Showing results by narrator "Jack Hawkins" in All Categories

The inspiring story of Ben Smith – who ran 401 marathons in 401 days with minimal support, to raise money for Stonewall and Kidscape. On 1 September 2015, Ben Smith set out from Bristol. Over the next 401 days, he would burn an estimated 2.4 million calories; run with almost 10,000 people; inspire almost 600 first-time marathon runners and visit 101 schools. He would also raise in excess of £325,000 for charity.

Finally free of devious bogles, Barnaby Figg and his parents are working happily at Granny Hogsflesh’s Pickle Factory. But when Barnaby’s mum goes missing along with the pickled remains of Belchetta Ballybog, it can only mean one thing: the bogles want revenge and they’re determined to bring down Granny Hogsflesh once and for all.

In The Wishbones, Tom Perrotta's characters are 90s adults still clinging to their 70s dreams. Thirty-one-year-old Dave Raymond has an adoring girlfriend and a steady gig as guitarist for The Wishbones, a New Jersey wedding band. He still lives with his parents, but that's a small price to pay for the freedom to play the music he loves.

Dave's world changes the day three little words fly from his mouth: "Let's get married."

The first time Alfie sees the boy, he appears as if from nowhere in the school detention room – the ‘padded cell’. There’s something odd about him and Alfie is definitely not pleased when he realises the boy has nicked his new jacket. But a ghost? His new friend Sarah is convinced – so convinced she is prepared to ghost-watch with him. And that’s when the warning message appears, scratched out on the blackboard by a phantom hand.

Twins Burt and Cameron are in competition with each other about everything. When they hear the Queen wants moose cheese – which is near-impossible to make – they embark on a dangerous world-wide venture to collect the ingredients for the Queen. Only they are so busy being in competition with each other, they don’t even notice Dr X, another competitor, steal all their ingredients to claim the prize himself. And worse, the twins uncover Dr X’s plot to poison the Queen with his moose cheese!

It’s time for Ping the panda cub to meet his public in this hilarious Awesome Animals adventure by award-winning author, Jamie Rix. Ping the panda lives with his mum and twin sister An on the Wolong Nature reserve in China. Although his name means peaceful in Chinese, he’s anything but! Ping craves adventure and excitement but unfortunately he is a panda… and pandas do pretty much nothing except eat bamboo for around 14 hours a day and poo up to 40 times a day.

'The situation as far as I'm concerned', says the young narrator-hero of MF, 'is an interesting one. In two days in a strange country I've acquired a mother in the form of a Welsh-speaking Bird Queen who scares me. I've spent some hours in prison, I've discovered the works of an unknown superlative artist in a garden shed and I've been shot at by a riddling lion-faced expert on Bishop Berkeley. Most interesting of all I'm due tonight to be married by a circus clown to my own sister.'

At long last, irrepressible panda cub Ping is leaving the safety of his nature reserve to embark on a journey of a lifetime! Will Ping and his new friend Little Bear enjoy their freedom, or will the shadows, and the bandits, and the lurking snow leopards have them running for home-sweet-home?

In a harbour town long ago, a boy is entranced by his uncle's stories of adventure in lands far away. Ignoring the crazy talk of the harbour pilot's son about the uncle being the Devil, the boy boards a ship with his uncle. But the uncle soon makes enemies of the captain and crew and, in frustration at their superstition, kills an albatross that has befriended the ship. As the ship sails on, madness and death ensue, and the boy and the crew face unimaginable horrors. A superbly gripping and haunting tale for fans of all classic horror.

Dinty Moore set out to explore America's fascination with Buddhism and found himself enthralled. You will be too, as Moore takes you into the world of American-style Buddhism, from a mountain retreat for executives learning to deal with stress to a Tibetan Freedom Concert with the Beastie Boys.

Tyrone Lewis is messing about in the woods, trying to keep out of trouble, when he stumbles upon something weird... a glowing lump of rock or metal. Whatever it is, it gives him an amazing power. Which is cool at first, until Ty’s new powers start attracting attention, and soon he’s being followed by two sinister agents who seem intent on ‘collecting’ him. But Ty has no intention of letting that happen. So now he’s got to run....

There’s more than meets the eye to Granny Hogsflesh and her pickling empire, but even Barnaby couldn’t have guessed how much more. Nor could he possibly have imagined what actually happened to his dad, who, burping and slurping, mysteriously disappeared into the night... What has Granny done? Enter the hilarious and disgusting world of bogles and pickling with a delightfully eccentric cast and deliciously dark humour.

When 11-year-old Stefan tells his little brother on Christmas Eve that Santa isn’t real, he totally expects to be grounded. What he doesn’t expect is for his name to land at the top of the Naughty List and for a demon named Krampus to creep down his chimney. Narrowly escaping an attack from Krampus, Stefan falls into The Land Christmas Forgot - a dark place where wolves are made of shadow and evil snowmen roam the forests.

The Hole-in-the-Tree gang, led by Quickpaw Cassidy and the Sunshine Cub, is the most daring group of raccoons in town. But when these cheeky chancers carry out the biggest, boldest heist of their lives, they push the neighbourhood too far. The heat is on, and the gang goes on the run in this wild adventure ultimately learning that there’s no place like home. 

Prince Anders, the ruler of Archenfield, has been murdered, leaving his younger brother, Jared, to ascend the throne. Sixteen-year-old Jared feels unprepared to rule the kingdom and its powerful and dangerous court, yet he knows he can rely on the 12 officers of the court to advise him. He also knows he can just as easily be at their mercy - especially when it appears that one of them may be responsible for his brother's death. Unable to trust anyone, Jared takes it upon himself to hunt down his brother's killer - but the killer may be hunting him, as well.