Puffin Books

Five British children discover in their new carpet an egg, which hatches into a phoenix that takes them on a series of fantastic adventures around the world.

Ten-year-old Maria, an orphaned heiress living with her unpleasant guardians on a crumbling English estate called Malplaquet, finds her life changing in unimagined ways when she explores an overgrown island on the estate's lake and discovers the descendants of Gulliver's Lilliputians.

A young scholar of medieval England, accused of having leprosy, is denounced by the church and community. He is befriended by Solomon, a Jewish physician, who cures his skin disorder, and the two friends embark upon a mysterious mission for the queen.

Louis, a romantic swan, is in love with the angelic Serena, but he can't tell her how he feels; he has no voice. When he meets eleven-year-old Sam Beaver, a human friend, he goes to school with him to learn how to read and write. Louis' father also helps out; he steals a brass trumpet for his son. In the end, Louis learns to play, wins Serena's heart, and repays the music shop owner for his stolen trumpet. Here is a wonderful story of romance, friendship, and determination among animals and humans.

As a result of his experience on the front line in France, a young British officer finds himself participating in the first tank warfare of World War I.

From helpless slave to beloved son to aspiring merchant to prodigal heir, Citizen of the Galaxy shows the inner and outer growth of a young man in a far-flung Galactic culture. From the moment he is bought and freed by the beggar Baslim (who is far more than he seems), young Toby learns the values of family, self-reliance, discipline, and self-knowledge. Galactic in its scope and personal in its depth, Citizen of the Galaxy is a well-crafted coming of age story set against a galaxy of contrasts. In a distant galaxy, the atrocity of slavery was alive and well, and young Thorby was just another orphaned boy sold at auction. But his new owner, Baslim, is not the disabled beggar he appears to be: adopting Thorby as his son, he fights relentlessly as an abolitionist spy. When the authorities close in on Baslim, Thorby must ride with the Free Traders -- a league of merchant princes -- throughout the many worlds of a hostile galaxy, finding the courage to live by his wits and fight his way from society's lowest rung. But Thorby's destiny will be forever changed when he discovers the truth about his own identity. - Back cover.

When Ringo, a young Londoner, finds himself in sudden possession of a stolen painting worth a million pounds, his life turns into a series of wild adventures.

In her deliciously steamy novellas, Lori Foster introduced the sinfully attractive-and sensual-Winston brothers. Now she continues their story-as sexy Zane Winston sets his roving eyes on the lady of his dreams...Zane Winston is used to fielding women's not-so-subtle advances. But he's still shocked when an exotic gypsy whispers some very suggestive words in his ear-and surprised to find that he's aroused by her words rather than amused. After all, she's not exactly his type...But he soon discovers that Tamara Tremayne's not really all that exotic. Her so-called psychic powers are (mostly) made up. Her waist-length black mane is a wig. And underneath the witchy makeup is a very stubborn, seductive woman-who may be in very serious danger...Tamara refuses to accept Zane's help-but he's still sure she's the woman for him. She may not be supernatural. But she's sassy. Sexy. And totally wild...

In the small town of Pennygaff, where Owen has been sent to live after his mother’s death, a legendary golden harp has been found. Knowing of the prophesy of the Harp of Teirtu, Owen must prevent the magic harp from falling into the evil clutches of its reputed owner, the sinister and diabolical Lord Mayln. But it won’t be easy. Owen and his friend Arabis are plunged into a hair-raising adventure of intrigue, kidnapping, exotic underground worlds, savage beasts...even murder. For only too late will Owen learn that Lord Mayln will stop at nothing to have the golden harp. Winner of the Guardian Prize for Fiction

Simon, the foundling from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting. Instead he finds himself unwittingly in the middle of a wicked crew's fiendish caper to overthrow the good King James and the Duke and Duchess of Battersea. With the help of his friend Sophie and the resourceful waif Dido, Simon narrowly escapes a series of madcap close calls and dangerous run-ins. In a time and place where villains do nothing halfway, Simon is faced with wild wolves, poisoned pies, kidnapping, and a wrecked ship. This is a cleverly contrived tale of intrigue and misadventure.

