Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Noel Streatfeild

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

Every family has its secrets, but it was a huge surprise to the three young Forbeses, fresh from a country vicarage, to discover that their grandmother was a famous actress. Sent to live with her in bombed-out, wartime London, they soon discovered that they were expected to follow in the family footsteps - to the footlights -! 
 
As an actress herself, Noel Streatfeild was familiar with all the details of the backstage world of the theatre. She has created an authentic, perceptive and vivid picture of theatrical life - from stage school to auditions to performances.

Theatre Shoes

Eve Garnett

The story of everyday life in the big, happy Ruggles family who live in the small town of Otwell. Father is a dustman and Mother a washerwoman. Then there's all the children - practical Lily Rose, clever Kate, mischievous twins James and John, followed by Jo, who loves films, little Peg and finally baby William. 
 
A truly classic book awarded the Carnegie Medal as the best children's book of 1937.

The Family from One End Street

B.B.

Three brothers run away from home to live like Robin Hood and his merry men, deep in the forest of Brendon Chase. They make their camp in an ancient oak tree and live like outlaws, loving the dangers and excitements of their wild surroundings. 
Their aim is never to be caught - but how can they avoid all the people who are searching for them, including the police?

Brendon Chase

Jan Mark

When Andrew's family moves house, he strikes up an unexpected friendship with his neighbour Victor. There isn't a thing Victor doesn't know about the RAF planes flying overhead and the two boys are soon busy tracking their movements. 
Then Andrew discovers that Victor's beloved Lightnings are due to be scrapped... 
 
Thunder and Lightnings won the Carnegie Medal in 1976.

Thunder And Lightnings

Ursula Williams

When Aunt Lily marries the lodger and goes to America, orphaned Samantha is packed off to her Aunt Daisy, who lives in a grand house at the Park. Snooty Lady Daisy Clandorris has no time for children. Lucky for Samantha, then, to discover the small, furry creature living in the cellar; a bogwoppit - believed extinct - up till now...

Bogwoppit

Philippa Pearce

Sid, Peggy and Amy adore the two gerbils, Bubble and Squeak, but their mother detests them. A major family battle results, and it's clear life is never going to be quite the same again. But after a near fatal encounter between Bubble and Ginger the cat, Mrs Sparrow begins to see that life with 2 gerbils might not be so bad after all.

The Battle of Bubble and Squeak

Tove Jansson

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this magical edition of Finn Family Moomintroll complete with a charming new cover design. 
 
Cheerful Moomintroll lives in the magical Moominvalley with his mother, Moominmamma, his father, Moominpappa and all of their friends. One spring he wakes up to find a big hat - a magical Hobgoblin hat, no less, that mysteriously transforms anyone or anything that falls into it. . . 
 
They seem to grow in wisdom and delight every time I read them - Philip Pullman

Finn Family Moomintroll

Mary Clive

Based on real events and people, this story of a small girl's Christmas holiday in a large Edwardian country house is effortlessly funny. At Tamerlane Hall, Evelyn finds a horde of children: the gentle Glens, the plaintive Howliboos, and above all, the uninhibited Savages. They are controlled - or not - by a host of parents, supernumerary Uncles and Aunts, Nannies and nurserymaids. Evelyn survives the Christmas festivities - just - returning home none too soon! Seen through the eyes of a prim little eight-year-old, this is an amusing and touching account of a childhood a hundred years ago.

Christmas with the Savages

Mary Norton

The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses - behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. Everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans', who don't even know they exist. But then young Arrietty makes friends with a boy - a 'human bean' - and from that moment danger is never far away for, above all else, they must avoid the great disaster of 'being seen'. 
In The Borrowers Afield the Pod family escape to the fields where their cousins live, but it's a long and dangerous journey. In The Borrowers Afloat Arrietty looks forward to a life away from the dark country cottage, to one full of sunshine. In The Borrowers Aloft: the family are now living in the model village of Little Fordham. All they have to do is avoid being seen by the visitors . . . In The Borrowers Avenged Pod, Homily and Arrietty have managed to escape with the help of Spiller. They move into the old rectory where they live happily until the Potters come looking for them. 
Poor Stainless: Young Stainless, a Borrower boy, goes missing on a mission to borrow some parsley and an enormous search ensues.

The Complete Borrowers

A Vicarage Family is the first part in a fictionalized autobiography in which Noel Streatfeild tells the story of her own childhood, painting a poignant and vivid picture of daily life in an impoverished, genteel family in the years leading up to the First World War. 
 
'What a pity the dear vicar has such trouble with Victoria...' 
Once there were three little girls - Isobel, the eldest, was pretty, gentle and artistic; Louise the youngest, was sweet and talented - and then there was Vicky, 'the plain one', the awkward and rebellious one who didn't fit in at school or at home. Growing up in a big family Vicky feels overlooked but gradually begins to realize that she might not be quite as untalented as she feels. 
 
