Multi-award-winning author David Almond brings us a joyfully life-affirming & fabulously fishy tale about one boy's journey from anguish to joy. Stanley Potts is just an ordinary boy but when all the jobs in Fish Quay disappear his Uncle Ernie develops an extraordinary fascination with canning fish. Suddenly their home is filled with the sound of clanging machinery & the stench of mackerel & Uncle Ernie's obsession reaches such heights that he would even can Stan's beloved goldfish! Stan however has his own destiny which leads him
- via a hook-a-duck stall
- to Pancho Pirelli the blue-caped madman who swims with piranhas. & as Stan delves into the waters he finally discovers who he really can be. It is published in a jacketed gift format fully illustrated in black & white by the award-winning Oliver Jeffers.

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Brought up as female for 15 years Jon can remember feeling different from other girls since he was only 6 years old. Despite several efforts to fit in it soon becomes clear that its impossible to identify as female. But it will take years of depression incessant bullying self-harm & isolation before Jon discovers that he is transgender. When Jon eventually confides in his mother Luisa she commits herself unconditionally to helping her child & together they embark on a remarkable journey of transition. For Jon the changes that follow hormonal treatment are what hes always wanted. But for Luisa this means coming to terms with the enormous loss of her daughter. ...

' Inventive charming & very funny' The Observer Just as Blart is settling down to enjoy his teenage years on a fabulous pig farm with the proceeds from saving the world Capablanca returns
- with bad news. A terrible oversight in his original world-saving research has led to accusations of no less than collusion with evil Zoltab himself. & now he is a wanted man
- & so by assocation is Blart To prove their innocence or else be hounded to the four corners of the earth by a bloodthirsty army they must locate their comrades from the original quest. Together they may stand a chance of proving that Capablanca's was an innocent mistake by finding the answer to a great mystery
- what exactly did they do with Zoltab? & how could they be so careless as to forget... And so begins another hilarious & unforgettable adventure (with pigs) & a brilliant cast of characters including newcomers Uther Slywort the merchant & sociopathic Baron Killbride.


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Meet classic comic-strip character Big Nate
- The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World
- as he stars in his own super-funny

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Kathleen Fidlers classic story is set in the ancient Stone Age village of Skara Brae on Orkney now a major tourist attraction. This is a fascinating & vividly portrayed story of life nearly 3 000 years ago. Kali & Brockan are in trouble. They have been using their stone axes to chip limpets off the rocks but theyve gone too far out & find themselves trapped by the tides. Then an unexpected rescuer appears a strange boy in a strange boat carrying a strangely sharp axe of a type they have never seen before. Conflict arises as the village of Skara must decide what to do with the new ideas & practices that the boy brings. As a deadly storm threatens the very survival of the village is in doubt. The daily life landscape & rituals of Skara have been meticulously researched & are brought to life in striking compelling detail. ...

Timmy Twinkle is chubby. That means he gets bullied at school & hasnt any friends. He longs to play football but hes hopeless at games. Hes miserable. & it doesnt help when Gramps tells him about Great-Uncle Vernon a chubby boy who grew up to be a famous footballer. Then his grans friend May comes to stay. May is a fitness fanatic who knocks Timmy & Gramps into shape in no time & Timmy discovers theres magic in his toes
- he can kick a ball just like Great-Uncle Vernon. & when Timmy performs on the football field everyone wants to be friends with him. A lovely story of a child whose unhappiness is dispelled by the discovery of a magical gift.
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Its 1979 Im three years old & like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand floral-patterned settee & lean forward like Im presenting myself for execution. For Sathnam Sanghera growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes Dallas on TV & if he was lucky the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory & the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. & then there was his family whose strange & often difficult behaviour he took for granted until at the age of twenty-four Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage & a glorious sense of humour he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past
- from his fathers harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office
- trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets. This book is published in hardback as If You Dont Know Me by Now"."

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Growing up in rural Yorkshire in the 1940s & 50s Terry Wilson spent his school days hunting down Just William books cutting up apples to help with fractions & staring out the window dreaming up new schemes. But it was on the Dales themselves that Terry came into his own. Whether he was 'out-fishing' the adults with his homemade rod grouse-beating for the lady of the manor helping to bring in the farmers' hay in exchange for rabbit shooting rights or growing his own prize caulis his idiosyncratic & inventive mind is only matched by his love of nature. Told with affection dry humour & a respect for the landscape & its people through Terry's eyes we meet farmers mill owners & 'gentlemen of the road'. Beautifully illustrated with newly-commissioned line-drawn illustrations by Don Grant A Boy's Own Dale is a magical memoir of a long-lost world. ...

For Sir Baldwin Furnshill Keeper of the King's Peace & Bailiff Simon Puttock the Christmas of 1321 looks set to be one of great festivity. They are to receive the prestigious gloves of honour in a ceremony led by the specially elected Boy-Bishop. But they soon learn that Ralph
- the glovemaker
- has been stabbed to death. Then Peter a Secondary at the cathedral collapses from poisoning. Simon & Baldwin must solve the riddles surrounding the deaths but as they dig for the truth they find that many of Exeter's leading citizens are not what
- or who
- they seem to be...



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Five cities. Five escorts. Five bullets in five heads. Catherine Hamilton was a high-class hooker. Now she is dead. Jack Till private detective has linked her murder to a string of other killings: the cities may be different but the girls all look uncomfortably alike. Now he knows the killer's type it's a race against time to find the next victim before it's too late... Who will the boyfriend seduce next? ...