Buzz the Balloon: Adventures in Africa

Listening to adults is very important! The little boy certainly learns a valuable lesson as he watches his balloon float up into the sky! When he let go of his balloon, this made him very sad. He had no idea this would be the start of an exciting adventure for his balloon! What a mischievous balloon indeed!! Buzz loves adventures and what an adventure he goes on! Did Buzz know what was in store for him when his friend let him go? Clever crocodiles!!! SNAP SNAP! Buzzing bees BZZZZ BZZZZ, Large lions! ROAR! Slithery snakes! SSSSSSS! What fun the balloon is having in Africa, as he floats around! Isn’t Buzz lucky! What kinds of adventures would you like to go on? What is your favourite animal? Why don’t you join Buzz on his adventures and fun! Learn about a few creatures as you travel with Buzz through different places in Africa.

Bye-Bye, Inglaterra

In Bye Bye Inglaterra, Horace’s life is seemingly simple with only one daily decision to make - whether to walk or drive to work. However, this routine is about to be shattered when his bosses plot to get rid of him before selling the company for a hefty profit. Horace is completely blindsided when a sudden explosion rocks his world in the dead of night, leaving him and his wife Delia plunged into a sea of uncertainty and financial ruin. To many, Horace’s life would seem like a leisurely stroll through the park, but he had no idea what lay ahead as the gates of opportunity were about to slam shut on him. Follow Horace as he navigates the turbulent waters of unemployment and struggles to stay afloat in a world that has turned against him.

Cable Goes Camping

Cable the Crow continues to fear almost everything, even his own shadow, and is well known for often being just one step away from danger. He is frightened by things that many birds could not care less about, such as scarecrows, golf balls, and Scotsmen’s legs! He is also terrified of things that many birds are fearful of too.

Cable and his wife have always dreamt of going on holiday and now for the first time ever, they have decided to go camping.

Will they choose the right places to pitch their tent? Do they find a proper campsite, or are their choices typically hazardous? What sort of obstacles do you think they may come across? Surely, Cable and his wife Christine can manage this simple task; or can’t they? Join Cable’s tense holiday saga and find out if camping was a success.

With elements of humour, pattern, rhyme, and repetition, the story has an interesting plot that captures the attention of the reader.

The features of this book entail, high quality, engaging, varied, meaningful and colourful illustrations which add to the storyline, in conjunction with the integrated lively memorable text to raise a child’s sense of wonder and imagination.

There are some delicious words that roll off the tongue and beg to be repeated which enticingly connect to the illustrations and provide contextual clues for vocabulary development.

Cable the Crow

Once there was an easily frightened by almost anything, and not particularly sensible crow, named Cable who quit at the slightest hurdle. Bullied by his bossy wife to gather worms for their breakfast, he reluctantly sets about his given challenge, coming face to face with his worst nightmares and some just plain stupid obstacles on his journey. Meeting up with his quirky relatives and friends along this seemingly fruitless journey; does Cable finally succeed with this mission to gather worms? Does he make it back to his home safely in one piece? Join this exasperating journey with this very special crow and find out what happened.

An energetic and charming picture book, containing several short contemporary messages, such as litter and the environment etc., along with eye-popping detailed illustrations. There are nuggets of humour for the grown-ups reading aloud to children although the language is accessible for children to read independently, as they are developing their reading skills.

Café de Flore

Addressing the escalating global issue of mental health and suicide, Café de Flore is a serious book that provides inspiration and relief to those caught in the net of despair. Identifying the critical error made by mankind over the centuries. Café de Flore points towards an escape from the madness of the human condition.

An easily digestible form of philosophy, written with graceful authority, the book takes the reader on a journey that captures the sublime messages contained in the wreck of literature, poetry and prose.

Dostoevsky once said: “It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” What more does it take?

Encouraging the world to stop thinking, to entertain a degree of madness, to live with passion and to laugh more. This book provides a fresh perspective on the perceived struggles and difficulties we find ourselves trapped in, in this sad and lonely world.

Called to Serve and Protect

How does a farm boy brought up on an isolated farm with no electricity, or running water supply, leaving school at fifteen with no academic qualifications, have a successful career in the police force and become an overseas police adviser? John describes his motivation to serve and protect, and takes you through his police career, including when he climbed the headstock of a disused colliery to talk down a disturbed teenager, had a convicted killer hold a knife to his throat, and took a loaded shotgun out of the hands of an aggressive teenager. He enumerates his progression through the ranks and describes an occasion when he refused to obey an order from his Chief Constable, which probably cost him a promotion.

Post-retirement, he worked for a private security company involved in the escorting of prisoners to courts and prisons and describes having to spend three days in the witness box at an inquest into the death of a prisoner in transit to prison. As an overseas police adviser sitting in a restaurant in Addis Ababa with his wife, a colleague and his wife, John saw a hand grenade come to a standstill just inches away from his legs and he expected to die, but miraculously survived.

