On a manic ride from the mixing boards of hip-hop recording studios to mansions in the Hamptons and the projects of the urban ghetto, Detective Black Sallie Blue Eyes ventures behind-the-scenes of the record business in search of a street-side assassin. Casting a widely satirical net on all spectra and species of the Manhattan social scene—from tweaking downtown hipsters, wrestling fetishists, and rapper wannabes to real estate moguls and hip-hop impresarios—this satirical urban noir novel offers intrigue, insight, and an innovative brand of humor.

What would you do if you suspect your best friend, who happens to be a giant egg, was killed but everyone else thinks it was an accident? Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed, a collection of twenty-two short fairy tale-like stories, tackles that question and many more. In this collection's title story, Chicken Little is certain his friend did not fall from the ledge, and he intends to prove there is a conspiracy. Will he discover the truth before it's too late? Filled with interesting and delightful characters, these short stories ask questions not raised before. Can a reverse vampire find true love? Can the World Nose Hair champion really make the world a better place? Is it ever wise to stick cheese noodles in your nose? Can one live their life squeezing other people's ears in peace? If a whale and a tiger had a fight who would win? Incorporating familiar characters in children's literature and folklore, Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed tells a series of tales with surprises to keep you guessing. Each story asks a different question, and each story offers a different, strange answer.

Break-in at the Three Bears family home? It could only be one dame. Wicked witch gone missing from her candied cottage? Hansel and Gretel claim it was self-defense. Did Humpty Dumpty really just fall off that wall, or was he pushed? Here are five fairy-tale stories with a twist, all told from the point of view of a streetwise police officer called Binky, who just happens to be a toad in a suit and a fedora. When Snow White doesn't make it to the beauty pageant, Officer Binky is the first to find the apple core lying by her bed. When an awful giant mysteriously crashes to the ground, upsetting the whole town, Binky discovers exactly who is responsible. Author David Levinthal and illustrator John Nickle retell these classic stories in the style of a 1940s noir detective novel—for kids!

Detective Joe Dumpty rushes to investigate the mysterious circumstances under which his older brother, Humpty, fell from a wall on his first day as captain of the new Neighborhood Watch program.

Humpty Dumpty is humiliated. All the King's Horses and All the King's Men make fun of him and his embarrassing fall every chance they get. So Humpty Dumpty holes up in his home, determined to never climb another wall. Until a friend needs his help. In this silly play on traditional nursery rhymes Humpty is given the chance to show that the best thing to do after you fall off the horse (or wall, in this case) is to get right back on. "Illustrated with big, clear, line-and-watercolor cartoons, Horowitz's simple rhyming text is both a parody of nursery rhymes and a fun story. Children will enjoy the puns and the play with the Mother Goose verses that they know." - Booklist

Retells the classic Humpty Dumpty story with a twist ending. On board pages.

Welcome to the seedy underbelly of nursery crime. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Thursday Next series comes a rollicking novel—“as if the Marx brothers were let loose in the children’s section of a strange bookstore” (USA Today). “A wonderfully readable riot . . . cleverly plotted, magically overstuffed yet amazingly digestible . . . [for] anyone who wants the thrill of a good crime novel larded with highly literate humor.”—The Wall Street Journal Meet Inspector Jack Spratt, family man and head of Reading’s Nursery Crime division. He’s investigating the murder of ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Dumpty, ex-convict and lover of women, found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Yes, the big egg is down, and all those brittle pieces sitting in the morgue point to foul play. Spratt and his new partner, Sergeant Mary Mary, search through Humpty’s sordid past in hopes of finding the key to his death. Before long, Jack and Mary find themselves immersed in a bizarre case that reaches into the highest echelons of Reading society and business.