We are excited to once again be the accessibility partner for the Reading Is Magic Festival, a five-day celebration of children’s literature and books. Running from 27th September to 1st October, Reading Is Magic beams a series of free events and activities straight into schools and homes across the world.

Born out of necessity in 2020 when the world’s physical events were on hold, it was hugely successful in bringing wide-spread partners together online to provide brilliant events with fabulous authors, illustrators and writers. This year Bath Children’s Literature Festival has teamed up with festival partners in different parts of the world, with events coming from locations such as Kingston in Jamaica, Toronto and Dublin. And we have been working hard to add as many books as we can to our audiobook collection, so that children who struggle with print can read the featured books and join in with the events.

With a daily theme covering a fantastic selection of books, there are plenty of events for readers and teachers to watch. We can look forward to a programme that includes Joseph Coelho, Cressida Cowell, Michael Rosen, Harry Baker, Laura Ellen Anderson, BB Alston, Holly Bourne, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Rob Biddulph, M.G. Leonard, Dr Shini Somara, Dean Atta and many more.

be creative for at least 15 minutes a week”

We have created a fabulous webpage full of details on all the featured books with links to those you can listen to in our collection. We are also inviting you to leave a book review on our dedicated answerphone line – the best will make it onto our website so you can share your recommendations with others (and if you’re shy remember reviews can be anonymous!). We would also love you to share photos of you listening to your books; tweet them with the hashtags #AmListening and #ReadingIsMagic, tagging 

The events for the 2021 festival will be available from the time and day listed on each event pages well as being available to watch on demand until the end of 2021. You will need to set up a free account to watch the videos, once you have logged into your account you will be able to watch all the 2021 videos available. 

You will be able to set up an account from 24 September

 ready to log in and watch from the following week.

For more details please refer to the Reading Is Magic Festival Guide 

Calibre Audio provides free audiobooks to anyone with a print disability, such as dyslexia, sight loss or a physical condition that prevents them from holding a book. Books can be listened to on demand via our live streaming service, downloaded using the Dolphin EasyReader app, or borrowed on USB.

Reading is Magic Festival

Calibre at Reading is Magic Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is just around the corner and it promises to be a very special event. Running from the 14th to the 30th August, the show has a stunning lineup featuring such talent as the 

Bernadine Evaristo who will share their thoroughly researched insights in their ever-accessible manner. Packed with talks from around 300 speakers, this years’ agenda covers a range of topics from Covid-19 to climate change, poverty, technology, colonialism and LGBT+ rights, keeping every attendee informed on today’s important topics. In addition, there are 60 hosted shows for kids with activities such as readings and draw-alongs, emphasising the importance of education at this celebration of literacy.

Whilst the festival is welcoming visitors at their new scenic location at The University of Edinburgh’s College of Art, there are also unlimited slots and a generous ‘pay what you can’ policy for the online audience so there’s no excuse to miss out on any of the show’s amazing content. To prepare for the occasion, we’ve compiled a list of our most anticipated events, many of which feature books and authors we already have in our collection or that will be available soon. If you’re not already fanatical about each one, why not familiarise yourself with their work before tuning in to their individual sessions to hear them speak.

The British-Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature discusses all things AI in this hour-long discussion with Erica Wagner. Building on the concepts explored in his latest novel, Klara and the Sun, viewers can look forward to exploring the complexities of emotions, human relationships and the challenges that could manifest in a machine-dominated future. 
Event time:  29 August, 19:00.   Book your place 

Set in the Caribbean, the Costa Book Award Winner 2020 is a spellbinding tale about a love between a fisherman and a cursed woman whose beauty saw her banished to live out the rest of her days in the sea. Its author, Monique Roffey, joins Jess Brough in exploring the azure oceans and idyllic islands that inspired her to write such a powerful and spiritual novel. 
Event time: 17 August, 13:15.  Book the event 

