Patrick Benson Books

A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings: A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Tree, What Christmas is as we Grow Older, The Poor Relation's Story, The Child's Story, The Schoolboy's Story, Nobody's Story. The tale begins on Christmas Eve seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge is established within the first stave (chapter) as a greedy and stingy businessman who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity, or benevolence. After being warned by Marley's ghost to change his ways, Scrooge is visited by three additional ghosts "each in its turn" who accompany him to various scenes with the hope of achieving his transformation. The first of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to the scenes of his boyhood and youth which stir the old miser's gentle and tender side by reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to several radically differing scenes (a joy-filled market of people buying the makings of Christmas dinner, the family feast of Scrooge's near-impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, a miner's cottage, and a lighthouse among other sites) in order to evince from the miser a sense of responsibility for his fellow man. The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, harrows Scrooge with dire visions of the future if he does not learn and act upon what he has witnessed. Scrooge's own neglected and untended grave is revealed, prompting the miser to aver that he will change his ways in hopes of changing these "shadows of what may be." In the fifth and final stave, Scrooge awakens Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart, then spends the day with his nephew's family after anonymously sending a prize turkey to the Crachit home for Christmas dinner. Scrooge has become a different man overnight, and now treats his fellow men with kindness, generosity, and compassion, gaining a reputation as a man who embodies the spirit of Christmas. The story closes with the narrator confirming the validity, completeness, and permanence of Scrooge's transformation.

A story in which three baby owls wake up one night in their hole in a tree to find that their mother has gone. Darkness gathers and the owls grow anxious, until at last she returns and they bounce up and down with joy. Illustrated by Patrick Benson in full colour.

From Patrick Benson, the illustrator of Owl Babies, comes the read-aloud story of Raju the baby elephant and his mummy who set out on a great jungle adventure. Raju follows his mother, holding tightly onto her tail, as they bravely journey across a wide river, battle the tall grass and delve into the deep, dark forest ... meeting snapping crocodiles, slithering snakes and ferocious tigers along the way. But where are Raju and his mummy going? What will they see in the end? Little tired Raju keeps asking, "When can we go home again?" and, each time, his mummy replies, “Soonâ€. This lyrical story transports readers to the lush, wild Indian jungle and exquisitely captures the fear and excitement of new experience.Please ask if you need a specific version. The data provided here may not be correct. With buying and not asking you are accepting the book as is.

This study, based on Chinese publications and archival materials as well as on recent fieldwork, provides an up-to-date treatment of Kazak history and culture, emphasizing the Kazaks in 20th-century China and, in particular, their status today as one of China's minority nationalities.

This story is an energetic romp through a dog's busy day on a farm. Russ, the sheepdog, herds sheep and cows and plots against Tigger, the farm cat. He covers Lula, his master's daughter, with lots of slobbery licks but when she gets a special birthday present, he worries that she might love it more than she loves him.

Little Billy doesn't really believe there are monsters in the wood, but the red-hot smoke-belching gruncher is real enough, and so are the tiny minpins, whose minature world is in danger.

Comparing herself to the larger Emperor penguins, Pip the Adélie penguin feels unhappy with her size until an encounter with a huge sperm whale puts things in a different perspective for her.

This wise little book of 150 meditations is like a breast cancer support group. It is exactly what a woman recuperating in her hospital bed or during any of the other milestones of treatment and recovery might need—the advice and wisdom of other women who have preceded her in confronting breast cancer. Gathered here are moving reflections, anecdotes, and practical information for women concerned with or diagnosed with this disease. Built upon the experiences of women of all ages–women who have undergone all types of breast surgery and treatments from lumpectomy and mastectomy to radiation and chemotherapy; women who are single, married, divorced, widowed, straight, gay–the reflections touch upon topics as universal as fear and grief and as intimate as sex. The meditations help women: • discover healing insights and support • explore options for defining a “new normal” • commit to living each and every moment, fully and fearlessly Every three minutes a woman in America is diagnosed with breast cancer. Shocking but true. And The Language of Healing is a place for all those women to find comfort and strength, day by day, and a reminder that breast cancer patients – at any stage of the disease or recovery – are not alone.

Looking for love can take you on unexpected journeys...

Toad of Toad Hall has his finest hour - in the final volume of William Horwood's bestselling Tales of the Willows sequence.