'This book is so good you won't blunking believe it!' Tom Fletcher 'Hilariously funny and inventive, and I love the extraordinary creatures and the one thirty-sixth troll protagonist...' Cressida Cowell 'A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, amazerous magical adventure. Comedy Gold.' Francesca Simon 'This hotel gets five stars from me' Liz Pichon 'A splundishly swashbungling tale of trolls, goblins and other bonejangling creatures. Put on your wellies and plunge into the strangest hotel you will ever encounter. This is a hotel I hope I never find! Wonderfully, disgustingly funny.' Jeremy Strong 'What a fun hotel! Book me in immediately!' Kaye Umansky Welcome to The Nothing to See Here Hotel! A hotel for magical creatures, where weird is normal for Frankie Banister and his parents who run the hotel. When a goblin messenger arrives at The Nothing to See Here Hotel, announcing the imminent arrival of the goblin prince Grogbah, Frankie and his family rush into action to get ready for their important guest. But it soon becomes obvious that the Banister family are going to have their work cut out with the demanding prince and his never-ending entourage, especially when it turns out the rude little prince is hiding a secret... The first book in a fabulously funny series by bestselling author Steven Butler, with a host of whacky characters brought to life with illustration from the wonderful Steven Lenton!

'A perfect story to tickle the funny bone of any young reader!' MEGAN RIX

AAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Something terrible is going on, my person-pal! Something so DREADFUL, it’s enough to curl your tail with TERROR (if you have one, of course)...

A spine-jangling HOWLING has been heard in the middle of the night, favorite toys have been STOLEN, trash bags have been SHREDDED and all the best pee-spots have been RE-SCENTED!

It must have something to do with the NIGHT OF THE HOWLY WIENER, which is only days away…

Can I find the evil mastermind who is TERRIER-izing our town?!

'Funny, original and moving' The Sun 'Pick of the Week' December 2022 The perfect festive story for readers aged 8 to 8,888! Meet the HUMBUG Family! Christmas Elves, but not as we know them... The Humbugs aren't the kind of family you see on sparkly wrapping paper, or in snowy storybooks about Santa's grotto. You won't see them on the front of Christmas cards, and they definitely won't be knitted on your grandma's favourite festive jumper. Those happy scenes are only for the likes of the workshop elves and certainly not the Humbugs. Nope! They manage a much less glamorous part of Santa's factory, the RPD Department... That's Reindeer Poo Disposal to you and me. YUCK! But when a mince-pie-related-mishap combined with an unfortunate letter-losing-incident sees them exiled from their home, the Humbugs - together with their clumsy Reindeer, Blister, and wheelie-bin sleigh - go on a great and daring adventure, where they discover the true meaning of Christmas, and the real heroes who make it special! "A perfect Christmas stocking present - a very funny, festive page-turner." - Jacqueline Wilson, author of The Story of Tracy Beaker "Humbug is that rare book: funny, original, thought-provoking, and an instant classic." - Francesca Simon, author of Horrid Henry "An exquisite Christmas story, full of imagination and heart. For the whole family to read year-after-year!" - Amy Huberman, author of The Day I Got Trapped In My Brain "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll need a mince pie - a new Christmas classic!" - Steven Lenton, author and illustrator of Genie and Teeny A hilarious, huge-hearted hug of a book; perfect for all ages. For fans of Matt Haig, The Christmasaurus, and Elf on the Shelf. With a touching and thought-provoking message to key-workers who tirelessly toil behind-the-scenes to make everyone's lives better.

The second book in this fabulously funny series by bestselling author Steven Butler and the wonderful Steven Lenton!

Having just saved the hotel from a goblin prince, Frankie Banister and the guests are looking forward to enjoying themselves and celebrating the summer holiday of Trogmanay! But when a snow storm blows in (complete with Yeti family), and a number of mysterious guests arrive, something sinister seems to be taking over the hotel and celebrating is the last thing on anyone’s mind…

Hello, my furless friend!

Are you ready for a festive adventure?

Join me, Junior Catch-A-Doggy-Bone, and my doggy pals on the poochiest, most barktastic journey through the Howliday Season.

We’ll learn all about Fangs Giving, Crisp-Mouth and the mysterious Saint Lick.

Find out why people called Carol come and sing outside the front door.

And why trees suddenly appear inside your kennel!

Future Folk Horror: Contemporary Anxieties and Possible Futures analyzes folk horror by looking at its recent popularity in novels and films such as The Witch (2015), and Candyman (2021). Countering traditional views of the genre as depictions of the monstrous, rural, and pagan past trying to consume the present, the contributors to this collection posit folk horror as being able to uniquely capture the anxieties of the twenty-first century, caused by an ongoing pandemic and the divisive populist politics that have arisen around it. Further, this book shows how, through its increasing intersections with other genres such as science fiction, the weird, and eco-criticism as seen in films and texts like The Zero Theorum (2013), The Witcher (2007–21), and Annihilation (2018) as well as through its engagement with topics around climate change, racism, and identity politics, folk horror can point to other ways of being in the world and visions of possible futures.