One of the Observer’s top 10 best debut novelists of 2021. Caleb Azumah Nelson’s 

follows the blossoming love between two young Black British students as they navigate culture, political turmoil and the many other challenges trying to tear them apart. Fellow author, Salena Godden will speak with Caleb about his background, inspirations and more during the event entitled: ‘Diving into Black Culture’. 
Event time: 16 August, 13:00.  Book your place 

 by Salena Godden (Coming soon to Calibre)

Another unmissable event sees Salena Godden on the other side of the interview table as she discusses her recent debut novel Death Misses Death. In this surprisingly uplifting tale, love and hope manages to reign supreme as the author’s poetic background enables her to traverse the edges of emotion. Listen in to learn more about the author and her influential work.
Event time: 14 August, 16:00. Book your place 

Alicia Garza is one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter and has spent the better part of two decades as a grassroots activist, inspiring others to organise for a better future. She has poured her knowledge, learnings and guidance into her new book, 

The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

. In what is sure to be an inspiring event, Garza discusses her work and how we can all help make change happen in our communities with Race Correspondent for the Independent, Nadine White. 
Event time:  30 August, 19:00. Book your place 

Making a name for herself on Twitter with her writing, poetry and all-round witty observations, Patricia Lockwood’s latest book: ‘No One is Talking About This’ explores everything from climate change to leadership and the issue of ever-growing loneliness in modern society. Tune in to listen to her expand on these ideas with accuracy and originality.
Event time: 19 August, 19:15.  Book your place 

 is Denise Mina’s extraordinary multi award-winning depiction of one of Scotland’s most notorious serial killers, Peter Manuel. Based on true events, it evokes the bizarre encounters between Manuel and William Watt, whose wife, sister-in-law and daughter have recently been murdered. Watt suspects Manuel to have done the deed, so what does he do? He takes Manuel out on a drinking binge. For this event, 

, Artistic Director of Citizens Theatre has worked with acclaimed writer 

 and actors to prepare dramatic scenes from the book that they present in a 45-minute performance. Afterwards, Hill, McLean and the actors are joined on stage by Denise Mina for a discussion (with audience contributions) about the book and the performance they have presented. 
Event time: 25 August, 20:30. Book your place 

Mukherjee is of the UK’s leading crime writers; his Raj-era thrillers featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and ‘Surrender-Not’ Banerjee adored by legions of loyal readers and published in twenty different countries. In this event, he tells fellow author Val McDermid about living in Scotland but writing about India, his desire to pay tribute to Agatha Christie, and his process of planning the Wyndham and Banerjee mysteries. 
Event time: 29 August, 16:00.  Book your place 

 sits down to talk about her new Times bestseller, 

. When Raynor Winn’s husband, Moth, was diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition, they also happened to be penniless. They ended up homeless, trekking the 630 mile South West Coast Path in Cornwall and penning a novel which became a bestseller. From rewilding and connection to nature to triumphing over despair, we can all learn something from Raynor’s story as she talks to Sally Magnusson. The event is also being recorded for BBC Radio Scotland. 
Event time: 21 August, 14:30. Book your place 

 by Graeme Armstrong (Coming Soon to Calibre)

In the former industrial heartlands of North Lanarkshire, Graeme Armstrong’s urgent debut novel 

 pulls back the curtain on the lives of young men as they navigate the friendship, turf wars and stereotypes of Scottish masculinity. Based on Armstrong’s experiences of growing up in Airdrie, and written in Scots, 

 is a once in a generation novel that captures the heart and the pain of an often-forgotten part of Scotland. Seen through the eyes of Azzy Williams aged 14, 18 and 21 years old, the internal desires to belong but also to escape are palpable. Armstrong discusses his book with chair Casi Dylan.
Event time: 23 August, 17:30.  Book your place 

In the 20 years between 1981 and 2000, Pat Nevin made 660 appearances, scoring 107 goals. However, the former Chelsea, Everton and Scotland star’s proudest achievement is that he was one the first people to take a stand against racism in football. Pat sits down with Val McDermid to discuss these things and more. 
Event time: 15 August, 13:00.  Book your place 

