Search results for ""author mark roland langdale""

What do you do if the family business is magic and you’re all fingers and thumbs? If your family are magicians and builders of tricks and illusions for other magicians and you can’t even pull a rabbit from a hat, do you turn your back on magic and walk away as far away from Abracadabra Street as you can…or do you try and overcome the hand you’re dealt? This is the question on Benjamin Blackstone’s mind. He has hope, however, in the form of a book his great grandfather bought about magic, a Victorian popup book of a street on which a long line of magic shops sat. This is called Abracadabra Street. The book is said to be truly magical in some way – and young Benjamin wants to get his hands on it. But this book is no toy to be played with which Benjamin soon finds out as he discovers the book after a long search locked in a trunk and discovers a living, breathing magical street! And that’s before a mysterious magician appears seemingly from inside the book. Benjamin knows it must be all smoke and mirrors, but he finds his own magic unlocked inside his head as he becomes obsessed to know how the book works and where the magician is really coming from. Because real magic isn’t real…right?

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Mark Roland Langdale’s third children’s book is a wacky and wonderful read that debunks the stigma of dyslexia. Hester, Huckleberry and the Sugar House Hauntings is a coming of age tale between Hester and Huckleberry who encounter a haunted sugar house, a haunted steamboat named the grey lady (who, when she puts her mind to it, can fly!), a flying ice cream bicycle cart, and a whole host of dark and magical creatures. Having suffered with dyslexia his whole life, Mark’s stories also share an important message about encouraging a love of reading and writing in those who also experience difficulty with words. His previous book Penny Farthing and the Man in the Moon also confronted issues surrounding autism – a common theme as Mark delves into real life issues that are affecting young children today. Full of wildly colourful illustrations, Mark’s stories encapsulate the true essence of a joyful children’s book that appeal to children age 8 and over. With more magic and mystery than you can shake a stick at, this book is a truly eye-opening and enjoyable read.

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Alfie Jolly is 59 and unhappy with his life. More specifically, with his birthdays. You see, none of them have been any good and with his sixtieth on its way, Alfie can’t help but think he’s been wronged. Spur of the moment, Alfie decides he wants to return/recycle all of his old birthdays. The only trick now is to find out how. A trip the North Pole, a chat with Father Christmas, and a flight to Egypt later, Alfie meets Father Birthday who, eventually, agrees to help turn back the clock. Literally. Suddenly Alfie is a child again, reliving each birthday and making new and better memories. Like in 1966 when he and his family travel to Disney World, or go to the fair in 1967 or when he relives the moon landing where the love his life, pretty Suzy Gentry, sits next to him on the sofa. His life is great with dancing again in classes and racing around with his twin, but it isn’t long before shadows start creeping in to this dream childhood of never-ending birthdays. Is it a case of be careful what you wish for or be grateful for every moment you have – before it ends?

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In a lovely manor house in West Sussex, living with her parents and grandparents, exists a girl named Tiger. Tiger is autistic and thinks differently to everyone else and didn’t in fact speak until she was seven, but she is a talented painter and adores tigers (and in fact all animals). Although the manor house is her entire world, her imagination opens everything up so she can even believe she can see the Taj Mahal from her attic bedroom window. Her parents love her – even though they wish she might draw on paper rather than the walls! – but even so, Tiger spends a lot of her days alone in the house and in the garden. And it’s there where Tiger’s world will change forever… One night, she paints a raggedy-looking tiger onto an old red brick garden wall. Under the blue moon, the tiger comes shockingly to life. Immediately bonded, Tiger knows in her soul she has found her first friend and willingly abandons her normal life for an adventure of the wild kind!

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What would you do if you lost yourself in another world? Orphan Poe Black finds himself lost in a forest inside an attic fighting both real and imaginary entities from the spirit world. Here he meets a young girl, named Sorrow, who he shares a connection with. Two is better than one and they forge ahead together, aware of the danger that creeps ever closer toward them. Set in Finland, just after the covid pandemic, this dark and supernatural, fairy tale follows Poe Black as he manoeuvres through three entirely different worlds, the real world, a parallel world and the spirit world. Can Poe and Sorrow defeat the dark and mysterious entity and make their way back to the so called real world or will they be stuck in the other realms for all eternity?

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