Best Selling Books by Geraldine McCaughrean

King Shahryar kills a new wife every night, because he is afraid she will stop loving him. But his new bride Shahrazad has a clever plan to save herself. Her nightly stories--of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, and many other heroes and villains--are so engrossing that King Shahryar has to postpone her execution again and again... This illustrated edition brings together all the Arabian Nights tales in an original retelling by award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean.

Not the End of the World is Kate Atkinson's first collection of short stories. Playful and profound, they explore the world we think we know whilst offering a vision of another world which lurks just beneath the surface of our consciousness, a world where the myths we have banished from our lives are startlingly present and where imagination has the power to transform reality. From Charlene and Trudi, obsessively making lists while bombs explode softly in the streets outside, to gormless Eddie, maniacal cataloguer of fish, and Meredith Zane who may just have discovered the secret to eternal life, each of these stories shows that when the worlds of material existence and imagination collide, anything is possible.

Inez and her brother are amazed to find a huge hole being dug right outside the front door of their father's shop. Then suddenly more holes appear all over the main street and before long the cars can't use the road and everyone has to walk around balancing on planks of wood. It can only be a matter of time before the foundations give way and the whole town collapses. People are traveling from all over the country - the word on everyone's lips is Gold.

Gabriel has no idea what the future will hold when he runs away from his apprenticeship with the bad-tempered stonemason. But God Himself, in the shape of playmaster Garvey, has plans for him. He wants Gabriel for his angel...But will Gabriel's new life with the travelling players be any more secure? In a world of illusion, people are not always what they seem. Least of all Gabriel. Geraldine McCaughrean is considered an exceptional writer of our time. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, the Whitbread Award (twice) and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award.

As MCC Berkshire, the mysterious, book-obsessed man helping in Ailsa's mother's antique shop, tells wild stories that persuade customers to buy various items, teenaged Ailsa believes he is a liar but fears that he is not.

This is one of the oldest stories in the world, and it's about things that still matter to us today: friendship, fame, courage, happiness.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu are friends -- best friends. Together they can work wonders, fight monsters, brave earthquakes, travel the world! But waiting in the dark is the one enemy they can never overcome.

Retold by award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean, and illustrated with great power by David Parkins, Gilgamesh the Hero is a story that will linger in the imagination long after the book has been put down.

As Mr. Butterfield carves a Jesse Tree in a dusty old church, a curious young boy distracts him by asking about the various symbols on the tree. Against his inclination, thegruff old man finds himself retelling the familiar biblical tales that trace the family tree of Christ, from the Garden of Eden to Jesus' birth. Under the carpenter's skilled hands, the Jesse Tree grows-and an unlikely friendship begins to take root as well.

Geraldine McCaughrean's fresh retellings of familiar Bible events and Bee Willey's whimsical and striking illustrations create a rich and contemporary tale that will captivate readers who know and love these stories as well as readers who are discovering them for the first time.

Open this scrumptious holiday edition of The Nutcracker and magically recreate the motion, color, and delight of the classic ballet. Paper engineering wizardry allows characters to dance into life simply by turning the pages-with no tabs for the reader to pull (or break). From the twirling Sugar Plum Fairy and the evil Mouse King to the little girl Marie and her Nutcracker Prince, the cast of beloved characters creates a wondrous "theater" effect as each steps out of intricately die-cut panels. From the first dancing snowflake, beloved author Geraldine McCaughrean's retelling sparkles with enchantment and drama, her words exquisitely matched by Kristina Swarner's luminous, jewel-toned illustrations.

Taken to Antarctica by the man she thinks of as her uncle for what she believes to be a vacation, Symone--a troubled fourteen year old--discovers that he is dangerously obsessed with seeking Symme's Hole, an opening that supposedly leads into the center of a hollow Earth.

In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.