Published Bestsellers

Excerpt Her name was Carly, Carly Richardson, and Ricky had never seen anyone so beautiful in his, as yet, short life. At five feet seven, with dark brown hair and a smile that could charm the birds out of the trees, she was everything that he imagined a woman could possibly be. Her eyes were like pools, and he would willingly have drowned in them. She was twenty-two to his twenty-three, and it had seemed as though they were destined for each other. She hailed from Springfield, a smallish town just outside of Nashville, and Ricky had used that as the ice-breaker, asking her how Homer and Marge were doing. It made her laugh although he imagined she’d heard it all before. Ricky Madison was a Chicago boy born and bred – he lived and died with the White Sox in summer and the Bears in winter. He loved his job at Mullins Motor Mechanic in Lincoln Park, and could strip down and rebuild the engine of most cars you’d care to name. He’d been there since high school and although the older guy

Reviews "My reaction to reading these three stories was to marvel at the breadth of Sue's imagination. In the first story, from which the book takes its title, a young boy feels different from his classmates, he suffers from name calling and is quite unhappy with his part in the school nativity play. The story leads him through wonderful adventures of his imagination - or is it reality? I was not sure and it didn't seem to matter anyway - to a very satisfying conclusion. The second story was first published in this newsletter after Sue read it for our crib service. I was again moved by its great joy and laughed at the humour. The third story "Bootee for Etta" is a story of hope in a dark place for a young girl whose mother is rushed into hospital and she is bundled off to

Title: Tale of the Messed Up Talent Show   Author: Melissa Perry Moraja Publication Date: November 15, 2013 Publisher: Independent - Melissa Productions Inc. Number of pages: 156 Recommended age: 6-12 Summary Madison Wunderkind is a sweet, honest girl, who always seems to find herself in trouble with the principal. But this time she's not alone. It all started three days earlier,

Review "I have had the privilege to read Aliens and Angels by Sue Hampton before many other young readers who I am sure are anxious to read. I do not want to give away much of the stories because I don't want to disappoint anyone in any way whatsoever. What I can say is as I started reading the book I straight away started to get into the first story, and then the second story called Not without a carrot. This story is based on a donkey called Trouble who doesn't do ANYTHING without a carrot, and oh my...the third story!!!! The third story is called Bootee for Etta. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL STORY! It creates mixed emotions throughout the story. This story was based on a little girl called Etta who was left without her parents on Christmas. You will have to read the story to understand why it was such an amazing story. This book is a great book for young

Review "Sue Hampton is a well-known local writer with over 20 books for children and young adults to her name. Her latest book, Aliens and Angels, is a collection of three stories with a Christmas theme. Sue’s stories are always beautifully written with rich visual imagery, and they are full of humour and imagination. Her new collection makes us see three familiar aspects of Christmas in a different light. The first story is about a boy who wanted to be an angel in his school nativity play rather than one of the aliens, which all have to be clumsy, spotty and hop about with their legs tied together. Nobody can understand what the problem is or why he doesn't like his role. The second story is about an obstinate donkey with a passion for carrots whose owner loses patience with her and sells her to someone called Joseph. The donkey takes to her new owners at

Review "Delightful short Christmas themed stories with a deceptively light style where the very different characters are all dealing with difficult but survivable situations in a very positive way. Aliens and Aliens uses a traditional school Christmas presentation  (complete with globalobs) to casually mix multiculturalism, childhood squabbles and jealousies alongside growing excitement as Christmas draws closer. The description is gentle but so skilful. Then the slightly frightening dream leads beautifully to the neat twist which lets the main characters achieve their hearts desire so satisfactorily. Not without a carrot is a very gentle retelling of the Nativity with the addition of a troublesome but loveable donkey with a liking for carrots. The characterisation is sharp and comfortable as the situation develops into the well-known story. The description is strong but gentle and the illustration helps to develop the gentle feeling where the importance of the carrot is n

We encourage all book lovers and readers to get the books or borrow from their local libraries and cast their votes for these books. Read the Eastwood Advertiser Feature   The People's Book Prize entry link: Sins of the Father The People's Book Prize is the unique democratic Book Prize voted exclusively by the public so it is the public who choose Britain's Next Bestsellers. Its goals are to discover new and unknown works, eradicate illiteracy and support reading uniting the community as a whole.