Joan Aiken

Follows the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Armitage and their children , Harriet, Mark, and little Milo, as they try to find innovative ways to cope with a variety of extraordinary events including stray unicorns in the garden, lessons in magic that go awry, and eviction from their house to make way for a young magicians' seminary.

Dido and Simon are in danger in this new addition to the Wolves Chronicles. Dido, back in England from America, is almost instantly kidnapped and taken to a derelict mansion surrounded by a deadly moat. The evil baron residing there, who is also a werewolf, wants desperately to know where King Dick is hidden. For the king is dying, and the evil baron wants to put his own demented son on the throne. Meanwhile Simon is with the ailing king. Not only does King Dick want Simon to paint a portrait of him and his family, but Simon is also next in line for the throne. However, they do need to find the coronet for the ceremony that will crown Simon. Though the coronet is rumored to be in the derelict mansion where Dido is imprisoned, no one can find it. It’s one cliffhanging, hair-raising chapter after another in this tongue-in-cheek, devilishly delicious adventure.

Dido Twite is on her wildest adventure yet. On her way back to London aboard the Thrush, Dido and crew are summoned to the aid of the tyrannical queen of New Cumbria. Her island is an infernal place where birds carry off men and fish eat human flesh. The queen is greatly distressed because a neighbouring king has stolen her lake. Dido faces fire, flood, wild beasts and, ultimately, threat of execution in order to get the lake back. Is she equal to the challenge? A rich mixture of legend, fantasy, humour and pure snowballing adventure.

The Witch of Clatteringshaws lives in Scotland in a disused Ladies Convenience -- not at all convenient, the plumbing having long been smashed. In London, Simon Battersea, unhappily settled on the throne of England, is forced to live in St James's Palace with his good friend, Dido Twite. Never has Joan Aiken's wild imagination been more in evidence as Dido, travelling north to investigate a false claimant to the throne, is confronted by abandoned children, monsters and murderers, while Simon has to defend his country against invading Wends. Their instinct to go north is a good one for it is the witch, Malise, who provides the key to everyone's troubles in a wonderfully swift and extravagant climax. A tremendous read and a truly satisfying ending to the Dido and Simon saga.

A beautiful princess survives the muderous rage of her wicked stepmother with the help of seven kindly little men.

The world Joan Aiken creates is an enchanted place where all the tiresome rules of reality are broken and anything is gloriously possible. Weather can be ordered from the local witch; spells are taught in school; apple trees answer the phone; a snake swallows the night; and the cardboard cut-out on the back of a breakfast-cereal packet turns into a magic garden. To children like Mark and Harriet Armitage, true believers in the fantastic, all kinds of wonderful adventures happen. Spiteful neighbors change them into fish; three bloodthirsty ladies call the Furies pester them; Mark is bewitched by a laurel tree; and Harriet inherits a real hair loom on her thirteenth birthday. Contains the short stories : - A Small Pinch of Weather - Broomsticks and Sardines - The Boy Who Read Aloud - The Land of Trees and Heroes - The Cost of Night - The Stolen Quince Tree - Smoke from Cromwell's Time - The Apple of Trouble - The Lilac in the Lake - Harriet's Hairloom - A Leg Full of Rubies - The Serial Garden

In this "sequel" to Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice, a carriage accident brings the Delaval siblings to Lady Catherine de Bourgh's door, and when Lady Catherine is later kidnapped, some members of her household are revealed "to be not at all what they seemed."--Jacket.

This novel is the first in the Wolves Chronicles (aka The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Series), a series of children's novels set during the fictional early-19th century reign of King James the third. A large number of wolves have migrated from the bitter cold of Europe and Russia into Britain via a new "channel tunnel", and terrorize the inhabitants of rural areas. Read about the adventures of cousins Bonnie and Sylvia and their friend Simon the goose-boy as they thwart the evil schemes of their governess Miss Slighcarp, and their so called "teacher" at boarding school, Mrs. Brisket. The story was made into a film in 1989.

