Showing results by author "Dick King-Smith" in All Categories

Farmer Hoggett wins a piglet at the fair. It should fatten up nicely. However Fly, the sheep-dog trains Babe, the piglet, to herd sheep, making Babe an indispensable sheep-pig.

When eight-year-old Kirstie brings home a strange egg from the Scottish shore, her family never expects it to hatch. But the next day, Kirstie discovers a baby sea monster swimming in her bathtub! Part horse, part toad, part turtle and part crocodile, he's the oddest-looking creature Kirstie's family has ever seen. Only Kirstie's grandfather knows what the beastie really is: a Water Horse! This lovable creature is the perfect pet. The only trouble is, he can't stop growing.

Flightless, helpless and often, frankly, more than a little silly, chickens are no match for the cunning, merciless foxes stalking their coop. Or are they? Thanks to a careless farmer and generations of determined foxes, the chickens on Foxearth Farm have evolved into quick-witted, long-legged, high flying fox dodgers. Then, just a week after a vicious fox ambush in the water trough, three sisters are hatched. And Ransome, Sims and Jefferies are no ordinary chicks: they grow up determined to fight back.

All pterodactyls know that flying dinosaurs are superior, and all apatosauruses know that any dinosaur with only two legs is surely second-class. Nosy, a pterodactyl, and Banty, an apatosaurus, become great friends even though their parents have forbidden them to play together. With Nosy’s fast flying and Banty’s smarts, the two take on the biggest predator on the Great Plain, and conquer their parents’ prejudices in one great adventure.

Martin, a kitten, is branded a 'wimp' by his siblings for his friendly interest in mice. He loves caring for them and can't understand their desire for freedom. Only when he becomes the pet of a big city apartment dweller does he realise why his pets deserted him.

Best known for his best-selling novel, Babe, which was made into a major motion picture, Dick King-Smith draws on his over 14 years of experience on Woodlands Farm to create this thoughtful and humorous memoir. His time on the farm inspired countless stories as well as the numerous lovable characters found in them. In Chewing the Cud, he candidly talks about what moved him to become a children’s author.

A BBC radio full-cast dramatisation of Dick King-Smith’s enchanting children’s story about Harmony Parker and her magical 50p coin. Harmony Parker is 10 years old and loves animals. She longs for a pet of her very own, but her parents won’t allow it. All she can do is keep hoping, dreaming and wishing.  Then Uncle Ginger comes to visit from India. He and Harmony become friends, and he gives her a very special present. Not a puppy but something even better: a magical 50 pence piece with the power to grant seven wishes. All she has to do is rub the point of the coin opposite the Queen’s nose.  

Harmony Parker thought animals much nicer than people, and saw everyone she knew as some non-human species. Her father, for example, was most definitely a bald-headed Sea Lion, her mother a tubby, fussy Pouter Pigeon, and her tiresome older sister a Siamese cat. But Harmony's parents would not allow her to have real pets of any kind – not even a harmless gerbil. Then Uncle Ginger arrived from India and gave Harmony a very special present ...

When Babe, the little orphaned piglet, is won at a fair by Farmer Hogget, he is adopted by Fly, the kind-hearted sheep-dog. Babe is determined to learn everything he can from Fly. He knows he can't be a sheep-dog. But maybe, just maybe, he might be a sheep-pig.

Dorothea considers it a disgrace that one of her children has the white saddle-shaped patch on his bottom, and not on his back. Life doesn't look too promising for Saddlebottom, until he runs away from home and meets a very unusual cat. With the aid of a ginger tom named Bendigo he proves his mother wrong."

Lubber the dog and Squintum the cat join forces with a racing pigeon and a pretty young Irish setter to search for Lubber's home. All he can remember is that he lives in a cottage below a hillside on which is carved a white horse.

Harry Holdsworth had never heard of his Great-Uncle George until he inherited the old man’s most cherished possession: an African Grey parrot named Madison. Harry’s first reaction was one of dismay. Who wants a big pet bird – one that could live for another 40 years? But when Mad introduces himself in perfect American, Harry discovers he has found a friend – and more.

Henrietta Hickthrift decided to run away from home - the Old People's Home. Packing just one small suitcase, she sets off on the train to the seaside. But Henry doesn't have much money. In fact, by the end of her first day she has exactly one penny. That is when she meets the Goods - Angela, Barney, Eleanor, Rosie and Rowley - who decide to adopt this unusual stray. But will their parents let them keep her?

Flora was born on the first day of term in the new school year, which might be why she's a very special mouse indeed – a mouse who has taught herself to read! Flora lives in a classroom, and is determined to learn all sorts of things that no mouse has ever learned before. Her family is horrified at first, but then Flora's reading saves their lives.

Farmer Tubbs takes a real shine to one particular pig, so much so that he can't bear to send him to market with the other young pigs. Soon Ace is befriended by the farmyard animals including Nanny the goat and Clarence, the cunning white cat. Together they help Ace to find his place in the farmhouse, ousting Megan, the farmer's aristocratic corgi, from her queenly seat - the best parlour char. But Ace is not the descendent of the Sheep-Pig for nothing! fame is waiting around the corner.

Lollipop is no ordinary pig. According to her young owner Johnny Skinner, she's the cleverest pig in the whole kingdom. When people stare into Lollipop's eyes, it seems to change them for the better. But will Lollipop win over spoilt Princess Penelope?

Sophie is small but very determined. She loves animals and is going to be a lady farmer when she grows up. On her fifth birthday, she gets a model farm and lots of toy animals. What she wants most of all, though, is a real animal - like a cat.

His mother was amazed when she saw the size of her newborn infant and realized that feeding him was going to cause problems. She turned to a box of patent Porker Pills, used for fattening pigs. But the bigger Magnus grew, the more problems he caused.

Abigail would love to have a pet parrot, but they're too expensive. So she decides to teach one of her father's chickens to talk instead. To the amazement of Abigail's family, she succeeds. Soon, they have to stop Polly being quite so chatty.

Sophie is small but very determined. She loves animals and is going to be a lady farmer when she grows up. She already has herds of insects, a rabbit and a cat, and now she has a puppy too. She befriends a pony called Bumblebee and a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig.