Everything about Mr Big is big. And ordinary pens just won't do; every time he tries to write, Mr Big's ordinary sized pens break. So Mr Big drives to the shop in his big car to buy a big pen. But size is not the only suprising thing about Mr Big's new pen. Blue/Band 4 books offer longer, repeated patterns with sequential events and integrated literary and natural language. Text type — A fantasy story. A storyboard on pages 22 and 23 provides a pictorial summary of the story in eight frames, an ideal cue for further discussion and activity. *Curriculum links — Numeracy: Shape, space and measure. This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

Collins Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 4-7 edited by Cliff Moon. Children`s authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that your children should love to read, banded to help you choose the right book for every child. Practical teaching notes are included at the back of each book.

This comical story is a patterned, counting text about a band of pirates searching for treasure. One-by-one, they get into trouble and make a hasty retreat back to the pirate ship. Helpful vignettes of the pirates at the top of each page help children count how many pirates are left. * Red B/ Band 2B books offer simple but varied text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development and a satisfying conclusion. * Text type — A story with predictable structure and patterned language * The map on pages 14 and 15 shows the trail the pirates take from their ship to the treasure cave and back again, and can be used to help recap and retell the story. * Paul Shipton is also the author of Collins Big Cat titles See-saw, Get the Fruit! and The Robot. * This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

The fifth story in this popular series about Lily and her adorable toy, Blue Kangaroo Lily and Blue Kangaroo are best friends. But when Lily starts to show off, Blue Kangaroo wishes he wasn't around. Especially when Lily gets up to scary things, even though she has been told not to. Inevitably, the day comes when Lily goes too far, and poor Blue Kangaroo is left clinging on for dear life! Just what will it take for Lily to be good?

Join Splat the Cat in New York Times bestselling author-artist Rob Scotton's Splat the Cat: The Big Helper. When Splat's parents give him a list of chores to do, Splat worries that they will take forever! But when Splat puts his mind to it, helping out becomes more fun than a pirate adventure. Full of imaginative surprises and classic Splat humor, this 8x8 storybook is perfect for fans of the Splat the Cat picture book series.

An eleven-year-old boy discovers he has strange powers, and a future that holds mystery, adventure — and death! Bending his knees, Jimmy let go of the windowsill and slowly tipped backwards. Surely this is impossible, he thought, even as he could feel himself doing it. He pushed out with his legs and the thrust sent him flying backwards into the air! Then his fingers locked on to the cold wire of the fence, poised in a perfect handstand on the top. Who are the mysterious men chasing Jimmy across the city? Why are they after him? What are Jimmy's parents keeping from him and who can he trust? And how come he can suddenly do all this really cool stuff!? Find out in this electrifying debut novel from Joe Craig. Young, multitalented and brimming with ideas, this new HarperCollins author is destined to become a firm favourite with children everywhere.

The gorgeous, thought-provoking first YA novel from internationally bestselling author Cecelia Ahern. FLAWED is set in a powerfully realised society where perfection is valued above humanity, with an intense love story at its centre. Good-girl Celestine has always agreed with the system but following an act of kindness towards one of the Flawed is herself excluded and soon she is fighting for her own survival — and for love. Hugely accessible, emotionally resonant and with a character who will seize the hearts of anyone who meets her, this is the ideal book for anyone who has ever felt the pressure to be perfect.

'Keeps one reading long after the lights should have been out' ROBIN HOBB Read the explosive New York Times bestselling debut that's captivated readers worldwide. Set to be a major motion picture, An Ember in the Ashes is the book everyone is talking about. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. When Laia's grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels. But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire's greatest military academy. Should she fail it's more than her brother's freedom at risk... Laia's very life is at stake. There, she meets Elias, the academy's finest soldier. But Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined — and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

A perfect introduction to Agatha Christie — four of the best Hercule Poirot stories, chosen for their readability and sense of adventure. A man is found shot through the head in a locked room. A wealthy banker vanishes while posting a letter. A thief disappears with a haul of rubies and emeralds. And, in the golden sands of Egypt, the men who discovered an ancient tomb are dying one by one... Hercule Poirot, the fussy Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head and immaculate moustache, solved some of the world's most puzzling crimes. This book contains four of the very best stories, selected by John Curran, author of Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, and Sophie Hannah, who wrote the brand new Hercule Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders. Includes the stories The Double Clue, The Market Basing Mystery, The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim and The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb.

