April
2006

Available from 3 April 2006

David Attenborough-The Early Years
Zoo Quest for a Dragon
David Attenborough's books and broadcasts have enticed millions of viewers and readers into the incredible world of natural history. In Zoo Quest For a Dragon he takes us back to one of his earliest projects when the BBC and London Zoo joined forces on several animal-collecting expeditions. In this magical journey David Attenborough and his crew travel through Indonesia in search of the elusive Komodo Dragon.
3CDs, 3hrs 15mins, ISBN 1846 071445 £15.99

Jacqueline Wilson
The Bed and Breakfast Star
When Elsa's stepfather loses his job, the family are forced to move into the seedy Royal Hotel, where Elsa, her mum, stepdad Mack, little sister Pippa and baby Hank the Hunk are all crammed together in one room. Everyone gets on each other's nerves, and Elsa cracks endless jokesto make her family laugh. Her dream is to be a famous comedian and appear on TV. When disaster strikes at the hotel, Elsa gets her chance to be a real star. Popular actress and comedian Josie Lawrence reads this lively story about a young girl with a hard life but high hopes.
3 CDs, 3hrs 30mins, ISBN 0563 070856 £12.99

Jacqueline Wilson
Buried Alive
Stephen Tompkinson reads this exciting and funny story about two boys who face up to bullies while on holiday. Tim is thrilled when his parents allow his best friend Biscuits to come on holiday to Llanpistyll in Wales with them. He and Biscuits are having an absolutely brilliant time - until a Deadly Fiendish Enemy in the form of the bully Prickle-Head and his sidekick Pinch-Face arrive. The bullies tease Tim, kick down his sandcastle and pick on Biscuit. Tim wonders if it would be better to avoid the beach for a while and lie low, but Biscuits is determined to enjoy his holiday, and the chums soon find themselves in the middle of a dire and dangerous adventure. Luckily, help comes from an unexpected source and gives Tim the chance to become Super-Tim and save the day.
3 CDs, 3hrs 10mins, ISBN 1846 070864 £12.99

Jacqueline Wilson
Double Act
Eve Karpf reads this funny and touching story about twin sisters who discover their differences are just as important as the bond between them. Identical twins Ruby and Garnet are inseparable. They do everything together, even though they are very different: Ruby is more outgoing and loves sports, while Garnet is quiet and enjoys reading. They love being twins, and since the death of their mother they have lived with Dad and Gran and been closer than ever. But then Dad finds a new girlfriend, Rose, and the twins' lives are turned upside down - new home, new school, new everything. Soon, being twins isn't quite the same anymore. Then Ruby spots an ad in the paper - 'twins needed for TV serial'. It seems like the chance of a lifetime, but there's one snag: Garnet hates the idea. 3 CDs, 2hrs 50mins, ISBN 1846 070872 £12.99

Jacqueline Wilson
Dustbin Baby
Tessa Peake-Jones reads a compelling story for older children about one girl's search for her real family. April has lots of nicknames: April Showers, because she's always crying, and April Fool, due to her birthday. But the worst nickname of all is Dustbin Baby. That reminds her of how she started out in life: abandoned in a rubbish bin. When she turns 14, April decides that she must find out who she really is - where she came from and, most importantly, her real mother's identity. There have been lots of people she's called Mum, but April wishes she could remember her birth mother. She even wonders if it might be possible to find her. Perhaps if April can achieve her ambition, she will feel strong enough to shake off the nicknames - and the memories of some awful times in her past.
3 CDs, 3hrs 15mins, ISBN 1846 070880 £12.99

Jacqueline Wilson
Glubbslyme
Sandi Toksvig reads this lighthearted tale of magic and friendship. It's school holiday time and Rebecca, Sarah and Mandy are in the park. Rebecca always thought Sarah was her best friend, but now Sarah seems to prefer Mandy, who thinks Rebecca is a baby. When Rebecca wades into the witch's pond she meets a very unusual new friend - a huge, warty toad! But Glubbslyme is no ordinary toad. He is hundreds of years old, can talk and - best of all - can work magic. Although toads are not Rebecca's favourite animals, he wants to be her friend and insists that she take him home with her. He teaches Rebecca how to fly and cast spells, but there is only one thing she really wants to learn. Can Glubbslyme help Rebecca to be best friends with Sarah again?
2 CDs, 2hrs 25mins, ISBN 1846 070899 £9.99

