Joan Aiken

We must leave tomorrow at dawn . Dashing and loyal, he speeds towards Villaverde - and a rescue mission. Donna Conchita's children are kidnapped and Felix may be reunited with the feisty Juana, if he agrees to help. His grandfather said it was a matter of life and death - but whose?

Despised by his Spanish relatives and ignored by his distant grandfather, twelve-year-old orphan Felix Brooke is lonely and unhappy. Felix packs his bag, jumps on his trusty mule and heads for the coast and a new life. But his journey across the mountains and over the sea does not prove to be plain sailing - as Felix soon discovers . . .

Packed-off to boarding school and bullied by his peers, Felix feels sad and trapped. Despite being shipwrecked and then held prisoner in a remote monastery, Felix's spirit is far from broken - and he needs all the strength he can muster to battle against the demonic Abbot Vespasian and his evil powers .

A Junior Library Guild Selection and Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children."A literary treasure."--Philip Pullman"My happiest discovery this year."--Los Angeles TimesThe complete collection of twenty-four charming and magical Armitage family stories. Includes a prelude by the author and introductions from Garth Nix and Lizza Aiken.

Living with his despicable guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby, at Midnight Court, and longing for companionship, Lucas Bell and Grimsby's other ward, Anna Marie, a nasty and spoiled girl, are forced to fend for themselves during a terror-filled winter in the industrial town of Blastburn when tragedy strikes. Reissue. Simultaneous.

Readers who have followed Dido Twite's escapades in Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket will welcome her return in another wild adventure. Now back in print, Dido and Pa continues the Wolves Chronicles, the exhilarating and imaginative series that stemmed from Joan Aiken's classic The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.Dido Twite is finally back home in London and reunited with her old friend Simon, now the Duke of Battersea and a favorite of King Richard. But no sooner does Dido start to settle in than her rascally father, Abednago, appears and drags her off into the night. Soon Dido finds herself caught up in the midst of another dastardly Hanoverian conspiracy: a plot involving a mysterious double for the king, the miraculous healing powers of music, and a spy network made up of abandoned street children called lollpoops. Meanwhile, out in the forest, starving wolves are closing in on the city . . .

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.

Readers who have followed Dido Twite's escapades in BLACK HEARTS IN BATTERSEA and NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET will welcome her return in her wildest adventure yet. Now back in print, THE CUCKOO TREE and THE STOLEN LAKE continue the Wolves Chronicles, the exhilarating and imaginative series that stemmed from Joan Aiken's classic THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. A dazzling piece of dramatic, snowballing adventure, THE STOLEN LAKE is full of fantastical details: revolving palaces, witches who are also court dressmakers, an apocalyptic volcanic eruption, and an infernal country with a noticeable lack of female children. On her way back to London aboard the British man-of-war Thrush, twelve-year-old Dido Twite finds herself and the crew summoned to the aid of the tyrannical queen of New Cumbria. A neighboring king has stolen the queen's lake and is holding it for ransom, and it's up to Dido and the crew to face fire, flood, execution, and wild beasts to get the lake back -- or else.

When Dido Twite sets foot back on English soil, more mischief awaits. As her friend Captain Hughes recovers from a carriage accident, Dido stays at the Dogkennel Cottages and meets the odd inhabitants of Tegleaze Manor: strange old Lady Tegleaze, her nephew, Tobit, and his wizened, witchy nurse, Sannie. Soon suspicious things happen. A priceless miniature is stolen. Tobit is framed and then kidnapped. A twin sister is found. And when Dido catches a glimpse of her rascally father in Petworth, she is sure she's in the midst of another Hanoverian plot. Can she get to London to warn the king and save St. Paul's Cathedral from sliding into the Thames?

In addressing "the way to write for children," Joan Aiken starts at the beginning. Is writing a children's book as simple as it looks? Do you want to write for children or about them? Do you want to write a picture book for young children, a book for new readers, or a chapter book for preteens? Why is Beatrix Potter so beloved? E. Nesbit? A. A. Milne? Maurice Sendak?After more than fifteen years as a writing shelf classic, "The Way to Write for Children" has been completely revised and updated. From analysis of what makes the best-loved children's books so successful, to where to look for inspiration, to practical advice on how to structure a plot, Aiken delivers an extremely useful book for anyone who's ever considered writing a children's book.

Wicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. It seems as if the endless hours of drudgery will never cease. With the help of Simon the gooseboy and his flock, they escape. But how will they ever get Willoughby Chase free from the clutches of the evil Miss Slighcarp? This new edition features an introduction by Aiken's daughter, Lizza, providing insight into the struggles Aiken--much like her heroines--had to endure before finally finishing this classic story a decade after she started writing it.