Kennedy creates a sympathetically eccentric cast of characters for her book, writing with a bracing honesty, which at times is breathtaking. There is an American micro-celebrity who practises lines for a chat show on which he will never appear; and a woman who walks out of her honeymoon suite, possibly for good. The stories depict the difficulty we all face of living with one another, and the challenges of building a life in such a bizarre world as this one. 
Event time: 25 August, 11:30. Book your place 

Objects passed down the generations can provide a rich source of stories. Travel writer Helena Attlee hit on a particularly interesting example of this when, at a folk concert in Wales, she was struck by the gorgeous tone of a violin being played by someone called Greg. It turned out that he had bought it from a man called Lev, who had been told his violin had been made in Cremona (home of the legendary Stradivarius). Lev had bought it from a gypsy in the Russian town of Rostov-on-Don in 1980. So began Attlee’s quest to discover more, and 

 recounts Attlee’s journeys to Cremona, Venice and the Black Sea in a bid to unlock the history of the instrument. Edinburg festival reunites Attlee with the men who began her story: Greg Lawson and Lev Atlas. In an interview chaired by Allan Little,  the event features music and discussion. 
Event time: 16 August, 11:30. Book your place 

 by Shola Von Reinhold (Coming soon to Calibre)

is an intriguing work exploring the work of a long-forgotten black poet called Hermia Druitt. The author’s discussion at the Edinburgh International Book Festival will expand on this story, teaching us some little-known facts about 1930’s culture. 
Event time: 17 August, 14:30.  Book your place 

 which draws its lifeblood from the beautiful, fragile ecology of Tasmania. The narrative is built around 86-year old Francie who’s in the intensive care unit in Hobart’s hospital, her three grown-up children debating whether to administer last rights or fight to keep her alive. But it’s the novel’s setting that gives Francie’s story its vital context. Tasmania is depicted as a place of stunning natural beauty but ravaged by climate crisis: ‘ancient forests vanishing, beaches covered in crap, wild birds vomiting supermarket shopping bags’. Today Flanagan talks to writer 

 about weaving the traumatic story of a family together with the wider issue of our collective need to reconnect with our environment. 
Event time: 16 August, 10:15.  Book your place 

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Edinburgh and Calibre Book List

Care home residents have evidently been particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst separation from friends, family and other visitors has been necessary to prevent its spread, in many cases it has heightened the already extreme levels of other invisible threats, including depression caused by loneliness and social isolation. It is therefore imperative everyone living in a care home can alleviate these issues with access to literature. Reading has the potential to vastly improve quality of life, improve symptoms of serious conditions and perhaps save someone from despair.

The emotional boost reading can provide is significant. One extraordinary study resulted in 90% of participants reporting an uplifted mood, improved concentration, or better long and short-term memory (

). The article also outlines the relevance of these results to specific conditions such as dementia. These patients were found to be particularly responsive to poetry because of its ability to trigger emotions and memories with its unique style and intense language which are often more impactful than prose.

Another study strikingly found that people who read for an average of half an hour a day have a 20% lower mortality rate compared to non-readers (

). Furthermore, research by the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes can reduce stress by 68% (

) Books are therefore lifesaving as well as emotionally enhancing. Some participants even require less medication after attending a reading group because they are happy and relaxed (

One of the primary motivations for reading is its social value. So, when care home residents are unable to access literature, they are also excluded from participating in conversations with like-minded people including family members and fellow residents with a common interest in books. Reading in groups also improves older people’s connectedness to the wider community (

). Continual interactions have a profound effect on wellbeing, as the Mental Health Foundation maintains, “those who are more socially connected are happier, physically healthier and live longer”.

Story Nation from the Edinburgh International Book Festival seeks to engage the underrepresented through outreach events including workshops at prisons, hospitals and care homes, bringing the book festival experience to those who cannot attend in person. Their goal is to create “lasting connections through the shared joy of books”, which demonstrates their understanding of the social benefits of book-reading. 

 is proud to be supporting their incredible work. Both organisations are united by the common cause of using reading to ignite imaginations, alleviate social isolation and enhance the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

The Importance of Reading in Care Homes

The ability to see and comprehend text is something most of us take for granted, our brains automatically decode the words and sentences even whilst on autopilot and extensive information can be converted from pages into knowledge through study. The joy of encountering characters and exploring places and narratives teaches us about everything to do with empathy, romance, humour and culture. In a nutshell, it is essential to a person’s full and continual development. However, not everyone is afforded this freedom so we will endeavour to understand why it is so important.

