Granny Grabbers Whizz Bang World

Delilah Smart is just an ordinary child who wants to have a normal childhood, but her parents have other plans. They are determined that she wins the Worldwide Junior Extreme General Knowledge Competition and in order to achieve this Delilah must cram all day and only play with educational toys like the Sir Isaac Newton Brain Building Bear. And because Mr and Mrs Smart are Very Busy People they buy a 'childcare robot' to do the boring stuff like looking after her. But Robot Granny Grabbers has hidden qualities and her own views on how to raise Deliliah. She let's her eat chocolate cake and play on trampolines. She builds aircrafts out of household objects and orders pets off the internet. And very soon Delilah is learning how to have fun. Then disaster strikes! ChildCare Solutions learn of Granny Grabbers' errant robot qualities and send a Nanny Deluxe replacement whose circuits are wired to ensure NO IMAGINATION whatsoever. Is Granny Grabbers for the scrapheap? It's instant Action Stations for Delilah Smart and the team ...

Delilah Smart's life hasn't been the same since childcare robot Granny Grabbers entered her world and made it whizz bang wonderful fun, no matter how determined her parents are to make it dull dull dull. And it's not long before Granny Grabbers and Delilah stumble upon their next adventure ... When local department store Blingman's hires an army of robotic cleaning personnel made by Happy Home Robotics, Granny Grabbers recognises a dear friend from her 'childhood' in the Happy Home Robotics Laboratory - PUG is clearly asking to be rescued from a life of cleaning servitude, and so it's action stations for Granny Grabbers and the team. Soon they devise a cunning plan that involves covert shopping trips, Easter bunny disguises, magic vanishing acts and a troupe of Paintball Pirates. And of course no daring rescue is complete without a grabbmobile ...

From the two defining personalities of post-cyberpunk SF, a brilliant collaboration to rival 1987's The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

The magical people, or Karmidee, had been forced to live as an underclass, resulting in some very strange manifestations of magic. 10 yrs+

The City of Trees is in the grip of something strange. Although spring should have already arrived, the city is beseiged by icy cold and unending blizzards. Otto Hush, a magical Karmidee boy, is dismayed to find out that the Normals are blaming the Karmidee for the ill fortune. Otto realizes that even if the Karmidee once knew how to control the weather, by now they have long forgotten. But who or what is causing the unbearable cold? In his quest to save the city, Otto encounters the legendary Wool Bandits, helps a miniature family with a dangerous secret, and, together with new and extraordinary friends, challenges the ancient powers of the sinister Bird Charmers. Book jacket.

Zack and Clovis are obsessed with the strange and unexplained disappearance of their father, Balthazar. Now, many years later, they revive the Ice Angel and plan to carry on their dad's legacy. But great danger looms. Is there a link with their dad's strange disappearance.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A fascinating look at how consumers perceive logos, ads, commercials, brands, and products.”—Time How much do we know about why we buy? What truly influences our decisions in today’s message-cluttered world? In Buyology, Martin Lindstrom presents the astonishing findings from his groundbreaking three-year, seven-million-dollar neuromarketing study—a cutting-edge experiment that peered inside the brains of 2,000 volunteers from all around the world as they encountered various ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. His startling results shatter much of what we have long believed about what captures our interest—and drives us to buy. Among the questions he explores: • Does sex actually sell? • Does subliminal advertising still surround us? • Can “cool” brands trigger our mating instincts? • Can our other senses—smell, touch, and sound—be aroused when we see a product? Buyology is a fascinating and shocking journey into the mind of today's consumer that will captivate anyone who's been seduced—or turned off—by marketers' relentless attempts to win our loyalty, our money, and our minds.

Resolving to earn so much money that his mother will no longer stress out over the bills, eleven-year-old Timmy Failure launches a detective business with a lazy polar bear partner named Total but finds their enterprise "Total Failure, Inc." challenged by a college-bound spy and a four-foot-tall girl whom Timmy refuses to acknowledge.

'At first I thought there were technical problems - something wrong with the sound system - because when I opened my mouth I couldn't hear a thing. But it was more serious than that . . . I was completely dumb.' Chris loses the power of speech completely when his best friend dies in a car crash. Why? What terrible secret is he hiding? And can he find his voice before it's too late? Thought-provoking and original, this is a powerful thriller by a talented author.

In this marvellous story about the Karmidee, Otto travels back in time into the stormy, magical past ...