In the Sarboucane sea, Balbuzar the pirate reigns supreme. He attacks, plunders, sinks, and ransoms everything that comes within his reach. Savage, cruel, formidable, certainly, Balbuzar is; but also with a certain bonhomie, and a great sense of justice. He is in harmony with the sea, the islands, the wind, the rocks. Around him, birds, always. Men, women, children...they all love him. For he is free as the air. But now the Empress Pépita XIII is worried about her state of affairs, and Balbuzar's constant plundering. She sends against him her best officer, the Commodore, at the head of an armada. He represents force, order, law. Arrogant, domineering, relentless. And sure to be the one who will clean the Sarboucane sea. Balbuzar and the Commodore clash. Two exceptional sailors, two sharp warriors. The fight begins, shattering, tumultuous. The struggle, however, is unequal, for the Commodore has immense resources, an army behind him and the power of the empire.He's built a gigantic ship that will surely sweep away the pirates and their black-flag flotilla. Balbuzar's fate seems certain. Will the outlaw will be crushed by the enormity of the adversary? Cooked in the imperial pot? Or will the cunning pirate will find the rift in the monster's breastplate? Will he will defeat his monstrous foe, like David blasting Goliath? Balbuzar is the story of a confrontation between two worlds, that of royalty and that of piracy, between conformity and diversity. Gérard Moncombe's text deftly balances action, humor and poetry, while artist Frédéric Pillot's stunning, gorgeously detailed illustrations help paint this rousing, unforgettable tale. One that you'll want to come back to again and again... A fable about freedom, about resistance, about power. And an ode to nature.

Can a lone girl rabbit - with the odds stacked against her - surprise Jimmy and the other animals to win the big treehouse construction contest? In this stunningly illustrated you-go-girl-rabbit tale, Paisley shows how imagination and perseverance mean you can build anything When the school year starts out, Jimmy Squirrel, whose dad owns the biggest construction company in the city, challenges a close group of friends to a treehouse contest. To everyone's surprise, Paisley Rabbit, who has never touched a hammer or a nail and has no one to help her, joins the contest as a long shot to win. But as things heat up, Paisley shows she has some tricks up her sleeve. A delightful tale of defying the odds and believing in yourself that, alongside playful illustrations, kids will want to read over and over. The first edition of Paisley Rabbit and the Treehouse Contest won two awards including best picture book in the Next Generation of Indie Book Awards, and was named 2018 BOOK OF THE YEAR by Creative Child Magazine 2018.

Here is the wonderful new version of the classic poem every family should own with a unique twist of having all animal characters. Here the classic poem is retold by five time award winning author Steve Richardson to match the wonderful animal characters. This edition of The Night Before Christmas is lavishly illustrated by Chris Dunn who has also illustrated such classics as 'The Wind and the Willows'.

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews | A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date. Praise for Black Swan Green “[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel. . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods. . . . This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.”—The Boston Globe “[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer. . . . As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.”—Time

The Wonderful Things About A House

The FBI profiler & co-author of the #1 New York Times–bestseller Mindhunter recounts his role in catching one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Inside the Mind of BTK tells the incredible true story of how FBI profiler John Douglas tracked and participated in the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in US history. For thirty-one years a man who called himself BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) terrorized the city of Wichita, Kansas, sexually assaulting and strangling a series of victims, taunting the police with cryptic communications, and bragging about his vicious crimes to local newspapers and television stations. After disappearing for nine years, he suddenly reappeared, complaining that no one was paying enough attention to him and claiming that he had committed other crimes for which he had not been given credit. When he was finally captured, BTK was revealed to be Dennis Rader, a sixty-one-year-old churchgoing, married man with two children. As a leading serial killer profiler for the FBI, John Douglas was first called to consult about the case in 1980 and remained involved with the story and all of its principal players up to the arrest and prosecution. After Rader was arrested, Douglas was granted both an exclusive interview with the killer after his sentencing, as well as access to friends, family, and police. In this page-turning book, Douglas reveals both new information and insight into why Rader did what he did, why he stopped for a mysterious nine-year period, and his current psychological state in custody. Praise for Inside the Mind of BTK “Legendary profiler and bestselling author Douglas (Mindhunter), who pioneered the FBI’s systematic study of serial killers, offers his insights into one of this country’s most chilling killers—Dennis Rader, a seemingly innocuous family man and municipal employee, whose brutal murders terrorized Wichita, Kans., for three decades. . . . While the stomach-turning story of BTK's crimes has been told by others, Douglas's unique professional experience and his exclusive personal access to Rader offers a different perspective, even as the answer to the question of how such a monster comes to be remains elusive.” —Publishers Weekly “Riveting! Douglas and Dodd have focused a laser sight on one of the most fascinating and disturbing serial killers of our time. Their in-depth analysis of BTK’s early childhood, his seemingly “normal” everyday life, and his shockingly well-hidden “other” life deftly explores the nature of evil and how we can better protect ourselves from such cunning predators.” ―Lisa Gardner, New York Times–bestselling suspense author of Hide

Dear reader, We welcome and encourage tourists of all kinds in Gwelf. The survival guide will tell you what to expect, what equipment to pack, who to trust and hire as a guide, and where to rest for the night in this magical land steeped in history and mystery. Tips and tricks on how to best enjoy your stay in the more populous areas and cities, together with crucial survival techniques for how to avoid or overcome haunts, ragteeth, mange, or raven machinations cannot be found in any other resource. As a bonus, you'll learn some Gwelf history and lore and get to know some of the locals and our culture. Indeed, so charming and wondrous is Gwelf that occasionally tourists decide to stay and become citizens, joining the ranks of the border patrol; settling in a town as a merchant, artist, or voyeur; or simply retiring to the country or farmlands. Tragically, there have been some that have stayed, but not by choice. We, the council, fear that this has cast a negative light on our beauteous realm. Rest assured that should you follow the precautions outlined in our guide, you will be quite safe, as it is the council's intention to provide this book as a resource so that future mishaps might be avoided . . .