Books with author Mat Gardener

In this particular story, Olly goes to see a pantomime called “Jack and the Beanstalk;” this fired up his imagination about growing things. When Olly got back home after the pantomime, he went over to a fruit bowl. He found some nuts in the bottom of the bowl and he asked what they would grow into. As he lay in his bed that night, he had an amazing dream. In that dream, Olly dreamt about a special magic tree called the Ollykin tree. This led him to have a series of other exciting dreams too. In these later dreams, he became the something of a local hero. He became the owner of a large farm and he was able to feed the world. This story aims to show young readers how important it is to grow and to nurture living things. With so many young people now living and growing up in towns and cities few of them get to see how their food is produced. It is also a sad fact that few are aware of the environmental costs to the planet when food is grown a long way from those that need it. This book also makes readers aware of the importance of self-sufficiency in respect to preventing local food shortages.The story also points out that much agricultural land that is currently built on would be better used as agricultural land to produce food for local communities, ( a point which those on council planning committees and government ministers would be wise to take into account when making planning decisions concerning green-field sites). This book is also designed to make young people aware of the suffering of others in far away countries where climate change and seasonal abnormalities damage and destroy crop yields. It seeks to show how those reliant upon such crops can find themselves on the verge of starvation. The story also, highlights the importance of overseas assistance in some cases; not just on a short-term aid basis, but in helping those affected by climate based food shortages, to adjust and to produce hardier crops. .

Early one evening, a young boy called Olly was taken to see a performing circus as a special treat. For Olly it proved to be a very interesting night, filled with excitement and drama, as the various performers went through their acts. This story is about the things Olly saw during the circus performance, and about a dream he had later that night as he lay asleep in his bed. This particular book aims to teach young readers about the plight of the world’s endangered animals and was written in support of zoo parks and conservation projects around the world.

Taken from the “DREAMTIME” series, this particular story is about Olly’s local zoo. During a series of dreams, Olly imagines himself taking some of the animals out on a series of very funny and exciting adventures. The story ends with Olly going to see where zoo animals come from and he learns what an important job zoo parks do in protecting endangered species.With a strong conservation message, this story aims to show young readers how important it is to support zoos and wildlife parks which offer sanctuary to the worlds’ most endangered animal species. It also shows how such sites offer important breeding opportunities so that colonies of the animals can be re-established in their original habitat, once conditions allow. During the latter part of the story, habitat destruction is illustrated very clearly in order to make young readers’/listeners conscious of how rainforests and the other areas where the animals normally live, are being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Many years ago there was a very good natured sheep who had a very bad start in life. This is her story as to how she turned her life around; simply by being pleasant and respectful to all those who she encountered during her long journey through life. Annie’s life got off to a bad start when her mother died whilst giving birth to her. Annie was also very unfortunate in that when she joined the flock, the leader at that time was a very nasty ewe called Queenie who bullied her mercilessly. Besides having to cope with Queenie’s bullying ways, Annie also had to cope with the farmers’ sheepdog called Sabre as well. He was very similar to Queenie in being another very nasty character. It was as a result to Sabres’ bad attitude that Annie eventually got her big breaks in life, and so ultimately she had a lot to thank him for. This particular story aims to show that where we get off to a bad start in life, either because we are bullied, abused or we handicapped in some way during our early years, things can still come good for us in the end. The things Annie achieved looked impossible during her early days and yet by keeping calm in the face of adversity and in having faith that things will get better she was able to turn her life around.

Many years ago there was a very good natured sheep who had a very bad start in life. This is her story as to how she turned her life around; simply by being pleasant and respectful to all those who she encountered during her long journey through life. Annie's life got off to a bad start when her mother died whilst giving birth to her. Annie was also very unfortunate in that when she joined the flock, the leader at that time was a very nasty ewe called Queenie who bullied her mercilessly. Besides having to cope with Queenie's bullying ways, Annie also had to cope with the farmers' sheepdog called Sabre as well. He was very similar to Queenie in being another very nasty character. It was as a result to Sabre's bad attitude that Annie eventually got her big breaks in life, and so ultimately she had a lot to thank him for. This particular story aims to show that where we get off to a bad start in life, either because we are bullied, abused or we handicapped in some way during our early years, things can still come good for us in the end. The things Annie achieved looked impossible during her early days and yet by keeping calm in the face of adversity and in having faith that things will get better she was able to turn her life around.

