Books with author Simpson

What would you do if you could stay out all night and not get in trouble ? Twelve-year-old Sam has no friends, but you can't really blame her. She lives her life in a state of chronic exhaustion thanks to her nightly sleepwalking jaunts, which include trips to the store, treehouse building projects, and breaking-and-entering escapades—none of which she remembers in the morning. Her condition is taking its toll on her family (and her life), so when her mom takes her to see a wacky strip mall sleep specialist, Sam is wary, but 100 percent in. The night after the doc works his mojo, Sam wakes up outside her body, watching herself sleep. FREAKY! But once she gets over the panic attack, she realizes there's a whole world of detached-sleepers out there—cliques of kids like the Achieves,who use their sleep time to learn new things; the Numbs, who eat junk food and play video games all night long, and the OCDeeds who search for missing things and organize other people's stuff. And then there are the Mean Dreams, led by Madalynn Sucret, the nicest girl in school, who shows Sam that she can use her power to get back at her bully. Sam is intrigued—until it becomes clear that Madalynn is the real bully and the "bully" is just, well, sad. Now Sam is faced with uniting the various tribes of Sleepers to fight back against Madalynn and the Mean Dreams in the most epic battle the night has ever seen.

Comedian, teatime talk show host and all-round entertainer, multi-award winning Paul O'Grady is one of the most popular figures on British television.But his real-life journey has been more dramatic than any of his on-stage stories.Born into a noisy Irish Catholic household in Birkenhead, Paul was always determined to live a colourful life. He was a boxing champion as a boy. He became a dad as a teenager. He has been a barman in a brothel and spent his first years in London working as a carer to some of the capital's most at-risk kids.In this, the first major biography of the star, Neil Simpson reveals the extraordinary highs and the terrible lows of Paul's life. He explains: how Lily Savage was born as a way to make more money - and help Paul take his mind off the horrors he saw every day as a social worker; how tough it was for the 'blonde bombsite from Birkenhead' to break into the entertainment mainstream; and, why Paul decided to risk everything by throwing off Lily's wig and carving out a new career as himself.The depression, the private grief and the near fatal heart attacks that struck as Paul re-invented himself as the funniest and most successful chat show host in the country. Frequently hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenchingly sad, Paul O'Grady has always lived his life on a rollercoaster of emotions. Today he is a proud grandfather, a multimillionaire and a man loved by millions of devoted fans. This is his incredible story.

Meet Ozy and Millie, two middle-grade students in Seattle who also happen to be foxes. This debut comic from Phoebe and Her Unicorn creator Dana Simpson centers around these two best friends as they take on the everyday challenges all middle-graders face--bullies, tests, and the dread of going back to school after a surprise snow day. Millie is a mischievous and inquisitive 10-year-old with a talent for evading homework, a habit of questioning authority, and a knack for inventing bizarre jump rope rhymes. Ozy is her calm, thoughtful counterpart, whose adoptive father, a red dragon named Llewellyn, is full of odd stories and ancient wisdom. Also featured are Felicia, a sheep at the head of the cool clique, and Avery, a hapless raccoon who desperately wants to be popular. Together they offer charming and fun stories while also allowing Simpson's sweetly philosophical humor to shine through. Evocative, funny, and gently philosophical, Ozy and MIllie will delight young readers with tales of friendship and school-age fun, while transporting older fans back to the honesty, openness and wonder of childhood.

Why would Grace Johnson, an African American high school senior, take a bullet to save the life of a Ku Klux Klansman named Jonathan Gilmore?The question hovers unanswered over Grace’s hometown of Vigilant, Michigan. Few people, black or white, understand her sacrifice, especially since rumor has it years ago a member of Gilmore’s family murdered several African Americans including Grace’s father. Grace doesn’t want to talk about it, but the decision to speak is not hers to make. Ancestor spirits emerge to insist, in ways Grace cannot ignore, that she bear witness to her town’s violent racial history so that all involved might transcend it.With hindsight made telescopic by the wisdom found in African American mythology and the book The Velveteen Rabbit, Grace recounts a story of eye-for-an-eye vengeance that has blinded entire generations in her hometown. Faced with the horrific crimes that have disfigured her life, Grace wonders if in the end, she can do as the spirits have asked and lead Mr. Gilmore, the town of Vigilant and her own soul on a journey toward reconciliation, redemption and true grace.

Before he was Old-timer, he was Craig Emilson, a young doctor, sucked into military service at the outbreak of World War III. Enlisting to become a Special Forces suborbital paratrooper, Craig is selected to take part in the most important mission in American military history—a sortie into enemy territory to eliminate the world’s first strong Artificial Intelligence. The mission is only the beginning of Craig’s story, and for the story of humanity as well, as they accelerate towards a world that is post-human.

RPG ABC is an ABC book with a modern twist for the new generation of gaming parents. Shunning the tired and boring 'apple' and 'xylophone', each letter has 2 examples of high fantasy RPG tropes and clichés. Each individual letter also has a cute vector illustration and a descriptive rhyming text, which tells an on-going story. The book is written in the second person so your child can feel like an epic adventurer, embarking on their first quest to save the royal twins from a dastardly criminal.So if you hope your little hero can say dragon before doggy, this is the book for you!

True stories of prison breaks including those of Frank Abagnale, whose story is told in Catch Me If You Can; Henri Charrière who claimed to have escaped from the supposedly inescapable Devil's Island - the true story as opposed to his questionable memoir, Papillon; Bud Day, said to be the only US serviceman ever to have escaped to South Vietnam; the six prisoners who escaped from Death Row in Mecklenburg Correctional Center; and Pascal Payeret, the French armed robber who escaped not once, but twice from French prisons with the help of a helicopter.

Do you believe in ghosts? Travel with a young reporter, Jen Barnes, on her first big assignment to cover the glamorous, annual event known as Carnevale in Venice. Experience the magic of a gondola ride down the Grand Canal. Take in the majesty of the Romaneque architecture. Attend the most elaborate costume ball in the world and then as the clock on the tower in Piazza San Marco strikes eleven, watch, along with her as she witnesses a murder that no one else believes took place. Jen Barnes is traumatized by her experience in Venice. Returning to New York, she struggles to distinguish between reality and dreams and soon finds herself facing an even more daunting task. A rambunctious ghost in search of justice has followed her home. And, to her horror, begins to make his presence known.