British Childrens Literature

The only single-volume work to capture the rich and diverse history of children's literature in its full panorama, this extraordinary book reveals why J. R. R. Tolkein, Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beatrix Potter, and many others, despite their divergent styles and subject matter, have all resonated with generations of readers.

“Before I can begin my tale, you need to know about the king's panties.” So begins the epic adventure of 14-year-old Nigel, digger of latrines, shoveler of poop, and the single greatest threat to all the humans, elves, and halflings of Esteria. Nigel needs to escape from military school. Who can blame him? After all, the king just declared war on the gorks, and he's pretty sure his latrine-digging skills aren't going to be much good on the front lines.

Shortlisted for the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction A rampaging force of nature is wreaking havoc on the streets of Edinburgh, but has top shagger, drug-dealer, gonzo-porn-star and taxi-driver, ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson, finally met his match in Hurricane ‘Bawbag’?...

Milly-Molly-Mandy lives in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside, where life is full of everyday adventures! Join the little girl in the candy-striped dress as she has a tea-party, looks after a baby hedgehog and helps to thatch a roof – whatever Milly-Molly-Mandy and her friends are...

Milly-Molly-Mandy lives in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside, where life is full of everyday adventures! Join the little girl in the candy-striped dress as she goes blackberry picking, gets ready to throw a party and goes to her village fete – whatever Milly-Molly-Mandy and her...

Milly-Molly-Mandy lives in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside, where life is full of everyday adventures! Join the little girl in the candy-striped dress as she enjoys her first ever visit to the seaside, goes to a concert and has a picnic with her friends – whatever...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. One by one the men who discovered and opened the tomb of King Men-He-Rah are beginning to die. Superstition spreads that they have been cursed by the dead king. Poirot is asked to investigate the...

Salisbury 1226. When a child of village outcasts disappears from Salisbury, the odious new sheriff doesn’t seem to care. Ela Longespée is determined to help the girl’s desperate parents and her investigation leads her into the thick of a human-trafficking ring in London. There, she vows to find the lost child, arrest the perpetrators, and convince the king to make her high sheriff of Wiltshire.

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are on holiday at the opulent Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton, where they meet the wife of a wealthy stockbroker. As they discuss the jewels worn by Mrs Opalsen...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. It’s been many years since Mr. Satterthwaite has seen Mr. Harley Quin, so when Satterthwaite, awaiting his broken down car, goes to a tea shop called the Harlequin café, he begins to think of his friend...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Mr Parker Pyne is asked to catch a diamond thief during regatta festivities at Dartmouth harbour when more conventional search methods prove...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. This electric short story begins in October on the island of Rhodes, a veritable paradise of privacy, beauty and calm, or so Hercule Poirot has imagined. The reality is quite startlingly different. The...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Joyce Lempiere tells the Tuesday Night Club of an incident that occurred five years ago when she was vacationing at a small inn on the Cornish coast. She was painting a picture of the front of the inn...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. An ageing barrister begins to regret past events when an old flame asks him to investigate the murder of her eccentric wealthy aunt in a mystery that recalls an old nursery...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Plans for a secret bomber plane have been stolen from a minister’s house. Poirot is called to discreetly investigate the guests and to locate the plans before they fall into the enemy’s...

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore are as different as England and America themselves, and yet almost two centuries later these two iconic tales remain an important part of Christmas tradition all over the world. Now they are brought together in this very special holiday recording.

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. When civilian life proves too dull for Major Wilbrahams he contacts Parker Pyne in order to escape his boredom. Pyne’s assistant arranges a chance meeting with the beautiful Freda Clegg and the two join...

Seventeen-year-old David Balfour's villainous uncle has him kidnapped in order to steal his inheritance. David escapes only to fall into the dangerous company of rebels who are resisting British redcoats in the Scottish highlands...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Inspector Japp summons Poirot to a London house where Guy Fawkes’ Night fireworks appear to have drowned out the noise of a young widow shooting herself through her left temple. But the pistol is in her...

An immersive anthology of stories examining home and belonging, with an introduction from former Waterstones Children’s Book Prize category winner Sharna Jackson, Happy Here features stories and poems by 10 Black British authors exploring themes of family, friendship, laughter, magic and peril - in different genres and styles, but all about joy.