Books with author John Ashton Williams

ANIMALS COME ALIVEAnimals Come Alive most of all is a fun poetry book for children. It has all kinds of different animals getting up to antics with each other. They also get up to their tricks with us humans too. This is a rhyme poetry book very suited to younger children. It also features large coloured illustrations. These poems can be learnt for recitals while others are suitable to be acted out on stage by groups of children. Many of these poems have already been used in classrooms in Australia. Showing children what fun they can have with rhyme poetry is fundamental in developing in children a love of literature.The author, John Williams, has been writing for children for 30 years.I hope you all have FUN with this book of poems.

This Joke Book makes a great gift for your dad or maybe you want to buy it for yourself on your next Thanksgiving. The, Terribly Good Dad Jokes, All-New 2020 punniest joke book ever will always make you laugh out loud.With From: __________ on the cover to make the perfect gift from youPlus space to write a personalized dedication to your dad on page one.So, What are you wait for! Scroll up and click on Buy Button to start dropping the DADJOKES bomb on the next family round table.

“TRAVELLERS see strange things,” more especially when their writing about, or delineation of, them is not put under the microscope of modern scientific examination. Our ancestors were content with what was given them, and being, as a rule, a stay-at-home race, they could not confute the stories they read in books. That age of faith must have had its comforts, for no man could deny the truth of what he was told. But now that modern travel has subdued the globe, and inquisitive strangers have poked their noses into every portion of the world, “the old order changeth, giving place to new,” and, gradually, the old stories are forgotten.It is to rescue some of them from the oblivion into which they were fast falling, that I have written, or compiled, this book. I say compiled it, for I am fonder of letting old authors tell their stories in their old-fashioned language, than to paraphrase it, and usurp the credit of their writings, as is too much the mode now-a-days.It is not given to every one to be able to consult the old Naturalists; and, besides, most of them are written in Latin, and to read them through is partly unprofitable work, as they copy so largely one from another. But, for the general reader, selections can be made, and, if assisted by accurate reproductions of the very quaint wood engravings, a book may be produced which, I venture to think, will not prove tiring, even to a superficial reader.Perhaps the greatest wonders of the creation, and the strangest forms of being, have been met with in the sea; and as people who only occasionally saw them were not draughtsmen, but had to describe the monsters they had seen on their return to land, their effigies came to be exceedingly marvellous, and unlike the originals. The Northern Ocean, especially, was their abode, and, among the Northern nations, tales of Kraken, Sea-Serpents, Whirlpools, Mermen, &c., &c., lingered long after they were received with doubt by other nations; but perhaps the most credulous times were the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when no travellers’ tales seem too gross for belief, as can well be seen in the extreme popularity, throughout all Europe, of the “Voyages and Travels of Sir John Maundeville,” who, though he may be a myth, and his so-called writings a compilation, yet that compilation represented the sum of knowledge, both of Geography, and Natural History, of countries not European, that was attainable in the first half of the fourteenth century.All the old Naturalists copied from one another, and thus compiled their writings. Pliny took from Aristotle, others quote Pliny, and so on; but it was reserved for the age of printing to render their writings available to the many, as well as to represent the creatures they describe by pictures (“the books of the unlearned”), which add so much piquancy to the text.Mine is not a learned disquisition. It is simply a collection of zoological curiosities, put together to suit the popular taste of to-day, and as such only should it be critically judged.Curious Creatures in Zoology,Creatures,Zoology,sphinx,centaur,gorgon,unicorn

Petman Pete's Cat Paradise is a storybook in rhyme about three real cats that came to live with a very kind man. All the cats were strays that were taken in by Petman Pete who always looked after all animals that wished to stay on his small farm. Once the cats settled in they used to get up to all kinds of tricks. They also liked to play games together. This is the story of Chloe, Tiger and Fred, three very interesting cats. This book features some lovely photos of the three cats as they go on their adventures around the farm.

This richly illustrated volume offers a feast for the imagination with its fascinatingly odd menagerie of creatures both real and imaginary. Victorian author John Ashton assembled historical accounts of everything from centaurs and unicorns to narwhals and wolves by authors such as Pliny, the ancient Roman naturalist, and Edward Topsell, a 17th-century English clergyman. These credulous treatments provide abundant amusement for modern readers. The compilation ranges from the more familiar creatures such as dragons, griffins, and mermen to now-obscure beings: the lamia, the lamb-tree, the moon woman, and the circhos, to name a few. Some tales offer unusual takes on swans, bears, cats, and other ordinary animals. Since underwater exploration was impractical until the 20th century, a particularly rich vein of folklore centers on sea creatures. Dating from approximately 1890, this fascinating volume is profusely illustrated with 130 images. A detailed index provides easy reference.

With the end of an era comes chaos and danger of the worst kind. The great stag who had led the roe deer of the deep forest to safety and peace so many years before is now nearing the end of his reign. Ulex, a stag with some very dangerous idea's is the only real contender for the job. His chance finally comes with the arrival of Buttercup and Fred, a cow and calf escaped from a local farm earlier in the year. Now as chaos breaks out the only hope for the herd is to find help and a worthy replacement before the herd pays the ultimate price. With impending battle you can be sure Sederic the surgeon seagull (from 'Awing to the wild') will be on hand to ply his very special trade. Only the greatest of great stags can unite the deer herds of the deep forest and return peace for the generation to come.

Trix’s fame is a two edged sword, Hollywood sees her as the camera’s sweet heart. By chance Fleur is offered the part of playing her alter ego, Trix, a creature of the night. But it is not the dream factory that draws her back, it’s a boy washed up on the California coast, a boy who refuses to leave her dreams, something not even the New York criminal underground could achieve.

It’s 1802, and Jack finds himself surrounded by spoilt aristocrats in a mysterious training camp on the South coast of England. Once more he is drawn into an unexplained murder mystery, and with the dead man’s family baying for blood, someone is going to pay, regardless of their guilt or innocence. Could a mysterious French ship stalking the English coastline be in some way linked to the killing? Able to outrun anything the English navy puts against it, the need to catch this enigmatic vessel becomes vital to the war effort, its very survival highlighting England’s weaknesses. As the body count grows, the rules of both war and honour become secondary to the necessity to win at any price. As ever in the Major’s world, nothing is quite as it seems and everyone is expendable for the greater good. Jack is the ultimate underdog, with nothing to lose. A lowly peasant dragged into a dangerous world of spies and spy catchers, where the privilege of seeing a new day is a prize to be fought for.