Books with author Stephen Elder

Nigeria and Nigerians have acquired a notorious reputation for involvement in drug-trafficking, fraud, cyber-crime and other types of serious crime. Successful Nigerian criminal networks have a global reach, interacting with their Italian, Latin American and Russian counterparts. Yet in 1944, a British colonial official wrote that 'the number of persistent and professional criminals is not great' in Nigeria and that 'crime as a career has so far made little appeal to the young Nigerian'. This book traces the origins of Nigerian organised crime to the last years of colonial rule, when nationalist politicians acquired power at a regional level. In need of funds for campaigning, they offered government contracts to foreign businesses in return for kickbacks, in a pattern that recurs to this day. Political corruption encouraged a wider disrespect for the law that spread throughout Nigerian society. When the country's oil boom came to an end in the early 1980s, young Nigerian college graduates headed abroad, eager to make money by any means. Nigerian crime went global at the very moment new criminal markets were emerging all over the world.

Kit is the son of the Queen's witch doctor and takes his best friend, Prince Henry, on a night time ride on his magic carpet to see the werewolves in the Tower of London. But when Henry falls into the den and is bitten, Kit is forbidden to see him and the Queen sends for Stafford Sparks, theRoyal Superintendent of Scientific Progress, to cure Henry with electricity. Kit decides he must rescue his friend and prove to the Queen that magic is still alive - but his attempts end up leading him into the tunnels under London, and into terrible danger.

Signed by an agent when he was only four years old, Logan's dreams of becoming an actor began at an early age. Whether he's playing the future president of the United States or a demi-god, movies have always been an important part of Logan Lerman's life. In LOGAN! you'll read about his early acting roles, his rise to fame, and his plans for the future.

A fast-moving story about what happens when two orphans, Nathan and Sam, swap places. Sam runs off with a circus, and Nathan finds himself at Moonville - a strange school where all the boys are left to run riot. He befriends the odd scientist in the tower, but when his wicked uncle catchesup with him the real danger begins.* Stephen Elboz's books have been well-reviewd with A Handful of Magic being picked as the Guardian's book of the month