Titanic: The Search for the Lost Fugitives

Readers become investigators in this interactive mystery about one of history’s most ill-fated voyages. While looking through documents connected with the Titanic’s maiden trip, a journalist discovers that he might be related to a pair of fugitives who disappeared from his hometown and perished in the disaster. Readers follow the trail of evidence in clues hidden in codes and symbols in order to discover the identities of the runaways and the reasons for their flight. Along the way, they will build critical problem-solving skills and encounter many different levels of clues and information in the atmospheric artwork and narrative text. Foldout panels help translate the symbols, and kids will love the specially created code wheel which will allow them to create and decode their own secret messages.

Charles Dickens

The extraordinary life and genius of Charles Dickens is brought alive for primary-age children by the author-illustrator team behind the bestselling What Mr Darwin Saw.Published to celebrate the bi-centenary of Dickens’ birth, this picture book vividly dramatises his life, beginning with his birth in Portsmouth and early childhood near the docks in Chatham, and follows the young Charles through the hardship of working in a blacking factory at the age of 10 to his years at school and his early career as a reporter. Key incidents that inspired the later novels are described, and his marriage, family life, dramatic readings and tours of the USA are included. What emerges is touching portrait of a writer with amazing observational skills, a social conscience and a strong sense of drama.Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom specialise in fun, lively non-fiction picture books. They share the illustrations between them and mix up words and pictures in inventive and delightful ways. They have won many awards, including the Smarties Silver Award and the English Association Award. As well as What Mr Darwin Saw, their recent successes include Tail-End Charlie and Taff in the WAAF.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s popularity never seems to fade. She has hordes of devoted fans, and there have been numerous adaptations of her life and work. But who was Jane Austen? The writer herself has long remained a mystery. And despite the resonance her work continues to have for teens, there has never been a young adult trade biography on Austen. Catherine Reef changes that with this highly readable account. She takes an intimate peek at Austen’s life and innermost feelings, interweaving her narrative with well-crafted digests of each of Austen’s published novels. The end result is a book that is almost as much fun to read as Jane’s own work—and truly a life revealed. Includes bibliography and index.