Titles in stock
Discover some of the titles we're sending to our Little Book Stops. They may be on loan when you visit so check back soon!
Jacqueline Wilson (Author)
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Nick Sharratt (Illustrator)
Celebrating 85 years of Sparking Imaginations
A beautiful clothbound edition of the much-loved modern classic The Story of Tracy Beaker. Bound in real cloth with two coloured foils and sprayed coloured edges, this deluxe edition is a perfect gift or collector’s item. Part of an eight book set published to mark the 85th anniversary of Puffin Books. With a brand-new foreword from Beth Lincoln.
'I'm Tracy Beaker. This is a book all about me. I'd read it if I were you. It's the most incredible dynamic heart-rending story. Honest.'
Tracy is ten years old. She lives in a Children's Home but would like a real home one day, with a real family. Meet Tracy, follow her story and share her hopes for the future in this beautifully observed, touching and often very funny tale, all told in Tracy's own words.
Collect all eight titles in the Puffin Clothbound 85th Anniversary Collection
THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER by Jacqueline Wilson with a foreword by Beth Lincoln
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney with a foreword by Dapo Adeola
CHARLOTTE’S WEB by E.B. White with a foreword by Jordan Lees
MATILDA by Roald Dahl with a foreword by Robin Stevens
THE EXTREMELY EMBARRASSING LIFE OF LOTTIE BROOKS by Katie Kirby with a foreword by Nadia Shireen
PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF by Rick Riordan with a foreword by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak
PIG-HEART BOY by Malorie Blackman with a foreword by Adam Kay
WONDER by R.J. Palacio with a foreword by Tom Fletcher
William Sieghart (Author)
'Truly a marvellous collection ... There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder - the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss' Stephen Fry
As heard on BBC Radio 4, the essential prescriptions from William Sieghart's poetic dispensary
Sometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realization - I'm not the only one who feels like this.
In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain.
'The book is delightful; it rightly resituates poetry in relation to its biggest and most serious task: helping us to live and diewell' Alain de Botton
Jenny Ireland (Author)
Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape; there, he's not just 'the boy with the brother'.
Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else.
Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .
Adam Kay (Author)
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Henry Paker (Illustrator)
Do you ever think about your body and how it all works? Like really properly think about it?
The human body is extraordinary and fascinating and, well... pretty weird. Yours is weird, mine is weird, your maths teacher's is even weirder.
This book is going to tell you what's actually going on in there, and answer the really important questions, like:
Are bogeys safe to eat? Look, if your nose is going to all that effort of creating a snack, the least we can do is check out its nutritional value. (Yes, they're safe. Chew away!)
And . . .
How much of your life will you spend on the toilet? About a year - so bring a good book. (I recommend this one.)
So sit back, relax, put on some rubber gloves, and let a doctor take you on a poo- and puke-filled tour of your insides. Welcome to Kay's Anatomy*.
*a fancy word for your body. See, you're learning already.
Robin Stevens (Author)
When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't.)
Then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She assumes it was a terrible accident - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove one happened in the first place.
George Orwell (Author)
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Robert Harris (Introducer)
A dystopian masterpiece - the powerful and prophetic novel that defined the twentieth century.
The year is 1984. War and revolution have created an unrecognisable world. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, is ruled by the Party, led by Big Brother. Mass surveillance is total and The Thought Police ensure no individual thinking is allowed.
Winston Smith works at The Ministry of Truth, carefully rewriting history. But Winston dreams of freedom, and of rebellion. It is here that he falls in love with Julia, and starts a secret, forbidden affair with her - but in this world nothing can be kept secret, and they are forced to face consequences more terrifying than either of them could have ever imagined.
'A profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book' New Yorker
'No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984' Atlantic
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT HARRIS
Margaret Atwood (Author)
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Naomi Alderman (Introducer)
** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **
Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon.
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford – her assigned name, Offred, means ‘of Fred’. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.
'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist' Bernadine Evaristo
‘As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it’ Guardian
Nazneen Ahmed Pathak (Author)
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Sandhya Prabhat (Illustrator)
A spellbinding, epic and heart-racing magical adventure from an exquisite new storytelling talent.
'Ahmed Pathak is a wonderful new voice; the book took her years to write, and it shows in the depth and care of each beat of the story' - Katherine Rundell
'A wonderful writer who paints a thoroughly convincing heroine' - The Daily Telegraph
India, 1855. The British rule, and all across the country, Indian magic is being stamped out.
