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The Monster Crisp-Guzzler
by Malorie BlackmanAt her new school, Mira discovers she has a very unusual teacher - a teacher who turns into a real-life dragon when she eats crisps! This comes in very handy when the class run into trouble on a school trip to the seaside...
No-Flinch Lynch
by Jonathan KebbeBright, sporty and popular, Lorcan Lynch seems to have it all. But when his heroic dad is jailed, Lorcan is sent off to an eccentric aunt in the West of Ireland. Here the city boy faces thorny challenges - a new school and its spiteful bullies, and a girl called Blaise who's looking for someone to help save ill-treated animals on a neighbouring island. Plagues by asthma attacks and self-doubt, has No-Flinch Lynch the courage - or the lungs - to lead a perilous rescue mission?
Breaktime & Dance on My Grave (The Dance Sequence #1)
by Aidan ChambersIn Breaktime, Ditto challenges Morgan to prove that literature is crap and triggers off a chain of events to alter his outlook of life forever. Ditto faces a series of charges from Morgan against literature: that all fiction is Done. Finished. Dead; a sham and a pretence. He undertakes faithfully to record a life in the week of Ditto - with all the chaos of reality thrown in - and his literary creation reveals more about himself than he originally bargained for.In Dance on My Grave, life in his seaside town is uneventful for Hal Robinson, nothing unusual, exciting or odd ever happens to him - until now that is. Until the summer of his 16th birthday when he reaches a crossroads of choices in life. He foolishly takes a friend's boat for a day's sailing, gets into difficulty and is rescued by Barry Gorman. Their ensuing relationship results in a tumultous summer for Hal as he experiences the intense emotions of his first teenage love.A major new movie - 'Summer of 85' - based on Dance on My Grave, by groundbreaking French director Francois Ozon, was released in October 2020 to much acclaim. 'Deftly captures the thrill of first love' - NME'A sweet gay romance that gradually morphs into something more suspenseful and macabre' - Daily Telegraph'A film that will take you back to your first summer love' - The Gay UK
Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed
by Madhvi RamaniDid you know that Nina's aunt's spice shed is a travel machine? Well neither did Nina - and now she's head first into a great adventure involving a lost envelope, a charming street thief, a glamorous Bollywood star and a fierce tiger . . .
Nina and the Kung-Fu Adventure
by Madhvi RamaniNina’s schoolfriend Lee is in trouble, so she must borrow her aunt’s travelling spice shed and head to Beijing. Now they are both on a great adventure involving a kung fu master, a yellow snake and a mysterious riddle . . .
Nina and the Magical Carnival
by Madhvi RamaniNina has to take part in the school talent show in a few days, and she still doesn’t know what to do!When her teacher mentions a magical fantasia that could help, Nina sets off to Brazil in the travelling spice shed to find it. There, she has a great adventure involving . . .a mysterious costume,a samba paradeand a top-secret mission!
Chicken In A Basket
by Debbie WhiteA chicken, a duck and a sheep are launched in the air in the basket of a hot-air balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers. The story of this maiden voyage told from the little chicken's point of view makes a uniquely funny and informative story for beginner readers.
Great Goal!
by Rob ChildsThe young footballers of Great Catesby School are on top form when they appear on TV to perform the special fund-raising song, C'mon, you Greats! But will they be such a smash hit in their return match with the Kilthorpe Killers? They are determined to sweep away their rivals and prove they can be number one on the football field too!
Wicked Catch!
by Rob ChildsIt's summer and so Bradley, Jagdish, Suresh and Shannon are playing rounders! Who will be the best fielder - could it be Dylan the dog? A Sports Special story from Rob Childs, featuring the characters from Wicked Day!
Noodle Head
by Jonathan KebbeDOPED UP AND LOCKED UP - OR FREE?Marcus King - Noodle Head to his friends - is coming to the end of his six-month stint at the Dovedale Home for Young Offenders. He's settled down and he's taking his meds - even if they do dull his senses and leave him unable to think straight. Still, the staff seem to think that's what an overactive, excitable boy needs - just a good dose of Kalmasol. He's even managed to make some pretty good friends amongst all the wild and difficult boys at the home. Ratso, Shelly and Ravi are a pretty odd gang but they do stick together. But everything goes wrong during Hare and Hounds - a torturous and cruel chase game the boys are forced to play. Marcus is back in trouble again. Now he's stuck at Dovedale for another stint - and who knows when they'll let him out now? A day out with their favourite teacher, Miss Wonderland sends Marcus's situation spiralling even lower - now only a drastic solution will do...
