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Topic: Reading for Pleasure

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…

Picturebook

Step into the magical world of Child’s Play fairy tales… Traditional tales are a well-established part of all cultures. Retold from the originals, these lively stories will captivate readers with their delightful illustrations and fun lift-up flaps which really add to the action. The ‘flip-up’ flaps encourage prediction and discussion, and well-known stories will give young readers confidence.

Chapter book

Philip’s mum has breast cancer. Philip wants to be a stand-up comedian like his hero, Harry Hill. Now he has to find the funny side of an unfunny subject, to help his mum – and himself.

Philip is twelve years old and life is pretty good. He gets on with his mum and gets by pretty well at school – in spite of girl problems, teacher problems, bully problems and – er – poetry problems. Philip’s happy-go-lucky life is disrupted when his mother gets breast cancer. Bad enough that your mother is seriously ill – but could she not have developed a less embarrassing kind of cancer – toe cancer, maybe, or ear cancer? Philip’s attempts to cope with his situation are both hilarious and touching.

Through it all, he’s writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice.

A multi-award-winning and hilarious take on the unfunny subject of cancer; this book brings one of modern life’s most prevalent illnesses into the light and gives it a human face

Picturebook

This magical, tender tale about a girl, a tiger and a great-grandmother is a joyous dance through the changing seasons. From the moment the book is opened, we are invited into woodland suffused with moonlight and, as the tiger’s story is revealed in all its beautiful simplicity, we are left pondering the power of the imagination, the importance of self-expression and the special nature of a relationship across the generations.

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