To start, a definition of the beneficiaries of accessibility is required to understand its purpose. A 

 is a difficulty when reading printed material due to an inability to see, read, manipulate or comprehend the text. Examples of this include a physical disability, for example, Visual Impairment (VI) or Multiple Sclerosis (MS), or neurodiversity such as Dyslexia. The latter alone affects around 1 in 10 people in the UK, meaning a large proportion of a publisher’s potential readership is being neglected if accessibility is ignored.

The challenges faced by people in need of increased accessibility are not limited to the day-to-day tasks we might imagine but go as far as emotional trauma from low self-esteem and detachment from society due to lack of inclusion. Coupled with this is a disrupted education caused by an absence of available material resulting in a significant percentage of the population that is under-skilled through no fault of their own. In fact, disabled people are 50% less likely to be employed and 50% more likely to experience poverty (BBC, 2020). On a macro-level, this represents an estimated 7% in wasted GDP from underemployment (WEF, 2020). Consequently, there is also a strong economic argument to be made for investment in equal access to the written word as the opportunities it provides can translate into to contributions to the economy in addition to wellbeing for individuals.

Unequal access to information is also unethical, as Hugo Setzer, President of the International Publishing Association points out – “Publishers should embrace accessible publishing because of its moral significance. Books bring us joy, inspiration and knowledge and they make us think, imagine and create. Books are magical, but sadly over 285 million Visually Impaired People worldwide have access to less than 10% of published work”. For context, that’s greater than the populations of the UK, Germany, France and Italy combined who have been denied the same opportunities to entertain and educate themselves.

The Marrakesh Treaty has gone some way to alleviating these problems. Since 2013 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) have adopted policies allowing exceptions to copyright law so that materials can be reproduced for the purpose of enabling print disabled people to access information traditionally restricted by their written format. Now spanning over 100 countries, the legislative changes were in part prompted by the statistic that only 7% of printed books are converted to audio. The European Accessibility Act goes further, aiming to reduce barriers for people with disabilities by regulating the accessibility of everything from e-books and ATMs to the publishing and banking industries themselves (European Commission, 2019). 72% of people agree that this will improve lives, understanding it as essential to full participation in society. Speaking at the UN Headquarters in New York, music legend Stevie Wonder called the Marrakesh Treaty “life changing”. He furthered, declaring “I beat the odds, imagine if others like me were given the opportunity to function at their full potential, how much better would our world be?” (WIPO, 2016).

There is still some way to go. Lack of awareness means accessibility is often an afterthought and constant progression in technology leads to difficulty in its implementation. However, as the popularity of audiobooks increases, so do the opportunities for accessible reading to prevail. The exceptions to copyright law have also negated the need for production to be commercially viable, enabling organisations such as Calibre Audio to empower people with access to a wide range of audiobooks without fear of litigation, shareholder rebellion or profit maximisation.

As a result, the reward is found in the contributions to improving the quality of life for people who have endured the loss of their sight or who are similarly prevented from reading books. We often receive messages of appreciation and record them all. One member told us: “When my close vision failed, it was like a door slammed in my face. I felt so helpless and had so many problems every day. Worst of all, after 80 years, I could not read. I could no longer follow my special interest as a historian, satisfy my curiosity, or simply have fun and relaxation with a book. When I joined Calibre Audio, it was as if they kicked open that door and turned the light on - my world with all its difficulties had changed, I had my books back.”

