Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Curse of the Crocodile King,The Wolf Cupboard,Big Trouble

Cover Illustration Chris King

The Sequel to "Zilombo" ("Zilombo is published as "Monster in the Mudball" in America.)

NO ONE THAT THE CROC KING CURSES EVER ESCAPES AVENGER .... AVENGER NEVER GIVES UP. IT ALWAYS TRACKS YOU DOWN.

Frankie and Jin and the formidable Mizz Z find themselves caught up in a centuries-old curse. Can they help Mizz Z to break it? Or will the evil Avenger claim another victim?

Frankie sprang back, startled.
A carving as tall as her brother Jin was staring at her. It had a square body and blocky hands and feet as if it had been roughly hacked, in a big hurry, from a lump of wood. It had jointed arms and legs, like a clumsy life-size puppet and it bristled all over with bits of sharp metal, that had been hammered into its wooden body. A crest of giant spikes ran , like a Mohawk, over its wooden skull, from its forehead to its spine.
"It's called Avenger," said Mizz Z, coolly. "And it once belonged to the Crocodile King."


And what have an ancient Chinese bun-steaming stove called the Iron Dragon  and an African Giant Pouched Rat ................


.........like this one, that's trained to sniff out land mines, got to do with it? Read "The Curse of the Crocodile King"  to find out!

(Published by Tamarind)

To find "The Curse of the Crocodile King" on Amazon click here



Illustrator Cherry Whytock

"If you're naughty at school they shut you up in the wolf cupboard. And there's a big bad wolf in there. And he eats you all up!"

It's Leon's little brother Danny's first day at school and someone has told him there's a wolf in the cupboard. Leon can't make Danny believe there are no wolves at school. So he tells Danny the wolf is friendly. And that's where Leon's problems really begin ......

Illustrator Dylan Gibson

One of the "LEVI" books. Levi's other adventures are "Killer Croc" and "Man Eater".

Anna and Levi are in big trouble. City girl Anna has taken a baby baboon. She wants to keep it as a pet. But the other baboons want it back. And the maize farmers want to kill it!
Can Levi sort out the mess and save the day?

(Published Barrington Stoke)


Thursday, November 28, 2013

Water Bears

The Amazing World of Water Bears

Illustrations Uwe Mayer, Ley Honor Roberts

The proper name of Water Bears is Tardigrades. There are millions of these cute little creatures all around you. But they’re only a fifth of a millimetre long. You need a microscope to see them. They like living in moss  (they’re known as “moss pigs” in America) and moist places. They eat moss  and they have eight stubby legs that end in claws so they can clamber about among the moss leaves.
The amazing thing about them is that they’re practically INDESTRUCTIBLE!  Their eggs can survive boiling water, being frozen in ice. They can survive in outer space without a space suit which we humans will never be able to do. 

This is what you'd see down your microscope. 

You can see the green moss this Water Bear has been eating inside him.



You can see the claws on the end of this Water Bear's stubby legs.



They're really lively. Watch this video of one wriggling about!






To see a fantastic (and slightly scary!)  electron microscope picture of a tardigrade and learn more about them click here.


Bill's Scary Backpack,Man Eater,Helen of Troy

Illustrations Anni Axworthy


Illustrations Dylan Gibson

Illustrations Carlos Lara

Monday, November 25, 2013

Wolf Man,Killer Croc,Lone Wolf,Lucky

Cover illustration Adam Willis

Illustrations Dylan Gibson

Illustrations Geoff Taylor




Illustrations David Belmonte, Cover design www.carrstudio.co.uk