Despite being published by Macmillan Children’s Books and containing work from A.A. Milne, Roger McGough, Charles Causley, Spike Milligan and Edward Lear, amongst other writers for the young, this vibrant, eclectic anthology is not specifically aimed at a child readership. The blurb opines, rather, that the collection is ‘perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family’.
What would you do if you found a bone poking out of the earth in your back garden, one that started to grow, reaching up out of the ground until it turned into a skeleton? This is the situation facing twelve-year-old Stanly Stanwright, the protagonist of this unusual and heart-warming adventure.
On the eve of the English Civil War, twelve-year-old Makepeace has an unusual problem. Not only do ghosts exist, they’re also scared, and her mind is one of the few places open for them to hide. This unfortunate aspect will lead her down the road of tragedy, witch hunts and powerful families and straight into the heart of a warring nation.
In this, the third in the Artichoke Hearts series, we are launched straight back into the lively Leveson household where there is change afoot. The story centres on Laila, the youngest and quietest of the three siblings, who is growing up, reluctantly and suddenly. Between the move into secondary school, her brothers and sisters moving out and onwards, her childhood best friend caught up in new things, unsettling their friendship, Laila is forced to consider what this means and where she fits in.
This adventure opens with Brian, one of the members of The Misfits Club, who is being chased by a gang intent on harming him. He is confident that he will come to no harm as he is on a bicycle and they are on foot. The best laid plans can however fall and Brian finds himself in peril and unsure of his safety.
Meet the Misfits Club: Brian, Hannah and twins Chris and Sam who have plans for their summer holidays. Enter Amelia, the newest member of the club, who is tasked with investigating an old spooky house…
Patrick Ness’s highly acclaimed novel, The Knife of Never Letting Go, features a protagonist raised in an all-male society. With a nod in Ness’s direction, Bergin successfully evokes a world composed of females, where masculinity is associated with destruction, violence and brutality, while what are perceived as the female attributes of openness, peace and caring are enshrined in the rules governing everyday existence.
Alice never believed in luck, however, she does believe in love and she has been in love with her best friend, Teddy, for 3 years. For his eighteenth birthday, she buys him a lottery ticket and overnight he becomes a multimillionaire. In an instant, their world changes.
Nine-year-old self-confessed bookworm Sumac lives with her two mothers, two fathers and six siblings – all named after trees, just like her – in a huge house called Camelottery, so called because of the lottery win that paid for it. Life in the mansion is chaotic yet predictable – until the Lotterys’ ailing grandfather Iain arrives. Iain is nicknamed Grumps and suffers from dementia. Welcoming him into the life of the house – and in turn being accepted by him – teaches this unique bunch more about themselves than they could ever have imagined.
This is an important and powerful book, detailing one boy’s terrifying experience of the Syrian civil war. It shows young readers how ordinary lives are torn apart by the destruction of war. The story gives readers a well-researched and interesting account of life in Syria, with fascinating insights into family life, including the education of women and girls, arranged marriages, attitudes towards disability and cultural interests.
‘Long before she was the terror of Wonderland – the infamous Queen of Hearts – she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.’ So goes the tagline of Heartless, an Alice in Wonderland origin story based in the Kingdom of Hearts. Catherine is a young woman who dreams of opening a bakery with her servant (and dear friend) Mary Ann and being named Official Tart Baker for the kingdom.
