Margaret 'Cuckoo' Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her 'Happiness Project'. She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary.
When a town's Christmas wishes get mixed-up, can one little girl and her dog put them right?
The little town of Pinewood can't wait for Christmas this year. They're going to celebrate by putting up a giant Christmas tree in the town square, and asking all the townspeople to hang a Christmas wish on its branches. Everyone is feeling very festive, including nine-year-old Lily - although she's not sure she believes in wishes. Then a very strange storm blows in, scattering all the wishes...
...and Lily wakes up the next morning to a bit of a surprise. Bug, her adorable pug puppy, can talk! It's magic - and a wish come true! But it's not Lily's wish... Lily and her little brother James soon discover that something must have happened during the storm - the town's wishes have been granted, but to all the wrong people! Lily, James and Bug must work out which wish belongs to who, and sort everything out before Christmas Eve - otherwise no one will get what they want for Christmas.
Lola Levine is taking center stage in this new chapter book series.
Lola Levine...drama queen? Lola's class is learning about the fine art of acting, and will put on a play in front of parents and the entire school. But after Lola gets stage fright at her audition, she's cast as ""Squirrel 2,"" a non-speaking part. Lola is more than a little disappointed, and calls on her Bubbe for advice and comfort. But when an unexpected turn of events happen on opening night, Lola gives ""Squirrel 2"" her own special stamp and makes it a play to remember.
One of the brilliant titles in Jean Ure’s acclaimed series of humorous, delightful and poignant stories written in the form of diaries and letters which make them immediately accessible to children.
Jean Ure perfectly captures the lives of ordinary children – but no child is ever ordinary, and certainly not Salvatore d’Amato – or Sally Tomato, as he’s sometimes called. He’s out to get a girl and he has a plan: he’s going to write some Disgusting Ditties – one for each letter of the alphabet, and start some secret body-building, too. That way he’s bound to attract someone. (But he doesn’t want his sister to know his plans…)
Whether it’s Sal Tomato here, Mandy Small in FRUIT AND NUTCASE, Cherry in SKINNY MELON AND ME, or Becky in BECKY BANANAS, their lives, with all their ups and downs, is presented with courage, humour and tenacity. These are special children who any child can relate to and will draw inspiration and hope from their stories of their lives.
Titchy-witch thinks flying is easy-breezy. But when she sets off on her first solo flight, she finds that riding a broomstick is much harder than it looks!
Don't miss the rest of the Titchy-witch series, now reissued in a smart new livery.
The sixth book in the New York Times bestselling series about the hilarious adventures of a cheeky, loveable hero.
It's the school multi-cultural-day lunch and Hank Zipzer is cooking up chaos.
This book is from the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a story of humour, heart and heartache. Finding Audrey is Sophie Kinsella's first novel for teens, sure to appeal to her legions of adult and young adult fans all over the world. Audrey can't leave the house. she can't even take off her dark glasses inside the house. Then her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable. Be prepared to laugh, dream and hope with Audrey as she learns that even when you feel like you have lost yourself, love can still find you...
Life is tough for nine-year-old Steve and no one understands him, least of all his family or his piano teacher. But when the call comes from the Library of Dreams Steve takes charge of the baton in an eighteenth-century sing-off complete with pirates, wigs and a rascally cut-throat edge. Second in the Steve's Dreams series about lovable loser Steve, who finds himself plucked from his twenty-first century hometown in industrial South Wales, to save the world!
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2018
Nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2018
Longlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018
In three years I will be able to vote and I will still have less power than I did at the moment that I saw that email, which was such a tiny thing but look what happened.
Fifteen-year-old Alena never really knew her political activist mother, who died when she was a baby. She has grown up with her older half-brother Danny and his boyfriend Nick in the east end of London. Now the area is threatened by a bomber who has been leaving explosive devices in supermarkets. It is only a matter of time before a bomb goes off.
Against this increasingly fearful backdrop, Alena seeks to discover more about her past, while Danny takes a job working for a controversial politician. As her family life implodes, and the threat to Londoners mounts, Alena starts getting into trouble. Then she does something truly rebellious.
A searing, heartbreaking coming-of-age tale for fans of Lisa Williamson, Jenny Downham and Sarah Crossan.
Putting the cult back in cult fiction, this is a darkly witty and sharply questioning debut
A chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is destroying lives. Our cynical protagonist, sixteen-year-old Vivian Apple, is awaiting the fated 'Rapture' - or rather the lack of it. Her evangelical parents have been in the Church's thrall for too long, and she's looking forward to getting them back. Except that when Vivian arrives home the day after the supposed 'Rapture', her parents are gone. All that is left are two holes in the ceiling...
Viv is determined to carry on as normal, but when she starts to suspect that her parents might still be alive, she realises she must uncover the truth. Joined by Peter, a boy claiming to know the real whereabouts of the Church, and Edie, a heavily pregnant Believer who has been 'left behind', they embark on a road trip across America. Encountering freak weather, roving 'Believer' gangs and a strange teenage group calling themselves the 'New Orphans', Viv soon begins to realise that the Rapture was just the beginning.