New Releases by Jackie French

A collection of four favourites from the Wacky Families series. there''s no such thing as a normal family! But some are wackier than others... Cecil''s Mum wears long black boots and carries a sword; Gunk''s dog Spot loves lettuce and seems to be growing awfully big, awfully fast; Horace''s Dad has silver wings and a green and orange tail; and tom''s family circle includes a Senior Bogeyman, a tooth Fairy''s assistant and a large and hairy best friend called Mog. Fortunately for tom, his Uncle Gus is great at proving the old saying that small people can make a big difference. With drawings by award-winning illustrator Stephen Michael King, this collection of four hilarious Wacky Family stories is guaranteed to delight younger readers. Containing: My Mum the Pirate My Dog the Dinosaur My Dad the Dragon My Uncle Gus the Garden Gnome Ages: 7 - 10

Jackie French explores a distant and fascinating world, where the future is not always as it seems, and the king''s displeasure means death.Ages 10 - 14 After Nikko and thetis are taken from their village, their amazing acrobatic skills save them from slavery and make them the focus of the Mycenaean court. the courtiers are in awe of them; the King is enchanted.But thetis may destroy them both when she tells the King a truth about his future that he doesn''t want to hear. Nikko and the daring horse dancer Euridce must travel across Greece to find his sister again - and the extraordinary future that awaits them all - in Delphi.Can one young girl change history?Jackie French waves history, myth and fantasy together into one enthralling tale of horse dancers, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as love and courage, from beyond recorded time.Ages 10-14

Prudence is invited by her father's distant werewolf cousins to their gloomy castle to hunt for some missing 'treasure'. Phredde and Bruce accompany Prudence, who is well aware that if she fails then her father will have to take her place. the zombie librarian also makes a reappearance, as does the castle banshee, and Cousin Flea decides that he wants to be a lighting and sound technician and turns what was once a nicely decorated castle into a setting for a television series. Ages 7-12

Another spell-binding and spooky story starring Phredde, a fractious but fun-loving phaery, Bruce, a mosquito-eating frog, and Pru, an everyday-normal school girl - except that she lives in a fairy castle, keeps pet piranhas, has a werewolf for a brother and a vampire for a teacher. AND EXCEPt that now she has just inherited her very own mansion and is the envy of ALL her friends. Is this too good to be true? Is there something suspicous about Mr Nahsti, the solicitor? Why do Phredde and Bruce, Pruᱠbest friends in the world, keep sneaking off to Phaeryland without her? And most important: who keeps stealing Pru\'9291s underpants? A hair-raising, spine-tingling GHOStLY tale of phaeries, underpants and adventure!

What do you do when your school librarian starts dressing in leopard-skin and goes off chasing dinosaurs? A school excursion to the Big Koala goes horribly wrong when Phredde, Pru and Bruce - and their vampire teacher Mrs Olsen, and Miss Richards, librarian and martial arts expert - head back into the time of the dinosaurs, not to mention giant marsupial lions, a dinosaur with diarrhoea and an exploding volcano. Who will save them? Can one kid, two phaeries, a vampire and a librarian dressed in leopard-skin survive in the past with just a laptop computer, a flying carpet and a plastic spoon? Ages 7-12

Captain Cook''s goat is the first of many historical animals to bring the past to life. the HM Bark Endeavour is sailing to tahiti to map the transit of Venus, but there are rumours that once the task is completed, Lieutenant James Cook has a set of secret orders - orders that command him to search for the Great South Land. Isaac is twelve and has joined the crew of the Endeavour as a master''s servant, good for scrubbing decks and not much else. He''s certainly not considered good enough to fetch hay for the Goat who will provide fresh milk for Cook and his officers. And this goat even has more experience at sea than Isaac - she has already sailed around the world once, watching the ocean and lands slip by from her spot on the quarterdeck. Over the months on board the Endeavour, a friendship grows between the Goat and Isaac, one that will last through shipwreck, bushfire and illness. A friendship that helps in the discovery of exotic new lands ... Ages 9 - 13

A story about dreams, beliving in yourself ... and a dancing kangaroo. From the award-winning duo of Diary of a Wombat comes another hilarious tale of a bush animal you''ll never forget.Josephine is a kangaroo - who loves to dance. Her little brother, Joey, tells her that kangaroos don''t dance, they hop - but Josephine continues to point her toes and leap through the air.When a ballet troupe comes to town and both the lead ballerina and understudy are injured, Josephine''s talents are called upon to help save the day. Can she do it and, more importantly, does it matter that she''s a kangaroo?A very funny picture book that looks at the importance of believing in yourself and realising your dreams.Ages 4- 9

It''s 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils'' heads to see which of them have the most ''Aryan''- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive.

One hot summer day, four bored children start a watermelon seed-spitting battle that soon spreads throughout their town.

When Viking raiders attack Hekja's peaceful village and take her and her puppy prisoner, they are at first terrified of the strange new surroundings. Soon, to their amazement, they find their place within the clan and embark on incredible sea voyages.

Buster is a werewolf. He shouldn''t have to go to school!

One by one, seven monkeys who go out to have a good time wind up falling in love over the course of a week.

Pamela the cow loves pears so much that no one else ever has a chance to eat any.

Encouraging young children to read - Encouraging older children to read - How to teach children to read - How to spot reading problems and how to help - All children learn differently - Encouraging a reading culture.

In the second installment of the Keepers trilogy, Nell, a promising young witch, continues her difficult quest to become Apprentice Keeper.

Princess Arenelle, a promising young Witch, undertakes the quest to become the new Apprentice Keeper.

Adventurous monkeys have a series of mishaps and escapades involving a bike, a golf cart, a canoe, a restaurant, and a hotel.

The fearsome knight Horace tries to prove to his niece that he is as good as his brother, the King, while all she really wants is someone to help her stop missing her father.

Ghostly story. 8 yrs+

In the third title about this pair of friends, Mole and Shrew are short of cash, so they head into the working world with hysterical results. Illustrations.

Howard and the monster under his bed decide on a plan to convince their mothers that both of them have reason to be afraid after dark.

The dragonling''s adventure among humans begins in this three- books-in-one set.

When a mysterious bag lady hands Alec a strange coin and tells him it will grant him one wish, Alec thinks she''s crazy. But then, in a fit of anger, Alec wishes his little brother Stevie had never been born, and Stevie disappears! If I Had One Wish … was an American Library Association Recommended Book for Reluctant Young Readers and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

When his Labrador retriever survives a bear-mauling on Christmas Eve, Matt is convinced that her recovery is a miracle sent by his mother from heaven.

For fans of the Frog and Toad books and Amelia Bedelia stories, the antic tales of Mole and Shrew will prove to be worthy successors. In the introductory title, find out how Mole and Shrew first meet, how Mole finds a new home, and how, with much confusion along the way, Mole and Shrew "finally become fast friends!

A book that tries to answer all the big questions about life, death and the universe - a mixture of science and philosophy put in simple terms that 10- to 12-year-olds can understand.

Sixteen-year-old Rebekah joins her missionary father in the New World in the 1630s and, after being introduced to Indian culture, begins to question whether these "savages" need saving after all

When his father moves away to find work and his mother becomes ill, Danny struggles to help his family during the Great Depression.