Katy writes with humour and heart. The Lonely Hearts Travel Club is like Bridget Jones goes backpacking. Holly Martin, author of The White Cliff Bay series What if you had a second chance... to find yourself? Instead of slipping on her something borrowed and tripping up the aisle to wedded bliss, Georgia spends her big day crying into a warm Sex-on-the-Beach, wondering where it all went wrong. Forced to make a bucket list of her new life goals by best friend Marie, it's not long before travel-virgin Georgia's packing her bags for a long-haul adventure to Thailand. Yet, Georgia's big adventure doesn't seem to be going to plan. From strange sights, smells and falling for every rookie traveller scam in the book Georgia has never felt more alone. But the good thing about falling apart is that you can put yourself back together any way you please. And new Georgia might just be someone she can finally be proud of... The new favourite series for fans of Bridget Jones's Diary, the Shopaholic series and Eat, Pray, Love. This year it is time to find the place where you truly belong... Don't miss the next book in The Lonely Hearts Travel Club series: Destination India available to preorder now!

The spectacular international bestseller that introduced Washington-based homicide detective Alex Cross and launched James Patterson's career as one of the fastest-selling thriller writers in the world — now reissued in striking new cover style. He had always wanted to be famous. When he kidnapped two well-known rich kids, it was headline news. Then one of them was found — dead — and the whole nation was in uproar. For such a high-profile case, they needed the top people — Alex Cross, a black detective with a PhD in psychology, and Jezzie Flanagan, an ambitious young Secret Service agent — yet even they were no match for the killer. He had the unnerving ability to switch from blood-crazed madness to clear-eyed sanity in an instant. But was he the helpless victim of a multiple-personality disorder — or a brilliant, cold-blooded manipulator?

The new bestselling novel, now in paperback, from international literary phenomenon Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist. A chance meeting in Rio takes Maria to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune, yet ends up working the streets as a prostitute. In Geneva, Maria drifts further and further away from love while at the same time developing a fascination with sex. Eventually, Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness, sexual pleasure for its own sake, or risking everything to find her own 'inner light' and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love. Paulo Coelho sensitively explores the nature of sex and love in his gripping and daring new novel.

The brilliant new novel from the bestselling cult author of them all. Susan and John need to disappear — Susan and John need to find each other. Meet Susan Colgate — Miss Wyoming. Winner of a hundred teen pageants, child TV soap star, owner of a hideously pushy mother... and now reduced to small, brainless parts in small, brainless movies. Oh, and sole survivor of Flight 802. If she were to walk away from the wreckage now, before the emergency crews get here, she could disappear and nobody would ever know... Meet John Johnson — action film producer (Bel Air P. I...um, Bel Air P. I. 2), occasional sado-masochist, junkie. He just died — but only for 5 minutes. But while he was gone, he saw a vision of a woman's face and realized that it was time to escape, to ditch the baggage of being horny, rich, lonely John Johnson and to lose himself. To disappear. Wouldn't it be nice if they were to find themselves and get together? In many ways a reprise of Girlfriend in a Coma, Miss Wyoming represents a further leap forwards into the World According to Coupland — a witty, genuinely funny look at who we are, how we can change, and how we can make a difference.

PS, I LOVE YOU Before embarking on her writing career, Cecelia Ahern completed a degree in journalism and media studies. Her first novel, PS, I Love You was one of the biggest-selling debut novels of 2004 and a number one bestseller. Her successive bestselling novels are Where Rainbows End, If You Could See Me Now and A Place Called Here. PS, I Love You, starring Hilary Swank, is now a major motion picture.