The Vicky of this story is, of course, the much-loved Noel Streatfeild who went on to write so many wonderful family stories, the most famous being Ballet Shoes.

A Vicarage Family

Pod, Homily and Arrietty are a family of tiny people who live beneath the floor, behind the grandfather clock in the old rectory. They own nothing - everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans' who don't even know they exist. Arrietty's father, Pod, is an expert borrower. He can scale curtains using a hatpin and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girl's aren't supposed to go borrowing, but as Arrietty is an only child, Pod breaks the rules. But when she is in the house borrowing, something happens which changes their lives. Arrietty makes friends with 'the boy upstairs'.

The Borrowers

Joan Aiken

Quentin Blake

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this treasured edition of Arabel and Mortimer Stories. 
 
Late one night, as Mr Jones drove his taxi home through a storm, he spotted a large black bird with a hairy fringe round its beak sprawled out in the road. 
 
Mr Jones decides to take the bird home to Number Six, Rainwater Crescent, London, NW 3 ½, to meet his daughter, Arabel, she'll know what to do - she loves animals! 
 
'His name's Mortimer', she said. 
 
But it doesn't take long until the mischievous Mortimer causes chaos in the Jones household. . .

Arabel and Mortimer Stories

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this special edition of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. 
 
It's 19th Century England, Good King James III is on the throne, and the whole country is ravaged by wolves which have migrated through the newly-opened Channel Tunnel. 
 
When young orphans Bonnie and Sylvia get caught by the governess, Miss Slighcarp - they need their wits and Simon the goose-boy - to escape unscathed. 
 
For Miss Slighcarp is more cruel and merciless than the wolves that surround the great house of Willoughby Chase. . .

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

60th Anniversary Edition

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this thrilling edition of The Shadow Guests. 
 
Following the double disappearance of his mother and older brother, Cosmo Curtoy is sent to live with his strange cousin in England. 
 
When he arrives, Cosmo decides to explore the ancient Mill House on his cousins' estate - where he meets the Mill's spirited guests. . . 
 
But can he trust them? 
 
Join Cosmo on this supernatural time-travelling adventure and break the Curtoy's curse!

The Shadow Guests

Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are sisters - with a difference. All three were adopted as babies by Great Uncle Matthew, an eccentric and rich explorer who then disappeared, leaving them in the care of his niece Sylvia. The girls grow up in comfort until their money begins to run out and nobody can find Great Uncle Matthew.Things look bleak until they hit on an inspired idea: Pauline, Petrova and Posy will take to the stage. But it's not long before the Fossils learn that being a star isn't as easy as they first thought...

Ballet Shoes

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this highly anticipated edition of More Arabel and Mortimer. 
 
Late one night, as Mr Jones drove his taxi home through a storm, he spotted a large black bird with a hairy fringe round its beak sprawled out in the road. 
 
Mr Jones decides to take the bird home to meet his daughter, Arabel, she'll know what to do - she loves animals! 
 
'His name's Mortimer', she said. 
 
Return to Number Six, Rainwater Crescent, London, NW 3 ½ with Arabel and Mortimer as this mischievous bird continues to cause chaos in the Jones household. . .

More Arabel and Mortimer

Katherine Paterson

Jess Aarons wants to be the fastest boy in the class, but when a girl named Leslie Burke moves into the neighbouring farm his life changes forever. Even though she runs faster than him, Jess begins to think Leslie might be okay - she's clever and funny and not a bit soppy. And it is Leslie who invents Terabithia, the secret country on an island across the creek where he can escape his troublesome family.The only way to reach Terabithia is by rope-swing where Jess and Leslie become King and Queen, defeating giants, sharing stories and dreams, and plotting against their enemies. They are invincible - until tragedy strikes. It is more dreadful than anything Jess had ever dreamed of, but as he struggles to cope with his grief and anger, he finds that his family value him more than he'd thought and that, still King, he could even save Terabithia for the future.

Bridge to Terabithia

Gus the clown is Peter and Santa's only living relative, and escape to the circus seems a better idea to them than an orphanage. But Gus will keep the children only if they make themselves useful - and they have to fight hard to really belong to the circus.

Circus Shoes

Ian Serraillier

Although the silver sword was only a paper knife, it became the symbol of hope and courage which kept the Balicki children and their orphan friend Jan alive through the four years of occupation when they had to fend for themselves. And afterwards it inspired them to keep going on the exhausting and dangerous journey from war-torn Poland to Switzerland, where they hoped to find their parents. 
Based on true accounts, this is a moving story of life during and after the Second World War.

