Stories prompted by research that shows that reading or being read to for just ten minutes every day will significantly improve children’s reading skills. This short story collection supports this – each story is selected from Usborne's Reading Programme and will take about ten minutes to read. Ideal for sharing with younger children; as children learn to read on their own they can tackle these simple stories on their own. Part of Usborne's amazing selection of story books for young children. Previous title, '10 Ten-Minute Stories', also available ISBN: 9781409596745.

An eye-catching information book filled with one hundred quirky and surprising facts about the seas and oceans. Do fish wear pyjamas? What's the sound of an iceberg melting? How many sheep did it take to launch a Viking longship? Which is faster - a tsunami or a bullet train? Find the answers to these and many more questions in a book that explores the history, science, environment and art of our planet's seas and oceans. Richly illustrated and perfect for broadening children's knowledge of an essential subject, away from the classroom. Part of the popular '100 Things to Know' series, ideal gifts for fact-hungry children. Each page features a new fact supported by clear, comprehensible explanations and bold illustrations, maps and infographics. Perfect to dip in and out of, alone or with friends and family.

Science is a huge topic, but this friendly book breaks it down into bite-sized chunks, making it an accessible introduction for anyone who wants to find out about this fascinating subject. Highly illustrated, in a pictorial, "infographics" style, with snippets of information about all aspects of science from particle physics to genes and DNA. A fresh, new approach to science big and small, inspiring a new generation of scientists. There is an increasing popularity and interest in all sorts of aspects of science, and this book caters for children (and adults) who want an overview.

Three amazing adventure stories from the Cahill vault! In 1814, redcoats burned the White House to the ground. In 1889, Harry Houdini discovered a trick that would save his life. In 1955, the U.S. launched the world's first nuclear submarine. And one family pulled the strings behind the scenes at each of these events: the Cahills, the most powerful family the world has ever known. Now the Cahills have opened their vault and secrets are pouring out. This book contains three of them, three stories that will change history as we know it forever. Flee alongside a young Cahill as Washington burns, unlock Houdini's magic, and stow away with young Fiske Cahill on a desperate mission that could cost his life. Venture into the vault if you dare. But don't say we didn't warn you. Available in a single edition for the first time, this bind-up contains the three Cahill Files shorts, originally published as e-books: The 39 Clues: The Cahill Files Book 2: The Submarine Job The 39 Clues: The Cahill Files Book 3: The Redcoat Chase The 39 Clues: The Cahill Files Book 4: The Houdini Escape

A stand-alone adventure from the world of The 39 Clues! For 500 years, the Cahills have been the most powerful family in the world. For 500 years, they've protected the source of their power-the 39 Clues. And for 500 years, they've kept their secrets silent. Until now. This extraordinary stand-alone novel cracks open the Cahill vault to tell the story of the most coveted piece of artwork in the world, a masterpiece that has been the target of seven separate theft attempts-Jan van Eyck's altarpiece at Ghent. Operation Trinity chronicles the first Vesper attack on the altarpiece in the 1600s, then jumps to WWII and young Grace Cahill's desperate bid to save the masterwork from the Nazis. The final piece of the novel tells the story of Ian and Natalie Kabra's first solo operation and features an 11th-hour appearance by Grace Cahill on her final mission. History will never be the same.

The seven grandsons from the bestselling Seven (the Series) and the Seven Sequels return in the Seven Prequels, along with their daredevil grandfather, David McLean. In these thrilling origin stories Eric Walters, John Wilson, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Norah McClintock, Sigmund Brouwer and Shane Peacock and their signature writing styles take readers from the heat of the jungles of Central America to the mysterious streets of Stockholm to one very dangerous kayaking trip in Florida. These linked YA novels can be read in any order. Discover all 7 books in this beautiful boxed set: Barracuda Jungle Land Missing Skull Separated Slide Speed Weerdest Day Ever!

