New Releases by Patrick Skene Catling

A comic novel with a host of bizarre but believeable characters, which darkly lampoons modern family life.

In this zany twist on the legend of King Midas and his golden touch, a boy acquires a magical gift that turns everything his lips touch into chocolate! Kids will eat this up for summer reading or anytime! Can you ever have too much of your favorite food? John Midas is about to find out…. The Chocolate Touch has remained a favorite for millions of kids, teachers, and parents for several generations. It''s an enjoyable story that pulls in even reluctant readers.

As a young boy Patrick Skene Catling''s father sat him at the desk of his office at Reuters and encouraged him to two-finger type on his old Underwood typewriter. Following his father''s advice some years later that writing was ''better than working'' he embarked on a lifetime as a writer and journalist. Based at various times in England and the United States, he traveled to Korea, Guatemala, Greenland and Australia covering wars, revolutions and press conferences that could give a man a terrible thirst. milieux that fascinated him. He interviewed Louis Armstrong and James Baldwin. He encountered Jane Russell, married Peggy Lee and was kissed by Billie Holiday. He became a close friend of P.G. Wodehouse. achievements, serious discussion and an extraordinary fund of anecdotes. Better Than Working is a hymn to a vanished era in British and American journalism, as well as being an utterly enjoyable book about a remarkable life.

John Midas, hero of THE CHOCOLATE TOUCH, wins a video horror competition, and his prize is a family holiday in Gothic World, a lavish theme park in Transylvania. But no experience is too much for John - or is it?

When Mum and Dad answer an advertisement, Diana thinks she is getting a little sister; but to everyone''s surprise, the sweet natured, intelligent four-year-old turns out to be a baby elephant. Suggested level: primary.

Witty tale of Michael Saques, in his attempts to exercise his right to live his own life without interference and comments from the opposite sex.

While visiting the site of sacred cave paintings in the middle of the Australian outback, John Midas slips back thousands of years and finds himself among a prehistoric aboriginal tribe.

The travels of two young men--the white son of a wealthy cotton broker and his Black friend, Moses--from New Orleans, to Chicago, and finally to New York parallels the growth and spread of jazz