Madame Pamplemousse And The Enchanted Sweet Shop

It's winter in Paris and Madeleine is having problems at school. A new girl, Mirabelle, is bullying her. Madeleine is too ashamed to ask for help from her friends, Madame Pamplemousse and Camembert, but she's befriended by a woman called Madame Bonbon, who runs an alluring-looking sweet shop. The sweets Madame Bonbon gives Madeleine have the most bewitching effect, at first making her feel much stronger and able to confront Mirabelle. However, soon they start drawing her into a strange, enchanted world from which she finds she cannot escape. Madame Bonbon is really someone else in disguise - an old enemy from Madame Pamplemousse's past, who has come to Paris seeking her revenge . . .

Madame Pamplemousse is the story of Madeleine, forced to work in her unpleasant uncle's horrible restaurant, The Squealing Pig. By chance she comes across the most marvellous shop, run by Madame Pamplemousse, which is quiet, discreet, yet full of delicious and otherworldly 'edibles' - Pterodactyl Bacon, Scorpion Tails in Smoked Garlic Oil, and Great Squid Tentacle in Jasmine-Scented Jelly. A quiet comradeship develops between Madeleine, Madame Pamplemousse, and Madame's cat, Camembert. And together they create some wonderful culinary magic. Exquisite, beautifully formed prose that has echoes of Angela Carter belies a narrative that is full of pace. A wonderful fairy tale that will appeal to both adults and children.

In Paris, there is a café, elegantly furnished with polished wooden tables and an awning of striped gold and green, whose walls are filled with vintage posters advertising drinks such as Green Fairy Liqueur, Mermaid Madeira and Red Devil Lemonade. And sitting on the bar is a large, silver, steam-powered espresso coffee machine.The café is owned by Monsieur Moutarde, and Monsieur Moutarde has made the most extraordinary discovery. With the help of his friend, Madame Pamplemousse, he has created a time-travel machine (for that is what the espresso coffee machine is). Very special, highly flavoured, intense ingredients are fed into the machine, where they are subatomically blended with quantum froth and space-time foam. The resulting liquid looks like a small black coffee but in fact transports the drinker through time and space. But this is a dangerous invention. For who knows what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands? Before long, Monsieur Moutarde, Madame Pamplemousse, her cat, Camembert, and her friend, Madeleine, are on the run through space and time to capture a T. rex's freshly caught drool and the tears of the rare sphinx - vital ingredients for a tonic that will both save them and revive the ailing spirit of Paris. A magical romp that will charm and delight.

A children's adventure about a toy ship that has magic powers.

Ten-year-old Ernest lives a flat, colorless life. Each day is the same: he comes home right after school, eats a healthy snack, and does his homework. Enter Victoria, the new girl in class. Victoria instantly falls in love with Ernest, and bulldozes her way into his life. Much to Ernest's surprise, he likes it. Bit by bit, color seeps into Ernest's humdrum existence--and he begins to realize that life can hold an endless variety of love, friendship, adventure, and change."Quirky characters, heightening suspense, and hilarious situations are deftly combined in this tender novel, which examines a few of the large and small ways people affect one another." --Booklist, starred review

Publisher Description

Madeline is thrilled to make a new friend, Madame Bonbon, the owner of an enchanted sweet shop where the candies have magical powers, unaware that she is actually a dangerous enemy from Madame Pamplemousse's past.

When a German refugee moves to a small English town in the aftermath of World War II, he is an outsider. The gang decide to take Klaus under their wing, but their increasingly hateful pranks under the leadership of new lad Joe cause Klaus to question their actions.