Franziska Hollbacher – illustratör

From the missing pages of the Library of Alexandria to the whereabouts of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, The World's Last Mammoth and other Missing Marvels is a treasure trove of mysterious and long-gone things: absent animals, bygone buildings, missing monarchs, past palaces and more... But all is NOT lost - along the way you'll also find the survivors and modern marvels of things gone by.Explore the lost splendour of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, ponder the fate of historical figures like Cleopatra or Genghis Khan and unravel the mystery behind Amelia Earhart's disappearance. And while we may no longer have dinosaurs, we have fascinating fossils to ogle at instead. We can call the Dodo's closet-living relative, the Nicobar Pigeon, and even though the dancing plague of 1518 is long gone, dance trends like Gangnam style still spread like wildfire today.This book is a thrilling exploration of things long gone but never forgotten. Be warned - you may find yourself getting lost in laughter along the way!

Did you know that bubblewrap started life as a new type of wallpaper that didn't catch on?! Or that Lonnie Johnson invented the Nerf Super Soaker while working on a NASA mission to Saturn?Blue Peter Award-winner Mike Barfield tells the fascinating true stories behind an amazing range of inventions and innovations. From bubblewrap to the barcode, from pizza to post-its, from trainers to the teddy bear! The story of each invention is told in a lively comic-strip format, and we meet the colourful cast of characters involved in these light-bulb moments which changed the world in big or tiny ways. An irresistible way into science and technology with a dash of history, from the brilliant Mike Barfield, author of A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You which won the 2021 Blue Peter Award for a Book With Facts.

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an Incan runner, carrying messages across the ancient Andes at lightning speed? Or perhaps a jester, keeping the royal courts in stitches with your hilarious antics? What about a stage farter? A poo collector? A body double? All these jobs are yours for the taking in history's line-up of the world's oddest jobs.In this book, you'll encounter a colourful cast of characters who embraced the quirkiest of professions, including the legendary Harry Houdini who defied the laws of nature with his mind-bending magic tricks; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American stunt-pilot; Marie Tussaud who fled the French Revolution and came to London to create wax sculptures; Zazel, a Victorian daredevil who became the first human cannonball; and the amazing story of Samuel Sorensen Adams, inventor of many of the most famous joke shop gags such as sneezing powder, the handshake buzzer and the stink bomb.This treasure trove of history's most peculiar jobs will leave you laughing, gasping, and wondering what job you'd have chosen in days gone by - and what jobs you might encounter in the future...