Peter Pixie Visits the Rescue Centre

In Peter Pixie Visits the Rescue Centre younger readers (and their mummies and daddies) will learn all about Peter Pixie.

Peter Pixie lives in a toadstool which is right in the centre of a dark and big forest. Peter (along with all of the other Pixie children) has to attend Pixie school.

Travelling to the school isn't too bad as he rides on an acorn train with his best friend Jonathan, to the big oak tree school slap bang in the very heart of the forest.

When readers meet Peter it is a very special day for him because his class is to visit the Rescue Centre.

Whilst they are being shown around, a terrible calamity occurs! There is a real live emergency. A human is spotted and the human is hunting for mushrooms! The class of Pixie children are able to see a real rescue take place.

Will the members of the Pixie village manage to flee to freedom in time? What will happen to the human?

It's a fantastic story written and illustrated by author an artist Michael J. Woodward.

This book is published posthumously as Mr Woodward died prior to its publication.

It's published by Matador at £7.99 and will make a most excellent Christmas present for the little Pixies in your life!

Time Transfer

Time Transfer is a book by Mark Roland Langdale which is aimed at younger readers.

It's a magical story about football. But what if football had somehow lost its magic?

It follows the vicissitudes of two football clubs, Manchester United (which readers will have heard of) and another football club, Accrington Stanley (which most readers will probably not have heard of.)

When did the magic first appear in the FA Cup competition?  Was it there from the very beginning? Or when the first game was played at the Empire Stadium, which was to become more famous under its later name, Wembley Stadium?

But Mark Roland Langdale poses a more worrying question. When did the magic pour out of the FA Cup?

And can the Football Association ever bring the magic back?

It's a quirky, lively and very informative and readable book. It's highly likely that the book will appeal to older family members, too.

It's published by Matador at £9.99 and if your looking for a Christmas present for a football fan? This book will fit the bill.

Free From the World

In Free From the World author John Johnson takes his readers back into the 1960s, a time of great social change, including within the massive psychiatric hospitals that dominated mental health treatment at that time.

A new psychiatrist has come to Black Roding hospital, her name is Ruth and she is determined that she will bring progressive mental health attitudes to the hospital.

However, the staff at this large London area asylum are not keen on allowing her ideas to be progressed with.

They attempt to block her and thwart her efforts at every turn. She is forced to turn to some of the patients within the hospital for their assistance.

One of these patients is a man of middle age, Richard Simms. He is difficult to put into any one category. His treatment hasn't been helped by the fact that there seems to be no records of his life before he entered the hospital.

Rather than welcome Ruth's attention Simms seems, instead, to shun, her, echoing the hostile attitude toward her of the rest of the staff at the hospital.

Ruth decides to investigate his story and as she digs deeper, she discovers a series of dark events that can't be covered again, once they are uncovered.

Who can she trust? Who should she fear?

What if a patient does want to be released? What if they have good reasons for wanting to stay, to seek asylum there?

What if Ruth is walking into a dangerous situation without realising the perils she is unleashing?

This is a powerful and very impressive thriller and John Johnson is a name to watch out for in the future.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99 and will make an excellent Christmas present.

Ten for the Devil

Ten for the Devil is a novel from Trevor K. Bell. It tells the story of ten people who have been brought together by an offer that they could not refuse.

They have gathered together on one of the more remote Hebridian islands, to participate in what they have been told is a psychological experiment on fear. All under the guidance and control of Dr Crogil. Someone who is, apparently, unknown to the ten test subjects.

But they become trapped on the island by an increasingly violent storm. And they quickly learn that the true intentions of Dr Crogil might not be quite as innocent as they were lead to believe. In fact, they learn that Dr Crogil's intentions might be far more deadly that they could ever have imagined or feared.

Because, one-by-one, the lives of the ten terrified test subjects are being brutally snuffed out as they are murdered and it becomes clear that there is a plot to murder every last one of them. With each death a single line of the tradition rhyme about magpies that is displayed about the fireplace in the house is removed.

Unsurprisingly, the survivors mentally break down. They begin to accept that they have no options but to accept their fates.

The tensions amongst the diminishing survivors begins to mount. Who who is responsible for the murders of their compatriots? Could they possibly discover Dr Crogil before the entire rhyme is expunged from the wall?

And if they find him, what will happen then?

Will any of them survive?

This is a deeply riveting and psychological thriller and will make an excellent Christmas present for the murder mystery fan in your life.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

A Mummy Running

A Mummy Running is a wonderful new book from Graeme Longstaff and illustrated by Helen Williams.

