"As playwright, composer and director, Mr Wood has given children a self respecting art form" (The Times) The Gingerbread Man - 'The perfect children's play, with lots of superbly silly jokes and foot-tapping songs ... a magnificent epic of comic disarray' (Time Out); The See-Saw Tree - 'We are made to feel at once that the theatre is something immediate and involving' (Times); The Ideal Gnome Expedition - 'David Wood has surely scored again ... yet another gently entertaining excursion into a fantasy world where eminently sensible values prevail' (Daily Telegraph); Mother Goose's Golden Christmas - 'I cannot recommend this pantomime highly enough ... an enchanting blend of mirth and music that captivates the hearts of mums, dads and kids' (Romford Observer)

Looking for a whizzpoppingly wonderful collection of plays for your whole class? Want some ready-made, delumptious lesson plans to accompany them? Biffsquiggled at the thought of how to stage these pieces? Well, look no further because this is a scrumdiddlyumptious selection of David Wood's plays; paired with all the information and materials you need to use them in class or on stage, edited by Paul Bateson, an experienced primary-level drama teacher. The plays create worlds that trigger children's imaginations as well as entertain them, make them think as well as make them laugh, and open their minds to new ideas and the power of storytelling through theatre. Plays included are: The Gingerbread Man The See-Saw Tree The BFG Save the Human Mother Goose's Golden Christmas This book also contains a new foreword by David Wood.

WINNER OF THE 2014 SEYMOUR MEDAL sponsored by the Society for American Baseball Research and finalist for 2014 SABR Larry Ritter Award Though his pitching career lasted only a few seasons, Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood was one of the most dominating figures in baseball history--a man many consider the best baseball player who is not in the Hall of Fame. About his fastball, Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson once said: "Listen, mister, no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood." Smoky Joe Wood chronicles the singular life befitting such a baseball legend. Wood got his start impersonating a female on the National Bloomer Girls team. A natural athlete, he pitched for the Boston Red Sox at eighteen, won twenty-one games and threw a no-hitter at twenty-one, and had a 34-5 record plus three wins in the 1912 World Series, for a 1.91 ERA, when he was just twenty-two. Then in 1913 Wood suffered devastating injuries to his right hand and shoulder that forced him to pitch in pain for two more years. After sitting out the 1916 season, he came back as a converted outfielder and played another five years for the Cleveland Indians before retiring to coach the Yale University baseball team. With details culled from interviews and family archives, this biography, the first of this rugged player of the Deadball Era, brings to life one of the genuine characters of baseball history.

An Ex-Cop Who Lost Everything. A Killer Who Will Stop At Nothing. In the exclusive enclave of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a woman who builds custom guitars is murdered. A disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator is hired by the dead woman's father and immediately becomes the target of a violent ex-convict. An enigmatic music star performs damage control on her links to the dead woman. And a professional killer who idolizes Keith Richards is brought into town by a mysterious employer. Dead Wood is what great mysteries are all about: love, hate, faith and vengeance, all wrapped up in an explosive story that simply refuses to let up. "Dead Wood is a fast-paced, unpredictable mystery with an engaging narrator and a rich cast of original supporting characters." -Thomas Perry, Edgar-winning author of The Butcher's Boy. "From its opening lines, Dan Ames and his private eye novel DEAD WOOD recall early James Ellroy: a fresh attitude and voice and the heady rush of boundless yearning and ambition. Ames delivers a vivid evocation of time and place in a way that few authors achieve, nailing the essence of his chosen corner of high-tone Michigan. This is the first new private eye novel in a long time that just swept me along for the ride. " - Edgar-nominated author Craig McDonald "Dan Ames's writing reminds me of the great thriller writers -- lean, mean, no nonsense prose that gets straight to the point and keeps you turning those pages." --author Robert Gregory Browne "As gritty as the Detroit streets where it's set, DEAD WOOD grabs you early on and doesn't let go. As fine a a debut as you'll come across this year, maybe any year." --author Tom Schreck