Exciting news!

Purple House is proud to announce that the Devlin family has given us permission to reissue Old Black Witch! and Cranberry Thanksgiving.

Many of you will remember the blueberry pancake witch, well she is making a reappearance this year! When Nicky and his mom buy an old New England house to turn into a tearoom, they are startled to find they must share the house with its resident troublemaker, Old Black Witch. "Boo! Scat, and Ratcha Frat!" Old Black Witch calls out to all the tearoom visitors. Zooming about on her dilapidated broom, she manages to stir up plenty of fuss and excitement. Her blueberry pancake recipe is at the end of the book!

A sweet treat for Thanksgiving: Grandmother certainly didn't want to ask Mr. Whiskers for Thanksgiving dinner! She was very angry when Maggie asked him. She was even more angry when SOMEONE stole her favorite, secret recipe for cranberry bread! Was Mr. Whiskers the thief? Find out when you read the book, secret recipe included!

Go GREEN on St. Patty's day!

Yes you can go green with Alvin Fernald and his magnificent brain! Read how Alvin, Shoie and the Pest fight pollution and help clean up the town of Riverton. The best part is that you may download Alvin Fernald, Superweasel for free at Amazon on St. Patty's day March 17th. Alvin's Swap Shop will be coming soon too. Click HERE to see the ebook on Amazon. Tell your friends!

We're trying something new!

Alvin Fernald, Superweasel by Clifford B. Hicks is our first ever title to be produced as an ebook only! Right now Amazon Prime members can download it for free.

If you don't have an Amazon Prime membership there will be five days in the next three months (I just need to pick the days) where this book is free to anyone who wants to download it! I hope you try out the story and enjoy it :) We've kept the original illustrations by Bill Sokol. For some reason you can't search Clifford B. Hicks books to find this one yet, hope that's fixed soon.

Spring 2012 update :)

Hi All! Hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends over the holidays.

Here's a quick update about what's going on here. I'm acquiring the rights to several amazing books from the 60s, as soon as it's all official I will announce the titles here...they will be ready for fall!

I'm sending three hardcover books to the printer this week and we plan to have them in our warehouse by May. They are:

Benjamin Dilley's Thirsty Camel by the incomparable Jolly Roger Bradfield.

When it came to imagination, Benjamin Dilly was right up there with Einstein, Steve Jobs, and whoever came up with the idea for Disneyland. There wasn’t anything Benjamin couldn’t imagine, except maybe an honest politician or the idea of kissing (ugh!) a girl. Well, he could have if he’d wanted to I suppose but, gee, a guy has to draw the line somewhere!

Just about anything else was subject to his delightfully developed imagination, either in full color, black and white, 3D, with sound or without. As you will learn upon reading the story, this included a hippo dressed as an army general, a goat driving a sports car and a genie in (and out of) a bottle just to name a few.

And the last two books in our Henry series, Henry Explores the Jungle and Henry Explores the Mountains by Mark Taylor and Graham Booth. If you loved the first two books (Henry the Explorer and Henry the Castaway) you will find these books just as fun -- continuing on with Henry's explorations through all four seasons!

Henry Explores the Jungle

Once Henry and his dog, Laird Angus McAngus (Angus for short), had gone hunting for bear. But that was in winter. Now it was summer and time to explore the jungle.

"We may find a tiger," Henry told his mother.
"Well, don't get eaten," his mother said, handing him his lunch.

It was harder exploring the jungle than Henry had thought it would be. The grass was so high he could hardly see over it, and not all of the inhabitants were friendly. Still, explorers are brave; when they find a tiger, they know just what to do. It is such moments of triumph that make exploring worthwhile, and make reading about it almost as good.

Henry Explores the Mountains

It was fall. And on the night of the big frost, Henry and his dog, Laird Angus McAngus, decided that they must explore the wild and untracked mountains near their house. Before winter set in.

So the next morning they set out, with flags and banners as any good explorers would, and also rope. "You always need rope when climbing in the mountains - for safety," Henry said.

"I expect you to be home before dark," said Henry's father.

And off they went. They picked their way through dangerous canyons and up steep cliffs, had their lunch, and then trouble began. It proved to be an exciting afternoon for Henry and Angus, much better than Henry's imagination could have made it.