Mum's 30th birthday is coming up and after such a hectic year for the Butterfields, Mattie wants to make it extra-special. Aided by best friend Lucinda, Mattie decides a talent show to showcase the Butterfields' unique skills will be the best birthday surprise for Mum. With a host of unruly Butterfields and Lucinda's parents coming to watch, however, have Mattie and Lucinda bitten off more than they can chew?
Nine-year-old Mattie is excited. Uncle Vez's brother and his wife have come to visit! With their Australian guests, life in the Butterfield household is even more chaotic than usual. Mattie just has one worry on her Worry List ... Has Grandma met her match in Aunty Sheila?
Mattie is nine years old and she worries about everything. Which isn't surprising. Because when you have a family as big and crazy as hers, there's always something to worry about. Will the seeds she's planted in the garden with her brothers and sisters grow into fruit and veg like everyone promised? Why does it seem as if Grandma doesn't like them sometimes? And what's wrong with Mum? Fortunately, reassurance is always close to hand in this first winning story about the lovable Butterfield clan.
Mattie thinks her Worry Lists are over now that the Butterfields have won the lottery! But when the council threatens to close Mattie's school because there aren't enough children to go there her worries seem bigger than ever. Can the Butterfields save the day and keep the school open?
My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding is a funny, brave, tender story of self-discovery'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy and jealousy. Most important of all, I knew how to love and how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses and dogs were my family and my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine'Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer, she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses, mares, foals and ponies, as well as an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef and take breakfast with the Queen.She and her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices, they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals, and through their adventures in the stables and the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie and the frisky Hattie, each horse and each dog had their own character and their own special part to play.The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare has to prove them wrong, to make her voice heard - but first she had to make sure she had something to say.'Moving, funny and larger than life' Michael Morpurgo'Magical, enchanting, riotously eccentric' Daily Mail'Funny and moving, James Herriot meets David Sedaris' The Times'Forthright, thoughtful, funny . . . reads like a Jilly Cooper novel' Sunday Times'Funny and unexpectedly wise. Balding has lots of good stories to tell. It is impossible not to admire her honesty Mail on Sunday'She can do anything. If there were four more Clare Baldings, we'd have our empire back. Six, and we'd be colonising the Moon. And there would be crumpets and ashtrays for everyone' Caitlin Moran, The Times'The reading equivalent of snuggling by the fire with a labrador' The Guardian'A funny, affectionate memoir' Independent on Sunday'Charming, refreshingly self-depreciating, funny and moving. Balding tells it with immense flair' Daily ExpressClare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. She became the face of the BBC's racing coverage in 1998, and now works across a wide range of sports for television and radio. She has been a lead presenter for the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games. For more than twelve years, she has hiked across the countryside for the BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings.Clare has presented Countryfile, Britain's Hidden Heritage, Britain By Bike, Crufts, and Famous & Fearless, and has appeared on QI, Have I Got News for You and Sport Relief. She has been voted RTS Sports Presenter of the Year and Racing Broadcaster of the Year. She lives in West London with her partner Alice, their wayward Tibetan Terrier Archie and a cat who couldn't give a damn called Itty. My Animals and Other Family is Clare's first book.
Mum's 30th birthday is coming up and after such a hectic year for the Butterfields, Mattie wants to make it extra-special. Aided by best friend Lucinda, Mattie decides a talent show to showcase the Butterfields' unique skills will be the best birthday surprise for Mum. With a host of unruly Butterfields and Lucinda's parents coming to watch, however, have Mattie and Lucinda bitten off more than they can chew?
If you love Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes, you’ll adore The Bell Family. 'Well, little people, what's the news?’ Meet the big, happy Bell family who live in the vicarage at St Marks. Father is a reverend; Mother is as kind as kind can be. Then there's all the children – practical Paul, dancing Jane, mischievous Ginnie, and finally the baby of the family, Angus, whose ambition is to own a private zoo (he has already begun with his six boxes of caterpillars). And not forgetting Esau, a surefire competitor for the most beautiful dog in Britain. Follow their eventful lives from tense auditions to birthday treats; from troubled times to hilarious escapades. The perfect Christmas gift for ballet-loving children. Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can find out which one of the Bell children you most resemble!
Places (Volume 2) Jamaican vary from our beautiful and treasured landscapes, from our rivers, our mountain ranges, our beaches, our birds, our creepy crawlies, our neighbourhoods, our highways, lanes, and gullies; our schools, our hotels, our sugar plantations, our banks, our bars, restaurants, and cold supper shops; our churches, our funeral parlours, our prisons, and much more. Naturally, our multi-talented brothers and sisters are saluted including those still here and those who have since departed to the great beyond. So dear readers, enjoy the mind "triggers" and heart-wrenching "diggers" you will find in this book honouring the 55th year of celebrating Jamaica's independence and the tantalizing trip down memory lane with this unofficial reference/resource guide by your side.
