Frank Cottrell Boyce

An out-of-this-world funny book from master storyteller Frank Cottrell Boyce, with illustrations throughout by Steven Lenton.Light-hearted and profound' Sunday Times Book of the Week'Wholly original and exceptionally funny' Bookseller Book of the MonthThe Blythes are a big, warm, rambunctious family who live on a small farm and sometimes foster children. Now Prez has come to live with them. But, though he seems cheerful and helpful, he never says a word.Then one day Prez answers the door to someone claiming to be his relative. This small, loud stranger carries a backpack, walks with a swagger and goes by the name of Sputnik.As Prez dithers on the doorstep, Sputnik strolls right past him and introduces himself to everyone in the household. Prez is amazed at the response. The family pat Sputnik on the head, call him a good boy and drop food into his mouth. It seems they all think Sputnik is a dog. It's only Prez who thinks otherwise.But Prez soon finds himself having to defend the family from the chaos and danger unleashed by Sputnik, as household items come to life - like a TV remote that fast-forwards people: 'Anyone can do it, it's just that people don't read the instructions properly'; and a toy lightsaber that entertains guests at a children's party, until one of them is nearly decapitated by it - and Prez is going to have to use his voice to explain himself.It turns out that Sputnik is writing a guidebook to Earth called Ten Things Worth Doing on Earth, and he takes Prez on a journey to discover just those ten things. Each adventure seems to take Prez nearer to the heart of the family he is being fostered by. But they also take him closer to the day that he is due to leave them forever...

Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth

Cosmic

Two refugee brothers from Mongolia are determined to fit in with their Liverpool schoolmates, but bring so much of Mongolia to Bootle that their new friend & guide, Julie, is hard-pressed to know truth from fantasy as she recollects a friendship that was abruptly ended when Chingis & his family were forced to return to Mongolia.

The Unforgotten Coat

From Frank Cottrell Boyce—the beloved, award-winning, New York Times–bestselling author of Millions and Cosmic—comes another hilarious, heartbreaking, and completely original middle grade novel. Rory Rooney likes to be prepared for anything. That sort of planning pays off when you’re the smallest kid in your class. Rory is even prepared (mostly) for Tommy-Lee, his nemesis, who starts most days by throwing Rory out of the back of the school bus. Don’t be scared, his favorite book says, be prepared. And Rory aims to be. What’s more heroic than that? But Rory isn’t prepared when he suddenly and inexplicably turns green and finds himself stuck in an experimental hospital ward. The doctors are just as baffled as Rory is, and that’s when he begins to wonder: What if this isn’t caused by his genes, or a virus, or something he ate? What if it’s something even more extraordinary? After all, more than a few superheroes’ careers began when they turned green. Could this be a sign that he’s meant for something greater? Rory is going to find out—and that’s going to start with escaping from the hospital.

The Astounding Broccoli Boy

Philip Ardagh

Tove Jansson

'It's the most wonderful valley in the world.' - MoomintrollStep into the magical world of Moominvalley with this beautiful and unique book; a fun, fascinating and unprecedented look at the wonderful world of the Moomins and their creator, Tove Jansson.Filled with illustrated maps and family trees, facts about Moomintroll behaviour and habits, this book contains all you could wish to know about the beloved characters from the original Moomin stories and the world in which they live. Find out all about Moomintroll's adventures, Moominmamma's handbag and Moominpappa's diary and meet the extended Moomin family including Snork Maiden, Snufkin, Sniff and Little My.This book also takes you behind the studio door of the uniquely talented, Tove Jansson. Featuring original Moomin drawings, colour studies and stunning character sketches as well as family photographs and Tove's childhood drawings.Written by award-winning children's author Philip Ardagh with contributions from best-selling children's author, screenwriter and Moomin devotee, Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Moomins: The World of Moominvalley is a highly illustrated, beautifully designed gift book for all Moomin fans to treasure.

The World of Moominvalley

The Moomins

George is a social reject - but the mysterious bottle of aftershave means women cant resist him How will George cope with his new-found popularity? A laugh-out-loud comedy.

Desirable

It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem -- they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are closing in -- fast. A funny, brilliantly clever and utterly thrilling debut novel that is, quite simply, unforgettable.

Millions

Down on their luck, the Tooting family buys an old camper van and begins repairing it, but after installing an engine that once belonged to an extraordinary car, they are off to find other original parts, pursued by a sinister man who wants Chitty for himself.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang flies again

Noah's Gold is the fabulous novel from the bestselling, multi-award-winning author of Millions, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Packed with mystery, adventure and laughs, it's perfect for readers of 9+.

