Books with title The Purple Hat

William Henry Hudson was a true child of South America, born in Argentina in 1841. His parents had emigrated from the USA to begin sheep farming, and the young William grew up herding stock with local 'gauchos', the freedom-loving cowboys of the pampas, and studying the wildlife of the area. He also began writing, both for scientific journals, and increasingly, books containing his own thoughts and ideas on a wide variety of subjects. 'The Purple Land' is William Hudson's exuberant first novel. Set in the turbulent political times of Uruguay's birth, it tells the tale of European adventurer Richard Lamb, who elopes with the lovely Paquita, thereby earning the undying enmity of her powerful father. Desperate to support his wife, he sets off on a series of increasingly wild adventures that includes horse-stealing, a fight to the death, imprisonment and escape - and culminates in a pitched battle between the two main political parties, 'Whites' and 'Reds', with our hero unfortunately picking the losing side. In between, Richard manages to win the hearts of at least three Latin beauties, all of whom further complicate his already convoluted existence. But 'The Purple Land' is far more than a simple adventure story. Constructed as an early form of 'road novel', Hudson fills its pages with intimate sketches of the people and the customs of mid-nineteenth century pampas life, colourful vignettes set among his masterful depiction of the region's wildlife and its matchless natural beauty.

The Purple Land is a novel set in 19th century Uruguay by William Henry Hudson, first published in 1885 under the title The Purple Land that England Lost. Initially a commercial and critical failure, it was reissued in 1904 with the full title The Purple Land, Being One Richard Lamb's Adventures in the Banda Orientál, in South America, as told by Himself. Towards the end of the novel, the narrator explains the title, "I will call my book The Purple Land. For what more suitable name can one find for a country so stained with the blood of her children?"

On a summer day Maria, Peter, and Brian Bell set out to explore the land around their new home in the country. In the woods, at the far edge of a big hayfield behind the house, they find an abandoned car and decide to make it into a fort. From the start, things about the car seem odd. There are bullet holes in one side, but not the sort hunters make in using such cars for target practice. These holes are all in a vertical line. And there is an odd dark stain on the back of the driver’s seat. From their neighbor, a retired farmer named Walter Barbour, they learn that the car once belonged to a hired killer named Little Louie LaMontaigne, who was shot in that filed by the gang members he’d had a falling out with, fifty-eight years before. But things get stranger still. There is a raven that watches them and at times almost seems to speak. And there is the matter of Little Louie himself, for the body was never found ... until now ...

No matter how long he has yearned to escape his boring life as an ordinary teenager, nothing can prepare James Shannassy for the afternoon when he meets a figment bird called Archit and the two of them set off for the world of Nalgordia to break a centuries-old curse. Being the hero of his own fantasy adventure isn't exactly what James expected it to be, but when he finds himself caught up in an epic fight against a force of evil, he knows he might be the only one able to stop it. Archit's fate now rests entirely in his hands...and there's no turning back now!

Illustrations by Tory & Norman TaberCAUTION! Violet lives within the pages of this book. And her purple spreads to everything she touches …Violet lives behind garden walls. Is she magical? Is she the devil’s child—or simply cursed? When the lonely thirteen-year-old embarks on a dangerous journey to find the one boy that dared to befriend her, she travels at night … in the dark … to keep people from seeing her purple skin. But no one is more surprised than Violet when she unlocks her mysterious gift.Go where adventure, discovery and magic meet!

Hubert the frog is a smart, purple frog who is constantly teased by his classmates and harassed by his brother and his sister. They are all green and they make fun of Hubert because he is different. One morning, Hubert wakes up with a green spot on the middle of his forehead. Each morning after, another green spot appears. He covers them up because he knows the teasing will only get worse. Imagine being a purple frog with green spots! How will Hubert ever survive the humiliation? He doesn't mind being purple but maybe it would be easier if he was all green like everyone else.