Even the most delightful ducks can have a bad day . . . What's the matter with Dick the Duck? He's usually so kind and friendly! But today Dick got out on The Wrong Side of Bed. He feels humpy and grumpy, cranky and cross. Can anyone help cheer him up? Luckily Dick's friends rally round and shower him with kindness, and Dick is soon back to his usual delightful self! This magnificently funny rhyming story shows that even the most delightful ducks can have a bad day. (And that's totally okay!) Children will adore this hilarious rhyming story by the much-loved author of the PONGWIFFY books Kaye Umansky is one of the funniest children's writers around. This brilliant rhyming story is a joy to read aloud, and has echoes of Dr Seuss Ben Mantle's superb colourful illustrations bring every character to life. Each page is packed with fabulous, funny details Full of warmth and humour, Dick the Delightful Duck shows even the youngest children that it's okay not to be okay, and how they can be a good friend

Friendship wins the day in this fabulously funny quarrel! Two frogs sit on an ordinary little rock. But . . . uh-oh! Both frogs think it's their rock - and they really don't want to share! The frogs fight and squabble furiously. But when a hungry heron swoops down, both frogs realise it's time to find another rock . . . together! Kaye Umansky's brilliantly simple rhyming story shows how two grumpy frogs go from fighting . . . to friendship (with lots of laughter along the way.) Alice McKinley's hilarious illustrations bring to life every twist and turn of this wonderfully witty little drama. Written in absolutely perfect rhyme, this story is a joy to read aloud. Every parent and child will identify with these squabbling frogs. An excellent (and very funny) lesson in how to resolve a quarrel! Kaye Umansky is one of the UK's best-loved children's authors. She is a brilliant comic writer, and is the award-winning creator of the bestselling Pongwiffy fiction series. Her superb rhyming picture books have echoes of Dr Seuss. Alice McKinley's illustrations are full of warmth and humour, and packed with clever details to spot.

Even the most delightful ducks can have a bad day . . . What's the matter with Dick the Duck? He's usually so kind and friendly! But today Dick got out on The Wrong Side of Bed. He feels humpy and grumpy, cranky and cross. Can anyone help cheer him up? Luckily Dick's friends rally round and shower him with kindness, and Dick is soon back to his usual delightful self! This magnificently funny rhyming story shows that even the most delightful ducks can have a bad day. (And that's totally okay!) Children will adore this hilarious rhyming story by the much-loved author of the PONGWIFFY books Kaye Umansky is one of the funniest children's writers around. This brilliant rhyming story is a joy to read aloud, and has echoes of Dr Seuss Ben Mantle's superb colourful illustrations bring every character to life. Each page is packed with fabulous, funny details Full of warmth and humour, Dick the Delightful Duck shows even the youngest children that it's okay not to be okay, and how they can be a good friend

Following on the success of A & C Black's Roald Dahl series of musicals, comes a sparkling adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen. Written by popular children's author, Kaye Umansky, this musical provides schools with the same winning format as before: a complete performance pack including great songs, dramatic incidental music, full CD backing tracks, and an expandable cast list which gives everyone a chance to shine.

  Friendship wins the day in this fabulously funny quarrel! Two frogs sit on an ordinary little rock. But . . . uh-oh! Both frogs think it's their rock - and they really don't want to share! The frogs fight and squabble furiously. But when a hungry heron swoops down, both frogs realise it's time to find another rock . . . together! Kaye Umansky's brilliantly simple rhyming story shows how two grumpy frogs go from fighting . . . to friendship (with lots of laughter along the way.) Alice McKinley's hilarious illustrations bring to life every twist and turn of this wonderfully witty little drama. Written in absolutely perfect rhyme, this story is a joy to read aloud. Every parent and child will identify with these squabbling frogs. An excellent (and very funny) lesson in how to resolve a quarrel! Kaye Umansky is one of the UK's best-loved children's authors. She is a brilliant comic writer, and is the award-winning creator of the bestselling Pongwiffy fiction series. Her superb rhyming picture books have echoes of Dr Seuss. Alice McKinley's illustrations are full of warmth and humour, and packed with clever details to spot.

