Publisher: Barrington Stoke Ltd

Keeping Possession

Chapter book

This is a short book about football and friendship and about holding on to your own identity in the face of peer pressure.

After leaving her joining a new football club, Eboni is struggling with loneliness and alienation having been rejected by her former teammates. When she does make a new connection in school, things look better, until Eboni feels pressured to choose between her new friend and her football commitments. There are strong football action scenes and the book is likely to appeal most to football players and fans, but the combination of the friendship focus and the short format mean it’s also likely to be popular with children who are seeking books that deal with school and friendship issues. These issues are handled sensitively and with empathy.

At the end of the book, there is a short guidance section to support children dealing with friendship problems.The book is the fourth in the Lightmoor Lionesses series. It is published by Barrington Stoke, so the typeface, paper colour and page layout are designed to be accessible for all, including dyslexic readers.

Advice from a 12-Year-Old Nobody

Helen Rutter & Julia Christians

Chapter book

12-year-old Vinnie is frustrated by the picture perfect life that his mum – a viral online life coach – is portraying to her readers in order to fit in with her “brand” when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth – their family seems to be falling apart. But more than that, Vinnie is struggling, and his mum is the one person who he used to be able to talk to about things, but she has become too busy answering the world’s problems to have time to deal with his problems, so he keeps them to himself.

One day, Vinnie stumbles across an old blog that his mum used to write before she became famous, and he notices that there are lots of unanswered questions from people asking for her advice – he decides that these people deserve responses and sets about replying himself. Much to his suprise, the public seem to like his responses and more and more messages come flooding in. Reading about other people’s problems makes Vinnie feel like he is not alone and he begins to realise that sharing your problems is better than holding them all on your own.

Typical of Helen Rutter, this book is an incredibly easy read – perfect for struggling or reluctant readers – which is full of laugh out loud humour but with a strong message at its heart.

Escape

Melania Badosa & Sophie McKenzie

Chapter book

Bernice has been looking forward to her school trip to the sea-life sanctuary and when a work-experience opportunity arises, she wants to find out as much as she can about all of the creatures to support her application.

Unfortunately, her friend Molly and Rylan, the boy that Molly likes, have no plans to take the trip so seriously and soon put all three of them in intense danger. Can Bernice save her friends and how will they explain their actions to Mr Willis?

This Barrington Stoke publication is a high level interest, accessible reader suitable for pupils age 10+. The accessible font, wider spacing and tinted pages make the text readable for all. The book covers themes of friendship, loyalty, responsibility and water-safety and allows for discussions around decision making and risk taking with pupils who are gaining their first steps of independence.

Nova

Charlotte Grange & Chris Bradford

Chapter book

When Max’s life-craft is pulled into a wormhole, he needs a whole galaxy of luck to return to safety … Chris Bradford crafts Interstellar for kids in this space-bending survival story.

Max Nova is headed to Mercury with his father, a space trucker, when their ship is suddenly diverted. They have a new urgent mission. An abnormal gravity reading has been detected near the sun.

There are fears that this could signal the start of a supernova! But what Max and his father discover is much more dangerous – and far stranger – than any supernova.

Flung to the outer reaches of the universe, Max must navigate a galaxy of dangers to find his way home before time runs out!

Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 7.

Endgame: Will Take You Down

Melinda Salisbury

Chapter book

Bestselling YA author Melinda Salisbury delivers a hair-raising thriller as Ruby, Freya and Ivy team up to take down the Ash Tree Foundation once and for all.

Ruby, Freya and Ivy are all survivors of the Ash Tree Foundation, an organisation that claimed to help teenagers deal with technology addiction but which was a front for a dangerously addictive augmented-reality platform, Novo Reality.

Novo Reality was the brainchild of tech-baroness Dagmar Nilsson, who disappeared without trace when the Foundation was busted. But now, a year later, just as the girls are all preparing to start a new chapter of their lives, it becomes clear that Dagmar is continuing with her aim of world domination.

