A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril. When Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a dangerous errand that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the king who lives across the Great Mountains - and the future of the entire realm depends on his message. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules and leaving everything behind - even the knighthood he has dreamed of for so long. He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity a secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter. The fate of the kingdom rests on him. Part of the new Pushkin Children's Classics series of thrilling, magical and inspiring stories from around the world, which young readers will return to time and again. Translated by Laura Watkinson. Tonke Dragt was born in Jakarta in 1930 and spent most of her childhood in Indonesia. Her family moved to the Netherlands after the war and, after studying at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Dragt became an art teacher. She published her first book in 1961, followed a year later by The Letter for the King, which won the Children's Book of the Year award and has been translated into sixteen languages. Dragt was awarded the State Prize for Youth Literature in 1976 and was knighted in 2001. She died in 2024. Laura Watkinson is a full-time translator from Dutch, Italian and German. She has translated many titles for Pushkin Children's Books, including Jan Terlouw's Winter in Wartime, Tonke Dragt's The Letter for the King and Annet Schaap's Lampie. She lives in Amsterdam.

Discover the extraordinary world of viruses, from their creation and transmission to what we can do to stop them, in this science-based resource for kids 8 to 12. If we didn't know it before, we certainly know it now: Viruses can be powerful-so powerful, in fact, that they can hold the world in their grip for months at a time. But what exactly is a virus? Where do they come from and what do they do to our bodies? How do they spread, and what can we do to protect ourselves? Author Marc ter Horst tackles these questions with playfulness and humor, while Wendy Panders' quirky and enlightening illustrations bring the text to life. Snot, Sneezes, and Super-Spreaders is an accessible and engaging guide to help young readers understand our current world, with information on: Pandemics, addressed in an age-appropriate way that goes beyond doom and gloom. The value and importance of vaccines for addressing viral diseases. Fascinating, icky diseases of the past-and those that still hang around today. The science behind how to protect ourselves and our communities from current and future viruses.

A determined girl gives up on kissing a frog. A fearless heroine comes face-to-face with a not-so Big Bad Wolf. A monstrous princess, held captive on a deserted island, yearns to break free. Within this book are seven famous fairy tales turned into enchanting, inspiring and sometimes hair-raising stories for today's world, about girls with their own dreams and desires. These are no damsels in distress, but real young women of flesh and blood - who certainly don't need rescuing.

A stunning gift edition of the Sunday Times and Telegraph Children’s Book of the Year—the “action-packed” sequel to The Letter for the King (Daily Mail) Young Sir Tiuri searches for a missing knight in the perilous, magical forest of the Wild Wood—where discerning friend from foe is no easy task . . . One of the King’s most trusted knights has vanished in the snow, so young Sir Tiuri and his best friend Piak must journey into the shadowy heart of the forest to find him. The Wild Wood is a place of mysteries, rumors and whispered tales. A place of lost cities, ancient curses, robbers, princesses, and Men in Green. As the darkness surrounds him and reports grow of secret plots and ruthless enemies, Tiuri finds himself alone and fighting for survival—caught in a world where good and evil wear the same face, and the wrong move could cost him his life.

Life is more fun when you're a tiger like me! A little boy-um, no, a tiger!-tells us all about what he gets up to on an ordinary day: how he wakes up in his tiger den, what he eats for breakfast at his feeding spot, and how little tigers feel when they are wide awake, hungry, thirsty, or in the mood for adventures. But at night, even the wildest of tigers is happy to curl up in bed with Tiger-Mom and Tiger-Dad and become a cuddly little tiger cub. With warm illustrations and playful text, this delightful story first published in Germany shows just how sweet life can be for a little tiger!

A powerful story of two unlikely friends brought together by the love of a dog 'Timeless and clever.' Sophie Dahl Sometimes rivals just need a helping paw... It only takes one day at their new school for Parker and Sven to become mortal enemies. Parker's had a terrible summer and just wants to be invisible, while Sven is desperate to make an impression and be known as anything other than "that boy with epilepsy." When Parker discovers her beloved dog Alaska - who she had to give away last year - now belongs to Sven, she's determined to steal Alaska back. Of course, that's easier said than done...

On the day Cato came into the world, her mother left it. Cato's dad has been a mere shadow of a person ever since, and Cato has given up reaching out to him. When she finds a mysterious card from an abandoned movie theatre and discovers it has reopened, Cato decides to go take a look. There appears to be something strange about the cinema. The movies showing there are no ordinary movies and somehow the cinema seems to be in connection with the past... Looking for adventure and the truth about her mother, Cato is swept into a dangerous journey through time and memories, straight to a place deep within her heart. A place she had always managed to keep locked away. And then she faces a choice that will change her life, and that of her father, forever.

