The Book of Hopes
Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Fry
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Ben Bailey Smith
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Helena Bonham Carter
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Katherine Rundell
About this listen
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Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year
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In difficult times, what children really need is hope. And in that spirit, bestselling author Katherine Rundell emailed some of the children's writers whose work she loved most:
'I asked them to write something very short, fiction or non-fiction, that would make the children reading it feel like possibility-ists: something that would make them laugh or wonder or snort or smile. The response was magnificent, which shouldn’t have surprised me, because children’s writers are professional hunters of hope … I hope that the imagination can be a place of shelter for children and that The Book of Hopes might be useful in that, even if only a little.'
This collection, packed with short stories and poems from the very best children’s authors, aims to provide just that. Within its pages you'll find animal friends from insects to elephants, high-flying grandmas, a homesick sprite, the tooth fairy, and even extra-terrestrial life.
There are 133 contributions from authors, including Anthony Horowitz, Axel Scheffler, Catherine Johnson, Jacqueline Wilson, Katherine Rundell, Lauren Child, Michael Morpurgo and Onjali Q. Raúf. A donation from the sale of each book will go to NHS Charities Together, in gratitude for the incredible efforts of all those who worked in hospitals over the quarantine period.
_______________
'An anthology on the theme of hope … it includes a rich range of poetry, stories and non-fiction' – Sunday Times, 'Stories to charm on endless days'
Proceeds from this book will be donated to NHS Charities Together. In respect of UK sales, this will be £2.10 and in respect of sales in other territories this will be 16% of net receipts (at least 62p).
NHS Charities Together is a charity registered in England and Wales (registered charity no. 1186569).©2020 Katherine Rundell - collection (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Doctor Dolittle: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1
- The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle; The Story of Doctor Dolittle; Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
- By: Hugh Lofting
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Rediscover the children’s literature classic with three novels from the beloved series: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, The Story of Doctor Dolittle, and Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office!
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A wonderful bedtime story!
- By Holly Masri on 05-02-20
By: Hugh Lofting
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The Last House on Needless Street
- By: Catriona Ward
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Story
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.
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I can only listen in 1-2 hour segments!
- By Brenda on 10-04-21
By: Catriona Ward
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Pennies for Hitler
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
It's 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils' heads to see which of them have the most 'Aryan'- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. Hatred is contagious, but Georg finds that kindness can be, too.
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This could be a Bryce Courtenay novel
- By K Cornwinkle on 07-02-14
By: Jackie French
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David and the Phoenix
- By: Edward Ormondroyd
- Narrated by: Edward Ormondroyd, the Full Cast Family
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When David finally has a chance to climb the mountain behind his new home he has no idea he is about to meet a fabulous mythical creature. When the Phoenix decides to take a hand in David's education the adventures - and the hilarity - really begin. Alas, the wonderful visits to griffons, sea monsters, and banshees will come to a crashing halt if the scientist stalking the Phoenix is successful.
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OK for children 6-9
- By Joanne on 07-28-03
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Good Poems
- Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor
- By: Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and others
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
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Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence.
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Very good, but. . .
- By KSmith on 01-27-11
By: Emily Dickinson, and others
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Jane of Lantern Hill
- By: L.M. Montgomery
- Narrated by: Lauren Saunders
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For as long as she can remember, Jane Stuart and her mother have lived with her controlling grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead, so she was shocked to receive an invitation to stay with him for the summer on Prince Edward Island. But from their very first meeting, Jane fell in love with her charming father and his whimsical cottage. During her stay with him, she even found herself daring to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto.
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Adore the book. The recording needs to be EDITED!
- By Island Girl on 06-17-20
By: L.M. Montgomery
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Autumn
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Melody Grove
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Fusing Keatsian mists and mellow fruitfulness with the vitality, the immediacy, and the color hit of Pop Art, Autumn is a witty excavation of the present by the past. The novel is a stripped-branches take on popular culture and a meditation, in a world growing ever more bordered and exclusive, on what richness and worth are, what harvest means.
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Incredible use of language
- By Mary on 03-06-17
By: Ali Smith
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All the Lives We Never Lived
- By: Anuradha Roy
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Sleeping on Jupiter, The Folded Earth, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a poignant and sweeping novel set in India during World War II and the present day about a son’s quest to uncover the truth about his mother....
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Beautiful book
- By Sonia S. on 12-13-19
By: Anuradha Roy
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Behind the Scenes at the Museum
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets.
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Another Kate Atkinson multi-generational story
- By Satisfied Customer on 11-08-18
By: Kate Atkinson
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The Turtle of Oman
- By: Naomi Shihab Nye
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Aref does not want to move to Michigan. He's sure the kids there won't like him. Also, he has everything he needs right where he is! But Sidi has another point of view. Sidi says Aref will go and come back. Just like a falcon or the turtles of Oman, he'll travel far and make his way home to Muscat. So Aref sets out to say good-bye to everything he loves. Good-bye to Mish-Mish, Diram, Sulima, dunes, Sidi…. But how can he stand it?
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A long goodbye
- By K Gray on 02-03-24
By: Naomi Shihab Nye
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Vanishing Treasures
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good
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the twist of the abandoned city
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