Spoofer Rooney
by Jonathan KebbeThey've put a price on Hopper's head,A million quid I heard it said...Hopper Rooney's famous for his outrageously unreal stories. So it's no surprise that no-one believes him when he tells them that someone is living in his da's garden shed! Da's in hospital, the weight walking off him, his head filled with worry about his garage business, and Hooper is sure that the last thing he needs to know is that a mysterious African has moved in with their lawn-mower. Can Spoofer prove he's not the eejit everyone reckons he is? That this time, he's telling the truth? Bring him in alive or dead,And never let a tear be shed.
Great Hit
by Rob ChildsJonty's father is the Red Fox - a superstar in the pop world. And now Jonty's dad is helping the young footballers of Great Catesby Primary School in recording a special football song: Come on, you Greats!The third tale about Tom, Jonty and their friends in the school football team.
Great Shot!
by Rob ChildsHave a go! Shoot!"Tom, captain of the school football team, can't believe what is happening. Everyone in the team is scoring goals - except him. He even misses a penalty! But when his teammate Jonty is suddenly in danger, Tom needs to find his shooting boots again - and quickly!
Phantom Football: Team Spirit
by Rob ChildsWho is the mysterious player turning up to practise with the Bradgate School football squad? Flying down the wing, ghosting past defenders, the red-headed newcomer seems to have the magic touch that can win games. But why can't the team's shooting star play away from home? A gripping tale of soccer and the supernatural from football maestro, Rob Childs
Soccer Shocks
by Rob Childs'WHAT A WAY TO END THE SEASON!'The football season may be drawing to a close, but Luke Crawford - skipper, player-manager and coach of the Swillsby Swifts Sunday League team - is still full of running . . . when he's not tripping up over his own feet! He's also still full of ideas and dreams. Luke's new sweeper system for the Swifts relies on the unpredictable talents of his Italian cousin Ricki, but will it be too late to save them from relegation? Luke would dearly love to win a medal in the school Cup Final too, if only he's given the chance to get on the pitch. One thing's for certain. With soccer-mad Luke on the loose, there are bound to be plenty of shocks in store for everyone before the final whistle blows . . .
The Big Drop
by Rob ChildsThe end of the season is approaching and Danebridge School football team faces relegation down a league - unless they can win a few last-minute games. Can Chris Weston, their skipper and goalkeeper, pull the team together and get the vital results the team needs so badly? If he fails, it's the big drop for Danebridge...
The Big Send-Off
by Rob ChildsOff! Off! Off!Danebridge school football team - captained by goalie Chris Weston - have had a shaky season in the League, but a good Cup run. Now they face a crucial semi-final replay - a match they must win if they are to meet their arch-rivals, Shenby, in the Final. Will Chris lift the Cup? Find out what happens in this new action-packed story in the bestselling BIG soccer series - everything from a nerve-jangling penalty shootout to a shock sending-off!
Phantom Football: Soccer Shadows
by Rob ChildsA spooky footballing tale!Tom is bored on the family holiday by the seaside - until he meets Leo, a mysterious barefoot boy who invites Tom to take part in a six-a-side soccer tournament on the beach.The rest of the team are dead weird too. Even stranger, not one of them has a shadow in the sun!
The Big Time
by Rob Childs"THIS IS WHERE WE BELONG - IN THE BIG TIME!"Andrew and Chris Weston have both been invited to attend a special summer coaching course at one of the country's top football clubs. The brothers are determined to give it their best shot, hoping to impress United's scouts. Another bonus is the chance to be ball boys at a World Cup qualifying match between England and Holland. But the big event turns out to be even more explosive than anyone could ever have guessed...!
Wicked Day!
by Rob ChildsWhat a wicked day!Join in all the fun and games of Sports Day. Bradley and his mates are out to make it a very special day. But why can't Jagdish take part? What's happened to the Cup? And why does the school's grumpy old caretaker think it's a dog's life?On your marks - Get set - Go!
No Time At All
by Susan SallisTwo disabled children love their new bungalow by the sea. It even has its own spectral steam-train which only they can hear each night. The train holds many mysteries which will change their lives.
The Memoirs of Laetitia Horsepole
by John FullerDiscovered in the secret compartment of a North Italian cabinet, this enchanting manuscript may or may not be complete, and it may or may not be intended for posterity. Undeterred by these uncertainties, John Fuller gives us the early nineteenth-century 'memoirs' of Laetitia Horsepole, painter, philosopher and femme fatale. Shelley, apparently, came across this formidable woman, aged ninety, on his travels through Italy, and became her confidant and neighbour. Why, the reader may wonder, is she not better known? Why indeed? That long spell in Madagascar certainly interrupted her career. She was prickly and disinclined to ingratiate herself with the arbiters of fashionable taste. And then her virtual disappearance to Italy didn't help matters. But her obscurity gives added piquancy to the memoirs which - her idiosyncratic art theory and philosophy apart - are above all a dramatic eighteenth-century adventure in five acts which reflect her tempestuous involvement with the five 'husbands' of her life, from the brutish Crowther and the dull and the rich but louche Count Chiavari. Laetitia reflects on the vagaries of love and erotic involvement, on art and men, on flora and fauna, and reveals for the first time what actually happened in Madagascar. Shamelessly enjoyable, teasingly allusive, irresistibly funny and sometimes sad, Laetitia's is quite simply a brilliant and bewitching romance full of truths that lie deeper than fact.
Wonder Tales: Six Stories of Enchantment
by Marina WarnerMarina Warner has gathered together a magical collection of fairy tales by the great women storytellers of the 17th and 18th centuries. These are passionate, extraordinary, and occasionally proto-feminist retellings of classic fairy stories by women who ingeniously used the fairy tale genre to comment on their own times and experiences. The stories are all in superb new translations by celebrated writers, including A. S. Byatt, Gilbert Adair and John Ashbery. With a brilliant intorduction by Marina Warner, recognised as one of our greatest experts on myth and fairy tale.
1815: The Roads to Waterloo
by Gregor DallasThe seventeen months from April 1814 to August 1815 were an extraordinary period in European history; a period which saw two sieges of Paris, a complete revision of Europe's political frontiers, an international Congress set up in Vienna, civil war in Italy and international war in Belgium.Gregor Dallas tells the story of these days through the perspectives of three very different European cities: the great metropolis of London, post-revolutionary Paris and baroque Vienna. The writing is almost cinematic in its power to evoke and bring to life the Europe of Tolstoy: the ebb and flow of power, of armies and of peoples across Europe's northern plains. Working essentially from primary sources, Dallas is as interested in the weather conditions before battle as in the way cartoonists reacted to court intrigues and fashions.It is also Europe seen through the eyes of its central players: Talleyrand, who has served nearly every French regime since the Revolution of 1789; Metternich, who devises new plans for a 'Germany' that does not yet exist and for a 'Europe' that remains devided; Wellington, who reveals himself a diplomat as well as a soldier; Tsar Alexander, an idealist seeking to impose a uniform plan for all Europe; and 'Boney' himself, who has his own ideal of Europe and, though banished to Elba, does not abandon his dream to realise it.
Ovid Metamorphosed
by Philip TerryThe shape-shifting poetry of Ovid's Metamorphoses has fascinated writers and artists from Shakespeare to Ted Hughes, Rembrandt to Picasso. Its eternal freshness is haunted by an ancient idea: that a person's true nature is revealed when their physical shape is changed- the wolf-like man becomes a wolf, the obsessive spinner a spider.For this dazzling collection Philip Terry asked leading writers to take Ovid as a starting point and set their invention free. The results are startling, from Apollo and Phaeton transposed to a Dutch classroom to Diana and Actaeon in the rain of Nova Scotia. We find fables, grotesques and white-coated scientists; sports-cars, swans and shells; and even Ovid himself, high-spirited and unrepentant, speaking to us from beyond the grave.Challenging the very shape of the modern short story, Ovid Metamorphosed is a kaleidoscope of delights, scary, sexy, suggestive and profoundly entertaining.