The bestselling Seven (the series) continues with The Seven Sequels! All seven authors from the original series return with a second set of seven novels. Eric Walters, John Wilson, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Norah McClintock, Sigmund Brouwer and Shane Peacock bring their signature writing styles to a series of adventures that take readers from the cobblestones of Cambridge to the beaches of Uruguay. These linked YA novels can be read in any order. Discover all 7 books in this beautiful boxed set: Sleeper Broken Arrow Coda The Wolf and Me From the Dead Tin Soldier Double You

When David McLean, well-loved grandfather and avid adventurer, dies, he leaves behind an unusual will that outlines sevens tasks he has set for his seven grandsons. Eric Walters, John Wilson, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Norah McClintock, Sigmund Brouwer and Shane Peacock bring their signature writing styles to a series of adventures that take readers from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. These linked YA novels can be read in any order. Discover all 7 books in this beautiful boxed set: Between Heaven and Earth Lost Cause Jump Cut Ink Me Close to the Heel Devil's Pass Last Message

This collection of perennially popular Aesop's fables is perfect for reading aloud with children at bedime. The most familiar titles are all included: 'The Fox and The Crow', 'The Greedy Dog', 'The Sun and The Wind' and 'The Hare and Tortoise'.

Come along on the incredible adventures that only THE BOY WONDER can take on and see what it's like to be by Batman's side! With Batman and Robin looking out for Gotham--villains don't stand a chance! But what happens when Robin is confronted by a villain that sees past the mask? One that...recognizes him as Tim Drake! Will the Boy Wonder be able to continue crime fighting? And if he can continue on...will he be the same? Being disillusioned to the realities of crime-fighting...will the bad guys of Gotham finally get their chance? Or will our Boy Wonder be able to snap himself out of it and get back to work! Follow along in this incredible collection of Batman and Robin as they battle against some of your love-to-hate villains like Harley Quinn, Rupert Thorne, Dagger Dixon, and more! Collects Batman: Gotham Adventures #7, Batman: Gotham Adventures #19, Batman: Gotham Adventures #29, Batman: Gotham Adventures #42, Batman: Gotham Adventures #54, Batman Adventures #9

Collecting the first sixteen Batman backups from BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS plus 40 pages of material commissioned for the hardcover in a softcover edition! Get a healthy dose of noir-flavored short stories featuring the Dark Knight — written and drawn by a stellar lineup of creators!

Carry On began in a high school in Outremont, Quebec, where author and poet Simon Boulerice conducted creative-writing workshops for young newcomers to Canada. As the students began writing, their poems gave voice to their reflections on leaving family, friends, and countries of origin to make new homes and connections in their new home, Canada. Paired with expressive portraits by award-winning artist Rogé, each young writer reflects on the experience of leaving one home for another. The collection of poems express feelings of anxiety, sorrow, anticipation, gratitude, and hope for the future. With thoughtful verse and evocative illustrations, Carry On is a tribute to human resilience, the voices of newcomers, and creating empathy for all those who wonder about their place in the world.

In these eleven original stories, characters bravely face the challenges of settling into a new life. In this wonderful new short story anthology, eleven of Canada's top children's authors contribute stories of immigration, displacement and change, exploring the frustration and uncertainty those changes can bring. Told in first-person narratives, this collection features a diverse cast of boys and girls, each one living at a different point in Canada's vast landscape and history. With unforgettable protagonists - such as Miriam, a Warsaw-ghetto survivor, now reunited with her family in Montreal; Wong Joe-on, a young Chinese immigrant who faces racism in a small Saskatchewan town; and Insy, an Ojibwe girl who makes her first trip to a "white" town in Northern Ontario - young readers will be moved by the opportunities and difficulties that these characters face, as each one ponders what it means to be Canadian, and struggles to fit in. Hoping for Home includes stories by Jean Little, Kit Pearson, Brian Dowle, Paul Yee, Irene N. Watts, Ruby Slipperjack, Afua Cooper, Rukhsana Khan, Marie-Andrée Clermont, Lillian Boraks-Nemetz and Shelley Tanaka.

Beware puny mortals, the gates of Hell have opened wide, as The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics serves up another diabolical dish of Golden Age horror hits–and this time direct from the burning bowels of Hades itself! Edited by Steve Banes, aka Mr. Karswell (unholy co-host of the popular Haunted Horror comic books, as well as the fiend behind the sinsational precode archive blog, The Horrors of it All), Devil Tales stars Satan himself (and in one story, herself!) in over two dozen scorching stories of demonic power, and features artwork from top fan favorites like Don Heck, Gene Colan, Dick Ayers, Lou Cameron, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, and more! An infernal introduction, plus a cursed cover gallery guaranteed to swallow your soul.

