Secrets of Mercy Hall... the second book in the mysterious Thorn Gate Trilogy

Tuesday 8 Nov 2011 by Inside Pocket | No Comments
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We are delighted to bring you Secrets of Mercy Hall, the second book in the Thorn Gate Trilogy, a mystery adventure for 7+ readers.

“Where is the lever to the Hedge?” shouted Jethro Barking as he towered over them...

“I’ll feed you to the sharks, I’ll hang you by your feet, I’ll give you to the Muttons one by one ‘till you tell me.”

 

The orphanage is in trouble again, this time financial trouble. George, Milly, Tommy and Singer go back through the thorn hedge in search of the diamond traders of the No Good Lands. But danger lurks in every corner: Snakeheads guard the trade route, and the Robes and their old adversary, Jethro Barking, are hot on their trail.

Help is at hand from their old friends, Drago and Batty, and some new ones, like the walking, talking Polytrees, the brave little Jambucks and Tod Beanpole, the out-of control rocket boy who lives on the mountain.

And thanks to the Rainbow Cave, the children now have strange powers of their own...

Can the children make it to the No Good Lands, find the diamonds and save the orphanage? Or will they be captured by the Robes and be once again at the mercy of mean old Jethro?

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The Golden Prince by Felix Arthur, illustrated by Jenny Capon

Tuesday 25 Oct 2011 by Inside Pocket | 2 Comments
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October marks the publication of The Golden Prince, the latest book brought to you by the creators of A Little Book of Alliterations, namely Felix Arthur and Jenny Capon.

The Golden Prince is a picture story of a day in the life of a bold and fearless knight who rescues damsels, fights dragons and saves his castle from destruction...

Or rather, a normal day for a little boy with a big imagination...

What does a brave knight do all day but rescue damsels in distress, capture criminals, hunt wild beasts and save his castle from destruction by bad wizards and fearsome dragons?

And what does a little boy do all day but bother his big sister, entertain his little brother, play with the family pet and exhaust his grandparents who have come to dinner?

A brilliant juxtaposition between the vivid imagination of a little boy and the reality around him, beautifully illustrated by Jenny Capon.

For further information, review copies or competition prizes, please email us at info@insidepocket.co.uk.

The Golden Prince is aged 3+ and is available to purchase via our website, online or in any good bookstore near you.

 

 

 


Thyme Running Out - the second book in the Tartan of Thyme series

Wednesday 12 Oct 2011 by Inside Pocket | No Comments
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Our latest book to be published is the second book in the Tartan of Thyme series, following the adventures of teenage, self-made billionaire Justin Thyme, as he struggles against mysterious forces to keep his family together and stop the Curse of Thyme from striking again.

‘I don’t have to build a time machine.. I could still change my mind...'

Justin shook his head, grasping at once the futility of his dilemma. The first domino had already been pushed; the fuse had been lit; the countdown had started. He’d passed the point of no return, and was trapped in the adventure of a lifetime with absolutely no way out.

Justin Thyme is a self-made billionaire living in a castle overlooking Loch Ness. The day he turns thirteen, he receives an anonymous gift: a fabulous watch with a puzzling message hidden on it. When he tells his father of his plans to build a time machine, the Laird of Thyme reveals tantalizing fragments of past espionage and warns his son of a ruthless enemy keeping him under constant surveillance.

Justin’s TV celebrity mother departs on a Congo expedition with her eccentric film crew and Eliza, a computer-literate gorilla. Whilst returning, Lady Henny is abducted, and clues prove that the kidnapper has inside information; someone in Thyme Castle must be a spy – or possibly Sir Willoughby’s old enemy in disguise. Everyone is under suspicion: Justin’s nervy tutor; their snooping housekeeper; the theatrical gardener; an ex-royal butler; and Mrs. Kof, their freakishly strong cook.

Suddenly, the race against time is on. Can Justin convert his vintage motorbike into a time machine, rescue his mum and discover the identity of their resident spy in less than a week...

Or will the dreaded Thyme Curse claim another life?

Be sure to visit the amazing Justin Thyme official website.


Thyme Running Out book launch

Wednesday 21 Sep 2011 by Inside Pocket | 4 Comments
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We recently held the Thyme Running Out book launch at the Cotswold Bookstore at Moreton-in-Marsh, which was a huge success.

Here is a pic of the infamous author, Panama Oxridge, together with the winner of the Thyme Running Out Doodled Book competition at this exciting event.  Read a full report of the day's events on the author's blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about the Tartan of Thyme series, visit the official Justin Thyme website.

 


Justin Thyme - Competition Time

Thursday 1 Sep 2011 by Inside Pocket | 3 Comments
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To celebrate the paperback release of JUSTIN THYME, the Tartan of Thyme Blog is running a competition with signed/doodled copies of both JUSTIN THYME and its forthcoming sequel THYME RUNNING OUT as the prize.

All readers have to do is visit the participating blogs, note down the letters and numbers on the Justin Thyme bookmarks (see photos), then rearrange the letters in numerical order. This spells a secret message (Justin’s description of himself). Visit the Tartan Of Thyme blog to find links to all participating blogs, and to email your answer.

The competition will close on September 7th, when a winner (picked at random from the correct entries) will be announced.

 


Watchman William - bookstore events

Tuesday 30 Aug 2011 by Inside Pocket | No Comments
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Here's some pics of the lovely Diana Shaw, during her recent book tour at Waterstones around the country to promote her latest book, Watchman William.

