How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?She stumbled backwards, her eyes wide, as the figure started coming out of the canvas... She tried to be brave. Well, she said, her hands only a little shaky, at least tell me what I should call you.

... Well, little girl, it replied, I suppose you can call me Pet. There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught.

With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown...

There are tales of footballing bees and Viking mice, the beginning of the thesaurus and the end of the library of Alexandria. Spend just two minutes a day with this brilliant almanac of curious treasure and you'll end your year full of wonder and just that little bit wiser.

It was the summer of 1983. Barbara Kingsolver had a day job as a scientific writer spends her weekends cutting her teeth as a freelance journalist when she landed an assignment. Her mission: was to cover the Phelps Dodge mine strike.Over the year that followed Kingsolver stood with those miners and their families, increasingly engaged and heartbroken. She recorded stories of striking miners and their stunningly courageous wives, sisters and daughters. She saw rights she'd taken for granted de...