Books with author Eric Johns

Every Recipe has a Story. Inspired by classics from the world of folklore, Chef, and Author, Eric Johnson serves up twenty-five original folktales for cooks and readers. He transports the reader into a quirky culinary world, backing up imaginative short stories with time-tested recipes from his twenty years in the restaurant business. For those who love folklore, and cooking, Tales from the Cook is the first in his series.

Every Recipe has a Story. Inspired by classics from the world of folklore, Chef, and Author, Eric Johnson serves up twenty-five original folktales for cooks and readers. He transports the reader into a quirky culinary world, backing up imaginative short stories with time-tested recipes from his twenty years in the restaurant business. For those who love folklore, and cooking, Tales from the Cook: Back for Thirdsies is the third in his series.

Prisoners of a Shadow World tells the story of Louis-Philippe who is half French, half English and Madeleine Lévy who is Jewish. They live in France at the time of the German Occupation which casts a terrifying shadow over their world - and the darkest shadow is cast by the Gestapo, the secret police, who threaten both their lives. It is a threat made worse because Jews like Madeleine are being arrested and sent to death camps, and Louis-Philippe is a member of a Resistance network fighting to free France.

Every Recipe has a Story. Inspired by classics from the world of folklore, Chef, and Author, Eric Johnson serves up original folktales for cooks and readers. He transports the reader into a quirky culinary world, backing up imaginative short stories with time-tested recipes from his twenty years in the restaurant business. For those who love folklore, and cooking, Tales from the Cook: A Second Helping is the second in his series.

"At least you once had a life - and perhaps one day I'll have one," Seb tells his great-grandmother, but only occasional words draw a response. Her bitterness at being placed in an old people's home is fading as her memory melts away. During Seb's visits she scatters hints of a life she has kept secret from her family. Did she once have another identity? What did she do in the war? Why does no one know? And what has she forgotten that torments her?Seb tries to unravel her past and reconstruct her life. At times she falls silent and drifts away clinging to a fragment of memory. Then Seb is left to soliloquise about the dissatisfactions of his own life. He describes attempts to begin a relationship with a girl - any girl - and in desperation hits on the idea of an arranged romance. But his efforts are being sabotaged.

THE BIG SNIFF Just suppose that when you sniffed you could smell things that weren't there. It would be very confusing. Then suppose that when you sniffed you saw things that weren't there. That would be even worse. You wouldn't know where you were. The best thing to do would be to stop breathing - not completely, of course - but just to take small sniffs not big ones. Which is exactly what Abby tried to do. Then one day she forgot she wasn't supposed to breathe deeply and she took the biggest sniff in the whole history of the world - and something terrible happened.THE LAST QUARRYMAN John had one ambition. He wanted to be a quarryman like his great-grandfather. But that wasn't possible because when his great-grandfather quarried stone he tunnelled underground. Today's quarrymen just blast big holes in the ground. But the underground tunnels are still there and John planned to go and explore them which he'd been told never to do because they were dangerous. Then his snobby cousin Elaine came to stay and threatened to mess up all his careful plans unless he took her with him which would spoil everything.COUNT DRACULA'S DAYMARE and THE GREAT HEY PRESTO'S FINAL TRICK are two poems which are really very short stories.

"We solemnly swear to seek adventure, excitement and danger, to rescue anyone in peril, to help each other at all times and never to reveal the secrets of the Freewheelers. May the shark claim us if we break this oath!" So proclaim the Freewheelers, Gina, Mandy and Claire, a bicycle gang with just one thing missing - bicycles.When they discover that a little girl has been kidnapped in their home town - with a £1000 reward for her rescue - it seems like the perfect opportunity to put their oath into practice and earn the bike money they need. But as usual with their plans, things go wrong and, before they know it, they are freewheeling straight into trouble - helped on their way by their worst enemy. It looks as though everything that can go wrong will go wrong!

Warning! Strange things happen in The Giraffe Tree and other Tall Stories.Do you know what to do if the evil Investigator Black from the Ministry of Birthdays invites himself to your party? Or why it is dangerous to get locked in a library overnight? Or what to do if you are a garden gnome without a garden? Or how to save yourself if you are a helpless snail about to be eaten by a thrush? Or who you should trust if you are sold as a slave? Or how a giraffe becomes a tree? You can find the unexpected answers in these stories.

When Amanda and Timmy build a snowman called Mr Crystal they want him to live forever. But warm weather is coming and Mr Crystal begins to shrink. As he gets smaller he becomes sillier and sillier and puts himself in danger. How can they stop him melting? Can Father Christmas help?There are five stories about the never-melting snowman. Read them all and discover how he helps Father Christmas and gets into lots of warm difficulties.

"We solemnly swear to seek adventure, excitement and danger and to rescue anyone in peril." So proclaim the Freewheelers, Gina, Claire and Mandy, as they set out on a new adventure - to stop aliens taking over the world! No one believes them when they try to warn the world about the danger it faces. It is up to the Freewheelers to act alone! Can they stop the aliens before it is too late - or will their plans go wrong as usual?

Tanya, 16, mouse-blonde, the plain one who is always paired with the more attractive friend, wants her life to explode into a dazzling new pattern. She is ready for something to happen. Then HE walks into her life."Dear Diary - Day 1 - ThursdayThis is the first day of my new life. I suddenly feel more alive than I've ever felt. This is going to be the beginning I've been looking for. The future is mine. I'm going to let go of my old hesitations, shyness, whatever and throw myself into the whirlpool of life. I'm going to find myself - my true self. The slogan for my new life is Just Let Go!"Does she succeed or is she throwing herself at the wrong boy? Does she humiliate herself or find true love? Is letting go the biggest mistake of her life or the way to her true self?

The Second World War is coming to your town. Are you ready to face it? How will you behave when your home is bombed or foreign soldiers march into your town? It doesn't matter how old you are - everyone's at war. You don't have to put on a uniform or go to the front to join the battle - you can stay at home and still take part. That's why it's called the Home Front.As war rolls across Europe, young people in Britain, France, Poland, Russia and Germany are forced to answer the same questions: How brave am I? Will I betray my family? Am I capable of killing someone? Am I willing to sacrifice my life for my country? 'Home Front' tells their stories.