Inspired by the Endangered Alphabets project, Winston tells a story of many languages of the world, represented in soft water-coloured bubbles filled with different script patterns. The bubbles start to be devoured by a black and white bubble that decides it is the most important story in the world. As The One and Only Story consumes all the other stories, the illustrations move from many colourful bubbled pages to a growing black blob, to a solid black page.
When city boy Jem moves to the countryside with his mother and sister, his sadness and anger about the move overwhelm him. Trying his best to hide his feelings, most go unnoticed by anyone except an ancient creature living deep in the hillside, a “nouka”, a mischief-maker from local folklore whose purpose is to distract from unhappiness. The nouka may string yarn in a maze along the staircase, or make the cat behave badly, or hide school bags, doing any number of naughty acts designed to spark curiosity and bring back a sense of wonder.
When monsters wreak havoc on the magical kingdom of Wompie, the people fear they will have to cancel the Wompie Wonder Fair. All hope seems lost until Sir Adam the Brave sets out to challenge the monsters and restore fun to Wompie. Sir Adam encounters three moody monsters: one sad, one scared, one angry, and all completely misunderstood. He empathises and encourages the monsters to return with him to Wompie, where he convinces the people that the monsters mean no harm and ensures the Wompie Wonder Fair is better than ever.
This is the story of Jim, a scruffy, smelly dog with one rheumy eye. Jim works at the Victoria and Albert Museum with his owner, Sir Henry Cole, the founding director of the museum. Thompson weaves facts with a fictional account of Cole’s Christmas card endeavour in this delightfully funny tale.
Barnabus Kwerk’s dreadfully rich, horrible family keep him locked in the attic, when all he wants is to go to school and be a normal boy. But Barnabus is far from normal. When Aunt Jemima appears, Barnabus learns she knows all the secrets: about his family, about his missing mother, about his unique gifts. She steals Barnabus away to the centre of the Earth where his life is turned upside-down.
Created by two accredited therapists with combined multiple education and psychology degrees, Flynn and Gogan present an alphabet of affirmations meant to inspire, empower and encourage children to mind both themselves and others.