More terrifying still, people born with magic are being snatched from their homes. Rumour is that they are being taken across the sea - to England - by the all-powerful, sinister Company.
When Chompa's home is attacked and her mother viciously kidnapped, Chompa - born with powerful and dangerous magic that she has always been forbidden from using - must travel to the smoky, bustling streets of East London in search of her. But Chompa will discover far more treachery in London than she had bargained for - and will learn that every act of her rare magic comes with a price . . .
'Cracking pace, fabulous magic system, characters, relationships . . . The whole package' - Louie Stowell
'An unexpected gem of a story . . . A stellar setting, a gut-punch of a twist, and an unforgettable heroine. This has all the hallmarks of classic children's storytelling' - Nizrana Farook
'Phenomenal' - Sophie Anderson
'Dazzling from start to finish' - Abi Elphinstone
'A gripping and spellbinding fantasy woven together with threads of magic, secrets and colonial history . . . An incredible cast of characters and a truly multicultural Victorian London that we don't see often enough' - Rashmi Sirdeshpande
'A wonderfully vibrant debut . . . A vivid magical adventure' - Jasbinder Bilan
Sathnam Sanghera (Author)
In Britain, imperialism is everywhere - though we often choose not to see it. From the way we travel and the foundation of the NHS to the nature of our racism and wealth, it is central to the way we think and conduct politics. In his bestselling book, Sathnam Sanghera demonstrates how so much of modern Britain - including the exceptionalism that inspired Brexit and our response to the COVID-19 crisis - is rooted in our imperial past.
Empire is foundational to modern Britain yet is barely taught in schools or mentioned in museums. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Empireland is a groundbreaking revelation - a much-needed and illuminating portrait of modern British society with the power and potential to change minds.
James Clear (Author)
Transform your life with tiny changes in behaviour, starting now.
People think that when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions: doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call.
He calls them atomic habits.
In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.
These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.
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A NEW YORK TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'A supremely practical and useful book.' Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck
'James Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones.' Adam Grant, author of Originals
'Atomic Habits is a step-by-step manual for changing routines.' Books of the Month, Financial Times
'A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life.' Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way
Richard Osman (Author)
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?
Bonnie Garmus (Author)
THE FUNNY AND INSPIRING, MULTI-AWARD-WINNING BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD, now a major Apple TV+ series starring Brie Larson
A Book of the Year for: Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, New York Times, Good House Keeping, Woman & Home, Stylist, TLS Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, NPR, India Knight, Hay Festival, Waterstones, Amazon, Books Are My Bag, and many more!
'The most charming, life-enhancing novel’ Sunday Times
'Funny, thought-provoking and stylish' Guardian
‘The best book I've read recently. I loved it’ - SARA COX, BBC 2 Between the Covers
‘Everyone needs to read this’ 5-star reader review
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A woman ahead of her time.
But exactly right for ours
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.
But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-Prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Forced to leave her job at the institute, Elizabeth Zott soon finds herself the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('Combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary.
But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook.
She's daring them to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.
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A New York Times ‘Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century’ Reader's Pick
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
Author of the Year, Waterstones
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Reader's Choice Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award
Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award
PRAISE FOR LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY:
'Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God
‘Full of humour, heartbreak and characters who feel like real people’ Red Magazine
‘Page-turning and highly satisfying’ – Maggie Shipstead, bestselling author of Great Circle
'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' Nigella Lawson
'A novel that sparks joy with every page' Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie
'Witty and sometimes hilarious ... the Catch-22 of early feminism' Stephen King
‘A beautiful, sharp, funny and dark modern classic. I adored it' Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark
‘The best book that I have read this year – a funny, warm, unique book’ 5-star reader review
‘Witty, poignant, clever, brilliantly plotted…believe the hype’ 5-star reader review
‘Funny, honest and heart-wrenching this book had me hooked until the end.’ 5-star reader review
Lessons in Chemistry has sold over 8 million copies worldwide across all formats, People, January 2025
Front cover may vary
Nathan Bryon (Author)
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Dapo Adeola (Illustrator)
Meet hilarious, science-mad chatterbox, Rocket - she's going to be the greatest astronaut, star-catcher, space-traveller that has ever lived!
But... can she convince her big brother to stop looking down at his phone and start LOOKING UP at the stars?
Bursting with energy and passion about science and space, this heart-warming, inspirational picture book will have readers turning off their screens and switching on to the outside world.
