A charming series of adventures for younger readers, featuring a family of all sorts of animals that live in the farmyard behind the tumble-down barn on Mudpuddle Farm.

No-one believes Tom when he says he has seen a lion - padding around the orchard with a string of sausages in its mouth No-one, that is, except for Clare, the cleverest girl in the class. Together, she and Tom plan to prove his story is true - by catching the lion.

Robbie McLeod and a wolf cub, both orphaned, venture far from their birthplace, a land of rebellious fighters and vicious redcoats. But when at last Robbie finds a place where he can peacefully make his home, he knows in his heart that the wolf must find his own natural home too...

A boy living by a Scottish loch sees a beautiful silver swan land on the water. She remains at the loch, mates and there are soon five cygnets too. When the snowy Winter sets in, all the birds and animals around the loch must scavenge desperately for food. The fox also has cubs to feed.

"Rainbow Rainbow over my wild white wilderness. Beautiful and bright he was, more wonderful than anything I had ever seen before. I knew at once I had to catch a rainbow and make him mine. So I went after him. I went hunting for a rainbow." Snow Bear is so enchanted by the sight of a brilliant rainbow that he longs to soak up its colors for himself. But when his wish is granted, it brings great danger and sadness to his life. To save himself, he must become an ordinary snow bear once more--but how? It is a kind little boy who shows him the way.

The "Black Queen" is what Billy calls his shadowy next-door neighbor. She always wears a black cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, and lurks about her garden, alone except for her black cat. Scarily for Billy, the Black Queen befriends him and asks him to look after her car while she is away.

A wonderful anthology of poems to set fire to the imagination. Michael Morpurgo has brought together poems by writers as diverse as Spike Milligan and Louis MacNeice, Stevie Smith and John Lennon, Jo Shapcott and Lewis Carroll. Once read, they won't be forgotten. This anthology will form the cornerstone to a lifetime's enjoyment of poetry.

Two compassionate animal stories from the snowy north featuring Michael Foreman's original illustrations, this is a gem of a book to be enjoyed over and over again.

Michael loves summer holidays in Wales, and Dadci's tall stories about the Sandman, the old Russian sea captain and blood-red dragon in his lair. Little cousin Polly believes every word of the magical tales and she's determined to make it all come true.

In The Marble Crusher, Albert is new at school and believes everything the bully Sid tells him about the principalMr. Mannersand his terrifying marble-crushing machine. Albert feels desperate when his marbles are confiscated, but Mr. Manners finds a way to turn the joke on Sid. In Colly s Barn, Annie must find a way to stop the farm's old barn from being torn down. Nothing, it seems, can save ituntil Colly the swallow and Screecher the owl help Annie save their home. In Conker, it s the time of year when conkersthe hard fruit of the chestnut treeripen. That means it s also time for conker...