Many years ago there was a very good natured sheep who had a very bad start in life. This is her story as to how she turned her life around; simply by being pleasant and respectful to all those who she encountered during her long journey through life. Annie’s life got off to a bad start when her mother died whilst giving birth to her. Annie was also very unfortunate in that when she joined the flock, the leader at that time was a very nasty ewe called Queenie who bullied her mercilessly. Besides having to cope with Queenie’s bullying ways, Annie also had to cope with the farmers’ sheepdog called Sabre as well. He was very similar to Queenie in being another very nasty character. It was as a result to Sabres’ bad attitude that Annie eventually got her big breaks in life, and so ultimately she had a lot to thank him for.This particular story aims to show that where we get off to a bad start in life, either because we are bullied, abused or we handicapped in some way during our early years, things can still come good for us in the end. The things Annie achieved looked impossible during her early days and yet by keeping calm in the face of adversity and in having faith that things will get better she was able to turn her life around.

Jacob’s Story Featuring a donkey ride owner called Billy and a lame donkey called Jacob, this story aims to show that any disabilities or handicaps can be overcome, (even if they are physical ones). Jacob proves to be something of a burden to to start off with. In the longer term however, he comes to be a far bigger asset than Billy could ever have imagined, owing to a unique set of circumstances. As the story unfolds Jacob becomes something of a hero and the resultant publicity is enough to change both their lives forever in a very positive way. There is one final drama for them to both overcome before they can wholly benefit from their circumstances however Besides being a story of hope, this story also seeks to show readers/listeners how being pleasant and good natured, often pays great dividends in the long-term, whereas being unpleasant and intolerant, generally has the reverse effect and can be a real disadvantage in life. It has been designed to inspire and give comfort to young people faced with seemingly overwhelming difficulties in life, (including physical disabilities).

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This particular story is about a dream whereby Olly imagines himself travelling the world on an overnight whistle-stop tour. His first journey comes about on the back of a very special swan who lives at his local park. After flying to various locations around the world, he then explores a jungle on the back of a tiger, before befriending some natives and undergoes a whole host of further adventures around the globe. Done in a whistle-stop tour format, this book aims to make listeners/readers aware of the world around them, and of the many different cultures, habits and customs of those from other parts of the world. Besides making others more tolerant to the ways and customs of those from different cultures, it is hoped that this book will also encourage young readers/listeners to travel and see the world during their later years.

Early one evening, a young boy called Olly was taken to see a performing circus as a special treat. For Olly it proved to be a very interesting night, filled with excitement and drama, as the various performers went through their acts. This story is about the things Olly saw during the circus performance, and about a dream he had later that night as he lay asleep in his bed. This particular book aims to teach young readers about the plight of the world’s endangered animals and was written in support of zoo parks and conservation projects around the world.

Featuring a donkey ride owner called Billy and a lame donkey called Jacob, this story aims to show that any disabilities or handicaps can be overcome, (even if they are physical ones). Jacob proves to be something of a burden to to start off with. In the longer term however, he comes to be a far bigger asset than Billy could ever have imagined, owing to a unique set of circumstances. As the story unfolds Jacob becomes something of a hero and the resultant publicity is enough to change both their lives forever in a very positive way. There is one final drama for them to both overcome before they can wholly benefit from their circumstances however Besides being a story of hope, this story also seeks to show readers/listeners how being pleasant and good natured, often pays great dividends in the long-term, whereas being unpleasant and intolerant, generally has the reverse effect and can be a real disadvantage in life. It has been designed to inspire and give comfort to young people faced with seemingly overwhelming difficulties in life, (including physical disabilities).