It tells the story of a mummy who loves running. In fact, it would be fair to say that she absolutely adores running. She loves competing in and training for running in marathon races.

But all that changes when she becomes pregnant and gives birth to absolutely gorgeous twin boys, Ted and Bert. This means, of course, that her normal routine is disturbed and that she no longer has the time for training or for running.

However, Raych (that's mummy's name) begins to train again and, eventually, to run again. She hates to leave Ted and Bert behind, and Ted and Bert are also upset when mummy has to leave them when she goes out on her runs.

But they get used to seeing mummy don her brightly coloured fluorescent running jacket that she wears to stay safe whilst he is running.

They soon learn that mummy might run out of the house, but that she would very soon run back to them, again. 

In fact, when they began to talk, the twins would say: "Mummy running!" as she dashed out of the house.

But where does a mummy go when she does dash off for a spot of running? Who does she see when she goes out running? What route does she take? Where does mummy go?

But most important of all, does mummy get her cup of tea?

This charming and well illustrated story is based on the true story of a real mummy of twin boys who has a strong passion for running, Graeme's own wife.

It's a fun and quirky book that your children will love to be read from and shown the fantastic illustrations.It's published by The Book Guild at £6.99.

Voices from Punjab

Voices From Punjab is made up of a collection of 15 true life stories that celebrate the resilience and strength of Punjabi women who are living in the United Kingdom.

You will meet Punjabi women involved in politics, leaders who have won awards for their leadership, inspirational philanthropists. But also "ordinary" Punjabi women, too.

They bring to the readership their personal experiences, including gender inequality, racism, sexism, and the differing family dynamics.

Learn about the highly valuable contributions that the Punjabi women of Britain have made to not only their community but also to the wider British society.

These stories are filled with the wisdom that these Punjabi women have learned throughout their lives and are now willing to share with you.

Read stories of how adversity was overcome, how families were able to obtain an education for their daughters in the Punjab when this was not encouraged, of charitable bodies that have been set up to empower women.

Read contributions from Lady Kishwar Desai, Dr Kamel Hothi, OBE, Kuljit Kaur Sharma, Kalbir Bains, Seema Malhotra MP and others.

This is a very important book and deserves to be in every school and every council library throughout the UK.

It is by Anita Goyal and Aastha Singania and published by Matador at £12.99. The author's royalties from the book's sale will go to help support the work of the Hemraj Goyal Foundation to support a livelihood project for vulnerable women and offer education for girls living in Punjab, India.

You can learn about the foundation at www.hgf.org.uk.

Vikings to Virgin

Vikings to Virgin is a book from author Trisha Hughes. You may have read her previous books Virgin to Victoria and Victoria to Vikings. If you haven't. you really should.

Although presented in a fictional format this is the real story of the Kings of England. Some of them reigned for many years, others had their reins cut short by illness, others because a rival for the Crown decided to have them murdered. Obviously being a King is not always the easy job that some commoners might think!

As Mel Brooks famously had a French King say: "It's good to be the King!" But in this book we learn that being a King (or a Queen, for that matter) had certain hazards, too.

This book is the first part of a new trilogy that will bring a new light upon the Vikings, the Normans, the Plantagenets, the Lancasters, the Yorks and the Tudors.

They were powerful, often brutal. The story of the Kings and Queens of England is shocking, heart wrenching, horrifying and, sometimes, funny, but perhaps not in ways that one might expect. Is that funny peculiar or funny ha ha? You can be the judge of that after you have read this stunning book.

Learn how their lives as princes and princesses shaped and moulded them for the roles in life that would be thrust upon them, then, sometimes, equally capriciously, it seems, snatched from them. Banishment if they were lucky, or the assassin's knife, sword or poison, if they weren't quite so fortunate. Or there was always the executioner's block and axe for when an example was to be made of them and their murder required some form of apparent legal propriety with which to bamboozle the citizenry and general populace.

The stories within this book are based on factual evidence where it is available and, when factual evidence is a little thin on the ground, helped along by well-researched and intelligent conjecture.

Read of the ruthlessness of the most bloodthirsty Viking, Ragnar Lodbrok. But read what happened when he met Northumbria's King Ella. But read on the learn of the dreaded fate that his vengeful sons meted out upon poor King Ella.

This book will be an ideal Christmas gift for the history buff or the lover of a good story, because as well as being a very skilful researcher, Trisha Hughes is an absolutely cracking storyteller!

It's published by the Book Guild at £8.99.