Arthur King
TV celebrity chef Miss La Fay is an international superstar, but unbeknown to her millions of fans right across the globe, she is in fact Morgan La Fay, the Arthurian sorceress. As a celebrity chef, she’s cooking up a plot to take over the world, casting spells through her recipes in books, online and on telly. All that stands in her way is a small boy called Arthur King, and all that stands in his – although he means to help – is the hapless wizard of mythical yore, Merlin.
With a live, ‘Cookalong’ planned for the weekend, Arthur and Merlin know the world is in peril. They have to act fast and find Excalibur, but with killer spells like ‘cheese and chutney melts’ to contend with – not least Merlin’s rusty knowledge of magic, the pair must journey forwards and backwards in time in a bid to thwart Morgan’s wicked schemes.
Will they succeed? Or will the taste of Morgan’s spells, prove to be too good?
Brief Castles
What is more absurd? A world in which his dad still lives three years after his death, or one in which he doesn’t exist at all?
In the wake of his diagnosis, just shy of his 50th birthday, Tom tries to help his son come to terms with this cancer, turning his battle into a game of Dungeons and Dragons. In an imagined world, his cancer is an army of gargoyles with which, every night, they fight around a map they’ve drawn together.
Three years later, on the beach of their favourite seaside town, 13 year old Jack reluctantly scatters his ashes. His mum, Jane, has since remarried and hopes that in fulfilling Tom’s last request, Jack will start to come to terms with his loss and the move to a new house. But a violent storm that night serves only to reflect her son’s increasing anguish.
After the storm, Jack returns to the beach and along with the remains of a shipwreck, finds a few of his dad’s possessions scattered on the sand. This, he discovers, is their imagined world made real; a place in which his dad still lives – a prisoner of the gargoyles. Only by freeing him can Jack come to terms with his death in the real world. But will he be able to find him, while evading the gargoyles and others who wish him harm? And if he does, will he, at last, be able to say goodbye?
The Abominable Doughman
Never could Gordon have imagined that his dream of owning a bakery would lead him, his family and the country into a nightmare. When his daughter, Iris, is bullied at school, he gets her to make a ‘worry loaf’ – a dough into which she can release some of her anger. The dough begins to rise and grows to become a monster which takes revenge on the bully, Natasha, who disappears amongst a trail of dough.
With fingers pointing at Gordon, he too makes a ‘worry loaf’ which like his daughter’s, grows to become another giant creature. After huge drifts of dough are discovered in the direction of London, Iris thinks she knows where Natasha has gone and the reason for her behaviour. The two huge creatures meanwhile wreak havoc in the City. Will the police find Natasha? Can the creatures be stopped? Or will the family’s new beginning lead all to a sticky end?
The Grown Up Children’s Home
“It’s an old house,” Mr Fletcher said. “It’s what old houses do.”
“Old houses creak,” said Zack. “They don’t burp and fart.”
When Jenny receives a key in the post from her elderly aunt Doris, labelled with the address of Doris’ childhood home, little can she imagine what it will open and what, in the end, it will lead to. The same can be said of Mr Fletcher when he receives the keys for his new home; a near-derelict house which, 70 years before, was that same childhood home of Doris, her family and a large group of trolls.
Doris has dementia and lives in a care home where evil Pipistrella Clout works as a nurse. Pipistrella’s mother was friends with Doris at school and, throughout her life, told Pipistrella about the trolls and a box of treasure hidden in her house.
When Pipistrella thinks she sees a troll, she starts to believe the story is true and when Mr Fletcher finds a troll living beneath the bathroom floor, the whole world begins to share in the magic of Doris’ childhood.
But what does it all mean and what will happen when the magic comes to an end?
Time Added On
It’s one thing to kick your ball into next door’s garden. It’s something else to kick it all the way back to the Stone Age.
Eliot’s next door neighbour, Mr Lewis, is an old man who often stands at the window watching the world go by. Eliot and his family have recently moved and the first time Eliot meets Mr Lewis is to ask for his ball back. The old man’s house is empty. Dust marks on the shelves and patches on the wall show where things have once been but aren’t anymore. But something else is missing. Something which, Eliot can tell, makes the old man sad.
Moving house means moving school and trying to make new friends. But most of the kids – and some of the teachers – at Eliot’s new school are anything but friendly. When the school striker is injured, Eliot is told by Mr Wallop – the shouting P.E. teacher – that he must replace him in an important, upcoming match. The injured striker, who happens to be the school bully, warns Eliot against being good and tells him not to even touch the ball.
When a mysterious parcel is left on Eliot’s doorstep, he finds a football inside. Minutes later, while playing in the garden, he kicks the ball next door and, climbing through a hole in the fence to retrieve it, finds himself in a strange world. Searching for the ball in what appears to be a forest, he hears a growling and is soon being chased by a sabre-tooth tiger! Finding the ball, Eliot runs and dribbles away, but up ahead sees the tiger standing over a boy lying on the ground. The only thing Eliot can do is use his skills to save him. Will he succeed and save the boy? Or will the boy become the tiger’s dinner?
One thing is for sure. If Eliot can beat a sabre-tooth tiger, he can take on a bully.