Ultimately, accessibility is about equality, the opportunity to experience the same satisfaction and life chances as the rest of society. It is so fundamental that it is often overlooked, but when such basic human rights are lost, they are devastating. Therefore, it should be a priority. Starting with awareness of its importance we should continue to support campaigns and organisations dedicated to causing change and make sure we do everything we can to invest in ensuring everyone’s experience is positive. Whether your website needs adapting, or assistive facilities need installing in your building, we can all contribute to improving the lives of people around the world.

https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/stories/stevie_wonder_marrakesh.html#:~:text=WIPO%20Media%20Center-,Stevie%20Wonder%20to%20UN%20Member%20States%3A%20Help%20Others%20Beat%20the,I%20Did%2C%20Join%20Marrakesh%20Treaty&text=%E2%80%9CI%20beat%20the%20odds%2C%E2%80%9D,better%20our%20world%20would%20be.%E2%80%9D

https://www.internationalpublishers.org/blog/entry/embracing-accessible-publishing

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200513-why-the-coronavirus-can-make-the-world-more-accessible

https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=14795&langId=en

Hay Festival

The Importance of Accessibility

We are thrilled to announce that this year we are the accessibility partner for the world-renowned 

Usually setting up camp in Hay-on-Wye, this year Hay Festival is coming to you, as it broadcasts its free online content 26 May – 6 June.

Hay Festival have just published their incredible 

 acclaimed writers, global policy makers, historians, poets, pioneers and innovators. You can register to hear interviews and discussions with authors including Ali Smith, Val McDermid, Marian Keyes, Caitlin Moran, Stephen Fry, Benjamin Zephaniah and Angie Thomas – and 

 many more - or dip in to catch up with any you have missed.

, available all year round and providing access to video and audio from a huge spectrum of writers and thinkers covering all sorts of topics, such as sustainability, world affairs and social issues, discussions on Shakespeare, book of the month and a free film of the week. Plus, the free Programme for Schools archive offering events with inspiring writers and performers for young people.

We are particularly excited to be in partnership with the Cressida Cowell and David Walliams events. These are two fantastic authors who are dedicated to engaging children with reading and we can’t wait for them to transport us into their books at Hay Festival.

On 29 May (10-10.30am), join the Children’s Laureate on location in Kingley Vale Woodland as she talks about the final book in her Wizards of Once series, Never and Forever, and one of the main inspirations behind the books: the magic of trees and woodland. Live Q&A follows.

On 29 May (11-11.30am) join the author as he talks to comedian Judi Love about his career in children’s books. Hear what inspires his stories and about the inspiration behind his best-loved characters. Then listen to him reading from his books and ask the questions you've been longing to ask.


We are busy creating Calibre’s own mini festival website where our members can join in with the activities around Hay Festival, read great books by the featured authors, explore podcasts and videos and much more. We’ll keep you posted ready for the action but in the meantime visit the Hay Festival site 

All of Hay Festival’s events will be closed-captioned and available to watch on the Hay Festival website for free 24 hours from their live broadcast.

Visit Hay Festival with Calibre Audio

We are so pleased that our members can listen to books by the following authors who are appearing at this year's Hay Festival. Click on a name to be taken to their books in our collection, and remember that you can register for all live events 

Featured authors on Calibre: Children and YA

Our members can listen to books by the following authors who are appearing at this year's Hay Festival. Click on a name to be taken to their books in our collection, and remember that you can register for all live events 

Featured authors on Calibre: Adult

We are delighted to have six titles by Cressida Cowell currently in our audiobook collection, 2 from her 

Currently the Waterstones Children’s Laureate (2019 – 2022), Cressida is one of our best-loved children's authors, bringing fantasy and mythical creatures alive for a generation of youngsters (not forgetting us young-at-heart grown-ups too).

Cressida's books can currently be borrowed by Calibre members on USB stick by adding to your postal list 

. And we hope to have them available to stream very soon so keep an eye out for more details.

Once there was Magic, and the Magic lived in the dark forests. 

Xar is a young boy Wizard who has no magic. Wish is a young Warrior girl, concealing a banned magical object she has in her possession. The pair have been taught since birth to hate each other like poison. But what happens when their two worlds collide?

