A very funny animal story from the award-winning writer Dick King-SmithLaurence Higgins, an enormously fat black cat, has breakfast with Mrs Higgins, lunch with the Normans, tea with old Mr Mason and supper with the Barclay-Lloyds. None of them know why he is so fat on just one meal a day! Lawrence is happy until he finds the walking from house to house tiring and begins to get indigestion. His friends tell him to lose weight if he wants a girl friend so he begins to spend one day in four with all his owners. He gets thinner but the cat he fancies down the road tells him she doesn't like slim boys - she's lost her heart to an enormously fat black cat she used to see up the road! Triumphantly Lawrence returns to his four meals a day, spurred on by the thought of meeting Bella when he's back to his normal size.

A wonderful animal adventure from master storyteller, Dick King-Smith.Flora was born on the first day of term in the new school year, which might be why she's a very special mouse indeed - a mouse who has taught herself to read!Flora lives in a classroom, and is determined to learn all sorts of things that no mouse has ever learned before. Her family is horrified at first, but then Flora's reading saves their lives ...

Abandoned by his bossy wife and children, old Mr Ape finds himself living all alone in his huge and rambling house. And then he gets a brilliant idea: he can fill the house with animals the pets his wife and children would never let him have. But pets have a habit of increasing and increasing and soon every room is stuffed to the brim with animals. Something has to change . . .

A little girl who desperately wants a dog introduces an imaginary Great Dane called Henry into her home. But then, to her great surprise, she is allowed a real Henry! Was old Mrs Garrow, with her cackling laugh and black cat, responsible for her wish coming true?From the number one author for animal magic comes a wonderful new edition of this much loved classic.

A wonderfully funny animal story from master storyteller Dick King-Smith.Magnus was a large mouse, a fearless mouse, a real powermouse. Fattened on patent Porker Pills, he just grows and grows - and so do his problems.

A charming animal story from award-winning writer Dick King-Smith.Poppet is a little African elephant. When he is born, his mother warns him against mice because they run up elephants' trunks. Poppet spends some time asking various creatures if they are mice and then, to his horror, one of them says 'Yes'. However, Momo the mouse persuades Poppet that he's been told an old wives' tale and the two become friends. Poppet's mother is horrified but is won over in the end by Momo's eloquence.

Dick King-Smith, creator of 'Babe the Sheep-Pig', presents the cleverest guinea pig in the world!Judy's classmates snigger when she claims guinea pigs are brainy. But, when her guinea pigs have a baby son, she decides to call him Jenius and train him to prove her point. Soon he can do all kinds of clever tricks, and Judy can't wait to show him off at school. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Crowstarving was the ideal job for Spider - he was on his own - yet never alone, for all around him were animals of one sort or another.Discovered as a foundling in a lambing pen, Spider Sparrow grows up surrounded by animals. From sheep and horses to wild otters and foxes, Spider loves them all, even the crows must scare away the newly sown wheat.Amazingly, every animal who meets Spider implicitly trusts the young boy. This magical rapport is Spider's unique gift, but nothing else in his tough life is so easy.

Hares don't talk. Everyone knows that. But the hare Harriet meets one morning in a corn circle in her father's wheatfield is a very unusual hare: a visitor from the far-off planet Pars, come to spend his holidays on Earth in the form of a talking hare. Wiz, as Harriet names her magical new friend, can speak any language, transform himself into any shape - and, as the summer draws to its close, he has one last, lovely surprise in store for Harriet...

Farmer Hoggett thinks the piglet he wins at the fair is just one to be fattened up for the freezer until his old sheepdog, Fly, takes Babe under her wing and starts to train him to be a sheepdog too. Babe's methods are unconventional but successful and he wins the Grand Challenge Trials by being polite to his flock of sheep. There are no illustrations in this copy.

Now in paperback! From the award-winning author of Babe: The Gallant Pig comes the story of how the Loch Ness monster finds his home, thanks to the human family that raises him.

Peter is a young boy, living on a farm. One day, whilst out doing chores for his father, he comes across a strange white stick floating in the stream. He reaches out and catches it - and finds an exciting new friend in the process. Ninnyhammer is the local village simpleton, but Peter knows there's more to him than that - he's a magician and the white stick is his magic wand. Ninnyhammer is so grateful that he starts to help Peter and his family with their struggling farm - making the sow have more piglets, helping the corn to grow faster and the hens to lay twice as many eggs. But Peter wants to do something for Ninnyhammer in return. Can it really be right that his friend has to bed down in a hole with foxcubs? And can Peter persuade his dad to help...?

Meet Ace, Babe's great-grandson, who also gets a new cover from Knopf Paperbacks this season. " A Horn Book Fanfare Honor Book An IRA/CBC Children's Choice A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

A brand new edition of a classic Dick King-Smith story about a 10-legged spider who gets bullied because she's different. Illustrated by the very popular Russell Ayto.