Jacqueline Wilson
How to Survive Summer Camp
Typical! Stella's mum and new stepfather have just got married, so Mum and Uncle Bill have gone off on a swanky honeymoon, while Stella's been dumped at Evergreen Summer Camp. Guess what? She's not happy about it. Things get worse. Stella loses all her hair (by accident!) and has to share a dorm with snobby Karen and Louise, who are determined to make her life miserable. Worse still, despite her mum's assurances that she doesn't have to go in the pool if she doesn't want to, she is forced into terrifying swimming lessons with Uncle Pong! It looks as if she's in for a nightmare summer - can Stella survive, learn how to swim and maybe even make friends and start to enjoy herself? Read by Kelly Hunter.
3 CDs, 3hrs 5mins, ISBN 1846 070902 £12.99

Jacqueline Wilson
The Lottie Project
A touching, entertaining story about two girls from different times who have similar problems, read by Eve Karpf. Charlie lives with her young mum, Jo, in a very small, but much-loved flat. Things start going wrong in the new school year: Charlie's new teacher doesn't seem very friendly, and Jo loses her job and starts work as a cleaner. Everything is changing for Charlie, but a school project becomes a way for her to release her feelings. At first she thinks the Victorians are deadly dull and drippy, but then she starts to write about a Victorian girl called Lottie who works as a nursery maid for a wealthy family. Charlie soon realizes that her own hardships and struggles are not so different from Lottie's. Lottie's life is hard, but Charlie has problems too, like her mum's awful new boyfriend and his wimpy little son!
4 CDs, 4hrs 45mins, ISBN 1846 070910 £15.99

Jacqueline Wilson
Sleep-Overs
Daisy is the new girl at school. She is finding her feet with a new group of friends and has become part of the 'alphabet club' - A for Amy, B for Bella, C for Chloe, D for Daisy and E for Emily. As each one celebrates her birthday, they have a sleepover party to which they invite the rest of the gang. Most of the girls are friendly, except for bossy, stuck-up Chloe, with her snide bullying. Daisy is desperate to have a sleepover as her own turn to play host fast approaches. But what will her friends think of her older sister, who is mentally and physically disabled? And will they still want to be friends with her? Read by Susannah Harker.
2 CDs, 2hrs, ISBN 1846 070929 £9.99

Jacqueline Wilson
The Suitcase Kid
My family always lived at Mulberry Cottage. Mum, Dad, me - and Radish, my Sylvanian rabbit. But now Mum lives with Bill the Baboon and his three kids. Dad lives with Carrie and her twins. And where do I live? I live out of a suitcase. Mum wanted me to go and live with her. My dad wanted me to go and live with him. I wanted to stay at our old place, all three of us together, but that wasn't allowed. So in the end I got to live in my mum's house one week and my dad's house the next. It's as easy as ABC... I don't think. A sensitive, humorous story that won the Children's Book Award, read by Lesley Dunlop.
2 CDs, 2hrs 30mins, ISBN 1846 070937 £9.99

Jacqueline Wilson
The Worry Website
Helen Lederer reads this fabulous collection of linked short stories about seven school children and their deepest worries. Is anything bothering you? Problems in class or at home? Don't know what to do or where to turn for help? Log on to the Worry Website! Type in your worry - no need to put your name - and wait for the good advice to flow in. At least, that's the plan when Mr Speed sets up his super-cool new Worry Website for his class. Holly, Greg, Natasha and the rest certainly feel that they've got shed loads of worries - from divorced parents to living with a disability, and from feeling useless at school to nightmares at home - but, as they find out, sometimes the best advice comes from the most unexpected place. This audiobook includes a prize-winning story by 12-year-old writer Lauren Roberts.
2 CDs, 2hrs, ISBN 1846 070945 £9.99

