Showing results by author "Francesca" in All Categories

Four fabulous new stories: Horrid Henry builds himself a time machine and tricks Perfect Peter, Perfect Peter strikes back, Henry eats snails at Restaurant Le Posh, and is dragged out on a horrendous hike.

Horrid Henry tries to fool the Tooth Fairy into giving him some money despite the fact that his teeth appear to be "superglued to his gums"; Henry creates havoc as a pageboy at a wedding; Henry gets rid of Moody Margaret, an unwanted guest, and he "breaks in" the new teacher.

Imogen should be nice to her little sister Marie. She should be nice to her mum’s boyfriend, too. And she certainly shouldn’t follow a strange silver moth through a door in a tree. But then...who does what they’re told. Followed by Marie, Imogen finds herself falling into a magical kingdom where the two sisters are swept up in a thrilling race against time - helped by the spoiled prince of the kingdom, a dancing bear, a very grumpy hunter...and even the stars above them.

November, 1915. For young housemaid Anwen Rhys, life is hard in the Welsh mining village of Dorcalon. She cares for her ill mother and younger sister Sara, all while shielding them from her father’s violent temper. Anwen comforts herself with her love for her childhood sweetheart, Idris Hughes, away fighting in the Great War. Yet when Idris returns, he is a changed man, quickly breaking off their engagement. But when there is an explosion at the pit, Anwen and Idris put their feelings aside to unite their community. Can Anwen find hope again?

An hour of manic ingenuity with music and sound effects throughout. Enjoy Horrid Henry's ghoulish antics in this, the fifth entry in the series.

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Children's Book of the Year, 2007.
Horrid Henry reads Perfect Peter's diary and improves it; goes clothes shopping with Mum and tries to make her buy him some Rootatoot trainers; is horrified when his old enemy Bossy Bill turns up at school; and tries by any means, fair or foul, to win the class football match and defeat Moody Margaret.

Adam and Rachel are getting married at last. Childhood sweethearts whose lives and families have been intertwined for years; theirs is set to be the wedding of the year. But then Rachel's cousin Ellie makes an unexpected return to the family fold. As the long-awaited wedding approaches, Adam is torn between duty and temptation, security and freedom, and must make a choice that will break either one heart, or many.

Number one for fiendish fun! Horrid Henry takes to the skies in Up, Up and Away! Contains four brand-new stories, featuring Horrid Henry wreaking havoc on an airplane, being forced to write an essay about the Tudors, sabotaging the school play and sneaking onto a forbidden roller coaster.

A brilliant collection of four stories about this favourite character, one of the few new characters to have emerged in recent years for this age group.

Four hilarious new stories, in which Horrid Henry hits on a brilliant way to write thank you letters, negotiates over vegetables, competes with Perfect Peter over which of them is sickest, and finds himself wearing the wrong underpants, with dreadful consequences.

Italy, 1937. In a tiny village in rural Lombardy, Graziella Ponti is born into a loving family. Though they are not rich and life is full of challenges, Graziella and her family are content and safe, surrounded by the tightly knit community of Pieve Santa Clara. But when the shadow of World War Two falls across the village with the arrival of Nazi soldiers, nothing in young Graziella’s life will ever be the same again.

Four new stories: 'Horrid Henry's Invasion' - Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter keep invading each other's rooms. 'Moody Margaret's Sleepover' - Moody Margaret invites all the members of the Secret Club for a sleepover, with catastrophic results. 'Horrid Henry's Autobiography' - Miss Battle-Axe's class all have to write their autobiographies, the best to be published in the local paper. 'Horrid Henry Rocks' - Horrid Henry wants to go to the Killerboy Rats concert. His family has other ideas.

July, 1916. In the Rhymney Valley, young mother Violet Jones is caring for four-year-old Clarice and baby Benjy on her own, while husband Charlie fights on the Front Line. When tragedy strikes, Violet’s life becomes even harder. Violet takes in a relative to help make ends meet. As the Great War takes its toll on the nation, Violet faces her own battle. Can she protect her children? And will she ever find joy out of the depths of despair?

The final collection of four brand-new, utterly horrid stories in which Horrid Henry triumphantly reveals his guide to perfect parents, reads an interesting book about a really naughty boy and conjures up the cannibal's curse to deal with his enemies and small, annoying brother. Read by Miranda Richardson.

Horrid Henry finds a surefire way of wielding the remote control to ensure he always watches his programme of choice. He also vies with Moody Margaret to become the head of the school, shows off his prowess as a magician in the school talent show, and battles it out with Perfect Peter over who gets the green dinosaur and who gets the purple one.

Francesca Ekwuyasi’s debut novel tells the interwoven stories of twin sisters, Kehinde and Taiye, and their mother, Kambirinachi. Kambirinachi feels she was born an Ogbanje, a spirit that plagues families with misfortune by dying in childhood to cause its mother misery. She believes that she has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family and now lives in fear of the consequences of that decision.

In London during the interwar years, five women's lives intertwined around one address. Mecklenburgh Square, on the radical fringes of Bloomsbury, was home to activists, experimenters and revolutionaries; among them were the modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author and publisher Virginia Woolf.

Meet Hel, an ordinary teenager - and goddess of the Underworld. Why is life so unfair? Hel tries to make the best of it, creating gleaming halls in her dark kingdom and welcoming the dead who she is forced to host for eternity. Until eternity itself is threatened.

Four hilarious new HH stories - HH's Mother's Day, probably not the day his mum looks forward to most in the year, HH's Nightmare where Henry's chased by a ghost bunny with huge teeth, a wailing graveyard ghost and, for good measure, a slimy zombie, then a new story about one of his greatest enemies in The Return of the Demon Dinner lady and last but not least Fluffy Struts Her Stuff.

Being alone has a serious branding issue. We've only ever had negative language to talk about flying solo - but what about when time spent alone is restorative and joyful? What if it's something you crave? Enter: alonement, Francesca Specter's empowering new word to express valuing your own company and carving out time to spend with yourself, whoever you are and whatever your relationship status. In Alonement, Francesca Specter reveals how we can all thrive alone, whatever our circumstances, and harness the untapped power of some meaningful time with me, myself and I.