The hilariously funny story of Heathrow (affectionately named after London's airport) whose TOTALLY EMBARRASSING parents will do anything to be on TV, even if it involves rice pudding or a racing car or a rhinoceros! But in the end it's Heathrow's quick thinking that makes the news headlines! Laugh your socks off with this highly silly story specially for Pocket Money Puffins.
Sir Cecil is a pompous pedigree cat who can't believe it when scruffy Mr Cubs turns up uninvited at Futtock Mansion and refuses to leave. But then Mr Cubs agrees to help Sir Cecil fulfil a lifelong dream - with hilariously disastrous results . . .
James, Lily and friends have had some bad news - football is now banned at their school. But they all love football! So if they're not allowed to kick a ball the playground, they'll have to find another way to play - in secret . . .
Oscar is not looking forward to Grandad coming to look after him at the weekend - it means he'll have to play endless rounds of chess or Monopoly, instead of war games on his computer. But when he finds Dad's ancient laptop in the study, he can't resist logging on to something called Project X - and all too soon Oscar creates a real live warrior, who is programmed to obey his every command. However Monstroso's wires are more than a little crossed, and Oscar finds himself in all sorts of trouble... Crazy fighting and monsters abound in Charlie's Higson's highly entertaining story for younger readers.
Splash, the youngest of the magic puffins, has been caught in a storm and can't get back to Silver Dream Cliffs. Luckily for the little lost puffin, he meets Martina and the two become best friends. Together they try to find a way for Splash to return home - but first there is the problem of the puffin egg-stealers... A delightfully warm and endearing story, specially written for Puffin's 70th birthday by the creator of bestselling Magic Kitten, Magic Puppies and Magic Ponies series.
Filled with soulful humor and quiet pathos, Abby Bardi's boldly drawn first novel marks the debut of a joyfully talented chronicler of the quest for connection in contemporary life. Mary Fred Anderson, raised in an isolated fundamentalist sect whose primary obsessions seem to involve an imminent Apocalypse and the propagation of the name "Fred," is hardly your average fifteen-year-old. She has never watched TV, been to a supermarket, or even read much of anything beyond the inscrutable dogma laid out by the prophet Fred. But this is all before Mary Fred's whole world tilts irrevocably on its axis: before her brothers, Fred and Freddie, take sick and pass on to the place the Reverend Thigpen calls "the World Beyond"; before Mama and Papa are escorted from the Fredian Outpost in police vans; and Mary Fred herself is uprooted and placed in foster care with the Cullison family. It is here, at Alice Cullison's suburban home outside Washington, D.C., where everything really changes -- for all parties involved. Mary Fred's new guardian, Alice, is a large-hearted librarian who, several years after her divorce, can't seem to shake her grief and loneliness. Meanwhile, Alice's daughter Heather, also known as Puffin, buries any hint of her own adolescent loneliness beneath an impenetrable armor of caustic sarcasm, studied apathy, and technicolor hair. And the enigmatic Uncle Roy is Alice's perennially jobless and intensely private brother. As Mary Fred struggles to adjust to the oddities of this alien world, from sordid daytime television and processed food to aromatherapy and transsexuality, she gradually begins to have an unmistakable influence on the lives of her housemates. But when a horrifying act of violence shakes the foundations of Mary Fred's fragile new family, she finds herself forced to confront, painfully, the very nature of the way she was raised. With a knack for laying bare the absurdities of daily life, Abby Bardi captures, with grace and authority, all the ambivalence and emotional uncertainty at the heart of these quirky characters' awakenings.
Ever felt as if your life is just going round in circles? Sarah Dessen's thought-provoking short story about moving on will resonate with teens everywhere. A Pocket Money Puffin for young adults by New York Times #1 author
A seaside story to read with baby! Oh, there once was a Puffin, Just the shape of a muffin, And he lived on an island In the bright blue sea! The dear little Puffin is lonely on his island for he has no one to play with. In this beloved nonsense poem, children will rejoice when the muffin-shaped Puffin, who has a hat for almost every occasion, comes up with a simple—and simply delicious—solution to his problem.
An atmospheric and utterly compelling debut novel about a Jamaican immigrant living in postwar London, This Lovely City shows that new arrivals have always been the prime suspects — but that even in the face of anger and fear, there is always hope. London, 1950. With the war over and London still rebuilding, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for labour. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s rented a tiny room in south London and fallen in love with the girl next door. Playing in Soho’s jazz clubs by night and pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home — and it’s alive with possibility. Until one morning, while crossing a misty common, he makes a terrible discovery. As the local community rallies, fingers of blame point at those who were recently welcomed with open arms. And before long, London’s newest arrivals become the prime suspects in a tragedy that threatens to tear the city apart. Immersive, poignant, and utterly compelling, Louise Hare’s debut examines the complexities of love and belonging, and teaches us that even in the face of anger and fear, there is always hope.