FEATHERS FLY when one smart duck decides to teach the farmyard know-it-alls a lesson. Damaris is a duck. Not the ordinary, silly, jumping-inpuddles kind of duck—she's a very clever duck. So when the farmyard pigs start picking on the other animals, Damaris and her sheepdog best friend hatch a plot to get back at them. Her plan works so well that she soon feels sorry for the sows, especially when they are captured by the sinister Mr. Crook. Now it's up to Damaris to rescue them. Filled with snooty sows, dotty ducks, and more than a little farmyard excitement, CLEVER DUCK is a charming adventure from the "master of animal stories." The Guardian, LondonClever Duck is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

GET READY TO EMBARK ON A TINY ADVENTURE!"You mean you're going to have a baby?" "Babies." The Robinsons are expecting...trouble, that is. With six newborn mousekins and more to come, the whole family is terrified of the savage cat who stalks the hallways. After a close call, little Beaumont, the pluckiest of the lot, decides it's time to find a new, feline-free home. On their quest, the Robinsons meet an unlikely cast of characters—mice andhumans, friends and foes—but wherever they go, they are sure to find one thing: adventure. With simple prose, gentle humor, and playful illustrations, MOUSE FAMILY ROBINSON is sure to satisfy new readers.

BAD-TEMPERED RUNAWAY CAMEL. Funny, fast, and satisfying—a hilarious yarn from the "master of animal stories."Tired of his lonely life at the zoo, Hezekiah—an ornery, very hairy Bacrian camel—busts out and heads across country. His adventure leads him to an eccentric (and equally hairy) aristocrat, a new life at a wildlife park, and company in the form of a female camel. Laughs, action, short chapters, and a genuine appreciation of the animal world make this a satisfying choice for newly independent readers. Nick Bruel's antic black-and-white drawing add to the fun.The Guardian (London)

Fresh from his foray into Hollywood stardom, Babe gets a new cover for the Knopf Paperbacks line. An ALA Notable Book A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book A Horn Book Fanfare Honor Book An IRA/CBC Children's Choice An NCTE Teachers' Choice

SOMETIMES THE MOST UNLIKELY PAIRS MAKE THE BEST OF FRIENDS. A hilarious prehistoric yarn for newly-independent readers from a master of children's animal stories.All pterodactyls know that flying dinosaurs are superior, and all apatosauruses know that any dinosaur with only two legs is surely second-class. Nosy, a pterodactyl, and Banty, an apatosaurus, become great friends even though their parents have forbidden them to play together. With Nosy's fast flying and Banty's smarts, the two take on the biggest predator on the Great Plain, and conquer their parents' prejudices in one great adventure.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse ("Wolf," for short) has a big name for such a little mouse. But the name fits. His favorite pastime is listening to Mrs. Honeybee, the lady of the house, play the piano. If only he could sing along to the music! One day, Wolf decides to try -- and to his surprise, out of his mouth comes a perfect melody.It's not long before Wolf is singing everything from "Three Blind Mice" to Chopin to the Beatles, all to Mrs. Honeybee's accompaniment. Then an accident leaves Mrs. Honeybee in danger, and it's up to Wolf to save her... the only way he knows how.

A candid and very funny memoir from beloved children's book author Dick King-Smith.Before he was a children's book author, Dick King-Smith was a soldier, a farmer, a salesman, a factory worker, and a teacher. But he was always a devoted family man who loved the countryside he lived in and the animals he kept. In this insightful memoir, Dick King-Smith recounts the joys and failures of his life with equal humor and candor. And he remembers a delightful cast of animal characters--from Anna, the dachshund who turned out to be just stubborn, not deaf, to the 600-pound pig Monty, who liked to be scratched on top of his head, to Wilhelmina, a pet badger who was fond of love bites. As readers delight in recognizing the inspiration behind many of Dick King-Smith's books, they'll also see how a collection of experiences made a man a writer.From the Hardcover edition.

"Martin, a kitten, is branded a 'wimp' by his siblings for his friendly interest in mice. He loves caring for them and can't understand their desire for freedom. Only when he becomes the pet of a big city apartment dweller does he realize why his pets deserted him. An engaging animal fantasy with plenty of humorous insight into the human condition, King-Smith's story has humor and a fast pace which will appeal to younger readers."--School Library Journal (starred review)

In this collection of stories you will meet a guinea-pig that can do clever tricks, the Queen's favourite Corgi pup, a secret mouse hiding in a tree-house, a chick that wants to be a duck AND you'll learn how to look after all kinds of pets!A delightful anthology from the master of animal adventures Dick King-Smith, featuring a never-before-published story.