Welcome to The Nothing to See Here Hotel! A hotel for magical creatures run by Frankie Banister and his parents.

‘Exuberant story and witty illustrations, this is my kind of book!’ Chris Riddell

‘Giggles guaranteed’ Nick Sharratt

Frankie Banister and his family are preparing to celebrate Granddad Abraham’s 175th birthday – an occasion that’s going to be even more HONKHUMPTIOUS now that Abe’s ghost has showed up!

When the unexpected spook reveals a secret UNDERWATER wing of the hotel that’s been hidden away for years, the Banister’s decide there’s only one thing for it … a whopping welcome home bash in the spectacular BRINY BALLROOM.

But memories aren’t the only things waiting at the bottom of the ocean. Secrets and sea monsters are lurking in the shadows, and is everything as it seems with Granddad Abraham’s ghost? Or is there something fishy going on?

Book your stay at The Nothing To See Here Hotel in this fabulously funny series by bestselling author Steven Butler, with a host of weird and wonderful characters brought to life with Steven Lenton's brilliant illustrations!

Welcome to Cod's Bottom - the sleepy seaside town with a secret! Meet an unusual cast of ghosts in a laugh-out-loud new middle-grade series by the bestselling author of The Nothing to See Here Hotel. Perfect for fans of The Danger Gang and The Boy Who Grew Dragons. There's nothing out of the ordinary about ten-year-old Ella Griffin. Nothing at all . . . until she's forced to move to the seaside town of Cod's Bottom and everything changes. In search of adventure, Ella stumbles into an old abandoned theatre, but all is not as it seems. Because the theatre isn't empty, it's haunted by weird and wonderful ghosts, and they need her help to save them! Praise for The Nothing to See Here Hotel: 'This book is so good you won't blunking believe it!' Tom Fletcher, author of The Danger Gang 'Hilariously funny and inventive' Cressida Cowell, author of How to Train Your Dragon 'A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, amazerous magical adventure. Comedy Gold.' Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series 'This hotel gets five stars from me.' Liz Pichon, author of the Tom Gates series

Bringing together leading international scholars, John Banville and His Precursors explores Booker and Franz Kafka prize-winning Irish author John Banville's most significant intellectual influences. The book explores how Banville's novels engage deeply with a wide range of sources, from literary figures such as Samuel Beckett, Heinrich von Kleist, Wallace Stevens, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Henry James, to thinkers such as Freud, Heidegger, and Blanchot. Reading the full range of Banville's writings - from his Booker Prize-winning novel The Sea to his latest book, Mrs Osmond - John Banville and His Precursors reveals the richness of the author's work. In this way, the book also raises questions about the contemporary moment's relationship to a variety of intellectual and cultural traditions - Romanticism, Modernism, existentialism - and how the significance of these can be appreciated in new and often surprising ways.

A range of simple stories for new readers, with beautiful colour illustrations. Ludo comes from a long line of famous bear stylists. He loves giving his customers sensible haircuts, whether it's a tidy trim or a perfect perm. Until Leonardo arrives in town. Soon Ludo's clients are having their feathers flapped and their curls combed by him instead. But only one bear can be named Bear Stylist Supreme... A charming celebration of creativity and teamwork.

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, crime fiction remains one of the most popular genres among both readers and writers. This compilation of essays attempts to trace the reasons behind this ongoing popularity as well as to offer a closer reading of a number of crime fiction texts from English, American, Swedish, Italian, Japanese and other national literatures. It contains twenty-one original essays written by scholars and practitioners of crime fiction which discuss key concepts in the field of crime fiction studies: generic diversity, the evolution of characters, the growing significance of space and place and reader response. This book includes a short story by David Malcom.

Project X Hero Academy is a fully decodable and finely levelled reading series set in a school for superheroes, designed to captivate and motivate all young readers and turn them into reading superheroes. Power Swap is in Purple Book Band, Oxford Level 8, and supports Letters and Sounds Phase 6. In this story, Pip accidentally touches a confiscated gadget, causing the heroes to swap superpowers! Without their own superpowers, the heroes struggle to control their superpowers. Can Pip make everything right again? Each book can be used for independent reading, but also contains inside cover notes that include help on developing vocabulary and prompt questions that can be used for guided reading and one-to-one sessions. Full guided reading notes are provided in the corresponding handbook. There are also a range of follow-up activities to support reading for pleasure.

Project X Hero Academy is a fully decodable and finely levelled reading series set in a school for superheroes, designed to captivate and motivate all young readers and turn them into reading superheroes. Out of Control is in Purple Book Band, Oxford Level 8, and supports Letters and Sounds Phase 6. In this story, the heroes are outside doing PE (Power Exploration) with Mr Trainer. The student with the highest marks will receive a gold merit badge. Jin is keen to be top of the class but will he go too far? Each book can be used for independent reading, but also contains inside cover notes that include help on developing vocabulary and prompt questions that can be used for guided reading and one-to-one sessions. Full guided reading notes are provided in the corresponding handbook. There are also a range of follow-up activities to support reading for pleasure.