It’s a challenge to tackle childhood distress and the dangers of a disenfranchised populace through humorous fantasy, Irish folklore, and wrestling references, but Dave Rudden manages to pull it off with sensitivity and panache.
The sudden death of twelve-year-old Lila’s estranged grandfather Clem means the family must relocate to Ohio to sort out his affairs. Spending the summer away from her school friends feels like the end of the world for Lila, until she realises it is exactly what she needed. Tired of being told she has a flair for the dramatics, Lila tries to reinvent herself as being cool, calm and collected like a block of ice as she says herself. However, the appearance of ghosts and spirits makes her plan to be less dramatic quite difficult with amusing results.
Anya and the Light Above the Ocean is a fast moving and, at times, bewildering rollercoaster of a tale. Part fantasy, part science fiction, it’s a modern adventure that raises many issues around trust, truth and power.
With its cameras, curfews, DNA testing and elite police force, the town of Moonhaven is supposed to be werewolf-proof – so where did that howl come from on the last full moon?
The fantasy fiction centres on a young woman named Aurora, whose village would be shrouded in darkness without the Starmaker, a long-lived sorcerer whose duty it is to herald the sunlight to her village every morning, returning it to the sun every night.
This wonderful rhyming picturebook tells the story of four friendly dragons looking for adventure and getting into all sorts of funny scrapes along the way. The dragons take part in a race, attend a grand ball at the palace, and meet a witch and a giant along the way.
When Corith Fraine finds herself propelled into a new role as Floodmouth for the prestigious House Shearwater, she struggles to keep her head above water. As she begins to unravel the mysteries of the island and the family that inhabit it, she must learn to control the tides and her strength to uncover the secrets behind her best friend Zennia’s death.
A chill blast opens this book, as we enter a world that has only known winter for twelve years, and where no child has been born in this time. There is a sense of desperation around a ceremony of fire lighting created to restore the usual cycles of nature. The villagers are looking for hope wherever they can find it, but quiet and cautious Quill is probably the last person they would expect to discover it in.
Perfect for fans of outcast hero sagas like Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Queen of Faces is a lavishly built world that tackles the big questions, while also keeping the action flowing and developing its own unique magic system and characters.
Margo did not expect to fall into a new dimension when she got on the train to her new boarding school. When she finds herself following a travelling salesman called Moon as they disembark into a strange world, Margo soon realises that time is a commodity which she took for granted.
