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Topic: Reading for Pleasure

Chapter book

“If you go into the woods, Old Crony will get you.”

Secrets, spies or maybe even a monster… What lies in the heart of the wood? Charlie, Dizzy and Johnny are determined to discover the truth, but when night falls without warning they find themselves trapped in a nightmare. Lost in the woods, strange dangers and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows. As time plays tricks, can Charlie solve this mystery and find a way out of the woods? But what if this night never ends…?

A timeless novel for anyone who’s ever felt lost. From the award-winning author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day.

Picturebook

This inspiring picture book retells the story of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greta Thunberg – the Swedish teenager who has led a global movement to raise awareness about the world’s climate crisis – using allegory to make this important topic accessible to young children.

Greta is a little girl who lives in a beautiful forest threatened by Giants. When the Giants first came to the forest, they chopped down trees to make houses. Then they chopped down more trees and made even bigger homes. The houses grew into towns and the towns grew into cities, until now there is hardly any forest left. Greta knows she has to help the animals who live in the forest, but how? Luckily, Greta has an idea…

A section at the back explains that, in reality, the fight against the ‘giants’ isn’t over and explains how you can help Greta in her fight .

This book has been printed sustainably in the UK on 100% recycled paper. By buying a copy of this book, you are making a donation of 3% of the cover price to Greenpeace UK.

Non-fiction

Did you know that there are over 4,000 known species of frog? Some are bigger than your dinner plate, while others are small enough to sit on your fingernail, and in between is about every colour and size you can imagine! Leap into this fascinating illustrated guide to the most diverse amphibians in the world, from the lumbering common toad to the beautiful but deadly poison dart frog.

Chapter book

From the bestselling author of The Garden of Lost Secrets comes a thrilling new mystery filled with ticking secrets and gripping adventure, set against an Edwardian backdrop of invention and change.

JUNE, 1905.

Helena and her parrot, Orbit, are swept off to Cambridge when her father is appointed clock-winder to one of the wealthiest men in England. There is only one rule: the clocks must never stop.

Soon Helena discovers the house of one hundred clocks holds many mysteries; a ghostly figure, strange notes and stolen winding keys… Can she work out the house’s secrets before time runs out?

Chapter book

Bonnie is scavenging on a beach when she finds a battered old row boat. And under the boat, a bare-footed boy-cold, hungry, and in need of help. The authorities have already been troubling Bonnie and Granda for breaking rules, but how can she leave this boy when he has no-one? Bonnie does her best to keep the boy hidden from the border guards, but as their suspicions grow, she wonders if it’s time to escape the life she’s always known. Under cover of darkness they set sail to the ‘house of light’ in search of a new beginning, and a sense of hope.

Chapter book

A stunning fantasy debut, enter the unique world of the Spell Breathers. Spell Breathing does not come naturally to Rayne – she loathes the hours of practice, the stacks of scrolls, and the snapping mud devils that cover her mothers precious spell book. But it is spell breathing that keeps her village safe from the dreaded monster curse that plagues their world. It is ancient powerful magic, but as Rayne learns to her horror… it is also fragile. In one clumsy move, the magic that keeps them safe is broken, her village is plunged into danger, and an incredible adventure begins…

Chapter book

As life for German Jews becomes increasingly perilous, Anna’s parents put her on a train leaving for England. But the war follows her to Kent, and soon Anna finds herself caught up in a web of betrayal and secrecy. How can she prove whose side she’s on when she can’t tell anyone the truth? But actions speak louder than words, and Anna has a dangerous plan…

A brilliant and moving wartime adventure from the author of Evie’s Ghost.

Cover illustration by Daniela Terrazzini.

Picturebook

Is your bath BUBBLY enough? Is your bed BOUNCY enough? Is your cereal CRUNCHY enough? Don’t delay – call Sneaky Beak TODAY for deals beyond your wildest dreams!

Bear and Hamster are perfectly content… until gadget-mad salesman, Sneaky Beak, arrives. But when they finally have it all, will Bear and Hamster really be happier? A hilarious story with an important message about the pitfalls of materialism.

Chapter book

With her passion for scientific experimentation and her pet tarantula Violet, Tess de Sousa is no ordinary orphan. When a stranger shows up at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, claiming to be a distant relative come to adopt her, Tess hopes to find some answers to her mysterious origins. But as she adjusts to her new life at Roedeer Lodge, it becomes clear that Norton F. Cleat knows more about Tess – and the strange device left with her when she was abandoned as a baby – than he’s letting on. And when Tess discovers that the Starspinner is the gateway between her world and a parallel world in which war rages, she realizes she may be the key to a terrible plan. A plan she must stop at all costs…

Non-fictionPicturebook

The first ever picture-book retelling of Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species .

‘A long, long time ago, before humans even existed, the living world looked very different from how it looks today.’

For most of human history, people believed that everything in the world was created at once. But scientists started to challenge that idea and in 1859 Charles Darwin, a naturalist and biologist, wrote a famous book called On the Origin of Species that revolutionised the way that we have understood evolution ever since.

Now molecular biologist and illustrator Sabina Radeva has recreated Darwin’s most famous work as a beautifully illustrated book for children and adults alike. The stunning pictures bring the theory of evolution to life for young readers, and anyone who wants to learn about evolution.

Pulling together Darwin’s observations from his travels around the world and his ground-breaking explanation of how species form, develop, and change over hundreds of thousands of years, On The Origin of Species is as relevant and important now as it ever was.

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