A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Roald Dahl

Quentin Blake

Billy's biggest wish is to turn a weird old wooden house into a wonderful sweet shop. But then he finds a giraffe, a pelly and a monkey living inside - they're the Ladderless Window Cleaners! Who need ladders when you've got a giraffe? They become best friends and when they meet the richest man in all England, there's a chance Billy's scrumptious-galumptious dream just might come true . . .

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (Colour Edition)

Kes Gray

Don't panic, but you're in danger. 
 
At least, you would be, if Jack Beechwhistle wasn't around to protect the world from alien attacks, zombie sweet-shop owners, and exploding conkers - with a bit of help from his trusty sidekicks, Colin and Harry (as long as it's not past Colin and Harry's bedtime). Their missions are daring, dangerous, and deadly. They even have top-secret headquarters (the shed by the rhubarb patch). 
 
But now Jack's about to face his most challenging challenge yet. The Attack of the Giant Slugs. 
 
And they're on their way to Jack's school - right in the middle of maths!

Jack Beechwhistle: Attack of the Giant Slugs

Daisy can't believe it! Mrs Peters is making her sit next to Jack Beechwhistle - the worst boy in the school, and possibly the whole world! 
 
Jack is so mad! Mrs Peters is making him sit next to Daisy Butters - she's such an annoying blabber! 
 
As the school day goes on, Daisy and Jack think of more and more ways to get one up on each other. Then they both have a brilliant idea! 
 
Trouble is, Daisy and Jack might be more alike than they realized . . . 
 
A funny, mischievous and totally troublesome tale for girls and boys, written and published specially for World Book Day 2016.

Daisy and the Trouble With Jack

Puffin Audiobooks presents two volumes of beastly poetry by Roald Dahl, complete and unabridged and raucously read by Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Mangan, and Tamsin Greig. The audiobook contains original music. 
 
In Revolting Rhymes, you can think again if you thought you knew the stories of some of the most popular fairy tales. Here are six of the best known retold, with more than a twist or two, by the master of the comic and the blood-curdling. 
 
In Dirty Beasts we meet a ghastly menagerie of wonderfully comic animals that can only have been invented by Roald Dahl. There is the toad that jumps to France - at his own peril; the pig who ponders the meaning of life; the anteater who gets the wrong end of the stick; and many more. Snigger, titter and laugh at their antics in this collection of irreverent and absurdly comic verse!

Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts

Louise Yates

Toad lives in a tree in Kitty’s garden – a very special tree with limitless rooms and countless adventures to be had. 
 
Prepare to enter a zany world full of new experiences, witty characters, and hilarious exploits…

Toad and I

Raymond Briggs

It's time for a bloomin' holiday in this hilarious sequel to the beloved festive classic, Father Christmas. 
 
In this brilliant funny sequel from Raymond Briggs, author of The Snowman, a still rather grumpy Father Christmas decides to go on holiday. Of course, no-one needs a holiday more than Father Christmas . . . but where can such a well-known and easily recognized person go? 
 
As Father Christmas sets off in search of his ideal holiday spot. he travels to France, Scotland and Las Vegas - but as he soon discovers, there's really nowhere like home. 
 
More brilliant Raymond Briggs stories: 
Father Christmas 
The Snowman - a wordless picture book

Father Christmas Goes on Holiday

Paul Stewart

Tony Ross

WOOF! Alice's new pet budgie doesn't speak. It barks! Dad says the bird must go, but what do you do with a barking budgie? 
 
OINK! When greedy Albert pinches a Mars bar, his grandmother warns him of the curse of the were-pig. Will he grow a curly tail when the sun comes out? 
 
RIBBIT! The croaking frog in the garden is driving Looby loopy! Grandad wonders if it's an enchanted prince, but Looby doesn't believe in fairy tales any more. Maybe she should just give the frog a tiny kiss . . . 
 
Three lively, funny tales from Smarties Prize-winning author Paul Stewart.

Dogbird and other mixed-up tales

Packed with brilliant seasonal jokes (Q: How does good King Wenceslas like his pizzas? A: Deep pan, crisp and even!) together with lots of silly stuff that will keep children giggling throughout the Christmas holidays. Cast an unwanted Gift Spell, read Santa's hilarious emails and try the Top Ten things to do with leftover turkey. With hilarious spoof ads and lots of fun Christmas features this book will really put the ho-ho-ho 
into your holidays.

The Crazy Christmas Joke Book

Mini Grey

What happens when you leave your toys out in the garden at night? They get beamed into space - that's what! Join our plucky band as they explore the cosmos, and help out one lonely alien along the way...

Toys in Space

Roger Hargreaves

Mr Funny's car is a shoe! It looks very funny when he drives to the zoo. But can he cheer up the animals? Mr Dizzy always gets things confused, until one day he happens upon a wishing well... Mr Bump tries his hand at many jobs, but keeps getting fired! Will he ever bump into one that's suitable for him? Mr Fussy is a fussy old fusspot who dusts his flowers and irons his shoelaces! So how will he cope with Mr Clumsy? Mr Topsy-Turvy manages to turn a whole town upside down! Mr Small goes job hunting and finds, after all, he's perfect as he is. 
 
