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Topic: Books of the Month - Favourite Books of 2018

Walls

Chapter book

An unforgettable hero. A fresh and unique voice. Meet Ned Harrison Arkle-Smith – he’s grumpy, bossy, and exasperating, but you can’t help liking him. Oh, and he’s just discovered he can walk through walls . . . Ned’s world is collapsing. His parents have split up, his best friend is behaving strangely, he has an awful new neighbour, and Snapper is making his life a misery. In fact NOBODY is behaving the way Ned wants. And then there’s the wall. Right down the middle of Ivy Lodge and cutting up Ned’s life. A big brick reminder of all that’s going wrong in his life. Until, that is, the night when Ned discovers he has an astonishing new skill… A fun and intriguing concept that readers will delight in. Perfect for fans of Ross Welford and Lara Williamson.

You’re Safe With Me

Picturebook

When the moon rises high and the stars twinkle, it is bedtime for the baby animals of the Indian forest. But tonight, when the skies turn dark and the night grows stormy, the little ones can’t sleep. SWISH-SWISH! CRACK-TRACK! FLASH-SNAP! goes the storm. Only Mama Elephant with her words of wisdom can reassure them. “You’re safe with me.” A modern fable that reads like a folktale, this beautifully illustrated tale of motherly love is a perfect bedtime story.

The Lost Magician

Chapter book

If you can imagine it, it exists… somewhere.’ A spellbinding adventure from the bestselling, award-winning author of The Last Wild trilogy.

1945. They have survived the Blitz, but when Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry step through a mysterious library door, it is the beginning of their most dangerous adventure yet. They discover the magical world of Folio, where an enchanted kingdom of fairy knights, bears and tree gods is under threat from a sinister robot army.

The many stories of the Library are locked in eternal war, and the children’s only hope is to find their creator – a magician who has been lost for centuries.

What they find will change not just their own lives, but the fate of the world, for ever…

An ode to the world of Narnia, The Lost Magician is a classic in the making from one of the UK’s most talented children’s authors.

The Light Jar

Chapter book

The second read-in-one-sitting mystery from the bestselling author of The Goldfish Boy, one of 2017’s biggest children’s books.

Nate and his mother are running away, hiding out in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of a forest.

When Mum heads off for provisions, and then doesn’t return, Nate is left alone and afraid, with the dark closing in all around him.

But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places – a mysterious girl trying to solve the clues of a treasure hunt and the reappearance of an old friend from his past.

Will Nate find the bravery needed to face the troubles of his present and ultimately illuminate the future?

A story of fear and hope, loneliness and friendship. A genuinely gasp-out-loud twist. A page-turning, twisty mystery with characters to root for.

TIN

Chapter book

A fast-paced, thought-provoking adventure story filled with friendship, war and the journey to find who we really are, from the author of The Monsters of Rookhaven.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

NOMINATED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE AWARD 2019

Christopher is ‘Proper’: a real boy with a real soul, orphaned in a fire. He works for an engineer, a maker of the eccentric, loyal and totally individual mechanicals who are Christopher’s best friends.

But after a devastating accident, a secret is revealed and Christopher’s world is changed for ever … What follows is a remarkable adventure, as Christopher discovers who he really is, and what it means to be human.

A heartfelt tale of humanity, adventure and belonging, from the bestselling author of Pog and The Monsters of Rookhaven.

Pinocchio meets The Wizard of Oz with a hint of Northern Lights as a boy and his mechanical friends discover the truth about his past.

A thought-provoking and timely novel, with strong themes of friendship, war and what it really means to be human.

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day

Chapter book

How do you know you really exist?

It’s Maisie’s birthday and she can’t wait to open her presents. She’s hoping for the things she needs to build her own nuclear reactor. But she wakes to an empty house and outside the front door is nothing but a terrifying, all-consuming blackness.

Trapped in an ever-shifting reality, Maisie knows that she will have to use the laws of the universe and the love of her family to survive. And even that might not be enough…

A mind-bending mystery for anyone who’s ever asked questions. From the author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and The Jamie Drake Equation.

Cover illustration by Matt Saunders.

The Train to Impossible Places

Chapter book

All aboard for the first journey in the bestselling Train to Impossible Places Adventures, with magic at every stop.

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award and the IBW Book Awards, with dazzling illustrations from Flavia Sorrentino, join Suzy on this magical adventure, where the journey will never, ever take you where you expect it to.

When Suzy hears a strange noise in the middle of the night, she creeps downstairs to find a train roaring through her house. But this is no ordinary train. This is the magical delivery express for The Union of Impossible Places.

Whisked onboard by a troll-boy, Suzy’s world is turned upside down when she’s asked to deliver a cursed package to a fearsome sorceress. And quite suddenly, Suzy realizes the fate of the Impossible Places is in her hands…

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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