The house looked right felt right to Dr Louis Creed. Rambling old unsmart & comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow & play & explore. The rolling hills & meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway grinding up through the gears hammering down the long gradients growled out an intrusive threat. But behind the house & far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young taking with them their dear departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams to wake you sweating with fear & foreboding. ...

The Pet Shop" is one of the titles in Allan Ahlberg's iconic children's picture book series about skeletons " Funnybones". Despite being set in a dark dark house this brightly coloured book is perfect for early readers! A dog skeleton is a boring pet so the two skeletons take him off to the
- Miaow!
- Squeak!
- Grunt!- pet shop to swap him for something better. " There can be few families in the British Isles who do not possess at least one well-thumbed Ahlberg". (" Independent on Sunday"). Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children's books & with his late wife Janet created many award-winning children's picture books including " Peepo!" " Each Peach Pear Plum" & the Kate Greenaway Medal winning " The Jolly Postman". Other titles in the " Funnybones" series include " Funnybones" " Mystery Tour" " The Ghost Train" " The Black Cat" " Bumps in the Night" " Dinosaur Dreams" " Skeleton Crew" " Give the Dog a Bone" & "A Brilliant Bone Rattling Collection" all of which are available from Puffin."


...

A rival florist has opened in town & the Bloom familys shop is in trouble! The new flower shop is all sleek & modern while The Blooms shop is more classic & homespun. Plus its prom season so that means the race is on to get the best corsages bouquets & buttonholes. Its an all-out flower war! When Del finds out that the son of the rival florist is the cute boy in her class shes torn. Can she stay true to her family while still being friends with her maybe-crush? ...

I could barely explain how much I wanted to go back to London for I hardly understood myself. Id hated the stinking city when wed left could hardly bear to think on its name but now the plague had disappeared from the streets the people would be back the theatres & shops would be open & we would find everything as cheery as it had been before. Hannah returns to her beloved London to re-open the sweetmeats shop with younger sister Anne. Londoners are reeling from the plague epidemic of the previous year but Hannah & Anne are keen to start enjoying everything the bustling city has to offer. But this is 1666 & it has been prophesised that terrible things will happen & on Pudding Lane flames are raging through the bakery... Mary Hooper evokes with complete mastery the sights sounds & terror of a London gripped by the ferocious & terrible Fire of London engulfing everything in its path. ...

The metaphor of discarded petals can remind us of the passing of the seasons the endless cycle of life or the transience of all earthly joys. It can also represent mans careless attitude towards the fragile glories of nature. All these are recurring themes in this collection of poetry by Alan Withers
- & there is a lot more besides from memories of childhood to an encounter with a tattooed girl & the gruesome tale of the Dinga Donga.
...

The bestselling phenomenon of the Dollanganger family saga continues as the children who escaped the attic build new lives haunted by their tragic past. Their captivity in their grandparents attic is finally over. But revenge is a torment they cannot escape... The Dollanganger children are trying to rebuild their lives after suffocating for so long in the terrifying darkness of the attic. The siblings must put aside their past & learn to love & dream again in order to find their rightful place in the world. Still dreams of happiness & success are easily crowded out by thoughts of vengeance. Cathy is determined to make those responsible for destroying their childhood pay from the grandmother who tormented them to the mother who abandoned them. Disturbing lavishly written gothic romance at its finest Petals on the Wind is the second book in the best-selling Dollanganger saga still as engrossing today as it was when it first appeared. ...

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter & lead guitarist for The Who it would be unjust to define Pete Townshends life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey Moon & Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture. An avid student of his profession during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album worked as a literary editor developed scripts for television & the stage & written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking mans rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business he continues to inspire new generations of performers & writers with a continuing commitment to his art. Now in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times this icon tells about his incredible life & elaborates on the turbulences of time spent as one of the worlds most respected musicians
- being in one of rocks greatest ever bands & wanting to give it all up. Incredibly as a man who has achieved so much this truly unique story of ambition relentless perfectionism & rock & roll excess will be regarded as one of his greatest achievements.
...

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter & lead guitarist for The Who it would be unjust to define Pete Townshends life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey Moon & Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture. An avid student of his profession during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album worked as a literary editor developed scripts for television & the stage & written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking mans rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business he continues to inspire new generations of performers & writers with a continuing commitment to his art. Now in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times this icon tells about his incredible life & elaborates on the turbulences of time spent as one of the worlds most respected musicians
- being in one of rocks greatest ever bands & wanting to give it all up. Incredibly as a man who has achieved so much this truly unique story of ambition relentless perfectionism & rock & roll excess will be regarded as one of his greatest achievements.
...

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter & lead guitarist for The Who it would be unjust to define Pete Townshends life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey Moon & Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture. An avid student of his profession during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album worked as a literary editor developed scripts for television & the stage & written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking mans rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business he continues to inspire new generations of performers & writers with a continuing commitment to his art. Now in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times this icon tells about his incredible life & elaborates on the turbulences of time spent as one of the worlds most respected musicians
- being in one of rocks greatest ever bands & wanting to give it all up. Incredibly as a man who has achieved so much this truly unique story of ambition relentless perfectionism & rock & roll excess will be regarded as one of his greatest achievements.
...

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter & lead guitarist for The Who it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend's life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey Moon & Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture. An avid student of his profession during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album worked as a literary editor developed scripts for television & the stage & written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking man's rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business he continues to inspire new generations of performers & writers with a continuing commitment to his art. Now in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times this icon tells about his incredible life & elaborates on the turbulences of time spent as one of the world's most respected musicians
- being in one of rock's greatest ever bands & wanting to give it all up. Incredibly as a man who has achieved so much this truly unique story of ambition relentless perfectionism & rock & roll excess will be regarded as one of his greatest achievements.
...