Flown back to the UK for treatment he had his moments of fame, appearing on TV news and on the Big Breakfast show on Channel 4. Attending a presentation function at the Café Royal, he sat next to Lois Maxwell, the original Miss Moneypenny and the lady on whom her character was based.

Calm Pond

Are you looking for the ideal bedtime book for your child? A book where you and your child can connect to strong characters and develop essential life skills through fun?

Then look no further than Calm Pond!

Calm Pond is in Blackstone Edge. It is a wonderful place, a special place.

It can be quiet and beautiful, but it can also be noisy and fun as it is the home of some amazing creatures!

The creatures of Calm Pond live and work together, helping each other to form a strong community.

The nine short stories cover many topics to help children understand many life issues, such as equality, resilience, honesty, change, strengths and weaknesses, anxiety, differences, empathy, and bereavement.

Calm Pond – educating and entertaining!

Calming Is as Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Calming Is as Easy as 1, 2, 3! was created to help students of all ages and all levels of ability learn and practice coping strategies to utilize when in an escalated state – whether that’s them being angry, nervous, scared, anxious, excited, or sad. Practicing these strategies can help both at home and in other environments when children need to regulate their feelings and calm their bodies in order to get back to being happy!

Cambridge Brains

Under the surface of an outwardly successful, highly educated family lies quiet suffering and spiritual isolation.

Mark and Emma have an unarticulated problem within their marriage for which neither feels able to seek help. A business trip to India provides a healing process for Mark while an encounter with an old friend on Dartmoor does the same for Emma.

Self-effacing Uncle Jonathan, a retired vicar, can no longer endure to live with his wife. He fears the harshness of social judgement and is tormented with feelings of inadequacy. However, he knows he must act and cope with any resulting difficulties.  He tries hard to make a success of his new life but his estranged wife is determined to keep him in a state of wretchedness. Then a miracle occurs.

Mary, an attractive widow living in Cheltenham, has an unscrupulous son with designs on her wealth. Frightened by the prospect of being bullied into signing a document which would hand over her house but, at the same time, desperate for discretion and avoidance of shame, she turns to her new neighbours, Mark and Emma, for advice.

Campaigning for Socialism: Memoirs of Max and Margaret Morris

Equality of educational provision became one of the objectives of the Labour Party exactly a century ago. Vigorous campaigning by the teachers’ trade unions and the Socialist Educational Association led to a period of progress in the 1960s to the early-1980s, but this was later undermined. Today the economic conditions and educational plight of British working class children are a disgrace and class divisions are greater than ever. For many years Max was a key figure in these battles and his memoirs provide a clear picture of events and the political forces involved. Readers must judge whether they provide an explanation for the lack of progress or could serve as a guide for the future.

Both Max and Margaret were active in wider socialist campaigning. Max was a party loyalist whereas Margaret only stayed within a party while in agreement with its key policies. She was a Labour Party activist and Council candidate in the 1950s but left over the failure to support CND. Re-joining later, she left over the war in Iraq. She had come to realise that First Past the Post undermines democracy.

The main targets of Margaret’s campaigning were housing problems and widening access to Higher Education. Max and Margaret shared objectives and actively assisted each other in their campaigns but did not always agree about the route forward. So their memoirs provide two perspectives on past events.

Can't Hear Yourself Think

Graham Dalby’s book opens inside Windsor Castle at the ‘Ball of The Century’ in 2000, when he drops so many names it’s hard to keep up. He then takes us through his precariously dangerous childhood from Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong, where he served for a short time as a Police Inspector. The remainder of the book is Dalby’s fast-paced life of Classical Music and Jazz and Swing and is a case-book study on how to manage to quaff Champagne belonging to the rich and famous.

The style is old school Wodehouse/Waugh but the historical interpolations keep the reader in the realms of reality and fact. An incredible story of great anecdotes, laughter, and some tears – but mostly Music, Champagne and Laughter.

Candles in an African Wind

Rogues, Romance, Rhodes, Railways, Raids, Rebellion, Rinderpest… The sabres rattled amongst nations: Great Britain, Germany, the South African Boer Republic, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland and the great African warrior tribes…

Resource-hungry power brokers and their lust for fame and fortune shape the destiny of common people from different nations and ethnic backgrounds whose lives are inextricably intertwined and shaped by the colonial expanse of the 1890s, all within the fabulously rich but untamed interior of southern Africa.

Cecil John Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Cape and Natal Provinces, will stop at nothing to expand British influence and lay claim to the wealth and riches within the region. His vision is to push his railway north as far as Cairo to expand the influence of the Crown.

Willam Brady – a humble prisoner deported from England and in the bond of a military Colonel – grasps his opportunities in southern Africa, experiencing enthralling adventures, the rekindling of his faith and unlikely friendships before winning the hand of a beautiful wife.