Alan Macdonald

The extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria's remarkable rule. When Abdul Karim, a young clerk, travels from India to participate in the Queen's Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favor with the Queen herself. As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt...

"A perfect first collection of timeless and treasured stories, with amusing pictures and rhymes, will delight young children everywhere."--Introduction.

A terrific story of reknown rebel lovers, James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. Follows the famous literary lovers from the dark streets of Dublin to the sun-kissed Italian coast. Bold, earthy and honest, their volatile sexually-charged relationship broke all social and religious bounds and became the basis for Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses.

Bertie is convinced that the grumpy school janitor is a vampire, but locking Mr. Grouch in a shed is probably not a good idea--and that is only the first trouble that Bertie finds in this trio of stories.

In these three tales Bertie turns a pink birthday party into a mess, faces and fails the challenge of being polite for an entire day (fortunately), and mistakes his mother's flower arrangement for garbage.

Bertie finds trouble everywhere, and in this trio of adventures he has plans for his dog's fleas, locks a substitute teacher in the storeroom, and has an encounter with a fire engine.