A Boy Named Tigger

Adoption is a wonderful opportunity to give a child a loving parental relationship to grow up in the comfort of a home and family. One hears or sees TV programmes of how successful adoption can be! A Boy Named Tigger tells the story of a little boy torn away from a loving family environment to be adopted at the age of four by a couple struggling to get back on their feet after the second world war.

He went to a mother who had a split personality and tried to control every aspect of Tigger’s life subjecting him to mental torture at times. Growing up he managed to tear himself away from his mother and start a new life, gradually clearing his mind from the unhappiness of his childhood and embarking on several successful careers. The writing of this book was the therapy he needed to eventually clear his mind.

A Bridge in Time

Maddie Coles, disillusioned, 40-something housewife, wakes immobile and in darkness, unaware of the catastrophic illness she has suffered.

During this static time, Maddie recreates subconsciously her life from the very first day of birth in 1965. A life created from real memories and forgotten youthful hopes and dreams, which lead her to question and re-examine every aspect of her life so far.

When medical science reawakens her 25 years later in 2037, the world as she knew it is unrecognisable and alien to her. She must come to terms with the devastating losses and extraordinary surprises, and reacquaint with family and friends of an almost forgotten past. She must also learn to live in the real world again. As Maddie travels this deeply personal, sometimes funny, heartwarming and often painful journey she finds inner wisdom which gives her strength to overcome the difficulties of her new life and determination to value everything she has regained by returning to it.

A Broad View of Educational Perspectives

A Broad View of Educational Perspectives is for teachers and school leaders working in English as a Second Language. It is a comprehensive textbook written by Nicola Walsh, an experienced educator from Yorkshire, England. With a hands-on approach to education and a focus on what truly makes a difference in the lives of children and their families, this book is designed for teachers and school leaders working in English as a Second Language. It covers a wide range of topics, from language acquisition to classroom management, and assessment strategies to cultural considerations. The book is organized in chapters that are easy to read and understand, making it an ideal resource for educators at all levels. It offers a great way to explore and gain an understanding of the latest thinking in the field of English as a Second Language education, by choosing a topic and diving in. It is written in a simple and engaging style, with practical examples and case studies, making it an essential guide for any teacher or school leader working in this field. 

A Broken Reed

On the edge of town, at the McKinney farm, there’s a pond which rests on the side of the road. For any other town this pond would be forgettable. Aside from the cluster of reeds bordering its edges, this body of water possesses no significance to anyone who passes it by.

However, the status of this pond changed during one conversation between a mother and her daughter. The moment came when Naomi Davis appeared to be most vulnerable. Through an analogy concerning this pond, Mrs. Davis would shape her daughter’s understanding on the importance of communicating with someone when you’re in trouble and trouble is what Naomi found during her senior year at school.

Whether she was dealing with the proposition of love or intimidation through threats, Naomi kept that conversation with her mother close to her heart, attempting to remember its meaning from that fateful day.

Follow Naomi as she comes to know what it means to be A Broken Reed.

A Cape Town Decameron

The plague struck the City of Florence in 1348. A contemporary poet and writer, Giovanni Boccaccio, imagined a group of fashionable young people fleeing the plague and spending a “lockdown” on an estate in the Tuscan countryside. They entertained themselves by telling stories. Of course, the tales were all written by Boccaccio himself and he published them in 1354 under the title The Decameron.

When the Covid-19 pandemic produced lockdown in Cape Town, author Stanislas M. Yassukovich decided to emulate this idea, and wrote a collection of over 20 stories which he circulated to a group of family and friends – all in lockdown in various parts of the world. These are the ones his first readers liked best.

Boccaccio’s Decameron contains some one hundred tales. This collection is more sparing of the reader – just as the Covid-19 pandemic has fortunately been more sparing than the 14^th century Plague.

A Careful Death for Some

Merrydale is a small village. Nothing ever happens there.

A fundraising team of six villagers decide to hold a summer event of a Safari Supper. Selected houses hold different meal courses but Death visits one of the houses on the night of the supper.

More deaths follow. How are they connected and what do they have in common?

With the help of some of the villagers, the fundraising team decide to hold their own investigations as the police appear to be at a loss in finding any connection between the victims, who have died in completely different ways.

In the meantime there is a bail absconder who is hanging around the village. Is this person connected with the deaths?

