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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Sylvia Waugh

Like Patrick in Space Race and Matthew and Alison in Earthborn, Steven is a visitor from Ormingat, living on Earth with his family for a designated number of years. But Steven is not merely an observer, he is an arranger, a facilitator with the power to direct attention away from any Ormingatriga who needs protection. When his earthly son Jacob is born with a fatal immune deficiency, Steven requests help from Ormingat in order to save his life and as a result the boy survives, but grows up surrounded by a protective shield without friends. When Steven is forced to tell Jacob of his identity and involve him in his work, Jacob resents his father's imposition. Then comes the debacle of the Derwents' accident and Nesta's flight from home, which both bring undesired publicity and the danger of detection to the Ormingat aliens. Steven, summoned to return early to the mother planet, does not want to go. If he returns he must abandon his earth wife, Lydia. And where does all this leave unhappy Jacob who makes contact not only with Mrs Dalrymple but also Nesta's family in York? A strong conclusion to the trilogy, uniting the plots from the earlier books - with a surprising and dramatic finale.

Who Goes Home?

Pat Hutchins

A TITCH storybook by award winning author, Pat Hutchins. Titch is the smallest and the youngest in his family. His brother Pete and his sister Mary have bigger biokes than Titch, kites that fly high-up in the sky and instruments that make much BIGGER noises. But when Titch plants a tiny seed thay all find out that starting off small is just the first stage of GROWING!!!

Titch

Shirley Hughes

All is quiet at Alfie's house - Mum and Dad have gone out and Maureen's baby-sitting. Then . . . drip, drip, drip. It's raining inside! The drip turns into a downpour and Maureen's parents have to come round to deal with the burst pipe, but only Alfie can work out what's worrying Annie Rose. . . . 
 
Join Alfie in this wonderfully warm celebration of brothers and sisters (and babysitters!).

An Evening At Alfie's

Ruth Thomas

Mum knew she shouldn't have left the children alone. That was why she was hurrying home, running to catch the evening train. She was so worried about Nicky and Roy that she didn't hear the thief come up behind her; she didn't look carefully when she dashed across the road . . . 
 
Back at home Nicky is findingit harder and harder to reassure her younger brother Roy. Soon the children are running out of money and the neighbours are getting suspicious. But whatever happens, Nicky is certain of one thing - she will NEVER tell.

The Secret

Edward is the school wheeler-dealer with dreams of becoming a millionaire by the time he's twenty. When he finds a mysterious package in the park, he ropes two school-mates into a daring scheme, one that catapults them into an adventure of secrets and intrigue - and his wish seems very close to becoming a reality.

The Paper Bag Baby

Molly wished that they had a real garden, big enough to play in. Then one day, her wish came true! Mum and Dad told the children that they had found a house with a garden for them all to live in! Right away everyone began to make plans.

Moving Molly

Birthday parties always make people happy and Alfie's neighbour, Mr MacNally, really does need cheering up because his beloved cat, Smoky, has died. Alfie thinks a party might just help, and there's an extra special surprise in store for Bob MacNally. . . . 
 
Join Alfie as he tries to keep a secret in this celebration of pets old and new.

Alfie & The Birthday Surprise

Andrew Matthews

Tod stretched out his hands. 'Shall we go and celebrate?' 'Celebrate what?' I asked.'That we're three unique individuals in a world of clones.' Andie reckons the Breakfast Museum - a greasy spoon caf- - is the perfect place to hide out in when her boyfriend dumps her and she spur-of-the-moment bunks off for the day. Only losers and drop-outs go there, don't they? Wrong! For it's there that Andie meets Tod and Rally and discovers that the Breakfast Museum can provide much more than a plate of egg and chips and something that pretends to be coffee.

The Breakfast Museum

Aidan Chambers

Everyone seems to know best when it comes to Jan's future - but he's still working out for himself who he really is. Jan feels so hemmed in by the pressures of family and friends, he decides to leave home and live alone in the house on the toll bridge. While there, he meets Tess and Adam and their close bond of friendship develops into something which has devastating effects on them all.

The Toll Bridge

Angela Kanter

Charlotte is in for a nasty surprise when Emmy makes a new friend, Tom. For Tom's big sister, Icky Nicky, is in Charlotte's ballet class - and they hate each other! But when their sisters' fighting starts to get in the way of Tom and Emmy's friendship, they must find a way of bringing their warring siblings together, and ballet could be just the thing they need. And to Charlotte and Nicky's surprise, they soon find they have a lot more in common than they had realised.

