Original, dazzling and unconventional, this brilliant first solo collection has a surprise on every page. Go on a night flight, have a monster's lunch, immerse yourself in birdsong. Shout out an Apatosaurus rap before checking out Alexander Fleming's petri dish. Find fairy tales with a twist, poems to make you laugh - and reflective poems to think about. Full of variety, wit and warmth, this is a spectacular debut from a poet to watch!

If you've ever "hurried" or if you've ever "worried", this Book is for you and your Children. Children will laugh at these lovable Sisters as they "hurry and "worry" though life. It isn't until they meet a very strange Stranger that everything changes. All will marvel at how they break free.

"Laura Mucha has found the proof that love actually is all around."--Richard Curtis, writer and director of Love, Actually and Notting Hill For Love Understood, Laura Mucha has interviewed hundreds of strangers, from the ages of 8 to 95 in more than 40 countries, asking them to share their most personal stories, feelings, and insights about love and relationships. These intimate and illuminating conversations raised important questions, such as: - How does your upbringing influence your relationships? - Does love at first sight exist? Should you "just know?" - What should you look for in a partner? - Is monogamy natural? - Why do people cheat? - How do you know when it's time to walk away? Drawing on psychology, philosophy, anthropology and statistics, Love Understood combines evidence, theory and everyday experience and is the perfect read for anyone who is curious about how we thing, feel and behave when it comes to love.

"Struggling to raise her little brother Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star-gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold. By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery"--

Is this new land a place where magics really happen? From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale. In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats.... We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks? Extreme beauty is an affliction Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale? While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life. God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes! Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.

Three gifted poets team up with a collection of poems dealing with worries and anxieties and find ways to develop empathy and mindfulness. Read about the Land of Blue, where it's ok to feel sad, find ideas for what to do with worries, or how to slow down when your head is full of hurry. Give yourself time to chill out, find quiet voices in noisy places, and discover kindness in yourself and others. Then maybe your own special thought machine will tell you, "This is going well. You're doing great. You've got this!" And you have! This important and unique anthology of 45 poems by three leading poets, well known for their empathy and perception, speaks to the heart of what children think and care about, offering understanding, support, and encouragement.

Be careful what you wish for!Rita really really really wanted a rabbit.Spike was NOT a rabbit.He was scaly, scary, scratchy, scrabbly, scrawny, speckled and spiky.Rita is so very sure she wants a fluffy pet rabbit and NOT a scaly, scratchy bearded dragon called Spike . . . But when a fussy, grouchy, messy rabbit comes to stay, she discovers they aren't necessarily as adorable as they seem. Spike saves the day and Rita is very glad to be rid of the rabbit and very in love with her speckled, scrawny, spiky pet.A very funny text wonderfully complemented by Hannah Peck's witty artwork.