Perfect for boys and girls who love fantasy adventure…



The Wizards of Once - Twice Magic (617572)

Witches are creating havoc in the Wildwoods and danger lurks behind every tree trunk. Wish is in possession of a powerful, Magic Spelling Book; Xar has a dangerous Witchstain on his hand. Our two heroes, who first met in The Wizards of Once have to work together again to save the Wildwoods from the curse of the Witches but they are separated by the highest wall imaginable, and time is running out …


Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is a smallish Viking with a longish name. His father is chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe which means Hiccup is the Hope and the Heir to the Hairy Hooligan throne. But most of the time Hiccup feels like a very ordinary boy.

 book Hiccup must lead ten novices in their initiation into the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. They have to train their dragons or be BANISHED from the tribe FOR EVER! But what if Hiccup’s dragon resembles an ickle brown bunny with wings? And has NO TEETH? Furthermore the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus is stirring and wants to devour every Viking on the Isle of Berk . . .Can Hiccup save the tribe?


How To Train Your Dragon - How to Speak Dragonese (617522)

When Hiccup’s dragon Toothless is captured by Romans, only Hiccup and his friend Fishlegs can rescue him. But things take a turn for the worst when the Romans steal Hiccup’s precious book HOW TO SPEAK DRAGONESE and Hiccup and Fishlegs are taken off to the Fortress of Sinister!

Now they must save Toothless AND themselves – but how can they possibly escape?

How To Train Your Dragon: How To Be A Pirate (617521)

Surely it cant be good when a huge, six-and-a-half-foot floating coffin with the words BEWARE! DO NOT OPEN THIS COFFIN arrives? Hiccup begins a quest to discover the treasure of his ancestors and Hiccup needs to find it before Alvin the Treacherous gets his hands on it. But when a dragon called the Monstrous Strangulator is thrown into the mix, things are about to get seriously scary!

How To Train Your Dragon: A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons (617523)

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third just wants a nice and peaceful birthday. But Hiccup’s dad wants to steal the prized 

 book, and prove that his Hooligans are just as good as the Bog Burglars – except Hiccup’s dragon Toothless has EATEN it! So when Camicazi suggests stealing a copy from the grim Meathead Public Library, it seems like a good idea. But the library is guarded by the Horrible Hairy Scary the Librarian, four hundred Meathead Warrior Guards AND their Driller-Dragons . . . Will Hiccup survive – or is he doomed on his own birthday?

Cressida Cowell at Calibre

David Walliams has fast become one of our best-loved children's authors, earning himself the accolade of the biggest selling children’s author to have started writing since the year 2000! We are delighted that we have been able to get so many of his books into our collection so that our members can gasp, giggle, snort and laugh out loud at the adventures of aunts who are awful, grannies who are gangstas, dentists who are demons and beasts who are lurking around Buckingham Palace.

Stella Saxby is the sole heir to Saxby Hall. But awful Aunt Alberta and her giant owl will stop at nothing to get it from her. Luckily Stella has a secret - and slightly spooky - weapon up her sleeve....

When Frank's dad is thrown into prison for driving the getaway car in a bank robbery, Frank hatches a daring plan to break his father out for the night so they can put the stolen money back. But will the evil crime boss, Mr Big, stop them?

It is 2120 and London is in ruins. The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace – but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters. And when his mother, the Queen, is dragged away to the Tower of London, Alfred must screw up his courage and battle to save her, himself… and the entire city.

Joe has a lot of reasons to be happy. About a billion of them, in fact. You see, Joe's rich. Really, really rich. Joe's got his own bowling alley, his own cinema, even his own butler who is also an orang-utan. He's the wealthiest twelve-year-old in the land. But there’s just one thing he really needs: a friend…

Dennis was different. Why was he different, you ask? Well, a small clue might be in the title of this book...

Strange things were happening in the dead of night. Children would put a tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, but in the morning they would wake up to find… a dead slug; a live spider; hundreds of earwigs creeping and crawling beneath their pillow. Evil was at work. But who or what was behind it…?

