Hamster Gangster

Rocco is no ordinary pet hamster. Tired of being kicked around in a plastic ball, he’s certain of his true destiny: to become a great leader among rodents. Through a mind-boggling mix of debatable genius and happy accident, he mounts a daring escape, heads for the Big City … and joins a fearsome gang of restaurant-raiding sewer rats. Now all that remains is to lead his fellow rodents into greatness – and become the gang’s next Big Cheese! All with a little help from his new best friends, Nev the mouse and his martial arts-obsessed sister, Tina. When Rocco discovers that the rats’ arch-enemies, the flea-bitten alley cats, are planning an attack, it seems that his moment to shine has arrived. But as he lands himself, his fellow gangsters and his new-found friends in ever-hotter water, he begins to realise that being a superstar action hamster isn’t quite as straightforward as he thought! Get ready for furious foxes, crazy killer cooks and a double-crossing pigeon named Francis. Just some of the colourful characters in a tale of big dreams, bigger blunders – and refusing to let others make you feel small. A funny, action-packed and unexpectedly heart-warming story for readers aged 8+.

A spoof of the gangster/crime genre. Films such as The Godfather and Goodfellas are parodied in a series of single-panel cartoons.

Meet Midgie: he’s wee, he’s fiery, and he’s totally fed up. It’s way, way back in the days of old, and the wild lands of Glenfoostie are home to the great Clan Claymore. Like everyone in the glen, Midgie is a member of the clan. He’d rather not be. With the clan chief’s smug and boastful son questioning his combat skills, Midgie’s bid to prove he’s as good as any Claymore is not going well. Nae bother: Midgie knows just what to do. Welcome to the all-new Clan McNumpty! Together with his wee sister, his best friend, a pesky know-all and a Highland calf named Dugald, Clan Chief Midgie embarks on a quest for respect and renown. They must claim their own castle! Triumph at the Highland Games! Hunt the Loch Ness Monster! Yet somehow they just keep making people ANGRY. Perhaps a pyromaniac pixie and killer haggis have something to do with it... Can calamitous Clan McNumpty ever become the heroes of Glenfoostie? As the glen faces the greatest threat it’s ever known, everyone’s about to find out. Join Midgie and the clan for more brave steps and backward steps than a Highland fling. With enough fanciful folklore and fizz-popping flame magic to set the heather on fire, this is a funny and adventure-packed story of courage, determination and learning what it means to believe in yourself for readers aged 8+.

Richie Stephens is an actor who often plays hardened gangsters and criminals. This is easy for him because he was a drug trafficker, kidnapper, drug addict, alcoholic, and all-around criminal himself. His life twisted and turned in harrowing self-destructive adventures that took him from his native Ireland to San Francisco, Australia, and finally, Los Angeles, coalescing into a classic tale of a man trying to run from his problems by moving to new and more exotic locations—a hard and painful realization that comes at a point in which he’s about to take his own life. The only reason there is a story to tell is because he did not. Instead, he found help, and in doing so, found himself. More than that, he found that help comes in different forms, and oftentimes it just takes the right thought to hit at the right time for it all to make sense. The Gangster’s Guide to Sobriety chronicles Richie’s descent into the abyss of crime and dependency, and how his personal understanding of freedom allowed him to become the functioning positive force he is today. Richie’s story is sprawling and epic, but the key to the book is the same key to his recovery: the 12 Steps. With his own flair and original understanding of life and the world, he followed the 12 Steps to find the clarity he needed to save his own life and evolve into a positive force for others. As Richie says, “Hopefully if people see that someone as fucked up as me could change their life, then there is hope for anyone.” The Gangster’s Guide to Sobriety is gripping in its honesty and openness. Even at its darkest moments, there is a keen understanding of the absurd nature of life as the author comes to grips with his failings and his faith, while also entering a place of self-acceptance. This is a story of redemption and the power of the human spirit, and how sometimes you have to turn to something greater than yourself.

This new kind of dictionary reflects the use of “rhythm rhymes” by rappers, poets, and songwriters of today. Users can look up words to find collections of words that have the same rhythm as the original and are useable in ways that are familiar to us in everything from vers libre poetry to the lyrics and music of Bob Dylan and hip hop groups.

Perfect Paragraphs is the third book in the How to Write series for English Language students. All the books in the series focus on different areas of English Language, Literacy and Creative Writing. The tasks are set out in easy-to-follow stages with plenty of examples and extra hints. In this book, students use a wide variety of ideas and activities to help them get to grips with writing paragraphs. Tasks include descriptive and active paragraphs, non-fiction work, family-life, hobbies, school, travel and creative adventures into fantasy and science fiction. The Write About chapter helps students learn how to research independently and write about lots of different subjects, with topics including Nature, History and Science This book can be studied alongside How to Write Super Sentences and How to Write Simple Storytelling.

Dear Friends, When Og the Frog came to live in Room 26, I felt a little jealous. Still, I tried to be welcoming but I soon discovered that it's HARD-HARD-HARD to make friends with a lumpy, bumpy frog! Then I found out that my fellow students were having problems with their friends, too. A.J. and Garth had to deal with a bully named Mean Martin Bean. Heidi and Gail had a terrible argument, and Miranda-Golden had a new stepsister who wasn't nice at all. Then there was the Poetry Festival, the magic show and the snowstorm! How could one small hamster solve all those problems? Luckily, I wrote the whole story in my notebook so you could share my adventures. Your friend to the end, Humphrey

Gerard Gallacher served as a police officer in Glasgow from the 1980s and three decades onwards. It was the time when drugs seized hold of the city and a new set of ruthless criminals were threatening to take control. There was still the usual violence of the city to deal with, including domestic violence, gang warfare and robbery, but it was the huge increase in drug use that defined the times and led to many of the most notorious incidents in the city's criminal past. And Gerard Gallacher was in the thick of the action. As a detective, Gallacher knew and dealt with all the major criminals of the times; including Arthur Thompson and his son Arthur Jnr, Tam McGraw, Paul Ferris, Joe Hanlon and Bobby Glover. He gave evidence at Ferris' murder trial, he discovered that Arthur Thomson was a Security Services asset and was the first detective on the scene when Hanlon and Glover were murdered. He delivered the police warning to infamous criminal Frank McPhie to tell him that his life was in danger, a warning that went unheeded.Gallacher was also involved in countless other high profile investigations, including the notorious drugs feud between former friends Tony McGovern and James Stevenson which ended in assassination. This is a compelling account of a police career at the sharp end of the action by a detective who wouldn't toe the line. And as well as giving his forthright views on the less than exemplary conduct of some senior officers, Gallacher now reveals what really happened behind the scenes in some of the country's most high profile cases.