A wonderful history book about time travel between modern day England and the medieval period when a small girl finds herself privy to the goings on of the Babbington plot to rescue Mary Queen of Scots.

In the Great Smoky Mountains region, a fourteen-year-old girl struggles to keep her family together after their father dies.

A boy who survives a cyclone that destroys his island home off the coast of Bangladesh is mystified by the efforts of rescue workers and wants only to return to his old way of life.

A Greek slave, his dancing bear, and an old holy man journey from Byzantium to rescue the slave's young mistress from the Huns.

The Forums (David and Polly, and the children Myra, Sebastian, Wolfgang and Ethel) live in a house called Apple Bough, and are a very musical family. David is a pianist, and considered one of the best accompanists in the country. Polly had been training to be a professional singer before her marriage: after her marriage she gave up training, and became an artist. All of the children can play the piano nicely, but Myra, Wolfgang and Ethel are "born amateurs". Sebastian plays remarkably well, but there seems to be something missing. However, when he is four David and Polly realise that the violin is his instrument, and he begins taking lessons, and practising up to four hours a day. Because of his violin lessons, Sebastian cannot go to a normal school, so David and Polly engage a governess to teach all the children - Miss Popple, who soon becomes known as Popps.

When a confidence man disappears with Fred's grandmother's savings, the five children of the committee set out to find the man and recover the money.

At school one day Bear paints a picture of his mother. On his way home, each of his friends offers advice on how to make the picture look even better. Will Mama Bear be angry -- or amused -- when she sees Bear's unusual portrait?

Many things change in a teenage boy's life when he meets the overweight girl who answers his ad for the cat he must give away.

A twentieth-century teenager finds himself existing as squire to the lord of a medieval village threatened by a giant predator-worm.

The outbreak of a war between truck drivers and pushcart peddlers brings the mounting problems of traffic to the attention of both the city of New York and the world.

To raise money for one of them to join her parents in America, three youngsters plan a kidnapping, which fortunately backfires but places them in greater danger.

A young Scottish messenger, an Englishman, and a Scotsman join forces in a time of mutual suspicions to search for vital letters which will lead to the arrest of treasonous Scottish nobles and prevent the invasion of England by Spain in 1589.

In pre-revolutionary Salem, fourteen-year-old Daniel begins to re-examine his loyalty to the King as the conflict between Tories and patriots increasingly divides the townspeople.

Presents stories about bears and teddy bears by Enid Blyton, Jane Hissey, Michael Bond, and others.

When Cora awakens with no memory of her stepsister Hannah's death despite witnessing it the night before, she is forced to work with an AI counselor, who determines that Hannah's death was no accident.

A young girl aspiring to be a writer recounts her experiences growing up in England during the Second World War.

In fantastical verse the author introduces his sister, brother, mother, father, and other members of his family.

This is a children's book which has also been published as Skating Shoes. The doctor prescribes ice-skating to build up Harriet Johnson's strength after illness. Though her family is poor, her brothers raise the money needed. At the rink she meets rich girl Lalla Moore, the daughter of a famous skater, and they become friends and take lessons together. Harriet's patience and persistence make her the better figure skater, though Lalla has an attractive personality and a spectacular skating style. This causes some trouble, but eventually Lalla accepts that her future lies in show skating, not in competition.

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.

An updated version of the timeless children's classic featuring a business-savvy mouse, a kind alley cat, and a talented country cricket, featuring a new foreword and revisions by YA author Stacey Lee. Tucker is a streetwise city mouse. He thought he'd seen it all. But he's never met a cricket before, which really isn't surprising, because, along with his friend Harry Cat, Tucker lives in the very heart of New York City—the Times Square subway station. Chester Cricket never intended to leave his Connecticut meadow. He'd be there still if he hadn't followed the entrancing aroma of liverwurst right into someone's picnic basket. Now, like any tourist in the city, he wants to look around. And he could not have found two better guides—and friends—than Tucker and Harry. The trio have many adventures—from taking in the sights and sounds of Broadway to escaping a smoky fire. Chester makes a third friend, too. It is a boy, Mario, who rescues Chester from a dusty corner of the subway station and brings him to live in the safety of his parents' newsstand. He hopes at first to keep Chester as a pet, but Mario soon understands that the cricket is more than that. Because Chester has a hidden talent and no one—not even Chester himself—realizes that the little country cricket may just be able to teach even the toughest New Yorkers a thing or two. The Cricket in Times Square is George Selden at his best, and the new illustrations and interior images by Garth Williams make this edition a special treat.