‘I want a pet! I want a pet! I hope I like the pet I get!’ When a boy goes to the Strange Pet Shop to find a pet, there’s no knowing what he’ll find there. He is very particular, and nothing at the Strange Pet Shop suits him until, at last the perfect pet comes bounding through the door! Green/ Band 5 books offer early readers patterned language and varied characters. Text type - A poem with predictable structure and patterned language. At the end of the story is a poster advertising the Strange Pet Shop, which is ideal for further discussion and supporting further work outside the reading session. Curriculum links - Citizenship: Animals and us. This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

Hooray! Hooray! It's the horses' holiday! They come by coach, they come by car, they come from far away. This humorous rhyming story takes the reader on a riotous journey to Dobbin World, where the horses' holiday activities seem strikingly similar to our own. This is a Band 6/Orange book which offers varied text and characters, with action sustained over several pages. This is a humorous rhyming story and the postcard on pages 14 and 15 provides a new approach to revisiting and exploring the story. This book supports learning about geography near the seaside. This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery and quizzed for Accelerated Reader. For more guided reading books in this Collins Big Cat band, try Chewy Hughie (9780007186921) written by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Sarah McConnell.

Have you ever noticed that nearly everyone has an exciting anecdote about something terrible that happened to them at school? Science accidents, play disasters, broken limbs well, not Andrew. He's got nothing, not even dog-chewed homework or a forgotten PE kit. He knows it's nice to have such an untroubled life, but he does wish he had some kind of tale to tell Reflect is a series of emotionally powerful books with realistic settings, carefully crafted to promote thoughtful discussions and develop higher-level reading comprehension. Written by top childrens authors and developed with Literacy expert and Series Editor Nikki Gamble, these are books you can trust to engage, entertain and support childrens personal development. The books are finely levelled, making it easy to match every child to stories with the right depth and complexity for them, and helping them to progress. Each book contains inside cover notes to help children deepen their understanding and support their reading comprehension. Teaching notes on Oxford Owl offer cross-curricular links to relationships education and support literacy skills.

Three Rapping Rats, winner of a TES best primary resource award for music, is one of those books which teachers love - an instant success with children. The 12 traditional tales, retold with Kaye Umansky's characteristic wit, each contain a song. Everyone will know the familiar melody, and the specially rewritten words carry the story along in the most natural and interactive way. Before they know it, everyone's taking part in an magical little performance. The music activities which accompany each story will be familiar in concept to everyone who uses Music Express. The fresh new cover is a welcome treat for a much-loved title in a much-loved and ever-popular series.

When Elsie Pickles offers to house-sit the mysterious home of local witch Magenta Sharp, she has no idea what she's getting herself into. Left with a talking raven and a scruffy dog for company, a magical tower that has a mind of its own and a book of instruction called Everything You Need to Know, what could possibly go wrong?

With an assortment of weird and wonderful neighbours banging at the door and a box of volatile magical ingredients that must be used immediately, Elsie finds out that looking after Magenta's home might not be as easy as she first thought ... does she have what it takes to be a witch for a week or will it all end in a magical disaster?

A new magical adventure from Kaye Umansky, the bestselling author of the spellbinding children's classic Pongwiffy, brought to life with charming illustrations from rising star Ashley King!

Pongwiffy has it all...a hovel of her own, a sometime-friend named Sharkadder, and an odor only a witch could love. Everything is almost perfect -- until a gaggle of Goblins move in next door. Heavens above, they're enough to wake the dead. It's time to move. But where? And where will she find a much-needed assistant? Sharkadder persuades Pongwiffy to advertise...but the only asistant who answers is a "hamster."

What's a witch to do? Forget about finding a new slum! How can Pongwiffy cope with a gang of Goblins, a sassy rodent assistant, and the Witches' Coven, who are waiting for an explanation? Even worse, she's responsible for Sourmuddle's 200th birthday cake. What will happen if Pongwiffy messes "that" up?

Collins Arabic Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 3 to 11. The series is structured with reference to the learning progression of Arabic at nursery and primary schools researched especially for Collins. This carefully graded approach allows children to build up their reading knowledge of Arabic step by step. Level 10 books include characters that express emotions and stories with more events. Non-fiction titles introduce terms that might be new to many children. Level 10 books continue to use single spacing and more high-frequency words appear without vowel markings to help the students get used to the traditional norms of printed Arabic. 'I want a pet! I want a pet! I hope I like the pet I get!' But when a boy goes to the Strange Pet Shop to find a companion, there's no knowing what he'll find there. This rollicking rhyming story is accompanied by wonderfully wacky illustrations of the most bizarre pets you could ever hope to meet! At the end of the story is a poster advertising the Strange Pet Shop, which is ideal of further discussion and recapping of the book in children's own words.