Can the three friends draw her out of hiding and shut down the Foundation for good, or will Dagmar’s dream of controlling the world finally come true?

Because the Endgame is coming, and someone is going down …

Particularly suitable for readers aged 11+ with a reading age of 8.

The Moonlight Mystery Agency: The Birthday Cake Thief

Agnes Saccani & Vashti Hardy

Chapter book

Hana joins the Moonlight Mystery Agency to help Spark the bionic unicorn find her missing birthday cake in the first of an exciting new series from bestseller Vashti Hardy.

Hana has always longed to have a pet of her own. So when a cat turns up at her bedroom window one night, she thinks her dream has come true. But Ace is no ordinary cat. He’s a detective cat who has come to invite Hana to join the Moonlight Mystery Agency, and that’s when the magical adventures begin!

Join Hana and Ace on their first mission to solve the mystery of Spark the bionic unicorn’s missing birthday cake!

The Boy in the Tree

Katie Kear & Lisa Thompson

Chapter book

Troublemaker Noah reveals hidden depths as he teams up with goodie-two-shoes Grace to save a majestic local oak tree in this uplifting tale from bestselling author Lisa Thompson.

No one can quite believe it when troublemaker Noah gets involved in the campaign to save a local oak tree. And when he takes his protest up into its branches and refuses to get down, the story goes viral, attracting more attention than he could ever imagined.

But while Noah does really want to save the tree, and marvels at the thousands of creatures that depend on it as their home, he also really wants to save his parents’ marriage. He hopes that his actions will somehow unite them again and stop them arguing, but has he gone too far this time?

Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

Big Words

Luke Palmer

Chapter book

Award-winning author Luke Palmer masterfully captures the intricate dynamics of teenage friendship in this compelling tale of misadventure, resentment and reconciliation.

Biggest goes first – always. That’s one of the unspoken rules of Kiln, the forbidden wasteland where Sam and his mates hang out. So when Sam comes up with a plan to go sledging on the rust-ridden bonnet of a rotting car, he goes first. To show the others how it’s done.

His mates aren’t so keen. But there’s no complaining. No backing down. Those are the other rules of Kiln. Even when they lead to disaster.

Will their friendship survive the wreckage that follows, or is it time for the rules to be changed?

Particularly suitable for readers aged 11+ with a reading age of 8.

Sadie Jones and the Ball

Ashley King & Sally Nicholls

Chapter book

‘Sadie Jones and the Ball’ is a dyslexia-friendly retelling of the traditional Cinderella story.

From the perspective of Sadie Jones, a kitchen maid at the palace, this is a funny tale about all the other people who get invited to the ball, rather than just Cinderella and her stepsisters. The story also carries an important message about fairness – why is it just the female servants that are invited to the ball? Can’t the male servants go as well? Prince Charming isn’t happy about the rules being broken though so Sadie has a challenge on her hands to convince him that everyone should be invited.

Perfect for children who are new to chapter books as if they are familiar with the story of Cinderella, it will feel like a familiar setting. Also a great read aloud as it raises plenty of discussion points throughout about friendship and fairness.

The Accidental Vikings

Anneli Bray & Karen McCombie

Chapter book

The Accidental Viking is an easy-to-follow and entertaining adventure story, with a few twists and turns along the way.

In true Barrington Stoke fashion, the text and print used mean this story is inclusive and accessible for all readers. The story is told through short, manageable chapters with illustrations running alongside.

The Accidental Viking also includes interesting historical facts about Viking life, which would further support the understanding of any reader learning about this era of time, in particular those linking to a Viking village. Some of the facts are quite humorous, particularly those about Viking toilets!

The story has a funny, playful undertone throughout, and readers will no doubt like the personalities of Alfie and Kat – the two main characters – as well as their approach to managing life as Vikings and their reasons behind this. This book would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Vikings or as part of a reading bank to support learning about Vikings in a classroom.

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Publisher: Barrington Stoke Ltd

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