The three Hardcastle children agreed obediently with all the people who told them, practically every day of their lives, what a lovely home it was that they were being given, and when they saw the pony they knew they ought to be feeling enthusiastic about that too.The Hardcastles' grandmother has a mission in life: all her grandchildren must beat the children of her best friend, Lady Pinkney, in every area of their lives. Charlotte must marry better than Primrose; Priscill...

They must all remember that they were in the public eye all the time, and that each member of the family had a part to play which might never be relaxed even at home.Arabella and James are the Merry children: their parents make their living on television, telling other parents how to bring up their children, with their own beautifully behaved offspring as an example. Everything they do is a photo opportunity. But Arabella and James long to be normal; for people who like th...

Mrs Allibone was just like a horse: one of the nastier kinds of horse ...Jane and Adam are twins. They are on their way to stay with their Uncle William, whom they have never met. Their father has married again, and their step-mother and the twins do not see eye-to-eye. Uncle William lives in a house of chaos, though his beloved bull lives a life of luxury, and his twin horses don't do so badly. Mrs Allibone is involved with the Pony Club, which will be just the ticket, she thinks,...

The classic story from Roald Dahl, about an exceptional young girl with extraordinary powers. Adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a Netflix film!Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a menacing, kid-hating headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with whi...

The classic story from Roald Dahl, about an exceptional young girl with extraordinary powers. Adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a Netflix film!Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a menacing, kid-hating headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with whi...

Independent, wry, and unstoppable, Jill and her ponies have been loved for generations.Jill Crewe and her mother have moved to Chatton. Jill has nothing to do, as school hasn't started, but there is a pony down the road, and Jill makes friends with him. She longs to buy him, but money is tight. And then ... Jill is able to to buy Black Boy. It's a dream come true, but Jill very soon finds out there's a lot more to owning a pony than she realised. And she doesn't know how to do any ...

Jill is sunk in gloom. All her plans have been utterly ruined. She cannot ride at Chatton Show because she has hurt her wrist swinging the hen bucket. But although she has to miss the show, Jill doesn't remain downcast for long, because the summer holidays stretch before her and her friends. They'll help organise the fete at Blossom Hall, for a start. Then Dinah Dean appears: a neglected child who is desperate to ride, and who produces some very conflicted emotions in Jill. Jill's conscien...

Jill has been dreaming of getting another pony, and here she is, with her prospective new pony in front of her. There's just one problem. Jill doesn't like Rapide, and Rapide doesn't like her. Despite this, Jill buys him, but she immediately regrets it. How Jill gets over her dislike of Rapide, and how she and her friends save Mrs Darcy's riding school, make this a classic of pony literature.

The Jill series is one of the classics of pony fiction. In this second book, disaster has hit Jill's plans. No pony-filled summer for her: her mother is going to America, and so Jill must go and stay with her defiantly un-horsy cousin, Cecilia. Cecilia's idea of a good summer pursuit is pressing flowers. It's not Jill's. But there is hope on the horizon, when Jill meets a family who are desperate to find a way they can keep their pony. Jill suggests they all get together and start their ow...

Who hasn’t waited for a ride in the pouring rain and wondered if there wasn’t something more to life? This is exactly how we find poor Mr. Owen, hopeless and downtrodden, wet and miserable. Suddenly, he is swept in through a doorway to a place full of wild imaginations, where loneliness and unfulfilled dreams are a thing of the past. It is the story an adulteress’s husband who embarks on inebriated adventures with his various partners and a girl who works in a pornographic books department...

First in the super-funny classic series The Bagthorpe Saga, starring the TOTALLY unforgettable Bagthorpe family – from best-loved author Helen Cresswell.Jack’s fed up of living in the shadow of his brilliant siblings. He and his trusty dog Zero are completely ordinary while the rest of them are annoyingly gifted. So when Uncle Parker comes up with a plan to make Jack stand out, he’s more than a little excited. Can he really get away with claiming to predict the future? And will the...

'I've been looking for him all over the Park. He's just not around any more, Vixen. He's gone.'When Plucky the fox disappears, the other animals soon realise that he isn't the only one missing from the White Deer Park nature reserve. And the Warden, whom the animals have learnt to trust, is responsible!The animals are frightened and confused - and then another threat appears. A stelthy gang of rats, led by the cunning Bully is invading White Deer Park . . .