My Ballerina Sister On Stage

Wendy Holden

When Haatchi was injured by a train, he lost one of his legs and his tail - a huge problem for such a big dog. He needed some serious love; he needed to find his perfect Forever Home. 
 
And then Haatchi met Owen. 
 
Owen was finding life hard too. He also needed some love. And, like Haatchi, he had a lot of love to give . . . 
 
This is the inspiring true story of the best friends who can overcome any problem together. 
Because, after all, it doesn't matter how many legs or wheels you have, it's who journeys with you.

Haatchi and Little B - Junior edition

Lucy's life is being made hell by Melanie Prosser and her bullying sidekicks - the present takers - who threaten her every day at school for presents and money. Too ashamed to tell her parents, and too scared to tell her teacher, Lucy finds an unexpected ally in Angus Burns. But when push comes to shove, there's only one thing to do: take on the present takers at their own game, to silence them once and for all.

The Present Takers

Rosemary Sutcliff

It is seventeenth-century Scotland, and the Covenanters – those wanting religious freedom from the dictates of English rule – are gathering strength. Hugh Herriott, fresh from a Covenanting background, finds himself working for redcoat Colonel Claverhouse and his Lady Jean: first as the stable-lad and in later years, as galloper to Claverhouse. The tension mounts between the two sides of the divided country. Claverhouse, with Hugh always by his side, leads his troops in bloody battle against the Covenanters, through forest and valley, village and town, victory… and loss.

Bonnie Dundee

Mark Haddon

Christopher is 15 and lives in Swindon with his father. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. He is obsessed with maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour's lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it. As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets - for both Christopher and the rest of his family.

The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time

John Burningham

A classic story celebrating the power of babies... and avocados! 
 
The Hargraves family want their new baby to grow up big and strong. But the puny mite will hardly eat a thing... until Mrs Hargraves finds an avocado in the fruit bowl and the baby gobbles it up. Soon, the baby gets incredible strength, and the strangest things start to happen! 
 
This classic story from the bestselling author and illustrator John Burningham has been delighting families for over 40 years. 
 
“Amusing for adults, impressive for toddlers, good for greengrocers” The Observer 
 
“John Burningham is one of the most outstanding author-illustrators of children’s books today . . .” Twentieth-Century Children’s Writers 
 
John Burningham is the much-loved creator of Mr Gumpy's Outing and Would You Rather.

Avocado Baby

Babette Cole

Girls and boys are always curious and sometimes even alarmed by the behaviour of their bodies as they grow up. Puberty being a particularly unsettling time, Babette Cole has made this the subject of the fifth title in her bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'. Who else but Babette would have the temerity to tackle this subject in a picture book and the genius to carry it off! In Hair in Funny Places her artwork is without exaggeration some of the best she has ever done: it is brilliant. The text takes the form of a conversation between a small girl and her teddy bear, and is ingenious and funny. It is the behaviour of Mr and Mrs Hormone (wonderfully depicted) which is responsible for and plays havoc with the physical and emotional states of  girls and boys throughout puberty. This book is bound to be controversial but Babette has never taken the conventional path and her readers love her for her outrageous approach to little mentioned topics.

Hair In Funny Places

Meet Doctor Dog, he's the Gumboyle family's favourite pet and their very own trusty physician. When Doctor Dog jets off to a medical conference in Brazil the Guimboyles decide they can't survive without him and so he returns to rescue them from all sorts of ailments: itchy nits, tickly tonsils and worms to name but a few. . .

Dr Dog

Jacqueline Harvey

Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones has survived her first term at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale. And now Jacinta Headlington-Bear, the school's second best tantrum thrower, is joining Alice-Miranda's family for term break. Who would have thought it! 
 
The two girls are looking forward to a relaxing holiday at Highton Hall. But a cranky boy is causing mischief on the estate, a movie star has come to visit, and a stranger is snooping about. Add a naughty pony, a hint of romance and a dastardly scheme, and Jacinta and Alice-Miranda might have a more exciting holiday than they were expecting.

Alice-Miranda on Holiday

Book 2

Alfie loves being outside and in this gorgeous collection of stories and poems he plays in the garden, camps in the countryside, shares a picnic on the beach, splashes in the paddling pool and lots more! Full of snapshots of family life, this is a book to treasure.

