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13 wonderful children’s books by Black authors and illustrators

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Reading lists

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Features

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News

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Penguin Readers Level 5: Boys Don't Cry (ELT Graded Reader)

Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the Noughts &amp; Crosses series, Thief and a science-fiction thriller, Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of Pig-Heart Boy and a Pilot Theatre stage adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of Noughts &amp; Crosses. There is also a major BBC production of Noughts &amp; Crosses, with Roc Nation (Jay-Z's entertainment company) curating the soundtrack as executive music producer. In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children's books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children's literature, and between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children's Laureate. Most recently Malorie wrote for the Doctor Who series on BBC One, and the fifth novel in her Noughts &amp; Crosses series, Crossfire, was published by Penguin Random House Children's in summer 2019.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series, for teenagers and young adults learning English as a foreign language. 
· Carefully adapted text. 
· Accompanying audio with the print edition, accessed securely online. 
· The series includes popular classics, bestselling modern fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
· The eight levels of Penguin Readers are mapped to the CEFR, and Lexile measured. 
· Beautiful new illustrations for levels 2 to 6. Starter and level 1 titles in graphic novel format, for beginner learners. 
· Language practice exercises in every book, additional activities and lesson plans online. 
· Each book contains a glossary, with definitions of key vocabulary. 
· A digital version accompanies the print edition, available securely online. 
· Visit the Penguin Readers website for more information. 
· Boys Don't Cry, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. 
· The Level 5 text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. 
 
Seventeen-year-old Dante is waiting for his exam results. If they are good, he'll go to university. But Dante's plans have to change when he hears that he is the father of a baby girl. With the help of his father and brother, Dante must learn how to be a single father.

Pig-Heart Boy

A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family around this topical and controversial issue

A sensitive and informative story that provides a vivid insight  into transgenics and xenotransplantations and still manages to squeeze  in the inevitable guinea-pig and piggy in the middle jokes

Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a major BBC production of Noughts &amp; Crosses. Malorie has been awarded the Eleanor Farjeon award, received an OBE, and served as Children's Laureate.

A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family around this topical and controversial issue' - Guardian 
'An engrossing story' - Daily Telegraph 
 
'That's all I ever did - watch and listen. I was always a spectator, never a participant. I didn't call that living. I was alive - but that was all.' 
 
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 . . .? 
 
'A sensitive and informative story that provides a vivid insight into transgenics and xenotransplantations and still manages to squeeze in the inevitable guinea-pig and piggy in the middle jokes' - Independent

Hacker

Refreshingly new . . . Malorie Blackman writes with such winsome vitality

Accept the expertise and race along with the plot

THIS IS THE SYSTEM OPERATOR. 
WHO IS USING THIS ACCOUNT? PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF... 
 
Vicky's life is completely normal. Maybe even a little boring. 
 
But all that changes when her dad is accused of stealing a million pounds from the bank where he works. 
 
Vicky knows for sure that her dad is innocent, and is determined to prove it. 
 
Luckily for him, she is a seasoned computer hacker. Using the skills he taught her, she's going to attempt to break the bank's files. Should be simple, right? 
 
But it's a race against time to find the cyber-thief, before they find her . . . 
 
'A page-turner' - Sunday Express 
 
'Accept the expertise and race along with the plot' - Observer

Chasing the Stars

Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a major BBC production of Noughts &amp; Crosses. Malorie has been awarded the Eleanjor Farjeon award, received an OBE, and served as Children's Laureate.

'Full of nail-biting adventure, interstellar conflict and then passion . . . keeps us guessing to the last' - Sunday Times 
 
 
A combination of Star Trek, Ten Things I Hate About You, and a murder mystery. What's not to like?' - Guardian 
 
 
'I walked over to him and took his hand . . . We were at the heart of our very own universe' 
Olivia and her twin brother, Aidan, are heading alone on their ship back to Earth following the virus that completely wiped out their crew, and their family in its entirety. 
 
 
Nathan's ship is heading in the opposite direction, but on the journey it is attacked. Only a few survive. 
When their lives suddenly collide, Nathan and Olivia are instantly attracted to each other, deeply, completely head over heels. 
 
 
But not everyone is pleased. Surrounded by rumours, deception, even murder, is it possible to live out a happy-ever-after...? 
 
 
'The former Children's Laureate is never afraid to tackle challenging issues . . . a thrilling love story' - Mail on Sunday

Penguin Readers Level 4: Pig-Heart Boy (ELT Graded Reader)

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. 
 
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. 
 
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. 
 
Pig-Heart Boy, a Level 4 Reader, is A2+ in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing more complex uses of present perfect simple, passives, phrasal verbs and simple relative clauses. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly. 
 
Cameron Kelsey is 13 years old. He is not well and needs a new heart. Doctors want to give him a pig's heart. Cameron cannot decide if he wants the pig's heart, and some groups are very angry about doctors using animals in this way. 
 
Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

The final book in the groundbreaking series, Noughts & Crosses

Endgame

The first Nought Prime Minister, Toney Durbridge, is about to go on trial for the murder of notorious ganglord, Dan Jeavons. Tobey insists he is being framed. 
 
There were ten seats at Dan's dinner party the night he was killed and each guest had their own reasons for wishing him dead. 
 
Sephy Hadley was one of the guests that night. Haunted by the idea that she didn't do enough to stop the death of her first love, Callum McGregor, Sephy will not sit quietly and wait for accusations to fall on her now. She has her children to protect. 
 
It's time that the truth is uncovered. Time for the endgame. 
 
It's been 20 years since Malorie Blackman's groundbreaking series began with Noughts &amp; Crosses, which charted the deeply forbidden romance between Sephy (a Cross) and Callum (a nought) - a love affair which had repercussions for their families for generations. 
 
Endgame, the breathtaking conclusion to the series, influenced by the unprecedented global events of recent years, is full of twists and turns. 
 
Are you ready for the Endgame?

Malorie Blackman

My Life In Words

*****AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW!***** 
 
Malorie Blackman is one of Britain's best and most beloved children's authors, the landmark Noughts &amp; Crosses series included amongst her many books. Her journey to becoming a writer was a long one, but throughout it all she retained a sense of wonder and humour. 
 
Before her BAFTA award wins, her OBE and appointment as Children's Laureate in 2013, Malorie was a young girl from South London who fell in love with books and found a home in her local library and a world of words at her fingertips. From embracing her alternative way of seeing the world and all its fascinating differences and possibilities; to her desire to share that passion with others by becoming an English teacher but being told no by her careers advisor because of her race; to the doctor who told her she would be dead by thirty when she was diagnosed with sickle cell, and the eighty plus rejection letters she received from publishers before her first ever children's book was published. Her life's journey - has been an eventful one - marked by trauma, trials, and triumph, yet in spite of all the many setbacks in her life, she held fastidiously on to her dream of becoming a writer. 
 
Malorie charts her life not in a succinct order of events, but against the principles which have motivated her journey and reasons for becoming a writer - wonder, loss, anger, perseverance, representation, and love. Each tenet has played a unique role in inspiring her writing, her deep resolve and infectious zest for life. 
 
Through this lens of extraordinary experiences Malorie offers insight into the nature of growing up in post-war Britain, why we must protect the arts, the fraught navigation of our healthcare system, and surviving structural and societal racism. 
 
Funny, frank, and full of life lessons, Just Sayin' is the deeply personal and vividly compelling story of a natural storyteller, her incredible life which defied expectations and inspired a generation.

Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman reacts to fan messages

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