 

 


Watchman William, Ghost Detective by Diana Shaw

Tuesday 5 Jul 2011 by Inside Pocket | 2 Comments
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Our latest book, Watchman William, Ghost Detective features new stories for younger readers (5+) following the adventures of a crime-cracking and mystery solving Tudor ghost, William, and his modern-day sidekick, Thomas.

WW jacket“I’m William and I’m wearing these clothes because I was a night watchman at the time of Good Queen Bess. I’m a ghost you see!”

With his young friend Thomas, and the great detective, Sherlock Holmes for inspiration, William sets out to investigate mysterious happenings in and around Hardleigh Manor, all with a little help from his readers...

Can William stop the bicycle thief? Who is causing the sabotage at Hardleigh Hotel?

Floods, false trails, enormous exploding marrows and suspects upended in pig swill -all in a day’s work for William!

Loaded with clue summaries, suspect lists and lots of action, readers can help William and Thomas in their efforts to become great detectives.

About the author:

Diana spent her career teaching in primary schools. Now she divides her time between writing for children and reading to them in schools and bookshops up and down the country. Her first book, ‘Septimus Smythe and the Spectre Detectors”, was published in 2008. She lives in Cheshire with her husband, Brian.

Watchman William is now available to purchase online via our website or in any good bookstore near you.  You can visit our website for a list of stockists.


Escape from Mercy Hall, the first book in the Thorn Gate trilogy by Garth Edwards

Wednesday 25 May 2011 by Inside Pocket | No Comments
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Escape from Mercy HallEscape from Mercy Hall, the first book in the Thorn Gate Trilogy, a mystery adventure by Garth Edwards was published at the end of April this year.

“Any creature who gets changed after passing through the Rainbow Cave is sentenced to death by pegging out,” said Drago soberly. “They are simply chained out in the fields and when the evening comes the Muttons appear and eat everything in sight.”

In trouble again with the unpopular headmaster of Mercy Hall, Milly escapes from the orphanage with the help of her friends George and Samuel, and sets out to find her lost older brother, Tom.

Little did any of them expect to be bundled through a thorn hedge by shadowy figures into a strange land of Muttons (flesh-eating sheep), and forbidden changelings.Garth edwards image

Finding Drago, a slave dog, staked out and at the mercy of the Muttons, they save him.  In doing so they learn about the mysterious Rainbow Cave and the strange people, called the Robes, who control the cave and the glowing city beyond.

The children travel through the Rainbow Cave itself and discover the Dome, an enormous electro-magnetic power generator, worked by slaves kidnapped from their own world.

Can the children escape? Can they help the slaves escape? And are they now changelings themselves?

This is a thrilling new adventure from Garth Edwards, author of the acclaimed children's series, The Adventures of Titch & Mitch.

Escape from Mercy Hall is now available to purchase online via our website or in any good bookstore near you.  You can visit our website for a list of stockists.

 

 

 


James Burke reviews Justin Thyme by Panama Oxridge

Tuesday 24 May 2011 by Inside Pocket | 2 Comments
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If you like eight-legged cats, gorillas doing Stephen Hawking, Scottish baronial castles, time travel, boy inventor-detectives who slide down firemen poles, quantum physics, the Loch Ness monster, Shakespearean parrots,  vital clues in every paragraph (miss them, you’re lost), and language that goes from: ‘cream-crackered’ and ‘diddly-squat’ to: ‘chasmal,’ ‘dodecahedron,’ and  ‘Thesaurus Rex,’ as well as passing refs to Newton’s Principia, the Crypt of Erebus, string theory, mobius strips and neurophysiology,  all of it enlivened by Shostakovich, Wagner, Haydn and really bad puns,  plus good old-fashioned whodunit derring-do (and,  above all, if you lived through this sentence), then you’re going to love the book.  I can’t decide whether it’s written for 14-year-old nerds or classically-educated old buffers, but they’ll both enjoy the wild ride.  Especially the grammar and syntax, which fall somewhere between Boy’s Own paper and Bill Gates on a good day.   The author clearly doesn’t believe in subjunctives (but maybe I’m a classically-educated etc.).

Best of all, just as you’re getting wound up for what promises to be a brilliantly-complex denouement,  it ends, like this review, leaving you....     (don’t worry, there’ll be another book)

James Burke - Author 'Connections'.


Our award winning children's author, Ursula Jones

Tuesday 19 Apr 2011 by Inside Pocket | 1 Comment
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We are delighted to announce that we have recently signed a four book deal with award winning children's author, Ursula Jones.  Three of the books make up a trilogy set in a strange world of slave cities, power struggles and betrayal, and the fourth is a stand alone novel about a children's acting troupe in the 1930s.

Ursula brings a wonderful exuberance to her writing, drawing on her theatrical background and we are thrilled to have her.

Ursula Jones has had a long and highly successful career writing for children.  Early on she wrote seventeen plays for children, six of which were subsequently produced in Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Holland and Germany.  During a year spent as Dramaturge for the London based Unicorn Theatre for Children, she wrote three Street Shows, which formed part of a Royal National Theatre street programme.  One play, Monkey Puzzle, was then commissioned as the British contribution to a European Festival of Theatre for Young People.

Ursula helped create, and was one of the players in, a show for three actors who set out in a self-funded tour of Europe and parts of Asia for the benefit of children in the care of UNESCO and the Save the Children Fund.  It was then filmed for BBC Children's TV.  She has also scripted twenty-six episodes of Green Claws, a BBC TV series for young children.

Ursula's picture books include:

The Witch's Children (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway prize)

The Witch's Children and The Queen (winner of a 2003 gold Smartie Award)

The Witch's Children go to School (winner of the 2008 inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize)

The Princess who had no Kingdom (most recent publication)

Keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page for details of her future titles.

 


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