Most Popular Books by John Allison

This collection of short stories for young children introduces a small fluffy Shih Tzu called Max, who is searching for love and a forever home. One day a kind lady called Sally takes him to her heart, and his journey through life begins. The book contains a number of stories, and each one focuses on friendship, compassion, and the importance of friends, family and having fun. Bursting with illustrations that help to fire the imagination, this book will keep your child interested. Each story has a positive and uplifting message, using relatable characters and simple language that is easy for young children to understand and enjoy.

We reached out to a bunch of our favorite creators with one mission in mind: to bring original, unconventional characters and stories to life. The Mix Tape is an eclectic collection of stories based on characters that are anything but your average lot. Narwhal Janitors and Urban Cowboys are just the tip of these stories that are best described as “off the beaten track.”

From the bestselling author of Giant Days comes the final pocket-sized volume in his beloved Bad Machinery series! The mystery-solving teens of Tackleford are finding out that not every summer is a perfect one. Charlotte and Shauna, once inseparable, are decidedly on the outs. Mildred bounces between the formerly best friends while trying to save up money for a car. Amy’s rent at the antique store gets tripled, casting doubt on the future of her career. Meanwhile, the boys are channeling their energies into finding love down by the river, with only Jack’s acoustic guitar between them and “romance.” But tragedy strikes when they find that a developer has started building a huge condominium in their favorite swim spot. Unable to get a moment’s peace at home, Charlotte has no choice but to force her way into an internship at the local newspaper, unleashing her brand of maverick sleuthing on... blood pouring out of public art? Strange ooze coming up out of the ground? Shifty doings at the Chamber of Commerce? Classic Tackleford! The Case of the Severed Alliance pits our favorite crew against the changing tide of time itself as friendships and romantic bonds are tested, and the inexorable wave of gentrification remakes Tackleford itself. Summer is just beginning... but it feels like The End for our heroes? That’s because it is the end: of Bad Machinery!

It offers business English students the fundamentals and skills they need to succeed in the competitive international business environment. Topics include business organization, CVs, and covering letters -- Back cover.

An Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set in the world of English competitive baking from Giant Days’ John Allison and Max Sarin. When she enters her country’s most beloved baking competition, Shauna Wickle’s goal is to delight the judges, charm the nation, and make a few friends along the way. But when a fellow contestant is poisoned, it falls to her to apprehend the culprit while avoiding premature elimination from the UK Bakery Tent…and being the poisoner’s next victim! Collects issues #1–#4 of Dark Horse Comics series The Great British Bump-Off.

Fast friends Susan, Daisy, and Esther continue their second year at Sheffield University. Education and looking ahead to the future isn’t all that college holds in store for these ladies—grocery store protests, family reunions, and even an MMORPG wedding are all on this semester’s docket. Collects issues #25-28 of the Eisner Award-nominated series.

Return to Sheffield one last time as Daisy and Esther are about to graduate—with Susan there to cheer them on! But it’s not over yet, because one year later Daisy and Susan must join forces to save Esther from the head girls who’re making her life hell! And then it really might be time to say goodbye... The critically-acclaimed team of John Allison (By Night) and Max Sarin (Wicked Things) conclude the Eisner Award-winning series with graduation, celebration, and a reminder that friendship is forever. Collects Giant Days #53-54 and Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1.

Now a double agent trapped in a world of high-stakes deceit, Shauna must seek out elusive local legend Mabel and her mysterious “long arm”, while preparing to enter the killing fields of Quiltfest, where her mission faces almost certain doom. As her fragile sanity frays, Shauna must gather up the threads of this cosy mystery before her covers are blown! • Four issue series.

As Shauna Wickle continues to try to solve the mysterious poisoning amongst her fellow baking contestants, she decides to go full Poirot-mode just in time for the deadly technical baking challenge!

Don't go to the opera without it! Portable, informative, and easy to use, this pocket companion to 150 masterpieces contains both the repertoire standards (Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and La Boh'me) and more unusual fare-like Rimsky Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, and Kurt Weill's Street Scene. Entries range from Handel's Agrippina to Mozart's magical Die Zauberflte (The Magic Flute), and each one includes information on the composer and librettist; a description of the work's premiere; a list of principal characters; and synopses that reveal the mood and style of each piece, scene by scene. Among the operas covered are: Beethoven's Fidelio, Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Philip Glass's Akhnaten, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, and Verdi's La Traviata.

