New Releases by Colin Thompson

The Great Montefiasco''s magic tricks are so bad that his audiences find them hilarious, and when he hires the Fabulous--but clumsy--Betty as his assistant, the duo''s fame is assured.

Gilbert is not a happy cat. The lady he calls his mum has put him outside and shut the door. Nature is horrible. The grass is hurting his feet and the only place to hide is inside an old paper bag. He has had a scary dream and now he is going to be sick all over the big angry cat from next door..

Gilbert was not an ordinary cat. This wasn t surprising because he had never seen another cat. Taken from his mother before his eyes had opened, he had spent most of his childhood inside a paper bag. As a result, he was frightened of just about everything. The best place to be was inside a nice brown paper bag, under the bed, away from the changing skies, away from vicious birds, and scary butterflies. One night something else crawled under the bed and Gilbert soon discovered that life wasn t as frightening as he d thought.

Children''s picture storybook. Mrs. Golightly retires and decides to set off around the world on her bicycle. She doesn''t mind if other people come along and she starts to collect companions from all over the world. Author''s previous works include ''Sailing Home'' and ''The Staircase Cat''. Illustrator''s previous works include ''Down My Street'' and ''The Last Clown''.

Big Jim is a strong horse who s growing old. He loves his family Max and Sally and their two children, Bonnie and Max Junior and he loves taking them from town to town for their travelling acrobat and magic theatre show. But he s also longing for home: the beautiful field with the trees by the river. Big Jim wishes there was a Little Jim who could replace him and give his aching legs some restThen one day Big Jim and the family arrive at a small one-street town the kind they call a one-horse town . A man leads a filly, Misty, across the field and presents her to Max. Misty joins the family on their travels, and Big Jim tells her all about the river back home.Eight weeks later when they finally arrive home, it dawns on Big Jim that Misty is his replacement, and that he ll at last be able to retire and stay in his beloved field forever.

Ignored by prospective human owners who walk past her cage at the pound, a shy dog with an unusual name becomes a hero during a lightning storm.

Il n''y arrivera jamais. De meilleurs que lui ont essayé. Quel redoutable défi doit relever Spinifex, dix-neuvième alchimiste du roi ! Il doit absolument trouver le secret qui permet de changer en or les matériaux les plus ordinaires, sans quoi le roi ne lui pardonnera pas. Pauvre Spinifex ! Il travaille d''arrache-pied, bricole les inventions les plus folles. Et enfin, au matin du Grand Jour, il essaie sa MACHINE A FABRIQUER DE L''OR... Spinifex réussira-t-il là où tous les alchimistes ont échoué avant lui, ou bien le secret de l''or demeurera-t-il à jamais un mystère ?

Tired of his mother''s shouting and the noise of the city, Peter runs away to a beautiful garden, where he stays until he finds a way to bring a part of it home with him.

A picture-book story which incorporates jokes and puns. The world''s richest man looks out across the city and tells his grandson that the sky was once blue and the sun was so bright that you couldn''t look at it. But the boy doesn''t understand, for no one has seen the sun for 20 years.

A wise old man who visits the town dump every day moves into an abandoned train there and watches as nature gradually reclaims the polluted land. Suggested level : primary.

When a seafaring grandfather returns home for the last time, his ten-year-old grandson searches for the great treasure hidden in the sailor''s old wooden chest. But Grandfather''s legacy is much more than gold coins--it is the promise that the imagination holds the mightiest treasure of all.