Myrtle Meek has everything she could possibly want. But everything isn't enough. When Myrtle declares she wants a FING, there's only one problem...What is a FING? Mr and Mrs Meek will do anything to keep their darling daughter happy, even visit the spooky library vaults to delve into the dusty pages of the mysterious Monsterpedia. Their desperate quest leads to the depths of the jungliest jungle where the rarest creatures can be found. But will they ever find a FING?

Ben is bored beyond belief after he is made to stay at his grandma's house. All she wants to do is to play Scrabble, and eat cabbage soup.But there are two things Ben doesn't know about his grandma. She was once an international jewel thief and she has been plotting to steal the crown jewels. Now she needs Ben's help.

Jack’s Grandpa wears his slippers to the supermarket, serves up Spam à la Custard for dinner and often doesn’t remember Jack’s name. But he can still take to the skies in a speeding Spitfire and save the day!

When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster – a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole – she’s determined to discover more… A chance encounter brings Elsie face to face with the creature and sparks the adventure of a lifetime – from London to the heart of the Arctic.

When Tom gets hit on the head by a cricket ball, he finds himself at Lord Funt Hospital, and things go from bad to worse when he meets the wicked matron in charge of the children’s ward… But Tom is about to embark on the most thrilling journey of a lifetime!

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. Chloe's got to make sure no one finds out her secret. And speaking of secrets, there just might be more to Mr Stink than meets the eye… or the nose.

Things are not looking good for Zoe. Her stepmother Sheila is so lazy she gets Zoe to pick her nose for her. The school bully Tina Trotts makes her life a misery – mainly by flobbing on her head. And now the evil Burt from Burt’s Burgers is after her pet rat! And guess what he wants to do with it? The clue is in the title…

Welcome to the Isle of Mulch, home to a large number of horrible grown-ups. The school, the local park, the toy shop and even the island’s ice-cream van are all run by awful adults who like nothing more than making children miserable. And the island is owned by the most awful one of all, Aunt Greta Greed! Something needs to be done about them. But who could be brave enough? Meet Ned, an extraordinary boy with a special power. SLIMEPOWER!

In these four stories we meet 'The Slightly Annoying Elephant', a big, blue, bossy elephant who turns up uninvited; 'The First Hippo On The Moon', two big hippos who share one enormous dream; 'The Bear Who Went Boo!', a very cheeky polar bear cub, and in 'There’s A Snake In My School!', Miranda introduces everyone to her very different pet…Penelope the snake!

The beastly boys and gruesome girls in this collection of stories, will make you snort with laughter and thank your lucky stars that you don’t know anyone like Gruesome Griselda or Fussy Frankie in real life.

Are you ready to meet the World’s Worst Children? Five beastly boys and five gruesome girls! Meet TV super-fan, Sofia Sofa, so stuck to the sofa that she’s turning into one; Dribbling Drew, a boy whose drool gets him into trouble; and not forgetting Blubbering Bertha, a girl who bawls and tells terrible tales.

These ten tales of the world’s most spectacularly silly mums and deliriously daft dads will leave you rocking with laughter. Pinch your nose for Peter Pong, the man with the stinkiest feet in the world… jump out of the way of Harriet Hurry, the fastest mum on two wheels… watch out for Monty Monopolize, the dad who takes all his kids’ toys… and oh no, it’s Supermum! Brandishing a toilet brush, a mop and a very bad homemade outfit…

Think your teachers are bad? Wait till you meet this lot.These ten tales of the world’s most sinister teachers will have you running for the school gates. Dr Dread teaches science and is half man, half monster… The ghastly Miss Seethe is ALWAYS furious – and she’s on a detention rampage. And as for Pent, he’s a teacher with a real difference. He is terrified of…children!

1940. Britain is at war with Nazi Germany. Eleven-year-old Eric spends his days at the place that makes him most happy: London Zoo. And there’s one animal in particular he loves: Gertrude the gorilla. With bombs falling all over London, Eric must rescue Gertrude. Together with his Uncle Sid, a keeper at the zoo, the three go on the run. But while hiding out at the seaside they uncover a top-secret Nazi plot. Code Name Bananas tells the extraordinary friendship between a little boy and a huge gorilla that just might save the day.

Festival News