In over 30 essays written over 20 years, one of the world’s great storytellers meditates on story-telling. Warm, funny, generous, entertaining and, above all, deeply considered, they offer thoughts on a wide variety of topics, including the origin and composition of Philip’s own stories, the craft of writing and the storytellers who have meant the most to Philip. The art of story-telling is everywhere present in the essays themselves, in the instantly engaging tone, the vivid imagery and striking phrases, the resonant anecdotes, the humour and learnedness. Together, they are greater than the sum of their parts: a single, sustained engagement with story and story-telling.

Here is a thing everyone wants:
A miracle.

Here is a thing everyone fears:
What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado, is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

Susy Clemens thought the world was wrong about her papa. They saw Mark Twain as 'a humorist joking at everything'. But he was so much more and Susy was determined to set the record straight.

In a journal she kept under her pillow, Susy documented her world-famous father — from his habits (good and bad!) to his writing routine to their family's colourful home life. Her frank, funny, tender biography (which came to be one of Twain's most prized possessions) gives rare insight and an unforgettable perspective on an American icon.

Inserts with excerpts from Susy's actual journal give added appeal.

Create a FANTABULOUSLY FABULOUS journal, just like Ella! To help you out, Ella has filled this book with ideas on things you can write, like sleepover plans, holiday ideas, poems and plays. She's also included activities such as quizzes, fashion design, drawing and colouring.

Bobby Cobbler's family has only just moved to Pip Street when his beloved cat Conkers goes missing. As a mammoth-sized search begins, Bobby makes friends with the tiny and fizzy Imelda who lives next door.

The friends soon discover that a lot of cats from Pip Street are missing. In fact so are the ones from Chip Street and Dip Street too! What on earth is going on? Something mysterious, that's for sure!

Bobby is determined to solve this whiskery mystery and see the safe return of his pet, but little does he realise that the culprit won't rest until Pip Street is completely cat-less!