Bored of the Rings by Henry.N.Beard

This short novel was written by Henry N Beard and Douglas C Kennedy, who later founded National Lampoon. It was published in 1969. The parody generally follows the outline of The Lord of the Rings, including the preface, the prologue, poetry, and songs, while making fun of what Tolkien made serious. Aside from the text itself, the book includes: a laudatory back cover review, inside cover reviews which are entirely contrived, a list of other books in the "series", none of which of course exist and a double page map which has nothing whatsoever to do the book. I think Hamish might enjoy this book.

Deadly! Brats by Paul Jennings & Morris Gleitzman

This little book is number 2 in the series called Deadly but could be read without the others. I believe all of the six stories are available in one volume now. When Amy arrives home for her birthday tea, her parents have vanished and in their place is a baby she's never seen before. At around the same time Sprocket wakes up naked on a deserted mountainside and realises that he has lost his memory. Both kids set out on journeys to find the people they belong to, little knowing that they will soon join forces and embark, with the baby, on the deadliest quest of their lives We also have books 1, 4,5, and 6 in the Little Library of Rescued Books.

A Bone From a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson

This book could make you want to become an archaeologist! It is two stories which run along side by side. In one, a young female member of a prehistoric tribe becomes instrumental in advancing her people, whilst in the other a present-day girl visits her paleontologist father on a dig in Africa where they discover important fossil remains. This is probably aimed at a much older audience than upper primary school children but it is within the reach of some of Bay students. It is a bit like science fiction in some ways but speculating on a past life rather than a futuristic one. It focuses on an ape-human society about 4 million years ago, when human intelligence is only emerging.

Toad Heaven by Morris Gleitzman

There are now four copies of this in our little library so you could read it with a few friends. This is the sequel to Toad Rage and it is all about a cane toad who longs to find a place where his family can live safely from the humans who seem to delight in squashing them. After an encounter with a conservationist, Limpy, the main character, mistakenly believes that he has been injected with a virus that will decimate his species. After hearing about a national park where living things are protected, he sets out, hoping to find this refuge for his family before he dies. Limpy is the brain box and a reluctant leader who manages to guide the others through battles with stinging ants, crocodiles, and a boatload of tourists. The over-the-top dialogue includes lots of body humour and tummy-turning descriptions of toad diet and personal habits. Death is a frequent source of amusement, from the toads' eerie use of a flattened relative as an insect trap to the companions' unsettling experiences among stuffed souvenir cane toads in a gift shop. This book has so many things in common with the film called Canetoad: the Conquest which I saw at the cinema earlier this year. It was funny in a very droll sort of a way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYUHnf7Uy1k

Also click here to hear the first chapter of the novel:

http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/fst_heaven_audio.html.

The Fifth Usborne Book of Puzzle Adventures by Martin Oliver

This book contains three exciting adventure stories which will take you on a journey full of intrigue and mystery: Agent Arthur's Desert Challenge, The Dark Dark Knight and The Crimebusters Investigate. There are challenging puzzles on nearly every double page which you have to solve in order to understand the next segment of each story. If you do happen to get stuck you can ask me for a clue or look in the back of each of the story segments for some additional and very handy clues. Enjoy.

Sloppy Slimy Sticky Soggy Dripping Moving Science by Ray Miller

Do you like messing around in the kitchen? This little book has 15 slimy experiements to try. Most of the ingredients are easy to get and reasonably cheaply such as petroleum(Vaseline) liquid soap, corn starch and starch. So you can set up your lab in the kitchen and make slime, a gushing can, a slime spinner, a wacky wobbler and much more. Mum and Dad will forgive you for any mess you may make when you share these amazing experiments. This sloppy science is lots of fun. There is also a glossary in the back of the book wher you can find out about things like centrifugal force, inertia and torque amongs other interestin scientific terms.

1001 More Cool Jokes by Glen Singleton

Like jokes, riddles and knock knocks. This is jammed packed with these. There are jokes about girls, jokes about boys, Doctor Doctor jokes, Computer jokes and a Wicked section. Want some light-hearted reading or to test your friend's abilty to answer riddles, well then why not try out this big book for size. Lucinda would be very hard to beat. This is another popular book which was hardly ever on the shelves.