Why Don't Hamsters Fly?

Try placing yourself in the undergrowth and giving yourself a lovely furry body, two cute little ears, two round black, beady eyes and four little paws. Now look up at the sky as a plane flies over your head and imagine what it might be like to be up there and looking down. Wow! While little Henry the hamster really liked the idea, he doesn’t have a mummy or a daddy that can buy a plane ticket, so he has to find another way. But, truthfully, can you imagine a flying hamster? There is one thing that we will learn about Henry as we go with him on his big adventure and that is that he doesn’t give up easily. Unfortunately, the world can be a rather frightening place when you are as small as Henry, but fortunately, he finds a friend in a very unusual place...

Why I Wrote wot I Wrote

As Joanna Lumley notes in her preface, Bruce Denness has always trod a precarious path between serious science and philosophical frivolity. The science reached its peak at the British Geological Survey and Newcastle University in the 1970s but even then – and certainly since – he always looked for the funny side of whatever he was involved in, which may explain why his research has seldom been taken seriously.

Bruce was born in 1942 on a farm in the Isle of Wight, where he grew up. His career then took him to the mainland (or England, as it is known on the Isle of Wight) and several countries in the Caribbean, South America and the Far East before he settled back on the Island again in 1984. Experiences gained during those years have contributed to the many letters that Bruce has since had published, mainly in The Telegraph and New Scientist. Admittedly, some of them may also have been influenced by regular visits to The White Horse Inn at Whitwell, Isle of Wight for invigorating Shiraz treatment.

Why Oh Why Couldn't You Have Burnt The Bloody Place Down?

So after three and a half years you make it to Mons Officer Cadet School, including two years in a war, only to discover the terrorist who had tried to kill you with a grenade and who, you in return, had tried to shoot, ends up in the bed next to you! What do you do? Advice from the staff to check your bed for a grenade every night before you get into it doesn’t really help. Six months of brutality, tiredness, sleeplessness and absolute pressure follow with course attendees dropping like flies. A year at a boys’ regiment when he is persecuted for not burning down the Officers’ Club follows and his career ends at a tank depot where an insane ex-para has storemen and vehicle specialists pretending to be fit paras. And the final stress is to look after a full general who is a menace to wood and the main contributor to Elastoplast’s profit that year! Join our hero, Jack, in this the second of the trilogy and be ready for the third!

Whymes of Wubbish for Gwoan-Ups

These remarkably silly rhymes will make you laugh, just right to dip into when you have a few minutes to spare!

Wicked Innocence

A psychopathic seventeen-year-old Logan begins to question his actions after his mother is brutally murdered. In his hunt to find the man responsible, he uncovers his family’s dark secret, one that could explain his penchant for murder.

Wild About Harry

In 1938, Harry Glass is a precocious eight-year-old Jewish boy born and raised in London. Unconstrained by obedience, he is as much the despair of his immigrant parents as they are a puzzle to him. As, indeed, are almost all grown-ups—teachers, neighbours, everyone except his Aunt Lily. At times, he manages to appall even her. Just speaking can become a disaster as his schoolmates’ cuss words roll innocently off his tongue at home. The mood there darkens, too, with the news from Europe.

After the fall of France in 1940, Harry is evacuated to Wales and welcomed into a farm family by everyone except the daughter and a young Welsh nationalist farmhand. But the war reaches into Wales, too, with the bombing of shipyards and chance raids. After being machine-gunned from the air while on a class picnic and later witnessing supposed perfidy, Harry suffers a breakdown and is hospitalised. His ward-mates are recuperating survivors from Dunkirk and wounded Spitfire pilots from the now raging Battle of Britain. Both befriended and bedevilled, Harry comes of age as the world fights for its life.

Wild Banana

Most of us like the tasty yellow bananas from the supermarket. These come from warm continents, where they are grown in plantations of thousands of trees, all nurtured together.

So different from their wild ancestors, who struggle to survive, living alone on tropical islands.

This story tells the adventures of an original, wild banana.

Wild Colonial Boy

This autobiographical novel narrates the journey of Dan Docherty, a young Glasgow law graduate and karate black belt, who left his traditional Catholic family in 1975 to serve in the notoriously corrupt Royal Hong Kong Police.

In Hong Kong, he learned Chinese language intensively, then drill, musketry and law. A famous Tai Chi master accepted him as a disciple and trained him to become an international full contact champion.

In this book we’ll have a few beers with colourful characters like Big Don and Mountie Dave. We’ll visit exotic locales—Manila, Macao, Singapore… We’ll witness Dan in full contact competition and in street fight action. As they say in the Hong Kong Police, “If you can’t take a joke, you shouldn’t have joined.” 

William and the Clyeophos

At 14 years old, William has had enough of life in general. He lives with his grandparents after his parents and sisters were killed in a car crash quite recently. His favourite sport, football, hasn't been going well for him either, he plays in goal for his local team, but he seems unable to even catch a cold these days! During one dismal game, William is handed a note by one of the few spectators. When a woman called Esmerelda enters his life - things change after she tells him she is a being of magic and space travel. William also has two thugs chasing him: Scrag and Scar-face, bullies from his school, who are working for the weird old man called Dionysus, who wants what William has dug up. Before William knows what is happening, he finds himself on a spaceship as the capsule he dug up has now entered his body. The crew of the spaceship are escaping from Dionysus, who is from a race called the Sandriones. He somehow finds William, Esmerelda and his new friends. How will he escape and can he rid himself of the capsule? Why has Esmerelda been keeping an eye on him and why can't he be left alone?

William and the Magic Watch

An extra present was delivered to William on his ninth birthday. A box was found on his doorstep and when William opened it he saw a watch and a note: “This watch has magic powers that only you can use. If the watch face lights up in blue then press it and you will be transported to anywhere that your help is needed”.

William discovered that by pressing the watch when it lit up he became invisible and could fly to places where his help was needed.

William enjoys many adventures as a superhero while wearing the watch.

William and the Pirates of Fruxiclay

William had only done a tiny bit of magic. Nothing to write home about. The ball was going into his unmarked goal, in a local football match and he had just made the ball swerve away, into the waiting spectators. Of course, Esmeralda had seen what had happened and to say she was annoyed was an understatement. He didn’t dare try to use any more magic during that game and in spite of his heroic efforts he was unable to stop the opponents scoring two more goals, making the score 4-3 to the opposition. Ah well, it could have been worse, at least his team had scored and from what he could see from his end of the pitch, they were very good goals.

William soon finds himself heading back to Clyeophos, where he would be learning how to use his magic properly. The spaceship Superiority is attacked by some pirates from Fruxiclay, who take the crew hostage. How will they escape and continue their journey?

William likes to Bounce!

A fun story for pre-school children and early readers, with rhyming text to encourage language development. Featuring beautiful colour illustrations, the story can be used to create imaginative games and promote physical activities.