Three Singing Pigs has a bright new cover! This baker's dozen of traditional tales retold by the wonderful Kaye Umansky is a much-loved resource of musical fun through stories. Interweaving the stories are songs with familiar melodies and specially rewritten words which carry the action along. Instantly performable pieces of classroom magic. The music activities which accompany each story will be familiar in concept to everyone who uses Music Express.

Take a great story and lots of silly sounds, mix with a happy helping of children, and you have a recipe for a Kaye Umansky Noisy Picture Book. Riotously funny retellings of favourite tales as you have never heard them before. Take a great story and lots of silly sounds, mix with a happy helping of children, and you have a recipe for a Kaye Umansky Noisy Picture Book. Riotously funny retellings of favourite tales as you have never heard them before. Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat but who will help her plant and hoe it? To a lazy chorus of 'WOOF MEOW QUACK QUACK - YAWN!' from her friends, she stamps her feet with a 'CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK' and sets to work. Noisily colourful illustrations and an irresistible audio performance invite us to join the rapping, tapping, toiling and triumphant Little Red Hen.

Get ready to read! LITTLE RED ROBINS are ideal for sharing and reading together. Buster Gutt is the biggest, baddest pirate who ever sailed the seven seas ...and Admiral Goldglove is hot on the trail! Buster's crew are starving. Weevils gobbled their biscuits - they need nosh now! Luckily Allspice island is dead ahead - but there's a big surprise waiting for the hungry horde!

A bind-up edition of two books from the much-loved classic children's series Pongwiffy featuring The Spell of the Year and The Holiday of Doom!

When Pongwiffy is forced to spring clean her hovel she finds an old magic spell to help her! But it turns out that the old-fashioned ingredients are tricky to come by, especially when they belong to the familiars of other witches…

In the second story, the rain won’t stop and Pongwiffy is BORED. So she decides to plan a holiday! But when Pongwiffy blows all of the Coven’s funds on a trip to Sludgehaven-on-Sea, maybe being bored isn’t such a bad thing.

Two laugh-out-loud stories of humour and warmth, enticingly mixed with much sludge, slime and very bad habits. Now with brand new illustrations from Katy Riddell!

Take a great story and lots of silly sounds, mix with a happy helping of children, and you have a recipe for a Kaye Umansky Noisy Picture Book. Riotously funny retellings of favourite tales as you have never heard them before.traditional story as you have never heard it before. Take a great story and lots of silly sounds, mix with a happy helping of children, and you have a recipe for a Kaye Umansky Noisy Picture Book. Riotously funny retellings of favourite tales as you have never heard them before. The Billy Goats Gruff find their trip-trapping path to the whispering grass across the oozing river ferociously interrupted by a ROAR!!!! Someone's eying up THEM for his breakfast. Noisily colourful illustrations and a hilarious audio performance invite you to join in with a joyful hullabaloo.

Kaye Umansky's witty tale of Lincoln Green tights, girl power and boy-band hero, Robin, is sure to delight and entertain audiences and performers alike. Perfect for upper primary school performances, there are plenty of parts, large and small and a full quiver of show-stealing songs by award-winning composer, Stephen Chadwick. The outlaws of Sherwood Forest have raided again and the evil Prince John plots a trap for Robin Hood: he will hold an archery contest and award a golden arrow - and a dungeon - to the winner. Robin's eye-watering speed with his bow and arrow are legend, but as Marion and Mensa, the wise woman, suspect, it's all sleight of hand. Robin's a truly terrible shot! So how can he win the prize, avoid the dungeon and - most importantly - keep his fame intact? The complete performance pack with its photocopiable script, full audio CD support and piano vocal score includes everything you need for rehearsing and presenting the final show. No music reading required. To present a public performance of this musical you will need a performance licence. Simply email [email protected] or phone 01484 668 148 and request a Performance Licence Application Form.

