Mr and Mrs Bold are just like you and me: they live in a nice house (in Teddington), they have jobs (like writing Christmas cracker jokes) and they love to have a bit of a giggle. One slight difference: they're hyenas. Yes, that's right - they're covered in fur, have tails tucked into their trousers, and they really, really like to laugh. So far, t...

More wildly funny animal madness from dream team Julian Clary and David Roberts! The Bolds are a family of hyenas living as humans in a suburban house. But now their kindness to animal waifs and strays has become legendary, and more and more animals keep turning up to stay! Roger the sheep flocks to their house, and Fifi the poodle turns up to lear...

The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn't long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town's resources...

"Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well..." It all starts when Chloe makes friends with Mr Stink, the local tramp. Yes, he smells a bit. But when it looks like he might be driven out of town, Chloe decides to hide him in the garden shed. Now Chloe's got to make sure no one finds out h...

For years, Valkyrie Cain has struggled to keep her loved ones safe from harm, plunging into battle - time and time again - by Skulduggery Pleasant's side, and always emerging triumphant. But now the very thing that Valkyrie fights for is in danger, as a ruthless killer snatches her little sister in order to lure Valkyrie into a final confrontation....

Disappear to faraway lands of wicked witches, evil monsters and brave heroines in Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's stunning collection of fairy tales. Including her beautiful and haunting retellings of the Grimm classics Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Pied Piper, as well as other tales from around the world, and new stories of her own, this b...

When eleven-year-old Georgie befriends an eccentric retired scientist, she becomes the test subject for a thrilling new experiment: a virtual-reality 3D version of the future. But then a deadly disease threatens the life of every dog in the country and Georgie's beloved dog, Mr Mash, gets sick. And that's only the start of her troubles. Soon, Georg...

African Pursuit is the final book of the Bonaventure trilogy. In this spine-tingling sequel to The Promised One and The Valley of the Ancients, an evil professor with an invisibility robe and his gang of villains clash once more with the intrepid family. This time their life-and-death struggle begins on the great plains of East Africa and ends in t...

It's been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Now, struggling through the harsh winter aboveground, they find an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device from before the Disaster, which they believe is st...

Twelve-year-old Katy Carr was always dreaming of the time when something would happen to make her famous. But when it does happen, it's not at all what she wants. This is the moving story of how Katy Carr overcomes her tragic accident and learns to be as loving and as patient as the beautiful invalid, Helen. Susan Coolidge's famous story, set in th...

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever! This st...

Nick is a bit of an outsider and worried that he's a failure. On his way home after losing yet another battle with the school bully, he meets the mysterious Moe Nagic. Moe is selling a puzzle made from a watercolour painting called `The Trokeville Way'. What makes this puzzle unusual is that you can actually go into it, to step into another world....

Dorothy and her little dog Toto befriend the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion as they travel down the yellow brick road to the City of Emeralds. Maureen Lipman cackles splendidly as the Wicked Witch of the West in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of L. Frank Baum's famous and much-loved tale.

Meet Rory Branagan - he eats bad guys for breakfast. Well, not actually. But he is the best detective in town. Hello. I am Rory Branagan. I am actually a detective. One day, I will be the biggest detective in the world! And I will find out what happened to my dad...But today, a crime has been committed on my own road. Someone is stealing dogs! What...

The nightmare continues for the new vampire's assistant in the second installment of the New York Times bestselling Saga of Darren Shan. Darren Shan was just an ordinary schoolboy until his visit to the Cirque du Freak. Now, as he struggles with his new life as a vampire's assistant, he tries desperately to resist the one temptation that sickens hi...

When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider finds his world turned upside down. Within days he's gone from schoolboy to superspy. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission. His dest...

Meet Rory Branagan - he eats bad guys for breakfast. Well, not actually. But he is the best detective in town. Hello. I am Rory Branagan. I am actually a detective. One day, I will be the biggest detective in the world! And I will find out what happened to my dad...But today, a crime has been committed on my own road. Someone is stealing dogs! What...

Half-vampire Darren and his new friend are on the hunt for a monster in the third installment of New York Times bestselling Saga of Darren Shan series. Darren, the vampire's assistant, gets a taste of the city when he leaves the Cirque du Freak with Evra the snake-boy and Mr. Crepsley. When corpses are discovered-corpses drained of blood-Darren and...

Meet Rory Branagan - he eats bad guys for breakfast. Well, not actually. But he is the best detective in town. Third in a hilarious comedy-crime series for readers of 8+. Hello. I am Rory Branagan. I am actually a detective. This week, my school put on the biggest, best school fete the world has ever known. We are raising money to make St Bart's bo...

Linda Marshall's BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of L. Frank Baum's children's classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Originally broadcast as part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season. When a tornado strikes her farmhouse in Kansas, young Dorothy and her dog Toto are lifted to the magical world of Oz, the strange land of the Munchkins. There she emba...

Meet RORY BRANAGAN - he eats bad guys for breakfast. Well, not ACTUALLY. But he IS the best detective in town. Fourth in the hilarious illustrated comedy-crime book series for kids, RORY BRANAGAN (DETECTIVE). Hello. I am Rory Branagan. I am DEFINITELY a detective. An absolutely HUGE crime has been committed at my school . . . Nobody likes our head...