Shortlisted for the English Association Picture Book Awards 2020! Valentina the emperor's daughter is an obsessive collector of exotic birds. Her servants track down every bird she desires - just one remains unfound: a bird that talks. Servants search far and wide to fulfill her impossible quest - and she beheads those who fail. In Valentina's palace, heads roll every day! Will the golden cage ever be filled? A deliciously dark European fairy tale with words as rich as its bold and luxurious illustrations.

A gripping sea adventure featuring a lost father and a cursed ship. When Ravian's father doesn't return home from sea for his son's birthday, Ravian is certain he must be in danger. Hearing tales of a cursed ship that captures fishermen, Ravian goes in search of his father accompanied by his only friend Marvin the seagull. Before long, the pair find themselves trapped on the ship with a kindly boy and a bad-tempered pirate for company. The ensuing voyage is beset with battles with giant squid and fierce storms, and Ravian despairs of ever finding his father. Featuring stunning illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Karl James Mountford. A wonderful story of friendship and overcoming fears, translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson, Carnegie-Medal 2020 short-listed translator of Lampie by Annet Schaap.

A masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting - Daily Mail Since the liberation of the Netherlands, Emma Verweij has been living in Rotterdam, in a street which became a stronghold of friendships for its inhabitants during the Second World War. She marries Bruno, they have two sons, and she determines to block out the years she spent in Nazi Berlin during the war, with her first husband Carl. But now, ninety-six years old and on the eve of her death, long- forgotten memories crowd again into her consciousness, flashbacks of happier years, and the tragedy of the war, of Carl, of her father, and of the friends she has lost. In The Longest Night, his impressive, reflective new novel after News from Berlin, Otto de Kat deftly distils momentous events of 20th-century history into the lives of his characters. In Emma, the past and the present coincide in limpid fragments of rare, melancholy beauty. Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

Emiel Steegman, an unknown writer with a handful of novels to his name, is seeking a way to escape a dinner with Estonian colleagues. Although things are plodding along quite happily, he cancels at the last moment "due to a rather difficult time for the family". A nasty feeling immediately comes over him: is he inviting trouble for his family in doing so? And what if a biographer stumbled on this? Would he not then suspect that something significant had happened in his life? The thought gives him a great idea for a new novel about a successful author, T, who becomes famous with an existential crime novel and increasingly worries about what his future biographer will write about him, so he withdraws entirely from public life. But Steegman's initial misgivings prove well founded. Because fate does strike. One afternoon, his daughter Renee falls asleep and it is impossible to wake her . . .

A fascinating guide to Van Gogh's itinerant life, with vibrant images and stories about the many places where he lived and worked This exciting publication familiarizes readers of all ages with the many fascinating facets of Vincent van Gogh (1853--1890)-artist, correspondent, traveler, and modern explorer of Europe's cities and countryside. Thanks to Van Gogh's wanderlust and the rapid expansion of the railway system in Europe in the late 19th century, Van Gogh covered thousands of miles in his lifetime. He lived and worked in more than twenty locations: from the peaceful countryside of the Netherlands and the south of France to the hustle and bustle of big cities such as London and Paris. Authors Nienke Denekamp and Rene van Blerk trace the artist's route across Europe "from Z to A," beginning in his birthplace of Zundert in the southern Netherlands and ending where he died, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Each location is described with lively and accessible texts, comprehensive timelines, city and country maps, contemporary photographs, and related artworks by Van Gogh. Featuring an eye-catching design, captivating excerpts from Van Gogh's vast body of letters, and hundreds of color images, The Vincent van Gogh Atlas offers a truly unique version of the enduringly compelling story of Van Gogh and instills an appreciation of the many journeys-literal and figurative-that the artist made throughout his life.

