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Format: Chapter book

Chapter book

“Sometimes you are a whisper away from magic without even realizing it.”

Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman’s purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast – a young wizard who’s particularly competitive at hopscotch – and a hideous troll housekeeper who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break – and if she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return…

Chapter book

Jessica Jenkins is missing . . .

Jessica Jenkins has always thought she was a perfectly ordinary girl, until the day that part of her arm vanishes in the middle of a Geography lesson! Her best friend Izzy is determined to help Jessica realise what a great opportunity the power to turn invisible could be, but where has her new ability come from? Does this mean she’s a superhero? And, when her friends are threatened, can Jessica use her superpower to help?

A wonderful superhero adventure from bestselling author Liz Kessler.

Chapter book

Cat Campbell is a late-blooming witch whose magical abilities have yet to be mastered in this charming coming-of-age story set in the world of The Power of Poppy Pendle.

Cat Campbell has had magical powers since the day she was born, but she didn’t always know that. Cat’s mother believes magic ruins lives, and even as Cat’s passion for magic grows over the years, no one suspects she has the gift. But she has indeed inherited the coveted magic gene of her famed great-great-grandmother Mabel, a discovery she makes in a most surprising way. And when she comes across a book called The Late Bloomer’s Guide to Magic, she finds the encouragement she needs and spells that actually work. Then the town of Potts Bottom is threatened by a notoriously feared witch, and Cat has the chance to help her family and town–and to prove herself in the process. Because, as The Late Bloomer’s Guide to Magic proclaims, “believing in your magic and yourself is half the battle.”

Chapter book

Growing up on the embattled Mawr Estate in South Wales, all Gemma sees are burglaries, muggings, sadness and boredom. With a dad in prison and a mum who has given up hope, she, like everyone around her, is holding on to memories of the times when happiness wasn’t so hard to find. When her search for the scene of a perfect childhood day takes her up into the surrounding hills, Gemma is forced into a meeting with the legendary Cowgirl. Everyone at school knows she’s a weirdo: six foot tall and angry, the only conversations she has are with the twelve cows on her dad’s farm. But with her abrupt arrival in Gemma’s life, everything starts to look different. And with her only friends in mortal danger of the abattoir, it turns out she and Gemma have a mission on their hands.

A gently funny story of a community coming together, this is a tale of happy endings in unexpected places.

Chapter book

A funny, sinister and thought-provoking comic thriller from the multimillion-copy selling author of Holes. If you go down to the woods today… Well, every child knows NOT to, don’t they? Tamaya is on a scholarship to the prestigious Woodridge Academy and every day she and seventh-grader Marshall walk to school together. They never go through the woods. When they arrive at school they stop talking to each other – because Marshall can’t be seen to be friends with a little kid like Tamaya. Especially not with Chad around. Chad the bully, who makes Marshall’s life utterly miserable. But today, hoping to avoid Chad, Marshall and Tamaya decide to go through the woods… And what is waiting there for them is strange, sinister and entirely unexpected. The town is about to be turned upside down by the mysterious Fuzzy Mud…

Chapter book

Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is a ‘normal’ life – friends, swimming, school, family.

But his life is far from normal. Not every thirteen-year-old desperately needs a new heart because theirs doesn’t work properly.

Finally, one doctor offers hope.
Cameron could – if he and his parents agree – take part in a radical and controversial procedure involving the transplant of a pig’s heart into his human body.

It’s risky. And it’s never been done before . . .

While Cameron comes to terms with the idea, he finds the world around him is much less accepting.

But surely everyone will understand that it’s better to have a pig’s heart that works than a human heart that doesn’t – won’t they . . .?

Chapter book

One boy, one boat, one tiger . . .

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan – and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

Chapter book

Innis Munro is walking home across the bleak wilderness of Nin Island when he hears the chilling howl of a wolf. But there are no wolves on the island – not since they were hunted to extinction, centuries ago. He decides to investigate his island home and accepts an ancient challenge: he who jumps the Bonnie Laddie’s Leap wins a fortune. As the wolves rise from the darkness of history, and long-buried secrets resurface, Innis’s adventure truly begins…

Chapter book

Lily’s already got plenty going on living with a moody teenage sister, two feral brothers and a messy baby sister. Mum and Gran are stressed to the max, both dads are out of the picture and the cats aren’t exactly pulling their weight. But when she starts getting mixed-up warnings not to go on holiday to the tiny, safe Scottish island of Cumbrae, her summer just gets weirder and weirder.

The thing is, whoever’s talking to Lily doesn’t even seem to know she’s doing it. If she’s a ghost, she’s not a very good one. And there’s something about her that Lily finds awfully, spine-tinglingly familiar. . .

Spend the summer with Lily McLean in this beautifully written, laugh-out-loud adventure by Kelpies Prize winner Lindsay Littleson.

Chapter book

Philip’s mum has breast cancer. Philip wants to be a stand-up comedian like his hero, Harry Hill. Now he has to find the funny side of an unfunny subject, to help his mum – and himself.

Philip is twelve years old and life is pretty good. He gets on with his mum and gets by pretty well at school – in spite of girl problems, teacher problems, bully problems and – er – poetry problems. Philip’s happy-go-lucky life is disrupted when his mother gets breast cancer. Bad enough that your mother is seriously ill – but could she not have developed a less embarrassing kind of cancer – toe cancer, maybe, or ear cancer? Philip’s attempts to cope with his situation are both hilarious and touching.

Through it all, he’s writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice.

A multi-award-winning and hilarious take on the unfunny subject of cancer; this book brings one of modern life’s most prevalent illnesses into the light and gives it a human face

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