A young English boy describes his relationship with his father and the special adventure they share together.

In early twentieth-century England the friendship between two boys of different social classes is threatened by an insensitive, class-conscious youth who moves into their rural neighborhood.

When it was a case of inventing an unspillable teacup, or a collapsible-cum expandable house, or a liquid carpet to be applied with a brush, or a machine for peeling and pipping grabes, a bomb or a fire alarm, Professor Branestawm was the man for the job. This marvellously funny book is for nine - twelve-year-olds, particularly boys.

Doctor Dolittle's garden is teeming with insects, including a giant moth from a world beyond earth.

When a disagreeable man with two boys marries a widow with three children, family adjustments are complicated by two magic chemistry sets which cause strange things to happen around the house.

Thirteen-year-old Luke has no reason to suspect that anything will ever change in the primitive society of the future in which he lives.

Based on the life of Harold Hardrada.

The Wombles have just gratefully returned to their burrow on Wimbledon Common. They had to leave because heavy lorries thundering up and down the nearby road threatened to make the roof of the burrow cave in. However, now that the Wombles are back, there is another problem they have to contend with.

A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains, including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.

From annabookbel dot net: "Marianne is confined to bed with an illness that will take several months to recuperate from. She starts to draw to pass the time, using an old pencil she found in her Grannie’s workbox. She draws a house with a garden and a fence around it. That night, she dreams and she is at the house she drew – but she can’t get in – there’s no door handle. Meanwhile Marianne is getting a little better, and starts lessons with Miss Chesterfield who is also teaching a boy called Mark who has had polio. Marianne returns to her drawing, adds a door handle, and a boy at the upstairs window. She dreams again and the house appears, but there are no stairs in the house, so she can’t get up to the boy. Rectifying this she meets the boy in the upstairs room when she dreams. He’s ill and can’t use his legs properly. Things start to take on a creepy turn when the real-life Mark outdoes Marianne with a birthday present for their teacher. She imprisons him in her drawing and tries to scribble him out. But when she dreams she realises she has made a prison for them both – they will need to escape, but Mark can’t walk …"

Jack is mad about birds and when he gets hold of an ostrich egg he is determined to hatch it successfully.

In the conclusion to the trilogy set in post-apocalyptic England, Luke returns a triumphant Prince from his expedition in the North, although he loses the three things he cares about most.

When a meteorite kills all the officers aboard, the inexperienced young doctor becomes captain of the space ship.

115 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm1120L Lexile

The Swallows are abandoned in one of the most interesting parts of England: the east coast north of the mouth of the Thames and south of the Norfolk Broads. Their assignment is to map the tidal flats. Aided by the Amazons and the Tribe of the Eels, they succeed just in time, before being rescued.

One stormy December night some time in the eighteenth century, a coach came thundering down the long hill outside of Dorking on its usual journey into London. But something unusual was to happen that night as one of the passengers unexpectedly gave birth to a child. Not until he was eight did Sam Chichester discover that the coachman and guard he called 'Ma and 'Pa' were not his real parents. Sam will need to grow up, leave home, and find love before he will finally uncover the truth about his parentage.

When they awake to find that every living creature in England, except the dogs, is asleep, Dalmatians Pongo and Missis discover unusual abilities that lead them to London where their daughter is assembling all breeds of dogs to await contact from Sirius, the Dog Star.

In wartime England two boys, too young to fight, take part in the evacuation from Dunkirk.

Having exchanged identities, a ruler's consort and a slave discover they seem doomed to die in their new roles.

A Viking warrior who lived hundreds of years ago sets sail with his men on the Golden Dragon to find the land where the sun goes at night.

Children's novel of revenge and magic, first published in 1973. The author's first children's book. Published in the US as Witch's Business (& available to borrow under this title). Frank and Jess's plan to earn money by undertaking to get revenge for others runs into trouble when they discover they are in competition with a witch.

