Showing results by author "A. F. Harrold" in All Categories

Hex never meant for the girl to follow him and his friend Tommo into the woods. He never meant for her to fall off the rope swing and break her arm. When the finger of blame is pointed at him, Hex runs deep into the woods and his fierce sense of injustice leads him to a strange clearing in the woods—a clearing that has never been there before—where an old lady in a cottage offers him a deal. She’ll rid the world of those who wronged him and Hex can carry on his life with them all forgotten and as if nothing ever happened.

Fizzlebert Stump's second adventure. The bearded Barboozul family are the new stars of Fizz's circus. Their act is full of magic, mystery, fear and fun. And it's nice to have another boy around, even if he is a bit...hairy round the chin. But then things start going wrong. The lion loses his dentures. The clowns lose their noses. The Ringmaster loses his temper. And the circus is about to lose its licence.

Fizzlebert Stump lives in a circus. His mum's a clown, his best friend is a bearded boy, and he sticks his head in a lion's mouth every night. Other than that, he's pretty normal. When Fish the sea lion goes missing Fizzlebert tracks down the runaway beast to the Aquarium, with its piratical owner Admiral Spratt-Haddock, invisible octopus, and colour-coded fish. But the Aquarium has problems of its own. Fish (not Fish the sea lion, fish. Keep up.) are going missing, and the Admiral blames the circus.

Frank doesn’t know how to feel when Nick Underbridge rescues her from bullies one afternoon. No one likes Nick. He’s big, he’s weird and he smells—or so everyone in Frank’s class thinks. And yet, there’s something nice about Nick’s house. There’s strange music playing there, and it feels light and good and makes Frank feel happy for the first time in forever. But there’s more to Nick, and to his house, than meets the eye, and soon Frank realises she isn’t the only one keeping secrets. Or the only one who needs help.

Rudger is Amanda’s best friend. He doesn't exist, but nobody's perfect. Only Amanda can see her imaginary friend – until the sinister Mr Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumour says that he eats them. And he's sniffed out Rudger. Soon Rudger is alone, and running for his imaginary life. But can a boy who isn’t there survive without a friend to dream him up?

Fizzlebert Stump lives in a circus and it's the great Circus of Circuses competition, but Fizzlebert Stump has no act. He's no longer the Boy Who Puts His Head In The Lion's Mouth (the lion retired) and putting his head in a crocodile's mouth instead didn't work out for some reason. Can Fizz find a new act in time? A story of circus rivalry, learning who you really are, and the problem of oddly shaped vegetables. Brilliantly bonkers and perfect for fans of Mr Gum and Lemony Snicket.

Fizzlebert Stump lives in a travelling circus. But although he gets to hang around with acrobats, play the fool with clowns, and put his head in a lion's mouth every night, he's the only kid there - and he's bored. But then Fizz decides to join a library, and life suddenly gets a lot more exciting, when a simple library card application leads to him being kidnapped by a pair of crazed pensioners! Will he ever see the circus again?

Written in A.F. Harrold’s fun and accessible style, these silly poems will get young listeners smiling, whether they like poetry or not! With poems about everything from shenanigans at school, to what would happen if hens laid coconuts, Pocket Book of Pocket Poems will keep you giggling. From the Carnegie-nominated author of The Imaginary and The Worlds We Leave Behind, this collection of short and sweet poems, which are all 60 words and under, is the perfect book for all times.

When the ringmaster sells Fizz's circus to the mysterious Mr Pinkbottle, disaster strikes! All the acts who aren't fired are forced to work in his supermarket. Not an easy task at all if your only skill is plate-spinning or being a trapeze artist, or indeed a sea lion! Will the ex-circus performers adjust to their new lives as shop assistants, or will Fizz find a way to save them all?

Going to school isn't very exciting, is it? Well for Fizzlebert Stump it's a whole new adventure because he lives in a circus. He is usually found training to be a strongman, or being taught history by a magician, or playing football with a sea lion, but not today. After being lost in the woods and mistaken for a very rude girl, here he is, at the back of the class confusing the teacher. Will anyone believe Fizz is telling the truth? Can he find his way back to the circus? Or will he be forced to sit up straight and pay attention forever?

Nobody knew it at that moment, but only three things stood in the way of the complete destruction of the Earth: one elderly parrot; one eight-year-old spelling mistake; and an intrepid young schoolgirl-turned-reporter.... Greta Zargo needs a big scoop if she's going to win the Prilchard-Spritzer Medal, the quite famous award for great reporting. But big scoops are in short supply in the quiet town of Upper Lowerbridge. But then, with a whoosh of unknown energy, a mysterious silver robot descends from the sky....

Rudger is Amanda Shuffleup's imaginary friend. Nobody else can see Rudger -- until the evil Mr. Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr. Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumor has it that he even eats them. And now he's found Rudger. Soon Rudger is alone, and running for his imaginary life. He needs to find Amanda before Mr. Bunting catches him--and before Amanda forgets him and he fades away to nothing. But how can an unreal boy stand alone in the real world?

Hex doesn’t know why he does the things he does—why he sometimes stands up in class to look out the window or ask an unrelated question. He also doesn’t know why he threw the rock that day in the woods. He didn’t mean for the girl to fall and break her arm. But he’s blamed anyway. Enraged at how unfair life is, Hex runs into the woods and finds himself in a strange clearing where a strange old woman offers him a deal: she’ll rid the world of those who wronged him. All he has to do is accept. But what Hex doesn’t know is that someone else has been offered the same deal.

Frank thought her summer couldn’t get any worse—until big, weird, smelly Nick Underbridge rescues her from a bully, and she winds up at his house. Frank quickly realizes there’s more to Nick than meets the eye. When she’s at his house, she hears the strangest, most beautiful music, music which leads her to a mysterious, hidden door. Beyond the door are amazing creatures that she never even dreamed could be real. For the first time in forever, Frank feels happy...and she and Nick start to become friends.

Not everything in this book is necessarily good advice, and not all of it is sensible advice. (But if you take the bad or unsensible advice and don’t follow it, then it may become useful advice in its own way.) Filled with silly rhymes, witty wordplay and thought-provoking story poems, this collection will delight children of all ages.

Fact: Ember and Ness are best friends. There’s nothing more to say about it. It is what it is. It is what will always be. Ember and Ness. Then Ness dies. It is sudden and unexpected and leaves Ember completely empty. How can this be? When Ember finds a way into the Afterworld, she determines to bring Ness back. Because that’s what friends do, isn’t it? They rescue each other. They help. They never give up. Ember and Ness. That don’t change. A powerful, poignant, darkly comic and deeply moving story about friendship at its most extraordinary.