The village sleuths need to find some answers before anyone else dies.

A Case of Gravity

To Christian Simpkins, time was of the essence. His old friend, a rather eccentric rotund scientist had been abducted from his own facility in Cornwall, England.

Simpkins was on the trail, piecing together tiny snippets of information to steer him onward into the unknown. Others also desperately wanted this scientist, they wanted his knowledge and they wanted a particular little prototype that could seemingly defy gravity.

Slowly, too slowly, Simpkins begins to unravel the workings of those that took his friend and their murderous intentions. Highly skilled in their deadly arts, they turned their attention to this worrying thorn in their side. Simpkins’ survival plan was based on luck, circumstance and very little else except his strangely tuned mind, a strategy somewhat lost to the seasoned professionals on their deadly errand.

A fast-paced windmill of twists of thought and cryptic subterfuge.

A tale of intrigue, death, love and unerring friendship set in today’s world of unforgiving hard truths.

A Cat Called Cookie

Cookie was a little black cat who was always exploring the house, the backyard and the trees around the house he lived in with Mrs Prentice.

When he was chasing a fat mouse one day, Mrs Prentice put her straw broom in his way and told him to stop chasing the mouse! Cookie wanted to tell Mrs Prentice that the mouse was running into the kitchen to eat her breakfast toast on the table, but she didn’t give him a chance to give his side of the story?

Find out what happens next. When Mrs Prentice walked back into the kitchen, what do you think she saw? Did she then understand what Cookie was trying to tell her before?

Join Cookie to find out about being fair.

A Challenger's Song

A sensitive and lovingly told story mixing fact, action, letters, journals, song and oral history.
Pearson writes with a rich clarity and intelligence about his great grandfather, Charlie Collins, the boy who ran away to sea to become head stoker on the celebrated scientific expedition of the HMS Challenger (1872-76). Finding his feet as a blacksmith back in Brighton with wife Mary and family, we learn about the joys, hardships and everyday heroism of their lives within the grand sweep of 19th Century history.
Andrea Watts, writer and creative writing tutor

In 1872, HMS Challenger, powered by sail and steam, left Portsmouth for an epic voyage of ocean exploration. A Challenger’s Song combines a lifetime reimagined with a fresh account of the voyage seen through the eyes of the crew and scientists, drawing on their own letters and accounts.

‘I had read about the voyage of HMS Challenger before, but this combination of imaginative reconstruction and factual information for me shed a new light on life for those on board ... my appreciation of the men and boys whose hard work kept the Challenger going, and made possible the collection of samples which led to a transformation of our understanding of the deep oceans, was increased enormously ... The sea shanty section at the end is a nice bonus!
Angela Colling, Editor, Ocean Challenge.

A Cheetah's Cubs

This is an inspirational story about the life and struggles of two cheetah cubs on the African plains. The time has come for the cubs to leave their mother's protection. Will they pass the test? Facing many obstacles, they will have to use their instincts and the knowledge their mother has passed to them if they are going to survive. This book takes the reader on a visual journey through the eyes of cheetah cubs, introducing many African animals along the way. The cheetah population today is classified as 'vulnerable'. By exploring cheetah conservation with our children, they can see what can be done and what's being done to save these beautiful animals. For more information please visit www.cheetahconservationbotswana.org

A Christmas Tail

It’s Christmas and Scat and his friends are experiencing all that comes with it for the first time. Everything is new, and exciting, and a wonder for all the cats and they all wonder what this ‘Santa’ could be bringing them.

Join Scat, Chips, Alleyoops, Tiger, and the others for a fun Christmas of snow, presents, food, and a bellyful of laughs.

A Clarinet Almanac

More than 60 years’ experience in playing the clarinet has led to a very personal and idiosyncratic review of the repertoire. From the point of view of being both a player and a programmer the author has endeavoured to find works for unusual combinations involving the clarinet. This book includes a few orchestral solos and several vocal works (both chamber and operatic), but it is focussed on chamber music and includes gems from the repertoire for the standard wind quintet. The clarinet features as a solo instrument, in duos with a surprisingly large variety of instruments and in mixed trios, quartets and so on to larger ensembles. During the course of one year the reader will be exposed to 366 works, probably some unfamiliar, by 245 different composers. The author hopes it will whet the appetites of students, teachers and concert organizers alike.