines may divide us, but hope will unite us . . .
Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.
Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.
Granpa nurses his granddaughter''s dolls, mistakes her strawberry-flavoured pretend ice-cream for chocolate, takes her tobogganing in the snow, and falls in with her imaginary plans to captain a ship to Africa, like all good Granpa''s should. It is a friendship that children who read this book will long remember.>
Fiction/Picture booksA ground-breaking book for children about a girl who, despite the fact that she uses a wheelchair, does the same kind of things, and experiences the same moods and emotions as able-bodied children. This book won the 2000 NASEN Special Educational Needs Book Awards. Illustrated by Tony Ross. Readership level: 4+.
Fiction/Picture booksThese five John Burningham's backlist titles have been reissued to coincide with the publication of Cloudland in Red Fox paperback, and Whadayamean in Cape hardcover. Full colour.
From the creator of Paddington Bear comes a tale of dastardly villains and unlikely tiny heroes...
The Perk family live in a doll's house in a castle. The castle is their home - but when someone new with devious plans comes to rule the roost, will our family of mice come up trumps?
Full of humour and warmth, this nostalgic tale by Michael Bond is brought to life with exquisite detail by Emily Sutton.
Eight-year-old Jack and his little sister, Annie, are playing in the woods during their summer holiday, when they find a mysterious tree house full of books. But these are no ordinary books . . . And this is no ordinary tree house . . .
Morgan le Fay - the owner of the Magic Tree House and all its mysterious books is missing and needs Jack and Annie's help! They follow her clues to Japan where they find themselves in the middle of a feud between Japanese ninja warriors and Samurai warlords. Will Jack and Annie find the tree house again? Or will they be caught up in a terrifying battle?
The Spook's Secret is the third book in Joseph Delaney's terrifying Wardstone Chronicles - over 3 million copies sold worldwide!
'It's going to be a long, hard, cruel winter and there couldn't be a worse place to spend it.' As the nights draw in the Spook decides to travel to his winter house. His apprentice, Tom, hates the desolate place. There are feral witches in the cellar, menacing creatures stirring on the nearby moors and a sinister stranger threatening Tom's master. Is the Spook's past catching up with him? And what dangers will Tom face if his master's secrets are revealed?
Fiction A new edition of the time-slip novel that was first publihed in 1969. When Charlotte wakes up on her first morning at boarding school she is surprised to find that she has travelled forty years back in time. Readership level: 9 - 11 years.
I lay very still, with all my senses telling me that I had gone mad. The plague? Nobody's had the plague for centuries ...Nathan Field, a talented young actor, arrives at the newly rebuilt Globe Theatre in London to play Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. As rehearsals begin, eerie echoes of the past begin to haunt Nat, and he falls sick.
Anne Frank's diary telling the story of her years in hiding from the Nazis has affected millions of people. But what was she like as a small girl, at home with her family and friends; at play and at school? In this book, we meet Anne as a small child growing up with her family in Germany. We also follow her flight to Holland to escape the Nazis.
Doctor Dolittle fills his house with so many animals he drives away his human patients. In fact Doctor Dolittle can talk to the animals and prefers them to humans anyway. Then one day Doctor Dolittle gets a mysterious call to come to Africa.
Once upon a time, Little Red set off into the woods to catch a wolf . . .
But the woods aren't all they seem - and are there even any wolves left? Mini Grey re-imagines the classic Little Red Riding Hood fable in an entirely new way. Can Little Red help her new friends in need and recover the wild days of the past?
This is a powerful, moving and funny picture book which will have children and adults revisiting its exquisite pages time and time again, and discussing the important message it holds. From the award-winning author/illustrator of The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, The Pea and the Princess and Biscuit Bear.
Historical fictionThe Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie off on another adventure; this time back to the Ice Age. Ages: 5-7yrs.
It's the job of the Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, to protect the County from the dark. But deep in the catacombs beneath Priestown lurks a creature the Spook has never been able to defeat - the Bane. As they prepare to battle it, yet another deadly enemy emerges to threaten Tom and his master.
Welcome to the Island of Struay, home of one of the best-loved characters in children's books and as seen on TV - Katie Morag McColl!
Whether she's posting parcels to the wrong addresses, helping Grannie Island with a winning sheep, having problems with a troublesome ted or dealing with her naughty big boy cousins, Katie Morag is always up to something. Here are four delightful stories - a treat for all Katie Morag fans.
Plum loves everyone. She loves her mummy and daddy and she especially loves her best friends, Rocket, Esther, Bean and Jakey.
Her favourite part of the day is when she chases her best friends around the park. But when new dogs try to join in, Plum isn't so sure.
Do they really need new friends? Especially ones as big as Otto, as old as Bounder, or as tiny as Milly?
In this heartwarming tale, Plum learns what it really means to be a friend and how much fun new ones can be - especially when you give them a chance.
Mr Magnolia has only one boot. He has an old trumpet that goes rooty-toot - And two lovely sisters who play on the flute - But Mr Magnolia has only one boot. In this wittily rhyming picture book, Mr Magnolia has a full and happy life except for one serious omission - a boot. But one day, he receives a mysterious parcel, and at last Mr Magnolia can splash in the puddles with everyone else!
Ars Armitage arrives on the beach with her surfboard and her faithful dog Breakspear, and paddles out to sea to wait for the Big Wave. But, of course, Mrs Armitage can't be satisfied with just an ordinary surfboard and she is soon adding a hilarious variety of gadgets and contraptions. And when the Big Wave finally arrives, Mrs Armitage certainly surfs with style!
And if Ferdinand decides to make a chocolate fudge banana cake What do we do? For goodness sake!
We ALL JOIN IN!' This book is a rumbustious, rollicking and above all noisy collection of seven exuberant poems, perfect for chanting aloud, that are brilliantly illustrated by the incomparable Quentin Blake. The collection includes 'All Join In', 'The Hooter Song', 'Nice Weather for Ducks' and 'Sorting Out the Kitchen Pans'. Who coud possibly resist?
Badrang the Tyrant stoat, the evil Lord of the Eastern Coast, has forced captive slaves to build his fortress, Marshank. Among these slaves is an indomitable young mouse called Martin who, together with his friends Felldoh and Brome, escapes from the fortress, aided by Rose of Noonvale and Grumm the mole. So begins a tale of adventure love, treachery and deceit. The action is fast and furious scattered with characters like Cap'n Tramun Clogg, Ambella and her Pygmy shrews, and the Rambling Rosehip Players. A stirring yarn with all Brian Jacques' usual ingredients of feasts, rhymes, songs, battles and humour, and starring a legendary Redwall hero: MARTIN THE WARRIOR!
Betsey Biggalow is here! She may be small but she's full of bright and shiny ideas about new trainers, winning at marbles and even helping the world! Join Betsey on four short, sun-filled adventures as she learns you don't have to be big to make a big difference.
This book is one of five short story collections featuring the lively and likeable Betsey Biggalow from Children's Laureate, Malorie Blackman. Beautifully illustrated by Jamie Smith, these stories are ideal for building confidence in readers aged 7 and over, whether reading aloud or reading alone.