I'M A NAUGHTY NAUGHTY MONSTER! ARE YOU READY? HERE I COME! I AM HUNGRY FOR MY DINNER AND I WANT YOU IN MY TUM! The Naughty Naughty Monster is looking for for a tasty meal to fill his monstrous belly. He rampages through woodland, farm and town, scaring all of the happy little animals that he thinks could make a good snack, but he runs into a fairy who is NOT happy with him at all! Will Naughty Naughty Monster learn his lesson and change his naughty ways? Kaye Umansky has written over 130 books for children and her work ranges from picture books to novels. She is best known for the Pongwiffy series. Greg Abbott is a talented new illustrator. Naughty, Naughty Monster is his first picture book.

Stomp, Chomp, Big Roars! Here Come the Dinosaurs! - a hilarious book by Kaye Umansky and Nick Sharratt This is the way we stomp our feet, Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! This is the way we like to eat, Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Stomp! Chomp! Big Roars, Here come the dinosaurs! A brilliant third action rhymes book from the perfect duo of Kaye Umansky and Nick Sharratt. Following on from Tickle my Nose and Wiggle My Toes, this book focusses on the perennial favourites, dinosaurs, and boasts a whole host of brand new interactive fun rhymes about all sorts of things. Illustrated with Nick Sharratt's superbly vibrant and fantastic dinosaur characters, this is a popular and hilarious book. Kaye Umansky was born in Plymouth, Devon. She taught in London primary schools for twelve years, specializing in music and drama. She now lives in north London with her husband and teenage daughter. She is the author of the popular Pongwiffy books. The young Nick Sharratt spent most of his time drawing and later took an Arts Foundation course at Manchester Polytechnic and a BA in Graphic Design at St Martin's. He is now well-known for his illustration of the books of Jacqueline Wilson and Jeremy Strong and for his own titles. He has won many awards, including the Children's Book Award in 2001 for Eat Your Peas. Nick lives in Brighton. Look out for other titles by Kaye and Nick: Stomp, Chomp, Big Roars! Here Come the Dinosaurs!; My Very First Joke Book; Goblinz and the Witch; Yo Ho Ho! A-Pirating We'll Go; Faster, Faster, Nice and Slow; Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly; One to Ten and Back Again; The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog

The Queen is fed up with Snow White. She's so sickeningly soppy and trilling and she turns her father the King into a gibbering fool. So when a run-of-the-mill magic mirror tells the Queen that Snow White is more beautiful than she is, Snow White has got to go! Laugh-out-loud comedy from a hugely popular author. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers of 8+

Prince Pete isn't ready for marriage - he's only eleven! And this peculiar business with the pea is the daftest thing he's ever heard. Mother reckons she can find him the perfect royal bride and thinks the pea is the one true test. But when scruffy-looking Patsy comes along, claiming to be a princess, Mother's careful scheming quickly turns to soup. A laugh-out-loud retelling of The Princess and the Pea like you've never heard it before! Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 8+

A brand new bind-up edition of the much-loved classic children's series Pongwiffy including A Witch of Dirty Habits and The Goblin's Revenge! Pongwiffy has just moved into a new cave, and it's dirty, smelly and damp - in other words it's perfect for a witch like Pongwiffy! At least it would be if her next door neighbours weren't a group of extremely noisy Goblins... Before long Pongwiffy can bear it no more and enlists the help of her best friend, Witch Sharkadder, to find her somewhere else to live. And that's when the problems really start! In the second story, the Goblins are back and up to their usual tricks! But this time Pongwiffy also has to deal with a badly behaved broom, a bonfire disaster and a strange genie.... Two laugh-out-loud stories of humour and warmth, enticingly mixed with much sludge, slime and very bad habits. Now with brand new illustrations from Katy Riddell!

A music and literacy resource for Early Years. This work contains 15 lively chants and stories retold by Kaye Umansky. It includes favourites such as Goldilocks", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Pinocchio", "Chicken Licken" and "Cinderella" - with musical development activities by Helen MacGregor. A much-loved music and literacy resource for Early Years - now with a bright new cover! A musical treat - 15 lively, enchanting chants and stories retold by Kaye Umansky. Includes favourites such as Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio, Chicken Licken and Cinderella - all with imaginative musical develpment activities by Helen MacGregor.