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When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister's illness, Michael's world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain. Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old, ramshackle garage of his new home and finds something magical. A strange creature - part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael's help if he is to survive.

Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. What is this thing beneath the spiders' webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never before seen?

Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Kit’s Wilderness examines the bonds of family from one generation to the next, and explores how meaning and beauty can be revealed from the depths of darkness.

A beautiful audiobook collection of three novels by classic children's author David Almond. This collection includes Skellig, the haunting novel that launched David Almond as one of the best children's writers of today. Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award.

There are some strange ideas floating around in Paul’s apartment building. There’s Mabel, who now calls herself Molly and whose brother hides under a paper bag. Then there’s Clarence, the poodle who thinks he can fly. But the strangest idea of all is Paul’s. Paul believes that the moon is not the moon but a great hole in the sky. How on earth (or not on Earth) is he going to find out whether he’s a crackpot or a genius? With a few crackpot (or genius) helpers and a very long ladder, that’s how....

Master storyteller David Almond presents a beautiful collection of short fiction interwoven with pieces that illuminate the inspiration behind the stories. May Malone is said to have a monster in her house, but what Norman finds there may just be the angel he needs. Joe Quinn's house is noisy with poltergeists, or could it be Davie's raging causing the disturbance?

Louise has travelled with her father to the island of Lindisfarne every year ever since she can remember - it's the place Louise's mother loved best of all. The arrival of Hassan from war-torn Syria changes everything. Louise is restless and yearning for independence; meanwhile, the fiercely free and self-reliant Hassan seems to know the island from long ago as if it were his home from birth. Hassan is an acrobat, maybe a sorcerer, possibly a source of great danger. The wild boys who call the island their home want to cast him out.

One hot summer morning, Davie steps boldly out of his front door. The world he enters is very familiar - the little Tyneside town that has always been his home - but as the day passes, it becomes ever more mysterious. A boy has been killed, and Davie thinks he might know who is responsible. He turns away from the gossip and excitement and sets off roaming towards the sunlit hills above the town. As the day goes on, the real and the imaginary start to merge, and Davie knows that neither he nor his world will ever be the same again.

Bobby Burns knows he's a lucky lad. Growing up in sleepy Keely Bay, Bobby is exposed to all manner of wondrous things: stars reflecting off the icy sea, a friend that can heal injured fawns with her dreams, a man who can eat fire. But darkness seems to be approaching Bobby's life from all sides.

On the second episode this week Jon Richardson & Matt Forde discuss: when Jon got a little bit buff, Anaesthesia dreams and men getting surgery to emulate David Beckham’s almond shaped nipples. Plus Matt confronts Jon with the truth as he tells him: “I can’t imagine you in a sexual way’ Elsewhere we ask the listeners: do you have a hamster that’s a prick? Can you send us some grot? (If you’re an 80-year-old man) and do you have a status dog? There’s also a pub dog, colostomy corner and we feature a knee pillow. Send us any new format ideas or correspondence to: hello@...

'There's an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight. It's been there for an age. I keep on saying that I'll write a journal. So I'll start right here, right now. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. Then what shall I write? I can't just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I'll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line?'

What should a puppet master do when he's old and alone and all his puppets are gone? Silvester decides to make one last puppet. But this one is different. When the old man speaks to him, Puppet speaks back. And then he starts to walk . . .

Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest. Auntie Doreen is getting cross and making dumplings. Mr. Poop is parading the streets, shouting LOUDER and LOUDER, and even Mr. Mint, the headmaster, is getting in a flap. And watching it all is Lizzie, missing her mam and looking after Dad and thinking how beautiful the birds are.

Nel garage della nuova casa, Michael scopre qualcosa di magico: una creatura, un po' uomo un po' uccello, che sembra avere bisogno di aiuto. Si chiama Skellig e adora il cibo cinese e la birra scura. Non sapremo mai di preciso cos'è; c'è del mistero in questa storia, ma va bene così. L'importante per Michael, e per la sua sorellina sospesa tra la vita e la morte in ospedale, è che Skellig ci sia. Come scrive Nick Hornby, Skellig è una storia "meravigliosamente semplice ma anche terribilmente complicata".

A gentle visionary coming of age in the shadow of the shipyards of Northern England, Dominic Hall is torn between extremes. On the one hand, he craves the freedom he feels when he steals away with the eccentric girl artist next door, Holly Stroud - his first and abiding love - to balance above the earth on a makeshift tightrope. With Holly, Dom dreams of a life different in every way from his shipbuilder dad's, a life fashioned of words and images and story.

After failing my last semester of grad school, I decided to come back to my hometown and wallow in my boyfriend’s sympathetic arms. Instead, he proceeded to dump me...for being boring! Now, I'm not typically a spiteful person, but there's only so much I can take. Hence why I’m holding the box of his most cherished possessions...stolen possessions no less!

What should a puppet master do when he's old and alone, and all his puppets are gone? Sylvester makes one last puppet. But this one is different. When the old man speaks to him, Puppet speaks back. And then he walks....

Billy Dean is a secret child. He has a beautiful young mother and a father who arrives at night carrying the scents of candles and incense and cigarettes. Birds fly to his window. Mice run out from his walls. His world is a carpet, a bed, pictures of the holy island, and a single locked door. His father fills his mind and his dreams with mysterious tales and memories and dreadful warnings. But then his father disappears, and Billy’s mother brings him out into the world at last. He learns the horrifying story of what was saved and what was destroyed on the day he was born, the day the bombers came to Blinkbonny.

Kit has just moved to Stoneygate with his family, to live with his ageing grandfather who is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, scarred by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them. Where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness. Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and Kit makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker.

Yunjae was born with a brain condition called alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends - the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that - but his devoted mother and grandmother aren’t fazed by his condition. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful Post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you", and when to laugh. Yunjae grows up content, even happy, with his small family in this quiet, peaceful space.