Susan Price

Durante generaciones, los Sterkarm han saqueado la frontera entre Inglaterra y Escocia. Pero en el siglo XVI, su modo de vida se ve amenazado. Han aparecido intrusos, que se llaman a sí mismos«Elfos»

Paul Welsh es un poeta que lleva una existencia agradable y normal. Una noche, después de recitar un poema, se encuentra con una extraña y hermosa joven.- Ven conmigo - le dice ella...Paul la sigue a traves de un muro de fuego verde hacia un mundo en el que existen los dragones.Y uno en particular quiere conocer a Paul... Ravin, hijo de Shreck, un ser muy importante con una gran pasion por la poesia.Y la tarea de paul consiste en recitarsela.Solo hay un problema: cuando Draco Rex se aburre de la poesia, tiene cierta tendencia a comerse al poeta...

Ahora Elfgift es el rey y se enfrenta a una rebelión liderada por su hermano cristiano Unwin. Será una terrible y sangienta batalla, pues Unwin está decidido a vengarse del semielfo usurpador.

Els Sterkarm viuen fora de la llei i en terra de ningú, en la zona fronterera entre Anglaterra i Escocia, al segle XVI. Són benevols i compassius amb qui els demana ajut, pero cruels i tradors amb qui els vol robar les terres i la llibertat. L?arribada d?uns elfs, des del segle XXI, amb una maquina del temps, els portara en peu de guerra. Andrea Mitchel viatja a la terra dels homes i conviu amb els Sterkarm per coneixe?ls millor i fer informes per l?FUP, una multinacional interessada en les reserves petrolieres i la immensa quantitat de riqueses que amaga la terra verge del segle XVI. Encara que ho te prohibit, Andrea estableix una relacio molt intensa i complicada amb el jove Per Sterkarm, pero les desavinences entre les dues civilitzacions complicara la situacio i molt especialment l?amistat entre Andrea i els Sterkarm. Susan Price va neixer al Black Country, i encara hi viu. Sempre li ha agradat llegir i explicar histories, i als catorze anys ja escrivia amb la intencio de publicar. Als setze anys ho va aconseguir amb The Devil?s Piper. Des d?aleshores ha publicat mes de trenta llibres, entre els quals The Ghost Drum, que el 1987 va ser guardonat amb la Carnegie Medal. El 1999 El pacte dels Sterkarm va rebre el Guardian Children?s Fiction Prize.

El rey anciano yace en la cama moribundo y en las sombras de la habitación la familia real reunida espera el nombramiento del sucesor por parte del consejo de ancianos. Pero el rey elije a Elfgift y sus tres hermanos furiosos por su nombramiento juran hacer lo imposible para evitar su coronamiento.

"You love me, dont you, Jonnie?"The Industrial Revolution blackens the countryside.Women and children hack at coal underground and drag loaded tubs like animals. "Youd better love me."Rattle is a dirty, pipe-smoking, swearing collier-wench who dresses and swaggers like a boy.Shes in love with Jonathan Turner, a young farmer and a prim, God-fearing Methodist. "I love you, Jonnie. Ill never let you go."Rattle is determined to have Jonathan.But hes already married.To a vengeful ghost."I love you to death."

Here are nine powerful stories written by acclaimed, award winning author, Susan Price.Voices whisper in a graveyardWho weeps on my grave, who keeps me from sleep? - Is it you who unearths me to this cold rain, this dark, this wind and all its grief?A lost sister speaks in a dream...She said,"Im on Mow Top. But you wont find me now. Dont look. Forget me."A supermarket is haunted by a murdered baby Footsteps climb the stairs of a darknened cottage... A voice whispers in a museum...Nine short, haunting stories of the supernatural, of loss and longing, of those who walk between this world and the next...

The beautiful and the uncanny A young blacksmith is hired to spend Midsummers Night in a lonely field, near an ancient mound, to shoe with silver the horses of those who come by A beautiful Englishman drives his Italian mistress to suicide and after her death she follows her faithless lover homeIn the echoing, eerie surroundings of an out-of-hours shopping mall, a lonely cleaner falls in love with a beautiful, hungry strangerA family gather at the bedside of a dying girl, and, out of the night, something comes knocking at the windowA man walks home, in the early hours, on a freezing night, along lanes haunted by the Death-DogA young actor playing James Dean in a bio-pic, hates that people are impressed by his looks rather than his talent. Then hes offered a lift in a car silver sports car with the number, 130.A holiday cottage holds memories of despairAnd a ghost features in a gentle Christmas story.Eight eerie, haunting stories of the supernatural from an expert story-teller and award-winning writer.Beautifully uncanny...

In the darkest hour of a freezing Midwinter, a night-walking witch adopts a newborn baby and carries her off in her house on chicken legs. She names her Chingis and teaches her the Three Magics. She grows into such a powerful witch that she rouses the jealousy of Kuzma, the bear-shaman.The Czar of this cold realm fears his newborn son, Safa, will out do him, and so imprisons the baby at the top of a tall tower, to live and die there without ever glimpsing the real world. Loneliness and confinement drive him to rage and despair until Chingis hears the crying of his trapped spirit and frees him.But now their enemies unite against them, with steel and deadly magic. Chingis and Safas fight for freedom will take them even through the Ghost World into the Land of the Dead.A timeless and atmospheric tale of fierce magic.

A red squirrel A stone squirrelA stone squirrel of red carnelian runs up and down a little nut-tree, cracking nuts. For every nut she cracks, she must tell a story So many nuts to choose. Nuts with shells of bottle glass shells of chinashells of gold and silver, shells of paper, shells of flint When the poison nut is cracked, what story will be released? What story is held in the steel nut or the bronze? Stories of loveStories of hatred... Tales of adventure, danger and triumph Which nut will you crack?Which story will you hear? Susan Price is the author of the best-selling The Wolfs Footprint and the Carnegie medal winning writer of The Ghost Drum. She has loved folk-tale and myth all her life. Crack A Story is one in a series of folk-tale retellings. The others are: The Story Collector, Head and Tales, The Carpenter and Other Stories and Telling Tales.

"Ill see you home," said the dog.Old Mr. Grimsby collects stories as a hobby. He writes down stories told him by his maid and by her grandmother, Mrs Naylor. He listens to stories at the bedside of the dying Mrs. Riley.A hero of Waterloo, Sergeant Lamb, will tell him stories if paid with pairs of old trousers.Because everybody has a story.Walking home late one night, Mr. Grimsby finds the Churchyard Grim pacing at his side the Grim, the ghostly dog that guards the graveyard and its dead.The Grim tells him a story as it leads him to Heavens Gate. There he finds Sergeant Lamb also waiting for the gate to open, and the Sergeant tells another story to pass the time.Once inside the gate, theres Mother Mary and She has a story to tell too. She even coaxes a story from Mr. Grimsby.Everybody has a story.If you like the old stories, the wise, haunting, poetic and funny old stories passed down for hundreds of years, then youll love Susan Prices tales within tales, of the stories and the people who told them.

Azalins class go on a school trip to another planet.The planet Earth.Once on Earth, Azalin runs away.Her dream is to be a tronic when she grows up: one of the special people who maintain the systems keeping the man-made planet of Newarth alive.But just before leaving for Earth, she was told that Newarth already has all the tronics it needs. She will have to be a store-keeper instead. And she is to be sporting about it.Azalin doesnt want to be a store-keeper. And she doesnt want to be sporting.So she runs away. She phones home to say that when shes allowed to be a tronic, shell come back. But, alone on Earth, Azalin has no idea how much danger shes in. Life on Earth isnt as safe and ordered as life on Newarth.Especially when she wanders into the no-go zone called The Rookery.Even the Earth Police wont go there... Azalin comes down to Earth. But will she survive to home to Newarth?

Elfgifts father is the king but his mother was not the queen. She was a beautiful elf-woman: pagan and not even human. But the king, on his death-bed, leaves his kingdom to Elfgift, the elfs-get. From that moment, Elfgifts three royal half-brothers want him dead.Armed warriors arrive at Elfgifts farm while he is away, hunting. He returns to find his home burned and his people slaughtered.Alone, he faces enemies who want his head.His only ally comes from the wood: Jarnseaxa, the Battle-woman, as Elvish as his mother.Can she help him gain revenge and a crown? Or is she as great a threat as his royal brothers?A Gothic, Dark-Age fantasy.

