Once Upon a Wild Wood is a richly imagined story packed full of familiar fairy tale characters as you've never seen them before. A fabulously funny adventure, full of warmth, wit and delightful details to discover – this is Chris Riddell at his picture book best!
Little Green Raincape is on her way to Rapunzel's party, deep in the wild woods. The way is long and dark, but Green is a smart girl. Smart enough to turn down apples offered by kindly old ladies and smart enough to turn down travel advice from helpful wolves . . .
Above all, Green is smart enough to solve a wealth of classic fairy tale problems – not least mend a lovelorn beast's broken heart.
Including Red Riding Hood, Thumbelina, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, the Three Bears, the Seven Dwarfs – and many more – Once Upon a Wild Wood is a beautiful book for curious young readers.
For the perfect picture book pairing, check out Chris Riddell's The Emperor of Absurdia – an enchanting adventure full of Chris's trademark humour and incredible illustrations.
A traditional aboriginal fire myth from Northern Australia. Rough, tough Crocodile Man decides that he is in charge of fire. He keeps the rest of the world cold and dark - until one day, clever Bird Woman sees her opportunity and seizes it.
Midden the Messy Witch and her team of helpers run the famous magic factory in Starling Castle. All sorts of people pop in to buy spell ingredients, or for cauldron, broomstick and wand repairs, or just for helpful advice. The Magic Factory Mail Order Service is really big as well - spells delivered to your door any time of the day or night! In Cold Spell the King and Queen of Winter have a problem - their son and heir, Prince Icicle, doesn't like the cold! Can Midden help, or will winter have to be warmed up?
Down at the bottom of the garden, there is a pile of flowerpots. This is St Juniper's, the fairy school with a difference: it is famed for the naughtiness of its pupils. Meet the Naughty Fairies - their spells usually go wrong, but even when they go right it's only to get them out of trouble or get someone else into it ...
Did you know that Brahma once had five faces?
Why do snakes have a forked tongue?
Do gods cheat?
Why does Shiva sport a crescent moon on his head?
The Trinity, consisting of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, is the omnipresent trio responsible for the survival of the human race and the world as we know it. They are popular deities of worship all over India, but what remain largely unknown are some of their extraordinary stories.
Award-winning author Sudha Murty walks by your side, weaving enchanting tales of the three most powerful gods from the ancient world. Each story will take you back to a magical time when people could teleport, animals could fly and reincarnation was simply a fact of life.
This volume, which tells the story of Ulysses in easy-to-read text, is designed specifically for children who have recently started to read independently. It is part of a series which has been developed in consultation with Alison Kelly, a specialist in early reading.
Four original stories about princes and princesses for children just beginning to learn how to read. Meet clumsy princes, stubborn princesses and a rather pongy prince named Percy in these highly amusing stories. Usborne Young Reading has been developed with reading experts from Roehampton University.
There once was a king who hated bath time so much that he never washed. He was a very smelly king!
The king is finally persuaded to bathe in the river but no matter how clean the rest of him is, his feet stay dirty.
The people sweep away all the dirt in the land – but the air is choked with dust. The dust gets washed away but now the land is flooded with water. An enormous tapestry is sewn to cover the whole kingdom but now nothing will grow on the land... What is to be done?
At last one old man steps forward with leather and a pair of scissors ... and to the king's amazement he creates – the first ever pair of shoes!