Noah's Gold

María Alonso Seisdedos

El mundo del Valle de los Mumin

Mīlyūn-i ha

The Tootings are struggling to find and collaborate with Chitty's builders, the Potts family, when a fiendish criminal kidnaps Little Harry and steals the magical car.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon

The Tootings plan to go home, but they accidentally send themselves back to the Jurassic Age, and after being chased by a T-rex they head to Prohibition-era New York where Chitty enters a race to the lost city of El Dorado and back again.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time

Framed

Sara Maitland

Ramsey Campbell

Christopher Priest

Hanif Kureishi

Nicholas Royle

Etgar Keret

Alison MacLeod

Ian Duhig

Gerard Woodward

Jane Rogers

A.S. Byatt

Adam Marek

Mathew Holness

** Winner of the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Anthology** In 1919 Sigmund Freud published an essay that delved deep into the tradition of horror writing and claimed to understand one of its darkest tricks. Like a mad scientist, he performed literary vivisection on a still-breathing body of work, exploring its inner anatomy, and pulling out mysterious organs for classification. His aim: to present to the world a complete theory of ‘das unheimliche’, the uncanny. In the spirit of this great experiment, 14 leading authors have here been challenged to write fresh fictional interpretations of what the uncanny might mean in the 21st century, to update Freud’s famous checklist of what gives us the creeps, and to give the hulking canon of uncanny fiction a shot in the arm, a shock to the neck-bolts... 'It’s not too great a stretch to see Comma as the literary equivalent of Factory Records.' - The Herald, 2 Dec. 'Delightful and disturbing' - The Independent on Sunday, 14 Dec. 'A masterclass in understated creepiness... a deliciously macabre collection that the old Austrian might well have enjoyed.' - Book of the Week, Time Out, 12 Jan. 'If we need the uncanny – and I suspect we do – then we also need it updating... laudable.' - Book of the Week, The Independent, 2 Jan. 'A bold idea.' - The Guardian, 3 Jan.

The New Uncanny

Clive Barker

Margaret Murphy

Paul Farley

Brian Patten

Beryl Bainbridge

James Friel

Dinesh Allirajah

Tracy Aston

A baby blown out of an upstairs window by a WWII bomb lives to hear others tell the tale… A woman embarks on a long-term obsession with a city landmark, abandoning her lover for the Liver… A bricklayer working on the foundations of a never-built cathedral becomes its evangelist, its full splendour soaring only in his mind… Bringing together fiction from some of the city’s most celebrated writers, The Book of Liverpool traces the unique contours that decades of social and economic change can impress on a city. Set against key historical moments from the Second World War to the Capital of Culture year, these stories question what ‘belonging’ and ‘home’ mean in the Liverpudlian context, from the regenerated city centre to satellite suburbs, from the sparring cathedrals to the no-go concrete housing estates. Liverpool emerges in these short stories as a city in constant flux: haunted by ghosts, buoyed up by myths, and shifting with an ebb and flow like the Mersey itself. "A literary gem that will share a niche in my library with M.R. James and E. F. Benson..." - Metapsychology online Read review. "Words thrive here, carried on the saline breeze of the Mersey and twisted round agile tongues into sentences as resilient as the sandstone blocks in the Town Hall walls..." - The Liverpool Daily Post, 11 Jul 08 Read review.

The Book of Liverpool

Liam has always felt a bit like he's stuck between two worlds. This is primarily because he's a twelve-year-old kid who looks like he's about thirty. Sometimes it's not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it's just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around. Liam cons his way onto the first spaceship to take civilians into space, a special flight for a group of kids and an adult chaperone, and he is going as the adult chaperone. It's not long before Liam, along with his friends, is stuck between two worlds again—only this time he's 239,000 miles from home. Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Millions and Framed, brings us a funny and touching story of the many ways in which grown-upness is truly wasted on grown-ups.

Hilarious spot-on comedy from the award winning and bestselling Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Ted Rules the World

Chris Riddell

A hilarious comedy caper from Frank Cottrell-Boyce, now in a standard paperback format for middle-grade readers.

Steven Lenton

Runaway Robot is a funny and heartwarming adventure about two best friends helping put themselves back together, from the award-winning Frank Cottrell-Boyce, illustrated by Steven Lenton.When Alfie goes to Airport Lost Property, he finds more than he bargained for. A lot more. Because there's a giant robot called Eric hidden away on the shelves. Eric has lost one leg and half his memory. He's super strong, but super clumsy. He's convinced that he's the latest technology, when he's actually nearly one hundred year's old and ready for the scrap heap. Can Alfie find a way to save Eric from destruction - before Eric destroys everything around him?

Frank Cottrell Boyce

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