The doctor needs money to pay off a voyage to Africa, so he joins the circus with the pushmi-pullyu as his attraction. He enlightens a circus owner who cares little for animals, fights against the practice of fox hunting and helps other creatures such as a circus seal and cart horses too old to work.

The discovery that a favorite pony has been put to work in a mine pit prompts a sixteen-year-old to get a job in the same place.

138 p. ; 18 cm

While spending the summer on the Jersey shore, a young boy develops a special relationship with his grandfather, who tells him of his life in England.

A seventeen-year-old boy, former member of a tough New York gang, a blind and talented twelve-year-old musician, the Austin family, and Canon Tallis are among the key characters who become involved in a frightening and evil scheme relying on the ability of a refined laser to give complete power over people's minds.

Newly arrived on Planet Anderson Two just before Christmas, Jonathan is warned about the dangerous native inhabitants but an accidental meeting with one of the natives convinces him that they are friendly and peaceful.

When fifteen-year-old Mary journeys from Scotland to Canada in search of her cousin, she makes a tragic discovery and alienates the townsfolk who fear her psychic powers.

Paddington returns from Peru and tries his hand at such things as the stock market, barbering, and even ballet; but he decides he would rather be his bear self.

Lost in a New England snowstorm, a family is sheltered by a mysterious old man who disappears the next morning, leaving behind a magical "Christmas card."

A teenage boy learns that his new friend possesses supernatural powers, and as they encounter a series of mysterious people, he discovers his friend's true origins.

When one of them finds an ancient talisman in the backlands, three British teen-agers are plunged into a terrifying and dangerous mystery that appears to be connected with an old legend.

After witnessing his father's crucifixion by Roman soldiers, Daniel bar Jamin is fired by a single passion: to avenge his father's death by driving the Roman legions from the land of Israel. Consumed by hatred, Daniel joins the brutal raids of an outlaw band living in the hills outside his village. Though his grandmother's death slows his plans by forcing him to move home to care for his sister, he continues his dangerous life by leading a group of the boy guerrillas in spying and plotting, impatiently waiting to take revenge. In nearby Capernaum, a rabbi is teaching a different lesson. Time and again Daniel is drawn to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, only to turn away, disappointed and confused by Jesus' lack of action in opposing the Romans. Devoid of tenderness and forgiveness, headstrong Daniel is also heedless of the loyalty of his friend Joel; the love of Joel's sister, Malthace; and the needs of his own disturbed sister, Leah, dragging them down his destructive path towards disaster. Elizabeth George Speare won the 1962 Newbery Medal for this magnificent novel of Daniel's tormented journey from a blind, confining hatred to his acceptance and understanding of love. Booklist called it "a dramatic, deeply felt narrative whose characters and message will be long remembered." - Inside front cover. "Angry and bitter, a teenager in ancient Israel fights the occupation of his land by the Romans. He plots revenge and carries out daring raids, never doubting his ideals, until all of his actions, plans, and notions are brought into question by a man who fights the Romans with a force stronger than hatred."

The adventures of the Wombles who live underground and collect the things that untidy humans leave behind.

Getting the idea from a great inventor who has settled in his town, a young mechanical wizard invents a device that enables him to fly his bicycle on a rescue mission which makes him a great hero.

Convinced that a second Flood is imminent as a result of today's environmental pollution, Mr. Noah builds an ark.

John Dolittle takes his circus to London, where with the help of the canary Pippinella he stages a bird opera.

Story of how three monkey brothers undertake a long and arduous voyage encompassing multiple adventures and encounters with diverse, deep, and mysterious aspects of life in order to arrive at a paradise-like land from which their late father originated.

Skinny Chancy and his newly found friend, the great rascal, enjoy humorous escapades as they travel by their wits up and across the Midwest in search of Chancy's family.

A former movie stunt man and his bookish nephew, spending the summer together, seem to have little in common until a winged colt enters their lives.

A book I enjoyed as a young teen, and reread some years ago, in my 50's. A bit hazy on details now, but concerns a family living on a seacoast, and their encounters with some pirates of sorts, and their friendship with some interesting intelligent sea creatures. Adventure, fantasy.