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Topic: Reading for Pleasure

Chapter book

Enter the young adult world of Susan Cooper. Perfect for fans of His Dark Materials .

It’s Christmas-time in the Stanton family house: presents, carol singing, good cheer. But for eleven-year-old Will Stanton, something sinister has begun, inching round his subconscious, shouting silent warnings he can’t decipher. Then on Midwinter Day, Will wakes up to a different world: silent, covered in snow and ancient forest, a world of another time. A world where evil lurks.

Because Will is not the ordinary boy he always thought he was. He is the last of the Old Ones and the power to vanquish the evil magic of the Dark lies within him.

Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can read an interview with the author and discover the ancient beliefs that inspired the story.

Chapter book

And now, Master Harker, now that the Wolves are Running, perhaps you could do something to stop their Bite?’

A magical old man has asked Kay to protect the Box of Delights, a Box with which he can travel through time. But Kay is in danger: Abner Brown will stop at nothing to get his hands on it. The police don’t believe Kay, so when his family and the Bishop are scrobbled up just before Christmas, he knows he must act alone …

John Masefield’s classic children’s book is considered to be one of the great works of modern children’s fiction. Magical, fantastical and filled with vivid, rich characters – brought to life in this edition by Quentin Blake’s stunning artwork – The Box of Delights and its sequel The Midnight Folk are a must-read for any child. A genuine fantasy classic in the tradition of Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. If you like Harry Potter, you’ll love this. A wonderful book for early readers aged 8 and up.

Recently adapted for the stage by Piers Torday, bestselling author of The Last Wild.

Chapter book

Human beans is not really believing in giants, is they? Human beans is not thinking we exist.’

On a dark, silvery moonlit night, Sophie is snatched from her bed by a giant. Luckily it is the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG, who only eats snozzcumbers and glugs frobscottle. But there are other giants in Giant Country. Fifty foot brutes who gallop far and wide every night to find human beans to eat. Can Sophie and her friend the BFG stop them?

Chapter book

All seven tales in The Chronicles of Narnia are bound together, with full-colour illustrations, in one magnificent hardcover volume with a personal introduction by Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis.

Talking beasts, heroic deeds and epic battles between good and evil await you in C. S. Lewis’s classic fantasy series, which has been enchanting readers for over sixty years.

This edition presents the seven books-The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle-unabridged and arranged in C.S. Lewis’s preferred order, featuring full-colour artwork by the original illustrator, Pauline Baynes.

Chapter book

Ivan lives in a land where the winter is dark and fearful. Starjik, King of Winter, steals Ivan’s little brother and Ivan braves the bitter cold to find him.

Poetry

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Lewis Carroll’s magnificent nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark features an unlikely cast of characters drawn from the Jabberwocky in Through the Looking Glass. This irresistible version is illustrated, and has an introduction by, Chris Riddell.

This is a luxury edition with both black and white and colour artwork, ribbon marker and metallic blue sprayed edges.

It was first published by Macmillan in 1876.

Chapter book

A glittering story of frost and friendship, with writing full of magic and heart, A Girl Called Owl is Amy Wilson’s critically-acclaimed debut about family and the beauty of the natural world.

It’s bad enough having a mum dippy enough to name you Owl, but when you’ve got a dad you’ve never met, a best friend who needs you more than ever, and a new boy at school giving you weird looks, there’s not a lot of room for much else.

So when Owl starts seeing strange frost patterns on her skin, she’s tempted to just burrow down under the duvet and forget all about it. Could her strange new powers be linked to her mysterious father? And what will happen when she enters the magical world of winter for the first time?

Continue Owl’s story with the companion volume, Owl and the Lost Boy.

Chapter book

A beautiful paperback edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, book two in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. This edition is complete with cover and interior art by the original illustrator, Pauline Baynes.

Four adventurous siblings-Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie- step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.

 

Chapter book

Harry Potter’s summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors – and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone… Dobby’s sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

These new editions of the classic and internationally bestselling, multi-award-winning series feature instantly pick-up-able new jackets by Jonny Duddle, with huge child appeal, to bring Harry Potter to the next generation of readers. It’s time to PASS THE MAGIC ON…

Chapter book

“Sometimes you are a whisper away from magic without even realizing it.”

Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman’s purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast – a young wizard who’s particularly competitive at hopscotch – and a hideous troll housekeeper who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break – and if she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return…

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