Showing results by author "Vivian French"

The good witches of Wadingburn are worried - there's a new witch in town with a bag of magic bones, and she's so evil she makes their toes ache! Truda Hangnail is a very wicked witch, banned from the Five Kingdoms because of her use of deep magic. Then she comes up with a fiendish plan to restore evil to the Five Kingdoms, transforming the good witches of Waddingburn into shrivelled, wicked old witches who will help her take over King Frank's kingdom on his 50th birthday!

Trouble is brewing in the first book of the Tales from the Five Kingdoms series. The sorceress Lady Lamorna wants a skull-studded gown of deep black velvet but finds her treasure chest empty of gold. That doesn't stop her from kidnapping, blackmailing, and using more than a little magic to get what she needs. Will all her plans be foiled by the heroic Gracie Gillypot, two chatty bats, a gallant prince, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge, and some very Ancient Crones?

Always looking for an adventure, Prince Marcus asks Gracie Gillypot to join him in some dwarf spotting, but their journey into the Unreliable Forest goes horribly wrong when Gracie disappears. Underground, the dwarves have struck a dangerous bargain with the King of the Trolls, and Dreghorn’s balance of power, held in a mysterious heart of glass, could change forever. Can the heroic Prince Marcus save both Princess Marigold and Gracie from the grips of a lonely troll and a scheming goblin?

In the second Tale from the Five Kingdoms, the green-tongued witch, Truda Hangnail, sets her sights on Queen Bluebell’s throne, enlisting the kingdom’s rats and shrinking the good witches of Wadingburn to pave her way. Luckily, a sweet-natured orphan named Loobly is witness to Truda’s evil spells and sets off to fetch some familiar help. Will the combined strengths, smarts, and charms of Trueheart Gracie Gillypot, Prince Marcus, Marlon the bat, and Gubble the troll be enough to defeat the Deep Magic of Truda Hangnail?

When rumors spread that dragons have been spotted on the kingdom’s border and an unhatched dragon’s egg is at Niven’s Knowe, Prince Marcus jumps at the chance to bring his sweetheart, Gracie Gillypot, to the scene. But lurking across the border is the bloated, sluglike Granpappy Canker, who is scheming to infiltrate the Five Kingdoms. Fans of the series will be reunited with familiar royalty, generations of bats, and Gubble, the loyal troll, as they all gather to witness the standoff between True-heart and the forces of evil.

Old Mother Goose may know the nursery rhymes, but it's Daddy Goose who knows the stories behind them. This is a funny, affectionate collection of stories, revealing who put Humpty together again, why the cow jumped over the moon, and more.

Alfie Onion has just set off on a great adventure - but only to carry his brother's luggage. It's his elder brother, Magnifico Onion, who's destined to win their family a Happily Ever After. But when it turns out Magnifico isn't half the hero he's cracked up to be, it falls to Alfie to save the day - with a little help from his loyal dog, a talking horse and a couple of meddling magpies.

It's not much fun being a princess: you have to be prim, proper and obedient. Princess Peony lives in a world full of magical creatures - hags, trolls, giants and fairy godmothers - but her father's strict rules leave her feeling bored and lonely. She wants to learn how to do things, and cooking's at the top of her list. But when Peony borrows a recipe book from the public library, the king has the old librarian who tried to help her arrested for speaking out of turn. Can Peony stand up to her father and make things right?

Marcus, Prince of Gorebreath, has a plan – he wants to take Gracie Gillypot on an adventure for her birthday, preferably to see a dragon or two. But then he discovers that there may be a dragon's egg somewhere within the Five Kingdoms and, what's more, it could be due to hatch at any minute! A newly-hatched dragon would be highly dangerous in the wrong hands and the race begins to find the egg before the zombies, werewolves, deep witches and sorcerers get to hear about it.

It's nearly Cockenzie Rood Day and Prince Albion wants a grand celebration. But his plans are ruined when he is kidnapped by the terrifying zombie Fiddleduster Squint, who wants to get into the Five Kingdoms. When Squint is refused entry across the magical border he and his creepy shadow go in search of giants with the intention of tricking them into causing all sorts of mayhem. It's a race against time but Gracie Gillypot, Prince Marcus and Gubble the troll manage to get there first and avert disaster.

The Web of Power that keeps the Five Kingdoms safe from evil is under threat. Foyce is determined to destroy it so she can take a terrible revenge on her step-sister, Gracie Gillypot. Meanwhile the five Royal Families are in turmoil. Queen Bluebell is fed up with her tedious grandson, Vincent; Prince Tertius is suffering from the endless nagging of his new wife, Princess Fedora – and on top of everything else there's a big tournament coming up.

It is a fine day for dwarf watching - at least that is what Gracie Gillypott and Prince Marcus think when they set out, quite unaware that Princess Marigold of Dreghorn has set her sights on Marcus, and decided to "follow him to the ends of the earth" - fan, frilly petticoats, and all. All is not well. The dwarves are overworked and underpaid, having been expected to produce extra gold for wedding crowns for the wedding of Fedora and Prince Tertius.

The sorceress Lady Lamorna wants a skull-studded gown of deep black velvet, but her treasure chest is empty of gold. To get it she will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, blackmail, and more than a little black magic. But she reckons without the heroic Gracie Gillypot, not to mention a gallant if rather scruffy prince, two chatty bats, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge - and some very Ancient Crones.