1 CD. 44 mins.

Mr Men (Vintage Beeb)

Emma Laybourn

Jack's mum insists he has new school shoes and the only ones they can find are horrid, black lace-ups.  They are so stiff, noisy and uncomfortable that Jack suspects they must be monster shoes, especially when they seem to kick his classmates for no reason and make the football go in completely the wrong direction at playtime.  Jack desperately works on a plan to get rid of them, until he discovers, quite by accident, a way of taming the monster shoes...

Monster Shoes

Nicholas Fisk

Tom and his little sister, Polly discover a huge, colourful parrot in their kitchen called Mister Macaw. He is a loquacious and very bossy bird who has swallowed an English dictionary and is DESPERATE to get back to his tropical rainforest. The threesome must find a way of paying for the parrot's airfare - and come up with the mega-wacky solution of robbing a bank with a . . . banana!

Not A Dickybird

Jean Ure

When Billy the Skid and his nasty gang of mountain bikers ride into Bodley Street and ride menacingly up and down, Danny and friends are determined to fight back. They know bullies must be stopped - the question is how? After a little thought, Danny comes up with an ingenious plan and enlists the help of the twins, Daisy and Donna. All will be well providing Danny can lure Billy into the spooky graveyard and sprint through like dynamite! 
 
A cheering story for new readers, with a cosy setting, a clear triumph for Danny against the bully and told with lots of humour.

Danny Dynamite

Nicholas Allan

A big sister is horrified when she can't fit into her swimming costume. Her BOTTOM IS SOO BIG! But her little sister has some good advice. 
 
There follows a wonderful romp through history and fairyland, as the little sister explains exactly why a big bottom can be useful. Father Christmas needs one for crash landings and, if you are a queen, a big bum is vital to keep you comfy while sitting on your throne . . . 
 
Once again Nicholas Allan combines laugh-out-loud humour with real insight that cannot fail to raise a smile.

Cinderella's Bum

Traction Man and Scrubbing Brush are at the beach! Traction Man even has his special Squid-Proof Scuba Suit, perfect for exploring the secret crevices of the Rockpool. But there are adventures in store for our intrepid hero as he faces the thrills of Operation Picnic, the tribulation of being buried in sand and - worst of all - being washed away by a giant wave... 
 
Join the daring duo as they meet new challenges ... and new friends.

Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey

Jan Page

"WE'VE ALL HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR CLOWNING ABOUT...IT'S NOT FUNNY!" 
 
Every morning, before school, Bill dresses in baggy trousers, a silly blue wig and a red plastic nose, as... the Great Bilbo! 
 
But clowns belong in the Big Top, not in the classroom, and everyone is getting really fed up with Bill's clowning! Then Mum takes Bill to a real circus, and the Great Bilbo discovers that being funny is a serious business... 
 
All the fun of the circus in this hilarious story from the author of DOG ON A BROOMSTICK and DOGNAPPED!

It's Not Funny!

Geraldine McCaughrean

Mum always liked to buy Neil clothes big enough for him to 'grow into'. And his new cricket jumper makes him look like a lamb in sheep's clothing! But Mum goes too far when she buys a new wardrobe and that, too, is far TOO BIG. It won't fit in the front door, it won't go through the downstairs windows. And, when Mum and Dad finally work out how to get it in the house, Neil - and his too-big cricket jumper - cause a very surprising outcome: one that Neil likes very much indeed!

Too Big!

Mairi Hedderwick

Welcome to the Island of Struay, home of one of the best-loved characters in children's books and as seen on TV - Katie Morag McColl! 
 
When the village mail gets muddled, it's up to Katie Morag to sort things out - with a little help from Grannie Island and her tractor. . .

Katie Morag Delivers the Mail

Michael Broad

Will's school play is Beauty and the Beast, but Urk has discovered there'll be more than one monster on opening night! The show must go on, but can they stop Rumblefart and his mad monster mob?

Monsterbook: Rumblefart and the Beastly Bottom

Traction Man is back! And so is Scrubbing Brush, his brave and rather bedraggled pet. But one night Scrubbing Brush myseriously vanishes and in his place is the utterly hygenic Turbodog, in indestructible Purple Plastic with Flashing Eyes, Electronic Bark and three AA batteries. But it's not the same without Scrubbing Brush. Where can he be? Traction Man sets out on his greatest rescue mission yet. Can he save Scrubbing Brush from? And is there room in his life for two pets?

Traction Man Meets Turbodog

Anne Fine

'Okay, okay. So stick my head in a holly bush.' 
 
Tuffy knows what he likes. And he doesn't like the 'art' that Ellie's mum brings home from her new classes. So what's a cat to do? 
A few scratches here just happen to shred a painting. A nudge there somehow slips a vase off a shelf. Dad hope a horribly lumpy clay pot will be next, but Tuffy's having none of it. The killer cat will go his own sweet way!

The Killer Cat Strikes Back

Alan Rusbridger

Slap bang in the middle of the hottest day of the year, the zoo&rsquo;s drains have blocked up and there&rsquo;s nowhere for the animals' poo to go! 
 
Mr Pickles the zoo keeper (who is looking distinctly green) must decide what to do with it all . . . 
 
Before the naughty chimps beat him to it!

The Smelliest Day at the Zoo

A simple introduction to reproduction. 
 
Every single day, Willy, a small sperm, practices for the Great Swimming Race. 
 
But, when the day arrives, will Willy be able to swim faster than his 300 million friends? He'll have to if he stands a chance of meeting the marvellous egg. 
 
Join Willy on his biggest adventure yet! 
 
Hilariously funny, warm, and playful, this is a picture book that appeals to both children and grown-ups. 
 
"Fresh, original, and imaginative. . . . Allan's achievement is in couching fascinating facts within the construct of a gentle, direct narrative. A little knowledge is a wonderful thing, and as the rest of the facts of life fall into place, Allan's readers will look back on this book with a mixture of fondness and wry amusement." -The Guardian

Where Willy Went

When Horace bakes a biscuit in the shape of a bear, little does he know that his edible treat is going to turn into Biscuit Bear! For in the middle of the night, when all is quiet, that is exactly what happens, and Biscuit Bear decides that it is time he made some friends of his own. So, with flour, sugar and butter he does just that. In fact, he makes a whole circus of friends and the fun begins . . .

Biscuit Bear

Eoin Colfer

Will has four brothers and it's chaos in his house! If he's not being teased by his big brother Marty, he has to deal with the terrible, three-headed bundle of cuteness that is his three younger brothers. Even worse, his mother has the brilliant idea of packing Will and Marty off to the library during the holidays. She just doesn't understand! Not only is the library no fun, it's also the habitat of the legendary librarian Spud Murphy. If you put a foot wrong, it's rumoured she will use her dreaded gas-powered spud gun and you don't want that - just ask Ugly Frank how he got his nickname! Eventually Will and Marty discover a love of books and that Mrs Murphy isn't so bad after all!

The Legend of Spud Murphy

Everyman's Children's Classics has more than 50 titles in print. It offers the finest editions currently available of the world's greatest children's books in handsome, full cloth hardcover bindings. 
 
The library brings back into print major illustrators such as Ivan Bilibin, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Nicolas Bentley, Walter Crane, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Ardizzone, W.Heath Robinson and Mervyn Peake.

Wonderful collection of nonsense verse, from Chesterton to Dahl, Lear to Carroll. 
With beautitul, original illustrations, both full colour and black &amp; white.

Everyman Book Of Nonsense Verse

Kaye Umansky

An excellent introduction to jokes and joke-telling. Over 60 jokes and rhymes, each with their own hilarious illustration - perfect for playground comedians. 
There are 'Knock, knock!' jokes, 'Doctor, doctor' jokes, monster jokes, and plain daft jokes. There are silly rhymes, crazy crossbreeds and a whole library of joke titles. Each one is in a large easy-to-read typeface and has its own humorous illustration to make it even funnier!

My Very First Joke Book

Humphrey Carpenter

As a rule, magic carpets don't turn up in schools, but this is exactly what happens when Class Three's new teacher flies in through the classroom window and lands on the floor with a bump. 
 
Mr Majeika can behave just like any ordinary teacher if he wants to, but something has to be done about Hamish Bigmore, the class nuisance, and so he uses a little magic to turn him into a frog. And to everyone's delight it looks as if Hamish will have to remain a frog because Mr Majeika can't remember the spell to turn him back again! With Mr Majeika in charge, suddenly life at school become much more exciting - there's even a magic-carpet ride to Buckingham Palace!

Mr Majeika

Jesus worked hard to make the world beautiful. He performed miracles, told fabulous stories - all for free - and generally spent his time spreading joy and light around the world. A tiring business, as Jesus had to admit when, one day, he had trouble getting out of bed. And worse - the miracles start to go wrong! But help is at hand. 'Take the day off, Jesus,' said the doctor. 'Relax.  Have some fun!' So Jesus had some fun - but was it worth it? Dad, as usual, has the answer!

Jesus' Day Off

Dick King-Smith

Mike Terry

Laurence Higgins, an enormously fat black cat, has breakfast with Mrs Higgins, lunch with the Normans, tea with old Mr Mason and supper with the Barclay-Lloyds. None of them know why he is so fat on just one meal a day! Lawrence is happy until he finds the walking from house to house tiring and begins to get indigestion. His friends tell him to lose weight if he wants a girl friend so he begins to spend one day in four with all his owners. He gets thinner but the cat he fancies down the road tells him she doesn't like slim boys - she's lost her heart to an enormously fat black cat she used to see up the road! Triumphantly Lawrence returns to his four meals a day, spurred on by the thought of meeting Bella when he's back to his normal size.

Fat Lawrence

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Filters

Category

Age

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter