This is an irresistible new collectible hard cover in the successful series of Penguin Christmas Classics: the story of Santa Claus, from boy to jolly old fellow, as imagined by the creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. With a magical Christmas story by the author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus answers the enigmatic Christmas questions: Why does Santa travel via Reindeer? How does he fit through the chimney, & how does he deliver all those toys in one wintry night? First published in 1902, the tale begins as a wood nymph discovers a baby abandoned in a forest. Raised among mythical forest creatures, the child learns to outwit evil as he grows towards adulthood & must discover how to re-enter the human world, which leaves him determined to share gifts & spread love to his fellow man. L. Frank Baum creates a world full of charm & whimsy, delightfully imagined with a cast of memorable & loveable characters. ...

From the creator of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz comes the hilarious & entertaining festive tale for the whole family, The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus. Starring the Santa Claus whom we all know & love, L. Frank Baum`s story takes us back to the fantastical origins of so many of our Christmas traditions as well as the humble origins of Santa Claus himself. Not many people know that, as a baby, Santa Claus was found by a woodsman in the Forest of Burzee, & placed into the care of the lioness, Shiegra, & the wood nymph, Necile. Although he is mortal, he is reared & educated by the many immortals of the forest: the gnomes, the sleep fays, the wind demons & the sound imps. But when Santa grows up, they encourage him to leave the forest so that he can see for himself the sad things that come with being a mortal, such as war & poverty. Once Santa has come to understand these issues, he makes it his mission to cheer up mortals & do good deeds for them. This tale unfolds the surprising reasons why Santa Claus invented toys, why he must deliver them at night & how he came to use reindeers to take him all over the world. Adults & children alike will be captivated by this magical, feel-good story as told by the master of children`s fantasy, L. Frank Baum. ...

Everybody knows about Sherlock Holmes, the unique literary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who has remained popular over the decades & is more appreciated than ever today. But what made this fictional character, dreamed up by a small-town English doctor back in the 1880s, into such a great success? This is the fascinating & exciting tale of the man & people who created the Holmes legend. The book was winner of the Best Non-fiction Award by The Swedish Crime Writers` Academy 2013 & shortlisted for The Great Non-Fiction Book Prize (Sweden`s biggest non-fiction award) in Sweden 2013. ...

The extraordinary story of the UK`s most gruelling & spectacularly beautiful islands. Tom Steel`s acclaimed portrait of the St Kildan`s lives is now updated in this reissued edition. Situated at the westernmost point of the United Kingdom, the spectacularly beautiful but utterly bleak island of St Kilda is familiar to virtually nobody. A lonely archipelago off the coast of Scotl&, it is hard to believe that for over two thousand years, men & women lived here, cut off from the rest of the world. With a population never exceeding two hundred in its history, the St Kildans were fiercely self-sufficient. An intensely religious people, they climbed cliffs from childhood & caught birds for food. Their sense of community was unparalleled & isolation enveloped their day-to-day existence. With the onset of the First World War, things changed. For the very first time in St Kilda`s history, daily communication was established between the islanders & the mainl&. Slowly but surely, this marked the beginning of the end of St Kilda & in August 1930, the island`s remaining 36 inhabitants were evacuated. Newly updated to include the historic appointment of St Kilda as the United Kingdom`s only UNESCO Dual Heritage site, the ongoing search for information about the island & the threats that it continues to face, this is the moving story of a vanished community & how twentieth century civilization ultimately brought an entire way of life to its knees. ...

Combining images from world`s leading marine & nature photographers & the latest in underwater photography techniques, The Life & Love of the Sea is a breathtaking visual tour of the ocean`s many facets. Readers will experience the land meeting the sea with images of dramatic coastlines, barrier reefs & island chains, & the breathtaking power of the ocean through a stunning collection of wave photographs. Forming an extensive survey of the ocean`s many fascinating inhabitants, Blackwell presents an incredible image collection of everything from whales, to manta rays, to seals, to endless schools of fish, to the creatures that reside in the deepest recesses of the ocean floor, & much more. The book also

Includes:: bonus footage via a scannable QR code from multi award-winning underwater cameraman Steven Hathaway, whose work has featured in numerous documentaries on BBC, Discovery Channel & National Geographic.

...

Bill Bryson`s first travel book opened with the immortal line, `I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.` In this deeply funny & personal memoir, he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was, in the curious world of 1950s Middle America. It was a happy time, when almost everything was good for you, including DDT, cigarettes & nuclear fallout. This is a book about one boy`s growing up. But in Bryson`s hands, it becomes everyone`s story, one that will speak volumes
- especially to anyone who has ever been young.
...

One night in St Petersburg, two men meet, both adrift in the brash new Russia: Shutov, a writer visiting after years of exile in Paris, & Volsky, an elderly survivor of the Siege of Leningrad & Stalin`s purges. His life story
- one of extreme suffering, courage & an extraordinary love
- he considers unremarkable. To Shutov it is a revelation, the tale of an unsung hero that puts everything into perspective & suggests where true happiness lies.

...

This is a much-needed & authoritative account of Common Buzzards gained from extensive studies by the author over 60 years & also from enthusiasts in this country & across northern Europe. The accounts describe the life history & ecology of Buzzards mainly inhabiting the British uplands where historically they have always been most numerous. For the first time, population activities are followed through successive seasonal stages of their life cycle. These include the vital & inter-related aspects of Buzzard territories & social behaviour, diets & hunting methods, food requirements, prey abundance & breeding success, survival & life spans & how Buzzard numbers & distribution have changed, particularly in relation to the influence of Man. The book also demonstrates how well Buzzards have adapted to living in our modern & rapidly-changing landscapes, constantly adapting their habits in response to prey resources & environmental conditions. In the book`s first section, The Year of the Buzzard, the sequential changes in the composition & behaviour of a Buzzard community, their seasonal patterns of food habits & hunting methods, their breeding season from courtship until fledging of broods & their subsequent dispersal are outlined. The second section, Special Topics, provides greater detail of six key aspects of their ecology which are explored within the following chapter topics: Territory; Energy & Food Needs; Predation; Food Supply & Breeding Success; Demography & Population Dynamics; & Changes in Buzzard Abundance. ...

The villagers had never seen anything like it: dense white curtains of snow that instantly transformed the landscape. Not in autumn, not here in Burgundy. & on the same night a baby was discovered, dark-eyed little Maria, who would transform all their lives. Hundreds of miles away in the mountains of Abruzzo, another foundling, Clara, astonishes everyone with her extraordinary talent for piano-playing. But her gifts go far beyond simple musicianship. As a time of great danger looms, though the girls know nothing of each other, it is the bond that unites them & others like them, which will ultimately offer the only chance for good to prevail in the world. ...

Mahatma Gandhi became a legend in his own time. A tireless fighter for human rights & for Indian independence, his strategy of satyagraha, or passive resistance, earned him the admiration of millions. Louis Fischer`s biography is the definitive account of Gandhi`s life; it tells the astonishing story of one man who changed the world forever. ...