Books with author Iain Lawrence

Along the jagged Cornish coast there's a town filled with people known as the "wreckers" who think nothing of luring ships onto the rocks during storms and salvaging the loot from the wreckage. One constraint is that there must be no survivors left to claim the goods. Young John Spencer, aboard his father's ship The Isle of Skye, is exhilarated as the cargo-laden ship tries to outrun a storm. The ship is instead dashed onto the Cornwall shore. John manages to survive, and uses his wits to stay away from the murderous villagers while he also tries to discover what's happened to his father.

In the quiet of Hog's Hollow, each member of the River family pursues a dream. Old Man River sets out to build a fallout shelter in case the war in Vietnam "brings the end of everything;" his wife Flo, who collects Gone with the Wind dolls, attempts to pen her own Southern saga; Beau, their older son, suffers from "space fever" and aspires to be an astronaut. As for Danny, the younger River boy, well, he just dreams of having a dog. Then in the spring of 1965 tragedy befalls the Rivers--a tragedy that makes the Old Man wish he'd never started building the shelter, stops Flo from finishing her bestseller, and leaves Beau grounded rather than airborne. But the tragedy does finally bring a dog into Danny's life. And not just any old dog. Danny comes to believe that the mixed-breed stray embodies the spirit of someone he dearly loves. He won't allow anyone to separate him from the dog, not even after it bites the neighborhood bully and the police are sent to take it away. Together Danny and his dog run off, heading toward Cape Caneveral, where the Gemini missions blast off from, and where dreams come true.

A girl’s imagination transports polio-afflicted kids into a fantastic world.The spring of 1955 tests Laurie Valentine’s gifts as a storyteller. After her friend Dickie contracts polio and finds himself confined to an iron lung, Laurie visits him in the hospital. There she meets Carolyn and Chip, two other kids trapped inside the breathing machines. Laurie’s first impulse is to flee, but Dickie begs her to tell them a story. And so Laurie begins her tale of Collosso, a rampaging giant, and Jimmy, a tiny boy whose destiny is to become a slayer of giants.As Laurie embellishes her tale with gnomes, unicorns, gryphons, and other fanciful creatures, Dickie comes to believe that he is a character in her story. Little by little Carolyn, Chip, and other kids who come to listen, recognize counterparts as well. Laurie’s tale is so powerful that when she’s prevented from continuing it, Dickie, Carolyn, and Chip take turns as narrators. Each helps bring the story of Collosso and Jimmy to an end—changing the lives of those in the polio ward in startling ways.From the Hardcover edition.

Nicknamed after his hometown of Kakabeka, Canada, Kak dreams of flying with the Allied bombers in World War II. So at 16, underage and desperate to escape his abusive parents, he enlists in the Canadian Air Force. Soon he is trained as a wireless operator and sent to a squadron in England, where he’s unabashedly gung ho about flying his first op. He thinks the night ops over Germany will be like the heroic missions of his favorite comic-book heroes. Good will vanquish evil. But his first time out, in a plane called B for Buster, reveals the ops for what they really are—a harrowing ordeal.The bombing raids bring searchlights . . . artillery from below . . . and night fighters above hunting to take the bombers down. One hit, Kak knows, and B for Buster, along with him and his six crewmates, could be destroyed.Kak is terrified.He can’t confide his feelings to his crew, since he’s already worried that they’ll find out his age. Besides, none of them seem afraid. Only in Bert, the slovenly caretaker of the homing pigeons that go on every op, does Kak find an unlikely friend. Bert seems to understand what the other men don’t talk about—the shame, the sense of duty, and the paralyzing fear. As Kak seeks out Bert’s company, he somehow finds the strength to face his own uncertain future.From the Hardcover edition.

Ukulele Magic is the perfect tutor for children and for teachers. Rock to ragtime, bluegrass to swing, tango, calypso and the blues—they're all here in instantly accessible songs to play straight away—whether solo, with friends, or with the whole class. Fully supported by video tutorials and audio performances and backings.The pupil's edition, BOOK+CD, contains full audio performance and backing support and website video tutorials, making it ideal for individual practice. The 25 pieces carefully progress from playing open strings (e.g. Stringalong Rag) to songs with one chord (Shortnin bread, A minor miracle, F major march) to two chords (Baboushka, Tab tango, Calypso strum) and finally three chords (In South Africa, Playing the blues).Finger-picking and strumming styles are all introduced step by step in pieces which are fun and stylistic. This is a thoroughly musical introduction to an immensely popular instrument, opening the way to independent music-making for all.

Readers will relish this companion to the highly acclaimed adventure, The Wreckers:Young John is charmed by the Dragon, the schooner he is planning to sail to London and use for the honest wool trade. But a mysterious gentleman delivers an ominous warning to "steer clear of that ship," because the ship was "christened with blood." The ship looks clever and quick, and the crew seems to know how to man it, but with such a warning John is left to wonder how well he really knows what lies ahead. Will he heed the advice given by the mysterious man? Or will he brave the unknown on his own?

'Tonight they fall by their thousands, the battle in Heaven is over. The invasion of Earth will begin'. With the task of saving the Earth, from the dark souls of the 'Others', Rosa knew what she had to do. Run. Run as fast as she could. With the help of Ancient Magick, her Goddess, the Gods', Goddesses and Angels of Heaven, along with a few new creations on the way, it had to work. There was no other way. All everyone could do was hope that they would receive her and the message in time, through Time.