New Releases by Russell Hoban

Celebrate Christmas with the inspiration for the beloved Jim Henson film. In 1977, when Jim Henson debuted the now-classic film Emmet Otter''s Jug-Band Christmas, few knew it was based on a story written and illustrated by Russell and Lillian Hoban, creators of Bread and Jam for Frances and other treasured children''s books. With an enduring score by the great Paul Williams, the movie remains a holiday tradition in homes across North America. Here is the book that started it all, a beautiful gift edition that will thrill Muppets fans young and old. Inspired by the classic tale "The Gift of the Magi," the story begins in a poor country cottage, as Emmet Otter dreams of buying Ma a piano for Christmas, while Ma dreams of buying Emmet a guitar. When a village talent contest is announced, both imagine their dreams coming true. But what they don''t imagine finding is their real reward — the power of love, family, and hope in hard times. It is a story that reaches into a reader''s heart and reminds us all that fortune favors the brave. A Bank Street College of Education Best Children''s Book of the Year "[A] welcome reissue of the Hobans'' 1971 story . . . Colorful illustrations of the close-knit animal community contain plenty of warmth." —The Horn Book

When Kleinzeit, an advertising copywriter whose name means either 'hero' or 'smalltime', depending on who you ask, picks up a sheet of yellow paper in the London Underground, he doesn't suspect that it will cause him to be fired from his job and admitted to hospital with geometrical pain in his hypotenuse. In Hospital Ward A4, Kleinzeit discovers he is not alone: his fellow patients also suffer from nonsensical but possibly deadly ailments which all have something strange in common. With the help of the beautiful night nurse and armed with a glockenspiel and a paperback of Thucydides, Kleinzeit escapes from hospital and finds himself plunged headlong into a wild and flickering netherworld of mystery involving the Underground, an enigmatic red-bearded man, a key, sheets of yellow paper, and Death himself ... A hilarious, surreal and completely unpredictable novel about one man's search for reality, "Kleinzeit" (1974) is one of Russell Hoban's best-loved works. 'Hoban is as funny and unusual as any writer around ... "Kleinzeit" is a sort of holy fool, a fierce, lonely intelligence desperately trying to make sense of a hopeless world. A tour de force.' - "Evening Standard" 'Hoban is an extraordinarily talented novelist, an original mind in the era of mass-produced philosophers.' - "Irish Times" 'Delightful ... "Kleinzeit"'s language is forever astonishing.' - "Boston Globe"

Discovering that his soon-to-be-born first offspring, a soonchild, cannot hear the World Songs from her mother's womb, Sixteen-Face John, an Arctic Circle shaman, embarks on a fantastical journey to different eras and in the forms of animals and demons to find the songs that will inspire the soonchild's birth.

On a day like any other, Kleinzeit gets fired. Hours later he finds himself in hospital with a pair of adventurous pyjamas and a recurring geometrical pain. Here he falls instantly in love with a beautiful night nurse called Sister. And together they are pitched headlong into a wild and flickering world of mystery ... Kleinzeit. In German that means ''hero''. Or ''smalltime''. It depends on whom you ask. ''Russell Hoban is our Ur-novelist, a maverick voice that is like no other'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

New novel by prolific British novelist Russell Hoban

Re-issued to coincide with the centenary of Messiaen''s birth, The Messiaen Companion was the first major study to appear after the composer''s death in April 1992. It was the first book to offer both a complete survey of Messiaen''s extraordinary achievements and a comprehensive guide to his music, also examining in detail the enduring inspiration which Messiaen derived from his religious faith and from his lifelong passion for ornithology and the natural world. The contributors, all of whom have made a special study of the composer, include two biographers of Messiaen and a number of the foremost interpreters of his music. Messiaen''s influential teaching is recalled in essays by three of his pupils (Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, and Peter Hill), and the composer is also remembered in a remarkable and moving contribution from his widow and devoted musical companion, the pianist Yvonne Loriod.

Frances is a fussy eater. In fact, the only thing she likes is bread and jam. She won''t touch her squishy soft-boiled egg. She trades away her chicken-salad sandwich at lunch. She turns up her nose at boring veal cutlets. Unless Mother can come up with a plan, Frances just might go on eating bread and jam forever!

Falling head over heels for the spirited Lola, who shares his musical tastes and complements him on every level, Max nevertheless pursues a secret second relationship when the unattainable high-school homecoming queen he loved years earlier reenters his life.

Roswell Clark wants a bat tattoo. His ideal bat image is on a bowl in the V&A Museum. There he encounters Sarah Varley, also compelled by the same bat. What does it mean? This novel combines much about art with new angles on Christ, crash-test dummies, antiques and pornography.

A mesmerising novel by one of the most original writers of the twentieth century ....'Tantalising, fresh and inventive.Hoban writes about grown-up love with an extraordinarily unsentimental yearning' Literary Review

After receiving a blow to the head from a bully at school and a mysterious puzzle from a melancholy magician, twelve-year-old Nick enters a strange and frightening reality that changes his life.

The Little Brute Family members eat gravel for breakfast, never say "please" or "thank you" and kick, yell, punch, and shove. But one day everything changes when Baby Brute finds a "lost good feeling" wandering around in a field of daisies and brings it home. Full-color illustrations. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Jim Hedgehog, who likes heavy metal music, buys a cassette tape and a musical instrument from Mr. Strange, which lead him to a haunted castle.

The tigers use their fascinating dances to end the Rajah's tiger hunt.

Harry meets a rag-and-bone man one hot summer afternoon and follows him through the rain door for a fantastic adventure with rain, thunder, and lightning.

Frances foils Thelma''s plot to trick her out of a new china set. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Arthur Crocodile cannot seem to learn table manners until his sister brings her new girlfriend to visit.

The Mole family learns about Christmas and builds a chimney so that Santa Claus will be able to visit them.

When Albert and his buddies have a "no girls" baseball game, Frances and her sister organize a "Best Friends Outing -- No Boys."

When Albert and his buddies have a "no girls" baseball game, Frances and her sister organize a "Best Friends Outing -- No Boys."

Frances is having a birthday party but who should she invite and what should she eat?

One of a reissued series about the Badger family. With a new baby in the house, Frances thinks that no one pays much attention to her any more. So she decides to run away, but not so far that she won''t be able to hear how much she''ll be missed - even by baby Gloria.