Readers' corner - Picks of the week

5 June 2015

   INDEX OF CONTENT

ARTICLE

Words: Pan Macmillan

Here are some great books to snuggle up with when it's just too cold to go outside.

Things a Little Bird Told Me

From GQ’s ‘Nerd of the Year’ to one of Time’s most influential people in the world, Biz Stone represents different things to different people. But he is known to all as the creative, effervescent, funny, charmingly positive and remarkably savvy co-founder of Twitter — the social media platform that single-handedly changed the way the world works. Now, Biz tells fascinating, pivotal, and personal stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, sharing his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. A fresh, entertaining book about the power of creativity and how to harness it, from co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone.

The Wrong Girl

Brigadier Pieter Vos is on duty with his young assistant, Laura Bakker, when the first grenade hits. As Sinterklaas prepares to address the crowds a terrorist outrage grips the heart of the city. In the chaos a young girl wearing a pink jacket is kidnapped. But the abducted child isn't the daughter of an Amsterdam aristocrat as the terrorists first thought. She's the daughter of an impoverished Georgian prostitute, friendless and trapped in the web of vice that is Amsterdam's Red Light District. As the security forces and the police clash over the ensuing investigation the perpetrator's horrifying demands become clear.

The Giant of Jum

A hungry giant meets a boy called Jack … The Giant of Jum is grumpy and hungry and he’s off in search of a tasty snack – the tastiest of all is a boy known as Jack. But Jack and his friends don’t see a scary giant, they see a magically tall man – a man who can fetch lost balls and rescue cats from trees! This is an incredible rhyming test and a brilliant, big-hearted twist on a classic fairy tale, which contains an important message for all: don’t eat kids, eat cake!

Notebooks of a Middle-School Princess

Dork Diaries meets Cathy Cassidy is a new stand-alone series for middle grade readers. A younger spin-off series from the bestselling The Princess Diaries, extending the brand down the age range. Introducing Olivia Grace, 12-year-old long-lost half-sister of Princess Mia and next in line to the throne of Genovia, and illustrated throughout by Meg herself.

All involved

Ernesto Vera is walking home from his job at a taco truck when three guys jump out of a car and assault him. Ernesto's not in a gang, he's not involved, but his sister is and when Payasa hears that her innocent brother has been murdered, she wants revenge. As widespread rioting breaks out across the city, Ernesto's death triggers an astonishing sequence of events, not just for the gangs involved, but for the firefighters, nurses and law enforcement who must deal with the consequences.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Ani FaNelli is the woman you love to hate. The woman who has it all. But behind the meticulously crafted façade lies the darkest and most violent of pasts... . When a documentary producer invites Ani to tell her side of the chilling and violent incident that took place when she was a teenager, she hopes it will be an opportunity to prove how far she's come since then. She'll even let the production company film her wedding to the wealthy Luke Harrison, the final step in her transformation. This audacious, page-turning debut thriller will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, Jodi Picoult and Lauren Weisgarber.

The 26-Storey Treehouse

Andy and Terry have expanded their treehouse! There are now 13 brand-new storeys, including a dodgem-car rink, a skate ramp, a mud-fighting arena, an antigravity chamber, an ice-cream parlour with seventy-eight flavours run by an ice-cream-serving robot called Edward Scooper hands, and the Maze of Doom - a maze so complicated that nobody who has gone in has ever come out again... well, not yet anyway... .

Color Attack!

Deadly dinosaurs meet menacing monsters and loads of awesome cool stuff in this fantastic book with pages of pictures to colour. Complete with its own special, stackable, four-colour pen, this fun activity book will inspire hours of fun and imaginative creativity.

More information

For more information on these fine books or where to purchase them, visit http://panmacmillan.co.za/