A bad summer, and the crops didnt grow. Now winter is coming. Everyone is hungry. People are searching for nettles and acorns.Elka and her little brother Daw huddle under their blankets, trying to keep warm. Elka is too hungry to sleep. Awake in the dark, she listens to her parents whispering."I dont want to watch them starve. Take them into the wood and leave them. Take them far in, so they wont find their way back, and leave them."The next day their father takes them into the wood, to look for mushrooms. Daw goes along innocently, holding his fathers hand. Elka goes because she doesnt want Daw to be alone.The light fades. Their father moves away into the darkness among the trees. He doesnt come back.And then the wolves comeWhere do these lost children belong in the village with the people who left them to starve? Or, in the wood, with the wolves?No one writes this kind of dark tale better than Price... brilliantly reworks folk themes... an atmospheric and poignant story. Not a word is wasted. Books For Keeps.This is a powerful piece of writing - a folk tale where difficult issues are confronted, no compromises allowed and no happy ending guaranteed.Theres no escaping the anger of the little girl who decides to leave the world of her parents and remain with the pack of wolves who looked after her - nor the loneliness of the brother who pines for her at the edge of the forest. This is a classic. CarouselThis book is republished by the author, with illustrations by Andrew Price, because of the continued demand for it, from schools and the general public, after it had gone out of print.Please note: a decision was taken not to fix the format, so that the font-size and line spacing can be changed on e-readers. However, depending on the e-reader used and the font-size chosen, the picture sizes will also change, and in some cases, may become too large for the page. This is unavoidable without fixing the format, which has other disadvantages.Readers may need to experiment to find the size that best suits their personal taste..

Haunting: something which lingers in the mind and is not easily forgotten. A dead boy stands in a dark farm-yard, staring at the lit windows of the farmhouse kitchen.An old man, living alone in a farmhouse surrounded by modern estates, sees spirits dancing on an ancient hillside.A bullied schoolgirl finds a protector at a price.A writer listens to the telling of a dream and cant sleep easily after.A poltergeist joins a couple in their homeAn elderly couple are woken nightly by the return of their young neighbour who was murdered. Yet still she comes home lateAn ancient wood emerges from the lamposts and walls of a cityA spiritual medium is exposed as a trickster.Hauntings...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about eight game-changing scientists who all shared the same motto in life: nullius in verba - take no ones word for it. They asked the questions and gathered the evidence that shaped our understanding of modern science. From Isaac Newton who established the laws of motion still used by engineers and scientists today, to Marie Curie, who won two Nobel prizes in recognition of her work on radiation and radioactivity, and Tu YouYou, the Chinese scientist who discovered a cure for malaria that has saved millions of lives. Game Changers: Super Scientists is part of the Reading Planet range of books for Stars (Lime) to Supernova (Red+) band. Children aged 7-11 will be inspired to love reading through the gripping stories and fascinating information books created by top authors. Reading Planet books have been carefully levelled to support children in becoming fluent and confident readers. Each book features useful notes and questions to support reading at home and develop comprehension skills. Reading age: 10-11 years

Zoe wants her dead boyfriend back.Shes heard all about Elizabeth Beckerdyke. About her being a witch. About her speaking to the dead.Maybe she can raise the dead too?So Zoe goes knocking on the witchs door.Duncan is homeless, a rough sleeperHes looking for a new life. He fears the witch and he fears for Zoe.Elizabeth Beckerdyke wants to prove her power.But can she control what she leads back from the land of the dead?A dark, disturbing novel of the occult by award-winning author, Susan Price.

Kenelm is an Atheling, a prince of the Blood-Royal.A descendent of the god, Woden. His uncle is the King.Kenelm had thought to live his life as a warrior: fighting, feasting and marrying a beautiful princess.But his uncle gave him to a monastery, to live and die as a Christian monk.Kenelm feels betrayed but is bound by his oath of loyalty to his king. So he digs the monasterys vegetable garden and dreams of the life he might have had.Then comes a message from the king. He has a mission that only Kenelm can undertake.Kenelm must carry a royal message into the dark wood.To the Wolf Sisters.