Showing results by narrator "John Voce" in All Categories

Deep in the Forest, the foxes live in an underground city built by their wolf slaves. The foxes' leader Reynard controls everything with his clever talk. Silas is bullied at school because his words will not come. He wishes he could live in silence as animals do. One day Silas helps an injured wolf. Then he enters the secret world of the Forest, where the last remaining wolves fight to survive. But even there, language is power. Can Silas find his voice in time to help his wolf friends – can he become the Wolfstongue?

Faolan and Sally have no memory of their lives before they arrived at the Land ten years ago. In this self-sufficient community, good fortune comes from mysterious beings known as the shapes, and no one is to venture into the Forest – a dangerous place full of fearsome wolves. When a strange gentleman named Reynard emerges from the Forest, he quickly befriends Faolan and Sally. But the community are both suspicious and enthralled by his storytelling.

In 221 BCE, the Qin state conquered its neighbours and created the first unified Chinese empire in history. So began the imperial era, where dynasties claiming divine assent ruled for more than 2000 years. Borders shifted, and emperors struggled to exert control over every region of their territories. Elites held that they were inheritors of a rich, pre-imperial culture, while their society produced world-changing inventions such as the compass, printing, gunpowder and the gun. Imperial China itself was altered as it came into contact with others through trade, exploration and war.

Beginning with our earliest explorations of the night sky, William Waller takes us on an enthralling journey through the Milky Way and far, far beyond. He combines science and history to show how our understanding of everything from black holes to the structure of the universe has evolved over time, illuminating past discoveries and offering contemporary insights into the cosmic histories of stars, planets and galaxies. Whether object of study or curiosity, the universe – and all it contains – is tantalisingly introduced here.

Matthew has dreamed and read and thought about the North Pole for as long as he can remember. And he has done it secretly. It is a place that cannot be tarnished by the world in which he lives – a world where he struggles to find answers and make friends, while everything seems to come easily to other children. But one day, a crow called Lewis Carmichael lands at Matthew's window – a crow who believes in Matthew in the most simple and ordinary ways. Soon, the unexpected voyage of a lifetime begins, and it will change everything.

After his interest was piqued by a 19th-century photo of a camel train in a country town, Ryan Butta found himself on the trail of Australia’s earliest Afghan camel-drivers. Separating the bulldust from the bush poetry, he reveals the breadth and depth of white Australian protectionism and prejudice. Told with flair and authority, this gritty alternative history defies the standard horse-powered folklore to reveal the untold debt this country owes to humble dromedaries, their drivers and those who brought them here.

How far do you go to rescue your child? Paul van Niekirk, a successful white South African is held up at gun-point when driving his new BMW. He's dragged out and his abductor drives off in his car. It's an everyday carjacking. Except his nine-month old daughter is in the back seat. As a pacifist, Paul is reluctant to carry a gun, but he descends into the heart of darkness of his country determined to find his child.

Join a group of brave young explorers as they embark on a dangerous mission to deliver a valuable parcel, follow Jessica on her first day of school where she hopes to find a friend, learn about understanding and acceptance with Christopher, hear how Penguin attempts to cheer up a blue whale and many more touching tales.

When Callum and his friends find Iona on Callum's farm they try to chase her back into the village. But Iona runs from them up into the hills. It is late and dark and snow lies in the mountain gullies. Worried for Iona's safety, Callum follows to find her shivering with cold but refusing to leave. She is guarding a secret hidden in the forest above the dark waters of the loch.

When they first meet, Kara and Felix can't stand each other. But on discovering an injured dolphin calf on the beach, they know they must work together to save it. Now friends, they set out to find the truth behind the disappearance of Kara's mother and to protect the nearby reef. But powerful people don't want them to succeed. And with the odds stacked against them, how can Kara and Felix make their voices heard?

Twelve-year-old Tam ventures into a moon bear den in the mountains of Northern Laos on a dare. His goal is to steal the cub and sell it, making a fortune for his family. But the mother bear’s unexpected return upends Tam’s plan, and he barely escapes with his life. Then his life implodes anyway, as his entire mountain village is forced to relocate to make room for a new highway. Lured by the promise of electricity, running water and a television, Tam’s people move to an overcrowded village, and Tam’s father is killed by a stray landmine.

Joe has always loved the moorlands above his home: the wildness, the freedom, the peace. But since his father died, everything has changed, and the moors are no longer a place of refuge. Now the whole community is divided over the fate of the hen harriers that nest up there in the heather and Joe is stuck right in the middle, with a choice to make and a huge secret to keep.