*Winner of the UKLA Awards 2021*
*Shortlisted for the Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards 2019*
"Outstanding - a breath of fresh air, just like Rocket herself" - Kirkus Reviews
"Energetic and with a wry, sweet take on family dynamics, it will alert readers to the mysteries of the night skies" - The Guardian
Malorie Blackman (Author)
'The Noughts & Crosses series are still my favourite books of all time and showed me just how amazing story-telling could be' - Stormzy
Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. Callum is a nought: he's considered to be less than nothing - a blanker, there to serve Crosses.
They've been friends since they were children, and they both know that's as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies - love is out of the question. Then - in spite of a world that is fiercely against them - these star-crossed lovers choose each other. But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.
Bea Fitzgerald (Author)
The Sunday Times Top 10 Children's Bestseller.
To hell with love, this goddess has other plans...
Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying.
Well, it's time to set the record straight.
Persephone wasn't taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her.
Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.
Zadie Smith (Author)
First published in the year 2000, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth was one of the most celebrated novels of the new millennium. Adored by critics and readers alike, it remains a perennial bestseller, which still delights with the audacity of its scope and vision, its fresh-minted style, and the wit and warmth of its voice.
Funny, generous and big-hearted, it deals – among many other things – with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle.
A life affirming, riotous must-read of a book, it won the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award.
Kim Hillyard (Author)
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Kim Hillyard (Illustrator)
*** WINNER of the Best Illustrated Book in the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2023 ***
One peaceful Tuesday morning, a loud CRACK could be heard as the last mammoth on earth broke free from her icy shell - here comes Gretel the Wonder Mammoth! Everyone is so excited to meet her but as she settles into her new life, Gretel starts to feel a little overwhelmed and even a bit lonely...
This positive, encouraging picture book teaches young readers that perhaps the bravest act a person (or mammoth!) can do is ask for help.
Dolly Alderton (Author)
“Nearly everything I know about love, I've learnt from my long-term friendships with women.”
I know that love can be loud and jubilant. It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s laughing until you wheeze. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing. It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
I know that love happens under the splendour of fireworks and sunsets, but also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport.
Everything I Know About Love is a celebration of our female friendships, of our messy years, and of growing up together. Glittering with wit, heart, and humour, it’s a book to share with every woman you’ve ever been lucky enough to call a friend.
Janet Ahlberg (Illustrator)
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Janet Ahlberg (Author)
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Allan Ahlberg (Author)
'In this book with your little eye, take a look and play 'I spy' - so starts the classic story from best-selling author/illustrator team Janet and Allan Ahlberg. A poem on each spread gives the clue as to what is hiding in the picture opposite. Many well-known nursery characters are included so that young children can follow the rhymes and enjoy the story.
Marian Keyes (Author)
'How did it end up like this? Twenty-seven, unemployed, mistaken for a drug addict, in a treatment centre in the back arse of nowhere with an empty Valium bottle in my knickers . . .'
Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters - Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She's only agreed to her incarceration because she's heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey - and it's about time she had a holiday.
But what Rachel doesn't count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?
Bernardine Evaristo (Author)
Grace is a Victorian orphan dreaming of the mysterious African father she will never meet.
Winsome is a young Windrush bride, recently arrived from Barbados.
Amma is the fierce queen of her 1980s squatters' palace.
Morgan, who used to be Megan, is blowing up on social media, the newest activist-influencer on the block.
Twelve very different people, mostly black and female, more than a hundred years of change, and one sweeping, vibrant, glorious portrait of contemporary Britain. Bernardine Evaristo presents a gloriously new kind of history for this old country: ever-dynamic, ever-expanding and utterly irresistible.
Jojo Moyes (Author)
England, late 1930s, and Alice Wright makes an impulsive decision to marry wealthy American Bennett Van. But stuffy Baileyville, Kentucky, where her husband favours his work and overbearing father, is not what she had hoped for. Then she meets Margery O'Hare, troublesome daughter of a notorious felon. Margery's on a mission to spread the wonder of books and she needs Alice's help. Trekking through mountain forests under big open skies, Alice, Margery and their fellow sisters of the trail discover freedom and friendship. But when the town turns against them, will their belief in one another and the written word be enough to save them?
Robert Macfarlane (Author)
Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.
Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.
Michael Rosen (Author)
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF!
Well, what would you say if your brother kept whacking you with a spoon, or the spider made it all the way up the toilet bowl, or your mum made you wear that horrible shirt?
Find out in this fantastically funny collection of poems all about growing up from the brilliant Michael Rosen, the author of award-winning children's books such as Quick, Let's get Out of Here, We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Chocolate Cake.