School is out for summer, and for the Tackleford mystery team, that means lazy days, balmy evenings, and... creeping existential dread that threatens the whole city. With half the team gallivanting off to exotic locales (like Aunty Kath's in Margate), can Linton, Jack, and Lottie solve this season's most dire case? The Case of the Unwelcome Visitor, the sixth book in John Allison's award-winning Bad Machinery series, pits our young heroes against the terrors of the unfamiliar and unknown. Lottie's mum and sister have both fallen in love (thanks to the internet), Linton is determined to save his father from the soul-sucking responsibility of a promotion, and why is Jack working at the local paper with team nemesis (and hot-shot reporter) Erin Winters? Isn't print meant to be dead? Could the link between these tangled threads be The Night Creeper, who prowls Tackleford's streets and leaves people in the hospital with a blank stare and a terrible smile on their face?

Once upon a time, on an ordinary day in Max's life, an unexpected guest appeared at the doorstep, causing a stir of excitement. It was Elvis, Max's quirky pug friend, clutching an old piece of parchment in his mouth - a treasure map! With their curiosity piqued and adventure in their hearts, Max, Sally, Ben, and the mischievous Elvis, all decided to turn this ordinary day into something extraordinary. They banded together, ready to decipher the cryptic clues, traverse unknown paths, and unearth the long-lost secrets the map promised. Thus began the most thrilling journey of their lives - a real treasure hunt!

This is the workbook in a stimulating course which integrates presentation of language with exercises and activities. There are 15 ten-age unies, each incorporating wide grammar coverage, systematic vocabulary presentation, listening and reading skills, and pair-work role plays. The workbook is a self-study practice book with 15 varied units of supplementary material for class use, homework and private study.

Edward Elgar was for many years the most popular composer in Britain; his music was, and remains, inextricably linked with the final, glorious years of the Empire. Yet Elgar himself was almost entirely untypical of the British Establishment. Born a shopkeeper's son, part of an active Catholic family and community, Elgar struggled for many years against the prejudices his background raised in music circles. Ironically, composition for the Anglican Church was an important early platform for Elgar, and it is through the sacred music that this pioneering study approaches his life and work. It traces the development of a composer whose work was criticised for its Catholic overtones, yet who was knighted and the recipient of numerous professorships. John Allison weaves biography, composition and religion as never before to produce a necessary and illuminating new work. In addition to surveying the sacred music, much of it for the first time, he gives an invaluable listing of the works, their scoring and first production. John Allison is the assistant editor of Opera magazine, and contributes music criticism to the Financial Times.

From Giant Days' John Allison! A supernatural tale of friendship, the devil, and moral gray areas. New curate Billie Baker does her best to reach out to the small coastal parish's wayward youth, but when a supernatural rain brings forth an aquatic demon, she finds that she doesn't see eye-to-eye with her boss's way of dealing with things.

For the third year in a row, we’ve assembled a collection of short comics that embody the BOOM! Box aesthetic, an eclectic mix of weird tales from off the beaten track. This year, we’re really leaning into the “mix tape” element by exploring music through sequential storytelling. These can be comics about being in a band, a story about the first time you went to a certain venue, or even a puzzle quest revolving around a music festival. BOOM! Box 2016 Mix Tape embraces graphic storytelling in a way that embodies Tunes That Make You Think in Pictures...

A new cozy mystery from Giant Days’ John Allison and Max Sarin following up to their hit baking murder mystery The Great British Bump-Off. Surely there is no vacation more drama-free than a boating holiday along the sleepy canals of Yorkshire? Oh, you’d think so. Sadly, for Shauna Wickle, it’s tough to escape poisonous small-town rivalries (and sultry romantic entanglements) when travelling at a steady two to three miles per hour. And to make things worse, she’s about to find out how ruinously expensive a hastily-tied knot can be . . . • Four issue series.