These books offer the first steps on the path to reading confidence: with blatant boy appeal, but enough drama, excitement and humour to entice ALL readers.
Join 12-year-old Tash and her best friend Sam in a story of adventure, survival and hope, set in the vivid Himalayan landscape of Tibet and India. Filled with friendship, love and courage, this young girl's thrilling journey to save her parents is an ideal read for children aged 9-12.
There are two words that are banned in Tibet. Two words that can get you locked in prison without a second thought. I watch the soldiers tramping away and call the words after them. 'Dalai Lama.'
Tash has to follow many rules to survive in Tibet, a country occupied by Chinese soldiers. But when a man sets himself on fire in protest and soldiers seize Tash's parents, she and her best friend Sam must break the rules. They are determined to escape Tibet - and seek the help of the Dalai Lama himself in India.
And so, with a backpack of Tash's father's mysterious papers and two trusty yaks by their side, their extraordinary journey across the mountains begins.
A gripping children’s story from War Horse author and former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo.
“We all knew what was going to happen. We’d seen it before. A ship about to founder staggers before she falls. A huge wave broke over her stern and she did not come upright again.… Life on the Scilly Isles in 1907 is bleak and full of hardship. Laura’s twin brother, Billy, disappears, and then a storm devastates everything. It seems there’s little hope. But then the Zanzibar is wrecked on the island’s rocks, and everything changes …
The Wreck of the Zanzibar is a gripping historical adventure from the author of An Eagle in the Snow, Listen to the Moon, Shadow, and An Elephant in the Garden.
Michael Morpurgo is the master storyteller of such modern classic children's books as War Horse, Friend or Foe, Private Peaceful, and Kensuke's Kingdom. He has written more than one hundred books for children and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children’s Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times.
Flo and Max are stuck inside Critter Clash, a game where teams of creatures battle in epic arenas. With the contest about to start and no team to call their own, will they ever get back to the real world?
Shortlisted for the 2017 Carnegie Medal and selected for the Tom Fletcher Book Club, Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell-Boyce is an adventure about the Blythes: a big, warm, rambunctious family who live on a small farm and sometimes foster children. Now Prez has come to live with them. But, though he seems cheerful and helpful, he never says a word.
Then one day Prez answers the door to someone claiming to be his relative. This small, loud stranger carries a backpack, walks with a swagger and goes by the name of Sputnik. The family all think Sputnik is a dog and chaos is unleashed as suddenly household items come to life – like a TV remote that fast-forwards people and a toy lightsaber that entertains guests at a children's party, until one of them is nearly decapitated by it – and Prez is going to have to use his voice to explain himself.
As Sputnik takes Prez on a journey to finish writing his guidebook to Earth called Ten Things Worth Doing on Earth, each adventure seems to take Prez nearer to the heart of the family he is being fostered by, but they also take him closer to the day that he is due to leave them forever . . .
This edition features fantastic cover artwork and black and white inside illustrations from the incredible Steven Lenton.
Frankie and his team love playing football. There's always time for a game. And now that they have their magical football they're playing against teams they never imagined!
When they're transported back into the Wild West, Frankie's team will have to go head-to-head with some crabby cowboys. Will they be able to win the penalty shoot out at high noon?
Molly loves animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up just like her dad - as everyone says; she's got the magic touch! Silver, the pony, has a very special secret. He's really a unicorn and more than anything he wants to be free. Can Molly find somewhere he'll be happy?
Victor Starspeeder is back at Jedi Academy for year #2, but it's not going the way he'd planned. He hoped to get the lead in this year's musical...but a new kid got it. Worst of all, his big sister Christina is getting ready to graduate from Jedi Academy, and there are rumours going around that she's a Sith! What's a Padawan to do?
Upper Dab is under attack from a mysterious invasion of toads in this hilarious middle-grade adventure from award-wining author Patrice Lawrence.
After a toad lands on his head as he leaves his house one morning, Leo is determined to find out where it has come from and why. Together with his friend Rosa, he needs to come up with some answers before the angry residents of Upper Dab take matters into their own hands and the toads become toast! A brilliantly quirky comedy caper with a diverse and inclusive cast of characters. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 8+
