Introduction to the book and author This book is a collection of stories written by Liao Yirong, a writer of the Dongxiang ethnic group in China. Liao was born in 1976 in Xihaigu, one of the driest places in China. Once a wrangler in the grasslands under the Tianshan Mountains and a gold miner in the Bayan Har Mountains, Liao has left his footprints on all over the west of China. He began to publish his works in the early 1990s and has published over two million words in major Chinese literary journals. Liao has been awarded the third National Spring Literary Prize in 2004, the Feitian Prize for Literature in 2005 and the Horse Award for national minority literatures in 2008. Liao Yirong was invited to participate in an international writers’ project held at the University of Iowa, America, in 2010. Some of his works have been translated into foreign languages and introduced to readers overseas.

The three billy goats outsmart the hungry troll who lives under the bridge.

Worried about their son's healthy eating habits, Gregory's parents take him to the doctor to teach him how to eat old shoes and boxes like the rest of the goats, but things don't go as planned and soon hungry Gregory is munching on more than anyone could have ever imagined, including violins and flat tires!

A man discovers a destroyed typewriter, as well as a series of short stories purported to be the dying machine's last words to the world. But is the typewriter truly out of commission, or is it simply biding its time? Each story involves individuals facing unusual situations and learning about themselves in the process. A teenage boy finds his place at the end of civilization. A little girl discovers a dead body. Another girl recognizes the existence of time. An elderly couple faces the changing of the seasons. And a cafe patron realizes there is more to the night than they thought. These stories and others show that even a dying typewriter has something to say about the human experience.

New Way, renowned for its phonic focus and success with generations of children, has always been committed to a balanced phonic approach.

Here lie the memoirs of Ponsenby who has a great propensity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time - thereby seeing, hearing and experiencing so much and all with a difference. He travels through history and time, across vastly differing landscapes and delves into the most mysterious places of all... human endeavour, beliefs, culture and society. Ponsenby is a British-Indian medic – or sawbones as he describes himself – a livelihood that perceives both the serious and sombre perspectives on life, and always with a wry twist of humour. Oh, and another place to go: contemplation and reflection – “And a beautiful sadness filled our hearts. And because we could not leave it, the sadness slowly and inexorably turned into compassion. We felt the sorrow of the whole world, of little frightened children, of the blind, the halt and the lame, and of those separated from their loved ones...”