From classics like "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Grasshopper and the Ants" to obscure gems like "The Frogs Who Desired a King," Fable Comics has something to offer every reader. Twenty-eight fables from different cultures and traditions are wonderfully adapted and illustrated in comics format by twenty-six different cartoonists. Edited by New York Times bestselling Fairy Tale Comics' Chris Duffy, this jacketed hardcover is a beautiful gift and an instant classic.

This collection of fairy tales is perfect for reading aloud with children at bedime. They are beautifully illustrated by Lorena Alvarez. The stories included are: Cinderella, Goldilocks, Jack & the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, The Princess & the Pea.

A magical collection of five classic stories, beautifully illustrated and retold for children today. Includes: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, The Elves and the Shoemaker and Little Red Riding Hood. Ideal bedtime reading for girls and boys alike.

Here are eight forgotten fairy tales, with heroines who are not quiet and passive, but adventurous, intelligent and daring. Stories include a sleeping prince rescued by a princess, sisters who fight a goblin to rescue a bear, and a young girl who outwits a giant to save her family.  A collection of feminist fairytales, forgotten over history, for the modern reader. Perfect for fans of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Jessie Burton’s The Restless Girls and Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Way Past Winter. Featuring gorgeous illustrations in a beautiful hardback edition, this is a perfect Christmas gift.

Girls Write Now: Two Decades of True Stories from Young Female Voices offers a brave and timely portrait of teenage-girl life in the United States over the past twenty years. They're working part-time jobs to make ends meet, deciding to wear a hijab to school, sharing a first kiss, coming out to their parents, confronting violence and bullying, and immigrating to a new country while holding onto their heritage. Through it all, these young writers tackle issues of race, gender, poverty, sex, education, politics, family, and friendship. Together their narratives capture indelible snapshots of the past and lay bare hopes, insecurities, and wisdom for the future. Interwoven is advice from great women writers—Roxane Gay, Francine Prose, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zadie Smith, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Janet Mock, Gloria Steinem, Lena Dunham, Mia Alvar, and Alice Walker—offering guidance to a young reader about where she's been and where she might go. Inspiring and informative, Girls Write Now belongs in every school, library and home, adding much-needed and long-overdue perspectives on what it is to be young in America.

Halo Boxed Set Contact Harvest, Ghosts of Onyx and The Cole Protocol Contact Harvest: This is how it began... It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground--strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence. But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest's citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest...a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson. Ghosts of Onyx: The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend. But just how many Spartans are left? While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultrasecret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as Section Three devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They're going to need hundreds of willing soldiers though...and one more Spartan to get the job done. The planet Onyx is virtually abandoned and the perfect place to set this new plan in motion. But when the Master Chief destroys Halo, something is triggered deep within Onyx: Ancient Forerunner technology stirs, and fleets of UNSC and Covenant race to claim it to change the course of the Human-Covenant War. But this reawakened and ancient force may have plans of its own... The Cole Protocol: In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems. Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble--and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar . . . yet somehow survived. News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best---an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality . . . and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

Discover magical princesses, mighty dragons, mischievous monkeys and more, in this captivating collection of classic Chinese tales. Specially selected and retold for readers today, each story is brought vividly to life by traditional Chinese brush-and-ink illustrations.

Meet three inspirational figures from Black culture and history: Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.! This boxed gift set of three hardcover books from the internationally best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series introduces little dreamers to the lives of these leaders and trailblazers who stepped up and changed the world. In these remarkable true stories, learn how three people stood against injustice and fought for their dream of a better world. Maya overcame her trauma to tell the story of being Black in America, becoming one of the century's most influential and visionary writers. Martin grew up in the harsh world of segregation, and came to show the world that the best weapon against hate is love. Rosa took a stand against what she knew was wrong, igniting a movement that sought to unite a divided world. Each of these moving books features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the figure's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a multimillion-copy best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Also available to collect are the boxed gift sets Little People, BIG DREAMS: Women in Science, which includes hardback editions of Ada Lovelace, Amelia Earhart, and Marie Curie, and Women in Art, which includes Frida Kahlo, Coco Chanel, and Audrey Hepburn. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!