The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook

Alfie and his mum and baby sister, Annie Rose, arrive home after shopping. While his mum struggles with the pushchair outside, Alfie rushes inside and slams the door behind him. So now Alfie's stuck INSIDE and his mum and Annie Rose are stuck OUTSIDE without a key! Soon everyone in the street is trying to help rescue Alfie - but he's got a plan of his own . . .

Alfie Gets in First

Julia and Nathan have no friends to speak of. They're misfits of Mrs Henrey's class - awlays the last to be picekd for the team, and always without a partner. Then they discover a stash of money in a deserted house and suddenly, instant popularity seems just around the corner. But so is trouble, in the shape of the adults who start asking difficult questions. There is only one thing the pair can do now, and that is to run away!

The Runaways

Suzanne is pretty ordinary, apart from Love Street. She has the equivalent of a TV inside her brain, the only thing is that the same programme is playing day in and day out and she's lost the remote control. Whenever she is stressed out, furious or just plain bored, the TV flashes to life and shows a sequence from the soap called Love Street - the problem is, things get weird when the soap itself begins to imitate the life of her friends, and herself.

Love Street

Jonathan Rock

There's a reason they're known as the Survival Squad... 
 
The Tiger Patrol are on an expedition out on the wild and desolate moors when a new member runs off. Soon they're all in trouble - they're completely lost, and they have no way of contacting anyone for help... 
 
This is where their training kicks in - are they prepared to survive outdoors?

Survival Squad: Out of Bounds

Book 1

Sirens are blaring. Families huddle in bomb shelters. A nearby city is in flames. 
 
For Derek and his friends, night-time air raids are a normal part of everyday life. When a particularly violent raid closes their school for a few days, the boys use the time to complete construction of their secret camp. But to their horror, their refuge is savagely attacked by a rival neighbourhood gang. And then, after one night filled with bombing, the war changes his world forever.

Dawn of Fear

Annie Dalton

Maria Dalton

At the age of sixteen, shy introverted Naomi makes a harrowing adult decision about the future of her baby daughter. Sixteen years later, Carrie faces painful challenges of her own. These two very different girls from two different generations, are linked only by the invisible threads of DNA, but as their stories unfold, moving parallels as well as differences between their experiences emerge, lending unusual honesty and force to this compelling novel.

Invisible Threads

John Rowe Townsend

A story first published as "Cloudy Bright". A young couple meet in Brighton when Sam wants to borrow Jenny's camera. They continue to meet because of Sam's use of the camera, but Jenny starts to wonder if there's more to their relationship. Could it be that Sam wants her, and not just her camera?

Sam And Jenny

Alice-Miranda is in bustling New York City. It's a blur of skyscrapers, hot dog carts, chats with zoo animals and classes at Mrs Kimmel's School for Girls, right next to glorious Central Park. Her family's glamorous department store, Highton's on Fifth, has just been renovated, but plans for the fabulous re-opening party are going curiously wrong. Is that why Alice-Miranda's father Hugh seems so worried? And why is her new friend Lucinda so shy about inviting Alice-Miranda home?

Alice-Miranda in New York

Book 5

Jonathan Stroud

Everyone says that Max is drowned, but Charlie thinks differently: she was in the mill-pool with him, and knows exactly what she saw. When she begins to see him in her dreams, her hopes are raised. It seems the reunion she craves is possible. But where exactly is Max leading her? And will she be able to return?

The Leap

Alice-Miranda is set for a luxurious cruise aboard the royal yacht Octavia, where the wedding of Aunt Charlotte and the famous actor Lawrence Ridley will be taking place. All her family and lots of her friends will be there! But it's not just the rumours of a jewel thief on board giving Alice-Miranda one of her strange feelings. Why does the ship's doctor look so familiar? And who is the shy blond boy hiding in one of the suites? Can Alice-Miranda solve the mystery in time for the celebrations?

Alice-Miranda at Sea

Book 4

There's a reason they're known as the Survival Squad... 
 
It's winter and the snow is falling thick and fast. The Tiger Patrol are learning to ski, building snow shelters, and igloos. They're even working with the local search and rescue team. Then they're caught in a snow blizzard and a young girl is missing in the snow... 
 
Time is running out for the Survival Squad.

Survival Squad: Search and Rescue

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