Nine lively and hilarious short stories for ages 8-80. Modern fairy tales with a wicked sense of humour: Alicroc the Alien in charge of a class of four year olds; the Littlest Thundertroll's trip down to "human-land" to get a box of chocolates for the Thundertroll Fairy; a small Gorilla who outwits his hungry neighbours; the bears' backward version of Goldilocks; a Boy who runs away and is captured by Trolls; what happened between the greedy Princess, the Frog and the golden ball; an Irish Fairy and a dancing Horse have a run-in with a Witch; why Pink Pigs should never talk to Wolves; and...

South Africa is a land of contrasts, as the tourist brochures promise, and this is true for the game of rugby. From the Pretoria heartland to the aspirant Eastern Cape, from the hardscrabble Cape Flats to the islands of privilege at Bishops and Grey College. No other rugby-playing nation has to grapple with so much diversity. Different languages, classes, races and cultures - each bearing the wounds of the countrys fractured past - have to be melded into winning teams. Liz McGregor has spent the past three years shadowing Currie Cup, Super 14 and Springbok teams across the country, and has...