Growing up in a large Nigerian family in South London Stephen K. Amos learnt early on to find the humour in every situation. Raised by his parents & extended family of aunts & uncles I Used to Say My Mother was Shirley Bassey" tells the story of Stephens chaotic upbringing in the carnival atmosphere of the late seventies & early eighties. Stephen describes his awkward beginnings as the only black kid in his class where he told everyone his mum was Shirley Bassey to break the ice. Then as a middle child in a large family Stephen learnt stage presence by vying for attention & performing at family parties. Now a world-renowned comedian & performer regularly selling out venues like the Hammersmith Apollo Stephen looks back at his earlier life & the incidents which shaped him & continue to inspire his performances. Poignant funny & with the narrative gift Stephen is famous for "I Used to Say My Mother was Shirley Bassey" is a memoir of a life fitting in standing out & (almost) always laughing." ...

Do you remember the famous opening lines Tyger tyger burning bright? Or Shall I compare these to a summers day? But would you be able to name the poems or the poets? The English language is jam-packed with wonderful verses that weve all heard at some point but probably forgotten. I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud" will remind you of all those long-forgotten poems that you were taught at school together with mini-biographies & introductions. This title
Includes:: " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
- Coleridge; " If"
- Rudyard Kipling; " Dulce et Decorum Est"
- Wilfred Owen; " Song of Myself"
- Walt Whitman; " Digging"
- Seamus Heaney; & " Not Waving But Drowning"
- Stevie Smith. Complete with an index of famous lines as well as authors any poetry enthusiast will love the collection of best-loved poems alongside the lively commentary. "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" is a perfect addition to any poetry lovers collection."






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The first day at school for Tony Ross best loved chracter -- the Little Princess! The Little Princess is tired of playing with her younger brother & is thrilled to be starting school the next day. However when her first attempts to make friends with other children fail she is left all alone. Fortunately she soon finds other children with no friends & they decide to play together sit together eat together! This fantastic new title focuses on the difficult experience of starting school & making friends. Written with insightful understanding of a childs perspective it also manages to maintain the anarchic humour that characterises this brilliant series. ...

The hilarious Little Princess returns with more tears & tantrums in this humorous picture book of good manners. I want!I want!I want. The Little Princess needs to learn some manners but several tantrums later once shes mastered please & thank you she finds that not everyone else is so polite! Shes certainly not going to give the Beastie back his dinner until he asks nicely. ...

This is a picture book debut by a rising talent that tells a cumulative tale with a cheeky twist aided by graphically simple & truly hilarious illustrations. The bear's hat is gone & he wants it back. Patiently & politely he asks the animals he comes across one by one whether they have seen it. Each animal says no some more elaborately than others. But just as it he begins to lose hope lying flat on his back in despair a deer comes by & asks a rather obvious question that suddenly sparks the bear's memory & renews his search with a vengeance. Told completely in dialogue this quirky take on the classic repetitive tale plays out in sly illustrations laced with visual humour & winks at the reader with a wry irreverence that will have kids of all ages thrilled to be in on the joke. This title comes from an exciting new author/illustrator talent previously an artist for Dreamworks Feature Animation. It features subversive humour sure to please children & adults. It is perfect as a read aloud. ...

The Little Princess wants to have two birthdays just like the Queen which means twice as many presents every year! When she realises how much fun two birthdays are she decides she wants three then four. But the more birthdays she has the less special they are. Perhaps having one birthday a year isnt so boring after all... ...

I WAS A RAT! So insists Roger. Maybe its true. But what is he NOW? A terrifying monster rampaging in the sewers? The Daily Scourge is sure of it. A money-spinning fairground freak? He is to Mr Tapscrew. A champion wriggler & a downy card? Thats what Billy hopes. Or just an ordinary small boy though a little ratty in his habits? Only three people believe this version of the story. Only one of them knows who Roger really is. & luckily a story about her can sell even more newspapers than one about a rat-boy.. . ...

An axe-wielding psychopath carves young Dora Suarez into pieces & smashes the head of Suarezs friend an elderly woman. On the same night in the West End a firearm blows the top off the head of Felix Roatta part-owner of the seedy Parallel Club. The unnamed narrator a sergeant in the Metropolitan Polices Unexplained Deaths division develops a fixation on the young woman whose murder he investigates. & he discovers that Suarezs death is even more bizarre than suspected: the murderer ate bits of flesh from Suarezs corpse & ejaculated against her thigh. Autopsy results compound the puzzle: Suarez was dying of AIDS but the pathologist cant tell how the virus was introduced. Then a photo supplied by a former Parallel hostess links Suarez to Roatta & inquiries at the club reveal how vile & inhuman exploitation can become. I Was Dora Suarez" is the fourth book in the " Factory" series." ...

Erich Kempka served as Hitlers personal driver from 1934 until the Fuhrers suicide in 1945. His candid memoirs provide a unique account that reaches a climax in the dark days in the bunker beneath Berlins shattered streets. Kempka begins by describing his duties as a member of Hitlers staff in the early years escorting Hitler around Europe & other top Nazis such as Albert Speer & Field Marshal Kesselring on tours of the front line. The core of his memoir however covers the period spent in the Fuhrerbunker including accompanying Hitler on his final trip to the front line in March 1945 & the chaotic weeks that followed. Kempkas fascinating narrative covers the major events in the regimes downfall including Goring & Himmlers efforts to seize power & negotiate a truce with the Allies & Hitlers marriage to Eva Braun before they committed suicide. Hitlers last order to Kempka was that he has ready enough petrol to cremate their bodies. The memoirs conclude with Kempkas desperate escape from Berlin more than 800 km through enemy-occupied Germany to his family only to be arrested by American personnel shortly afterwards. He was interrogated before acting as a witness at Nuremburg. ...

A decorated First World War pilot Hans Baur was one of the leading commercial aviators of the 1920s before being pitched into the thick of it as personal pilot to a certain ' Herr Hitler'. Hitler who loathed flying felt safe with Baur & would allow no one else to pilot him. As a result an intimate relationship developed between the two men & it is this which gives these memoirs special significance. Hitler relaxed in Baur's company & talked freely of his plans & of his real opinions about his friends & allies. Baur was also present during some of the most salient moments of the Third Reich; the Rohm Putsch the advent of Eva Braun Ribbentrop's journey to Moscow the Burgerbraukeller attempt on Hitler's life; & when war came he flew Hitler from front to front. He remained in Hitler's service right up to the final days in the Fuhrerbunker. In a powerful account of Hitler's last hours Baur describes his final discussions with Hitler before his suicide; & his last meeting with Magda Goebbels in the tortuous moments before she killed her three children. Remarkably throughout it all Baur's loyalty to the Fuhrer never wavered. His memoirs capture these events in all their fascinating & disturbing detail. ...