Dido Twite has been sailing the high seas, chasing after Lord Herodsfoot, who is scouring the globe for new and interesting games. Now he's needed back in London, in the hope that his games will help King James, who is lying ill and wretched with a mysterious disease no doctor can cure. Dido's search has taken her to Aratu, a mysterious spice island where foreigners seldom venture--maybe because of the deadly pearl snakes and sting monkeys there. When Dido lands at Aratu, she realizes that there is something even more dangerous than poisonous snakes on the island. She soon makes friends among the Forest People and learns of a plot to overthrow the island's king, who lives--deaf and sick--at his palace on the Cliffs of Death. Will Dido and her friends be able to reach him in time? Also published as Limbo Lodge.

Hatti Ward is the most accomplished and kind of the Ward sisters, but is treated with contempt by all except her mother. Packed off to her uncle's estate in Portsmouth, she has to endure her frightful cousins and haughty Lady Ursula. Soon she and Lady Ursula are in competition for a certain lord.

Anthology: Give yourself the shivers with these fourteen stories by the master scaremongers. 1. The Spell - R. L. Stine 2. It’s a Good Life - Jerome Bixby 3. Drink My Red Blood - Richard Matheson 4. Something Nasty - William F. Nolan 5. The Restless Ghost - Leon Garfield 6. The Thirteenth Day of Christmas - Isaac Asimov 7. Hush! - Zenna Henderson 8. Spotty Powder - Roald Dahl 9. A Baby Tramp - Ambrose Bierce 10. The Man Upstairs - Ray Bradbury 11. Dead Language Master - Joan Aiken 12. Here There Be Tygers - Stephen King 13. The Trick [“Trick or Treat”] - Ramsey Campbell 14. A Toy for Juliette - Robert Bloch

Dark young adult fantasy novel. A plague of man-eating cockatrices has invaded Britain. Two plucky youngsters board the armoured train built by the military to take soldiers to the heart of the problem.

Jane Austen wrote the untitled fragment that was later called The Watsons in 1803-5, and it was published posthumously in 1871. Joan Aiken, well known for her Jane Austen sequels and children's books, finishes the fragment, introducing a new hero and seamlessly continuing where Jane Austen left off to a satisfying ending for all Austen fans. Emma Watson returns home after 14 years spent with a beloved aunt, whose re-marriage has caused a significant change in Emma's circumstances. Used to a life of ease, warmth and intelligence, Emma is thrust back into a home where, with one exception, her sisters are petty and jealous, if not vulgar, her father is ill and weak, and her brothers are not men of fine minds. This is a poignant exploration of a young lady's endurance in the face of reduced circumstances, and in true Jane Austen fashion, there is an admirable hero to make all right in the end.

From School Library Journal Grade 7 Up-- A magic duck, ghosts, the devil, a confused muse, and human evil haunt these 13 unusual stories that hover between fantasy and reality; humor and psychological terror. The styles vary, giving an interesting texture to the collection, as do the contrasts between grim reality and magic, but what unites the stories is the strength of characterization and setting, and the unabashed enjoyment of language. Sometimes the humor is black, as in "The End of Silence," in which two children plot to kill their father's owl, who has usurped them. Other times, humor is abandoned altogether in favor of pure dread, for example "The Erl-King's Daughter," a story of psychological victimization with, like many of these tales, an ironic end. Aiken is clever at the gradual revelation that makes a story fall into place, as in "The Lame King," in which a middle-aged couple transports his parents to a destination that becomes chillingly apparent as the story progresses. Not all of the stories have young protagonists, but they should be of interest to young readers who are willing to put some effort into their reading. This collection is up to Aiken's usual high standards, and her fans will love it. --Annette Curtis Klause, Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries, Md. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Having freed the children enslaved in the northern mines, Is Twite and her cousin Arun return to Folkestone to find Arun's mother. But she has disappeared without a trace. There's plenty of evidence of strange goings-on now that the Channel Tunnel is open, and smugglers called the Merry Gentry have the whole countryside terrified. Is and Arun are up against the evil Dominic de la Twite and the sneaky Admiral Fishskin in this witty adventure.