James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl, Illustrated by Quentin Blake)

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl, Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Blurb: Something is about to happen. James told himself. Something peculiar is about to happen at any moment.

James has lived with his two beastly aunts ever since the day his parents were eaten up outside London Zoo by an angry escaped rhinoceros. Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker are really horrible people. They make poor James's life a misery. 

Then something very peculiar happens - something magical that is to completely change James's wretched existence and take him on the most amazing and unbelievable journey!

ISBN: 0140382348 (Paperback)

Year: 1961

Publisher: Puffin Books

Pages: 156 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from the Book Depository

2. Teacher's notes for the book

3. Random House page for the book

4. Page celebrating 50 years of the book

5. Wikipedia page for the book

The Nearest Fire - Torin Trilogy #2 (Cherry Wilder)

The Nearest Fire - Torin Trilogy #2

Cherry Wilder

Blurb: Scott Gale, once a lieutenant on a bio-survey mission from earth, crash landed on another world. He is now called Diver and he is the Luck of Brin's Five - a full member of a Moruian Family. He has to find his way back to his spacecraft and the human crew waiting for him without being discovered by his enemies.

The Nearest Fire.

Yolo Harn learns of political intrigue against Scott Gale, the human who crash landed on her world. He is in terrible danger. So she begins a greuling search for the humans on her world. When she finally reaches the three earthpeople she has to face their fire-metal-magic and overcome her fear of their spacecraft. And she must learn to speak their language before she can tell them that their crewmate is still alive.

ISBN: 073225132X (Paperback)

Year: 1980

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 237 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the author

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page 

4. Other books by the author

5. Fantasy Fiction page for the author

Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Blurb: The graues flood tennatlesse, and the sheeted dead

Did squeake and gibber in the Roman streets

The New Penguin Shakespeare offers a complete edition of the plays and poems. Each volume has been prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a full and helpful commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play.

Edited by T.J.B. Spencer. Introduced by Anne Barton

ISBN: 0140707344 (Paperback)

Year: 1603 / 1980

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 384 (Fiction)

Links

1. Sparks Notes

2. Wikipedia page

3. Full text of the play

4. Summary of the work

5. Goodreads page

NBA High-Flyers (Bill Gutman)

NBA High-Flyers

Bill Gutman

Blurb: They're the high-flying, slam-dunking, in-your-face magicians, America's hottest court superstars, attracting record-breaking crowds to basketball. Check em out: Basketball's bad boy, Charles Barkley, the driving force behind the Phoenix Suns...Patrick Ewing, one of the league's best scorers and leader of the powerful New York Knicks...San Antonio Spurs' all-star centre, David Robinson...the incredible Shaquille O'Neal, who led the Orlando Magic to their first playoff ever...Hakeem Olajuwon, the Houston Rockets' great scorer, outstanding rebounder and shot blocker...Scottie Pippen, emerging from the shadow of his Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan to showcase his own superstar talents... Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets, considered the best of the young one-two superstar tandems in the NBA...and veteran leader of the Golden State Warriors, Chris Mullin.

They're all here, up-close and personal, in NBA High-Flyers.

ISBN: 0671887394 (Paperback)

Year: 1995

Publisher: Archway Paperback

Pages: 166 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Buy from the Book Depository

3. Buy from Barnes & Noble

4. Official site of the NBA

5. Yahoo! NBA page

Dark Side of the Sun - Space: Above and Beyond #2 (Dina Anastasio)

Dark Side of the Sun - Space: Above and Beyond #2

Dina Anastasio

Blurb: The year is 2063. Earth's first space settlement has just been demolished by an Alien army so violent and blood-thirsty it left almost nothing in its wake. And now it's up to the forces of Earth to defend the planet and save all of mankind... Meet the 58th Marine Squadron trained for war in SPACE.

All her life, Lieutenant Shane Vansen has been haunted by the loss of her parents, who were killed by manmade Artificial Intelligence creatures when she was just a child. Shane despises Als and has vowed to eliminate any AI who crosses her path.

Then she leads her Squadron on a mission to Bunuelm and comes up against her worst nightmare: AIs have just invaded the planet and killed the very humans Shane and the 58th have come to protect.

All too soon, she and her closest friends are locked in a desperate struggle against the AI invaders. And Shane's vow, once a personal pledge, becomes a matter of life and death...

ISBN: 006440644X (Paperback)

Year: 1996

Publisher: Harper Trophy

Pages: 89 (Fiction)

Links

1. Fansite looking at the books

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Look at the book

4. Goodreads page

5. Author's official site

Return of the Jedi - Star Wars (James Kahn)

Return of the Jedi - Star Wars

James Kahn

Blurb: It was a dark time for the Rebel Alliance...

Han Sola, frozen in carbonite, had been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian launched a hazardous mission against Jabba's Tatooine stronghold.

The Rebel commanders gathered in all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader and the Emperor, who had ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, were making plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all...

ISBN: 0751515477 (Paperback)

Year: 1983

Publisher: Warner Books

Pages: 218 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. In depth look at the book

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. Goodreads page for the book

5. Wiki on the book

Path of Beasts - The Keepers #3 (Lian Tanner)

Path of Beasts - The Keepers #3

Lian Tanner

Blurb: I'm fifth keeper of the museum of Dunt and I'm back where I belong.

When Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie steal into Jewel in the middle of the night, they find their city under the heel of the Fugleman, and the streets controlled by the Blessed Guardians and an army of ruthless mercenaries. The museum itself is seething with danger. Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie must use all their clever tricks and hard-won bravery to undermine the Fugleman's brutal regime before he rounds up the children of Jewel.

But in order to save the children and defeat the Fugleman once and for all, Goldie must walk the Beast Road, an ancient pathway deep inside the museum, a pathway so secret and perilous that no one has ever returned from it. According to the old stories, she can take only two companions, and they must be mortal enemies...

ISBN: 9781742371979 (Hardback)

Year: 2012

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 358 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Author's official site

3. Publisher's page

4. Kids reads page for the book

5. Official page for the series