Ruby, a child with learning differences, knows she's not like the other kids, but she doesn't know why. Everything just seems so . . . hard for her, until she discovers a secret bag of magic stones that connect her to her guardian angels.

A Medieval Book of Magical Stones is the first translation of the longest and most comprehensive medieval English treatise on the occult powers of stones and gems, the Peterborough Lapidary. Lapidaries (encyclopaedias of the 'virtues' of stones and minerals) were an essential resource for practitioners of natural and ritual magic as well as medicine. This late fifteenth-century manuscript from the library of Peterborough Cathedral describes 145 stones, portraying them as living beings whose properties range from giving the bearer the power to command spirits and foretell the future to healing numerous illnesses and communicating with spirits and the dead, along with instructions on how to release latent occult power from within stones. Many of the proposed uses of stones resemble the concerns of medieval necromancers, such as invisibility, love magic, power over animals and the creation of magical mirrors. pp. xliii+106; 2 column text; introduction; bibliography; analytical index; 8 b/w illustrations

Discover magical and sacred uses of the crystals, minerals and rocks that make up your part of the world.

Tiller and Sairy live a quiet life in Ruby Holler; their children have long since left home and things are peaceful. But when they decide to adopt two children from the local orphanage to take on a giant adventure, they form an unlikely foursome. And Tiller and Sairy have to deal with some pretty unconventional behaviour on the part of the children, who don't believe they could ever be 'wanted'.A wonderful, magical story that combines quirky action and adventure with family, loyalty and learning to belong. Winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Ruby McCracken's life is OVER. Her parents have forced her to move to the Ordinary World and that means -- new home, new school and worst of all, no magic! Seriously?! A witch without magic? That's LITERALLY tragic. Ruby has to leave behind her broomstick (and walk everywhere -- YUCK!) and her friends (no more watching Hex Factor together on a Saturday night). She's absolutely STARVING with no snack spell, and there's no way to get revenge on the mean girls at her boring new school without a good curse. Despite her best witching efforts, the Ordinary World remains tragically magic-deprived, until Ruby receives a mysterious hext that seems to offer an answer. That is, if she can figure out what it means and, more importantly, who sent it. Packed with great humour, loveable characters and witty banter, Ruby McCracken: Tragic Without Magic is perfect for fans of Witchworld and The Worst Witch.