Mademoiselle Charlotte, the new teacher, is not like the others: she wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that make her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock. The children think she is crazy at first, but soon realize she makes school more fun than ever, getting them to measure the room with cooked spaghetti in maths class, telling fascinating stories about a gorilla and even taking the pupils on at football. The first book in Dominique Demers's popular series, The New Teacher, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is an entertaining, imaginative and inspiring book that will make you wish you had a teacher just like Mademoiselle Charlotte.

Miss Charlotte - the new coach of a children's football team - has some odd methods to prepare them for the big match.

She decides to teach them to lose! And to have fun. Incredibly, it seems to work, as the kid who was always useless on the pitch suddenly scores a screamer in practice.

But will their hopes of victory be dashed when the ambitious star player decides to join the other team?The latest instalment in Dominique Demers's popular Adventures of Miss Charlotte series, The New Football Coach, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is a marvellous tale about believing in yourself and beating the odds.

At a train station on her way to meet her friends Marie and Leo to recover her pet rock, Madame Charlotte accidentally picks up the Prime Minister's elephant-hide bag instead of her own. As it contains important documents and the politician is due to make an important speech on children's education, Miss Charlotte - hoping that she might get a ministerial job out of this - embarks on a quest to track him down. Along the way, Miss Charlotte cannot help making speeches on behalf of the country's leader and putting her own original twist on his boring children's policy, while attracting at the same time the attentions of the media and the secret service.

When the mysterious and eccentric Miss Charlotte arrives in the village of Saint-Anatole to take over the tiny library, the locals are surprised to find out that she does things differently. Wearing a long blue dress and a giant hat, she takes her books out for a walk in a wheelbarrow and shows the children that reading can be fun and useful. Sometimes she is so caught up in the magic of the stories she shares with her audience that she forgets all sense of reality - so much so that one day she loses consciousness and the children must find a way to bring her back. The second in Dominique Demers's popular The Adventures of Miss Charlotte series, The Mysterious Librarian, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is a wonderful story about the magical and inspiring power of books.

One day, Viejo Tomas comes upon a very tiny girl lying on the beach, still and unconscious. Touched by the sight, he picks her up in the palm of his hand and brings her home. He takes care of her as best he can and when she regains her strength, she becomes a wonderful companion. She transforms the life of the ageing hermit to such an extent that he finds himself reconciling with humans and the world. Despite their respective sizes, each one protects the other.