The Silver Sword

On holiday in Cornwall, Simon, Jane and Barney Drew discover an ancient map in the attic of the Grey House, where they are staying with their mysterious Great-Uncle Merry. They know immediately that it is special. But it is much more than just a map. It is the start of a quest to find a grail, a source of great power that could contain - or resurrect - the powerful, age-old forces of evil in the world. And the Drews are not the only ones searching for it. 
 
The first thrilling book in the highly acclaimed Dark Is Rising sequence.

Over Sea, Under Stone

The Dark is Rising sequence

The four Heath children, with tennis in their blood, join the competitive tournament circuit and battle hard to win.

Tennis Shoes

Rosemary Sutcliff

Rooted in folklore, medieval ideals of chivalry, and the last gallant struggles of the British against the Saxon invaders, the legends of King Arthur have been told in song and story since the middle ages. 
 
The Sword and the Circle tells of the birth of Arthur, the gift of Excalibur, the forming of the Round Table and the first noble quests of its knights until the arrival of Percival . . .

The Sword and the Circle

Geoffrey Trease

Fleeing from the evil Sir Philip Morton, Peter Brownrigg finds himself on the wrong side of the law. On the run to London he meets Kit and the two decide to stick together. But a chance discovery endangers their lives and soon Peter is deep in murderous plots, secrets and even treason. 
 
Set in the turbulent days of Elizabeth I, this classic story of danger and intrigue conjures up a world of mystery, twists and turns and thrilling action.

Cue for Treason

The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses; behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. They own nothing, borrow everything, and think that human beings were invented just to do the dirty work. Arrietty's father, Pod, was an expert Borrower. He could scale curtains using a hatpin, and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girls weren't supposed to go borrowing but as Arrietty was an only child her father broke the rule, and then something happened which changed their lives. She made friends with the human boy living in the house...

Penelope Farmer

It is Charlotte's first night at boarding school. Before she goes to sleep, she sees from the window a corner of the new building. But when she wakes up, instead of the building there is a huge, dark cedar tree, and the girl in the next bed is not the girl who slept there last night. She calls Charlotte 'Clare', and says she is her younger sister Emily. Somehow, Charlotte has slipped back forty years to 1918 and the end of the First World War. Charlotte and Clare swap places ever night until one day Charlotte becomes trapped in 1918 and must find a way to return to her own time before the end of term.

Charlotte Sometimes

Penelope Lively

No.40 Norham Gardens, Oxford, is the home of Clare Mayfield, her two aged aunts and two lodgers. The house is a huge Victorian monstrosity, with rooms all full of old furniture, old papers, old clothes, memorabilia - it is like a living museum. 
Clare discovers in a junk room the vividly painted shield which her great-grandfather, an eminent anthropologist, had brought back from New Guinea. She becomes obsessed with its past and determined to find out more about its strange tribal origins. 
Dreams begin to haunt her - dreams of another country, another clture, another time, and of shadowy people whom she feels are watching her. Who are they, and what do they want?

The House in Norham Gardens

C. Day Lewis

Edward Ardizzone

It all begins when Nick breaks the classroom window with his football, and the Headmaster says Nick has to pay for the damage. Nick has no more hope of raising the money than of going to the Moon, so that's when Ted's and Toppy's gangs decide to sign a truce and plan Operation Glazier to get the money for Nick. The plan goes smoothly and soon the money has been collected, but when it goes missing the boys turn detective to try and find the culprit.

The Otterbury Incident

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this magical edition of Moominpappa at Sea complete with a charming new cover design. 
 
Moominpappa is feeling at a loss. He has no idea what to do with himself - it seems everything has already been done! So he takes his family off to start a new life in a lighthouse on a tiny, rocky island far out to sea. It's rather lonely at first, but it isn't long before the Moomins discover some funny and surprising new things about themselves. 
 
They seem to grow in wisdom and delight every time I read them - Philip Pullman

Moominpappa at Sea

Eleanor Farjeon

Every night when the children were tucked up in bed, the Old Nurse would pull out a pair of stockings from the mending-basket and while she threaded her needle she would look in her memory for a story that fitted the size of the hole. The children always stopped their bickering at once, for none of them wanted to miss her extraordinary stories of princes and princesses, Greek gods, sea captains and other wonderful characters she had come across in her hundreds of years as a children's nurse. All the tales were so entrancing that the boys could hardly be blamed for sometimes making large holes on purpose, so that they'd have a long story to match! 
This is a charming collection of bedtime fairytale stories, with evocative line drawings by Edward Ardizzone.

The Old Nurse's Stocking-Basket

The six servants of the Light - the Drew children, Will, Bran and the mysterious Merriman - have reached their last, desperate fight against the forces of the Dark. They face one final, daunting task: to find the crystal sword. Their search will lead them from their own world to the haunting, magical Lost Land between sea and shore - and they will each stare death in the face before the battle's final moments.

Silver on the Tree

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