Dodos Are Forever

A story which follows the demise of a colony of dodos after the arrival of man, and of one small group of birds who made their escape and set up a new colony on a nearby island. King-Smith's previous titles include Daggie Dogfoot and The Sheep-Pig, winner of the Guardian Award.

A parody of the pseudo-book, A bird considered being a faithful and true record of the unique observacions of that curious and exceeding rare bird of the tropics, the dodo.

The Mascarene islands in the southern Indian Ocean - Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues - were once home to an extraordinary range of birds and reptiles. Evolving on these isolated volcanic islands in the absence of mammalian predators or competitors, the land was dominated by giant tortoises, parrots, skinks and geckos, burrowing boas, flightless rails & herons, and of course (in Mauritius) the Dodo. Uninhabited and only discovered in the 1500s, colonisation by European settlers in the 1600s led to dramatic changes in the ecology of the islands; the birds and tortoises were slaughtered indiscriminately while introduced rats, cats, pigs and monkeys destroyed their eggs, the once-extensive forests logged, and invasive introduced plants from all over the tropics devastated the ecosystem. The now-familiar icon of extinction, the Dodo, was gone from Mauritius within 50 years of human settlement, and over the next 150 years many of the Mascarenes' other native vertebrates followed suit. The product of over 30 years research by Anthony Cheke, Lost Land of the Dodo provides a comprehensive yet hugely enjoyable account of the story of the islands' changing ecology, interspersed with human stories, the islands' biogeographical anomalies, and much else. Many French publications, old and new, especially for Réunion, are discussed and referenced in English for the first time. The book is richly illustrated with maps and contemporary illustrations of the animals and their environment, many of which have rarely been reprinted before. Illustrated box texts look in detail at each extinct vertebrate species, while Julian Hume's superb colour plates bring many of the extinct birds to life. Lost Land of the Dodo provides the definitive account of this tragic yet remarkable fauna, and is a must-read for anyone interested in islands, their ecology and the history of our relationship with the world around us.

A classic animal story from master storyteller, Dick King-Smith. Blessu is a very small elephant who suffers from dreadful hay fever - and although he's very small, he has a very large sneeze! Blessu doesn't grow very fast, except for one part of him - his trunk. And every time he sneezes, his trunk grows even bigger.

In this new book, Julie Cross examines the intricacies of textual humor in contemporary junior literature, using the tools of literary criticism and humor theory. Cross investigates the dialectical paradoxes of humor and debunks the common belief in oppositional binaries of ‘simple’ versus ‘complex’ humor. The varied combinations of so-called high and low forms of humor within junior texts for young readers, who are at such a crucial stage of their reading and social development, provide a valuable commentary upon the culture and values of contemporary western society, making the book of considerable interest to scholars of both children’s literature and childhood studies. Cross explores the ways in which the changing content, forms and functions of the many varied combinations of humor in junior texts, including the Lemony Snickett series, reveal societal attitudes towards young children and childhood. The new compounds of seemingly paradoxical high and low forms of humor, in texts for developing readers from the 1960s onwards, reflect and contribute to contemporary society’s hesitant and uneven acceptance of the emergent paradigm of children’s rights, abilities, participation and empowerment. Cross identifies four types of potentially subversive/transgressive humor which have emerged since the 1960s which, coupled with the three main theories of humor – relief, superiority and incongruity theories – enables a long-overdue charting of developments in humor within junior texts. Cross also argues that the gradual increase in the compounding of the simple and the complex provide opportunities for young readers to play with ambiguous, complicated ideas, helping them embrace the complexities and contradictions of contemporary life.

A brilliantly funny story about dodos, a dinosaur, and being VERY careful what you wish for, from the creator of Nine Lives Newton. Jack doesn’t just like dodos, he LOVES them. So when his dearest wish for a pet dodo comes true, surely Jack will be the happiest he’s ever been, EVER. Unless, of course, Jack wishes for more and more dodos and his new pets cause complete chaos, and no one believes that the dodos did it because dodos don’t exist and everyone blames Jack for everything. Maybe it's time for Jack to think about wishing for something completely different . . .

Orville the moose is a likeable young fellow who tries very hard to do everything right, especially when it comes to taking care of his handsome pair of antlers. They are his pride and joy, but despite all his care, he wakes up one day to find that they are coming loose!