Gwyneth Rees
Fairy Dust
Do you believe in fairies? Rosie does but her mum doesn't. Sometimes, though, real life is stranger than a fairy tale. Rosie didn't want to move to a tiny cottage by a loch on the Isle of Skye. But the place is so beautiful, and her mum is so much happier here - Rosie just wishes Mum hadn't left Dad behind in London. Then Rosie finds a tiny stripy sock in her bedroom, and she's sure that only one thing could fit it - a fairy! Mum tells Rosie not to be so silly, fairies don't exist. Rosie's not sure what to believe until she sees something in the grass, and can hardly believe her eyes. It looks like a butterfly, or a small bird - only different. It's fluttering and tiny and magical. Could it really be a fairy? Read by Sophie Ward.
2 CDs, 2hrs 30mins, ISBN 1846 070813 £9.99

Alan Bennet
The History Boys
Alan Bennett's new, award-winning play as heard on BBC Radio 3 features the National Theatre cast starring Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison and Frances de la Tour. At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright sixth-formers is getting out, starting university - and starting life. Then there are the teachers: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young supply teacher who sees history as 'entertainment'; Mrs Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches 'history, not histrionics'; and a Headmaster obsessed with results. Staff-room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence collide in an intensely moving and thought-provoking play, described as 'the richest play Bennett has ever written' (Financial Times). The History Boys won the Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Show Awards for Best New Play.
2 CDs, 2hrs 30mins, ISBN 0563 504099 £12.99

Agatha Christie
Mrs McGinty's Dead
BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring John Moffat as Hercule Poirot. Superintendent Spence is convinced the wrong person is due to hang for the brutal killing of Mrs McGinty, and so calls in Hercule Poirot. The Belgian detective goes down to the village where the old lady lived and where, by chance, so does his good friend Ariadne Oliver. Together they surmise that Mrs McGinty was murdered because she recognised someone in her village as a notorious killer - but can Hercule Poirot and Ariadne find out who it is before the killer strikes again?
2 CDs, 2hrs 20mins, ISBN 0563 510218 £12.99
2 cassette, 2hr 20mins, ISBN 0563 510161 £10.99

Navy Lark: The Very Best Episodes
Volume One
Fred Vintner, the President of The Navy Lark Appreciation Society, has selected these four favourite episodes for you to enjoy. So climb aboard and join the merry crew in these four classic capers, starring Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips, Ronnie Barker, Tenniel Evans and Richard Caldicot. The crew are put at the disposal of a film company with disastrous consequences in An Exercise in Filming (28 June 1959), while in The Lighthouse Lark (29 January 1960) they try to rescue a lighthouse keeper trapped by a storm. HMS Troutbridge has a bit of a bump in A Deliberate Bashing (19 April 1963), and in Tug-Of-War (19 February 1960) the ship is called upon to escort a visiting dignitary to Portsmouth.
2 CDs, 2hrs, ISBN 0563 504684 £12.99

Lindsey Davis
Shadows in Bronze
Anton Lesser and Anna Madeley star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Lindsey Davis' second bestselling Falco novel featuring the Roman detective. Nero's successor Vespasian has squelched an early treasonous plot and assigned Falco to take care of loose ends, which includes disposing of a decayed corpse. Falco then heads for the Bay of Naples with his friend Petronius, conveniently forgetting to mention that this will be no holiday. They've been sent to investigate a group of murderous plotters sunning themselves in the luxurious resort. Shadows in Bronze is the sequel to Lindsey Davis' hugely successful The Silver Pigs, which introduced Marcus Didium Falco.
3 CDs, 3hrs, ISBN 0563 504552 £15.99

That Mitchell and Webb Sound
David Mitchell and Robert Webb star in the complete second series of their critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 show that highlights the absurdity of reality TV, politics and chat shows. Meet soporific late-night DJ Adrian Locket; Peter and Ted, commentators who reveal the murky underside of snooker, and the obnoxious incredibly posh person who is still a waiter. Both comedians are well known from their successful Channel 4 Peep Show. Robert Webb has also appeared in the Smoking Room. Some of the characters from the Peep Show including Mark, Jez and Sophie are included in this release.
3 CDs, 3hrs, ISBN 1846 070716 £15.99