"A lyrical 'book of days' . . . A bejewelled mosaic" Financial Times "Humane, insightful and deeply cultured" Times Literary Supplement Though a tireless explorer of distant cultures, for more than forty years Cees Nooteboom has also been returning to Menorca, "the island of the wind", and it is in his house there, with a study full of books and a garden taken over by cacti and many insects, that the 533 days of writing take place. The result is not a diary, nor a set of movements of the soul organised by dates, but "a book of days", with observations about what is immediately around him, his love for Menorca, his thoughts on the world, on life and death, on literature and oblivion. Every impression opens windows onto vast horizons: the Divine Comedy and the books it generated, the contempt of Borges for Gombrowicz, the death of David Bowie, the endless flight of the Voyagers, the repetition of history as a tragedy, but never as farce. 533 is a meditative rhapsody that would like to exclude the noise of current events, yet must return to them several times, and sceptically contemplates the threat of a disintegrating Europe. Reading this book is like having an extraordinary conversation with an extraordinary mind. "The very first pages are so powerful that you suspect the author must have binned the preceding pages that were needed to climb to such heights" De Volkskrant "The 533 days captivate in their undisguised openness to the world" Suddeutsche Zeitung Photographs by Simone Sassen * Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

"He was a Fula. I say 'was', because I haven't seen him for a long time. I don't know if he's still alive or where he might be. He just disappeared." Maria is independent, unconventional and unafraid. She is trying to find an explanation for the disappearance of Ishmael, a refugee from Sierra Leone who came to her door as a newspaper boy and stayed for seven years. He was like a son to her. Vincent is a psychologist. Once he and Maria had an all-encompassing relationship, but since their break-up he has been living in a kind of haze. One day, Maria asks for his help. In the encounters that follow, Ishmael is pushed into the background by a rekindling of the old love between Vincent and Maria. The stories and memories that resurface come to replace the sadness at the loss of the boy. But despite the distraction of their new situation, Ishmael proves impossible to forget. Otto de Kat is known for concise novels that are beautifully observed, subtle and precise, and Freetown is no exception. Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson Laura Watkinson is a translator from Dutch, Italian and German whose translations include works by Cees Nooteboom, Jan van Mersbergen, Tonke Dragt and Peter Terrin. With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

Roads to Berlin maps the changing landscape of Germany, from the period before the fall of the Wall to the present. Written and updated over the course of several decades, an eyewitness account of the pivotal events of 1989 gives way to a perceptive appreciation of its difficult passage to reunification. Nooteboom's writings on politics, people, architecture and culture are as digressive as they are eloquent; his innate curiosity takes him through the landscapes of Heine and Goethe, steeped in Romanticism and mythology, and to Germany's baroque cities. With an outsider's objectivity he has crafted an intimate portrait of the country to its present day.

"Witty and meditative by turns, the overall effect is like being shown around by a wonderfully self-effacing, but impressively erudite guide" The Sunday Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR "Nooteboom has achieved the impossible: to say something new about the ageless city about which everything has been said" ALBERTO MANGUEL "The whole book is the illuminating testimony of a man who cannot look away and so sees things that others, even those with more specialist knowledge, have missed" GREGORY DOWLING, Wall Street Journal VENICE: "A dream of palaces and churches, of power and money, dominion and decline, a paradise of beauty." By the author of Roads to Santiago and Roads to Berlin With this treasury of his time spent in Venice over a period of fifty-five years, Nooteboom makes himself the indispensable companion for all lovers of "the sailing, amphibious city", and for every new visitor. Because he is a master storyteller with an inexhaustible curiosity, and always with a suitcase of books (to which new discoveries are added), he brings vividly and poetically to life not only the tumultuous history of the Republic but along the way its doges, its villains, its heroes, its magnificent painters, its architects, its scholars, its skies, its canals and piazzas and alleyways, and on his expeditions its "bronze voices of time". Those who know and love this city and its literature will recognise Nooteboom - in Laura Watkinson's fine translation - as the dazzling heir and companion to Montaigne, Thomas Mann, Rilke, Ruskin, Proust, Brodsky, and Donna Leon. His homage to Venice is a generous introduction, learned and enchanting, and worthy of its magnificent subject. "His writing is lyrical and densely textured. He is a poet of time and memory" - COLIN THUBRON Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

A masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting - Daily Mail Since the liberation of the Netherlands, Emma Verweij has been living in Rotterdam, in a street which became a stronghold of friendships for its inhabitants during the Second World War. She marries Bruno, they have two sons, and she determines to block out the years she spent in Nazi Berlin during the war, with her first husband Carl. But now, ninety-six years old and on the eve of her death, long- forgotten memories crowd again into her consciousness, flashbacks of happier years, and the tragedy of the war, of Carl, of her father, and of the friends she has lost. In The Longest Night, his impressive, reflective new novel after News from Berlin, Otto de Kat deftly distils momentous events of 20th-century history into the lives of his characters. In Emma, the past and the present coincide in limpid fragments of rare, melancholy beauty. Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson