Best Selling Books by Diana Hendry

Henry lives with his penny-pinching Aunt and life is pretty miserable until a strange lodger comes to stay

Little Mouse feels scared when he lies in bed. What is that huffing and puffing? Is it a ghost? Little Mouse asks if he can come into Big Mouse''s bed. But Big Mouse is determined that Little Mouse should sleep alone.

When the story opens, Megan who is a foster mother, has two children in her charge: Anna a 12 year old who is, ''rather given to magical thinking'' and Raymond who is 10 and never speaks to anyone. Both children have sad broken backgrounds; Anna (in her fourth foster home) fantasises that her debt-ridden, alcoholic mother is a famous actress and Raymond''s totally unreliable mother rarely comes to see him. Sam, a frightened rabbit of a child, rejected by his family because of lameness and pebble specs is the next to join the foster family and then Brent arrives dramatically in the middle of the night - a tearaway teenager totally beyond the control of his unimaginative, intellectual father. All four of Megan''s foster children have difficulties to overcome in the house high above the river, where each one of them becomes involved in some way with the mysterious river woman. It is impossible not to be totally drawn into the pattern of Brent, Anna, Raymond and Sam''s lives in this imaginative and compassionate novel.

After a great storm, Henry finds a baby bundles up in Aunt Agatha''s hollyhocks. But this is no ordinary baby: this one has antennae instead of eyebrows--and Henry suspects his old friend Harvey Angell is responsible.

Orphan Henry''s dream to see the ocean finally comes true when his Aunt Agatha takes him on a seaside vacation. On the first night he hears moaning and groaning coming from inside Sibbald House where they were staying. He calls Harvey Angell to help him uncover the shocking secret of Sibbald House.

In search of the perfect holly with shiny berries to decorate his Christmas tree, Little Mouse begins to make his way home. Suddenly soft white flakes begin falling all around him. "The sky is coming undone!" fears Little Mouse. As he hurries home to tell Big Mouse his imagination overwhelms him. First, he sees a "strange creature" waving its arms at him as he passes the water. Then when he turns around he sees that an invisible monster is leaving footprints right behind him! Finally, after running circles Little Mouse arrives home only to find a giant "white monster" in front of the door. When Big Mouse finds Little Mouse outside he reassures him that the sky is not coming undone, but that it is snowing; after explaining away lIttle Mouse''s fears, he shows Little Mouse that snow makes for a magical Christmas indeed.

Stories about the friendship between two girls of different races

The Donovans are afraid of so many things that the family gets a dog from the animal shelter to protect them.

Ever since Ned and Jess''s parents split, they''ve had to put up with lodgers in the house, and they''ve all been disasters. So they aren''t exactly thrilled when Mum announces the arrival of Kid Kibble - especially when they learn that he is a teacher at their school. Jess takes against him at once, sure that he''ll be good and clean and boring. But boring is one thing that Kid Kibble is certainly not. He arrives with a skeleton over his shoulder, a variety of animals and a trombone. Biologist, musician and eccentric, Kid Kibble turns the house into one huge laboratory, culminating in an episode when a plague of locusts and a host of bats take up lodgings in the kitchen. In the end even Jess is won over.

One-Eyed Penguin, Knitted Owl, Albapot and Raggy Christine are abandoned in the attic - uncared for and unloved. One Christmas Eve, Father Christmas decides that they will be the perfect present for Lily Peppermint. But what about the children of Hartlepool? Who is going to deliver THEIR presents when Father Christmas is stuck in a cupboard hiding from the new owners. . . . ?

It is a hot sunny day and Big Mouse is digging in the garden. He asks Little Mouse to help, but Little Mouse is busy dreaming. The dream involves daisies, clover and two snowy white feathers. What can it be - and will Big Mouse like it?

Christmas brings aunts, uncles, friends, and strangers to the house on Exeter Street, where the holiday gradually becomes a crowded but festive occasion.

Having just moved to the city from a country cottage, Hannah feels unsettled until she meets Eliza and Jenny and becomes a rainbow watcher for Mrs. Middlesome-Merry, a local artist who paints only flowers.

Eliza longs to escape from her small English seaside town with a romantic beatnik.

There are 7 Dottingtons and they are all scared of something. The answer, they decide, is to get a dog, and Hero seems the perfect choice. But he is also scared of absolutely everything In comforting him, the family forget about their own fears.

A kitten does not like it when his mother goes away without him, but after enjoying some time by himself, he understands why she does it.