Do you ever wonder what celebrities were like before they were famous? In the stories in this book, you will find out what Jackie Chan and Beyonce Knowles were like at school; and how actress Mila Kunis felt when she first arrived in America from Ukraine when she was a little girl. You will also read about Winston Churchhill's amazing escape from prison in Africa; how a kind priest helped Pele to get out of the slums of Brazil; and how J. K. Rowling thought of Harry Potter while she was sitting on a train from Manchester to London. Funny, exciting and fascination - if you like reading about...

Today in the Life There are billions of people in the world, and we are all different. In this book, you will read about the lives of six different people around the world. Find out if your life is similar to a doctor's life in South Africa; or a brother and sister living in New York. What is life like for a young boy in Calcutta? Read about a young girl's day in the Mongolian countryside. What do you do everyday? Is it like these people's lives or is it different? Yesterday in the Life We all love to look back at yesterday and remember the past. In this book, we learn about what some people...

In March 2003, Hassan wakes to find Baghdad under siege and his father missing. As bombs fall on the city, Hassan must protect his younger sister, Lulu, at all costs. Hassan takes his sister to the city to find their uncle and, hopefully, some clues that will help them find their father. What they uncover in Baghdad will change their lives forever. An action-packed story set in the real world, Hassan and Lulu follows the lives of two young people on an epic journey of self-discovery, mystery and adventure. It's a book that once you start reading, you will find hard to put down. Hassan and...

It's impossible to deny it... as much as we hate criminals for the things they do, and fear their terrible crimes more than anything else... we are all fascinated by people who do bad things. In this collection of short stories about real people, you will meet some of the most evil, most daring and most interesting criminals from history. Read about Guy Fawkes and his plot to kill the King of England by blowing up the House of Lords; and the captain of the slave ship the Zong, a man who did unspeakable things to his fellow man. Learn about Rasputin, the Mad Monk, and the strange power that he...

Japan... a country that lies beneath a cloud of mystery and secrecy, where the old sits uneasily close to the new, where ancient spirits hide in neon shadows. Some of the ghost stories you are about to read are based on folk tales that have been passed from father to son and mother to daughter for generations. Read about how Hoichi the violinist lost his ears to a ghostly samurai, and how Misu the monk defeated the spirit that devoured the dead. Learn what happens when you break a promise made to a deadly ice spirit, and why a young girl haunts the dreams of a priest in post-war Tokyo. Other...

A Reaper's existence is a lonely one. Okami is again faced with terrifying creatures from the the past that he must capture and drag with him to the Tokyo of the future. Travelling back and forth in time takes its toll on Okami... however, he must obey his mysterious master, Haku-san. But why has he been chosen? What is so special about him? This is something that he hopes to discover on his frightening but exhilarating journey through time. With the help of Midori, a beautiful young Reaper, and Meosa, a spirit that inhabits a sake bottle that Okami carries in his pocket, he hopes to catch...

21 Years... that's how long Okami has to save the future... but in order to do that, he must first travel to the past, to a Tokyo that he doesn't recognize, to a time filled with mythical beasts and where danger hides around every corner. This is the life of a Reaper... a collector of sacred creatures... a time traveler on a mission to rescue a dying city from a terrifying evil. 21 Years is an exciting new series of manga novels from Hippo Books. 21 Years: Part One is published by Hippo Books, a publisher dedicated to producing interesting, readable and fun books. This book is suitable for...

Everybody loves heroes - brave men and women who win wars and lead their countries to freedom. But this book isn't about those people...this book is about the heroes that you've probably never heard of, but who have made your and millions of other people's lives much better - unsung heroes that deserve recognition. People like Grace Hopper, who wrote the world's first computer programming manual and developed irreplaceable early computer software; and John Leal, who fought to make our drinking water safe, risking ostracization, prison and death in the process. People like Frederick Tudor, the...

My Brother the GIant: The Morozon Adventure Have you ever seen a really tall person? You know, like two meters tall? Well, imagine a person twice that size and that's my brother Fafner. He's a giant, you see. It's strange because he's the only giant in our family (apart from my grandparents) so our house is a little bit strange, we have two of everything - one for giants and one for us. Anyway, this book is about our first adventure. It's the one where we (my brother Fafner and I) first meet Renata, the Morozon princess. It's a great story, if I do say so myself. It's full of adventure and...

Welcome to a magical world of dark wizards, angry giants, wicked witches and scary spells. In these fantastic stories, you will meet Maxim the Giant, who builds a wall around his garden to keep the children out, but learns a valuable lesson in the process; and Bart the Nightingale, who helps his human friend, Lance, to find a present for the girl he loves. You will also read about a Magic Bed that gets grumpy if you don't jump on it; a Money Tree that has a dark secret; and a dark wizard who tries to use spells to win the heart of the beautiful Seraphina... but first he has to stop his hair...