Demons and Shadows: The Ghostly Best Stories of Robert Westall

Contains some of the author’s best ghostly tales, including “Rachel and the Angel,” “The Creatures in the House,” and the previously unpublished “Graveyard Shift.” By the author of The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral.

A Finder’s Magic

A boy who loses his dog meets a mysterious stranger and has a surprising adventure in an enchanting tale from a stellar author-illustrator team.When Till’s beloved dog slips its leash on their daily romp, the boy goes to bed in despair. But he wakes to meet Mr. Finder, an odd little man from his dream, who offers to help him retrieve the frisky pup. Together Till and Finder question some likely witnesses: a heron, a mole, a riddling cat, and two obliging old ladies, Miss Gammer and Miss Mousy. But Finder is a peculiar fi gure, given to disappearing suddenly, and Till starts to wonder: Can he be trusted? Part detective story, part fairy tale, A Finder’s Magic has mystery, darkness and light, and all the emotional truth that is a hallmark of Philippa Pearce’s writing.

Well Between The Worlds

Lyonesse is the land of legends and magic. It’s the forgetten land where King Arthur once resided with Merlin and his Knights of the Round Table. But thousands of years after the great king walked this country, it has become a place of shadows, where men hunt and capture the monsters that lurk below in the dark depths of the sea. Lyonesse is slowly sinking, and it is up to one boy, Idris, to save his people and his land. Can he stand up to the forces of evil that aim to stop him? Sam Llewellyn’s book in two parts LYONESSE has its roots in the world of Arthurian legend, but Sam has made the story and characters his own, drawing on a range of sources to create a fabulously rich and fresh adventure for every child, not just those with an interest in King Arthur. Sam Llewellyn worked as an editor and fine art dealer until he decided that life was too short. Since then, his novels, published in twelve languages, have earned him a reputation as one of the world’s master storytellers and writers of maritime thrillers. Many of his books are founded in personal experience. While researching them he has (among other things) chased pirates in the South China Sea and raced large ships in France.

Thursday’s Child

A stunningly original voice in young adult fiction. Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a desolate landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin – “born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings” – begins to escape underground, tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes and fate deals the family an especially cruel hand, Harper’s parents withdraw emotionally, and her siblings bravely try to fill the void, while Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving them further and further behind. With exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism, Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s a loving and unsentimental portrait of family loyalty in the face of poverty and heartbreak, entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin – disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far, yet remains hauntingly near.

Out of the Shadows

Deep in the woods, a child with green-tinged skin and long matted hair awakens. She is Isabella Leland, daughter of a healer who was executed as a heretic some 300 years earlier. On her mother’s death, Isabella was taken in by the crow people—faierie folk—who can manipulate space and time. The first time she returned to the real world, Catholics ruled England. Now, those who follow the pope are regarded with suspicion and shunned. When Isabella emerges from her hiding place, she’s discovered by another outcast, Elizabeth Dyer, whose family follows the old ways. Elizabeth wants to befriend Isabella, but she has her own troubles. Her brother has brought home a priest in need of shelter. Hiding him is an act of treason, and his pursuers are closing in. Sarah Singleton has a gift for blending the seen and the unseen, the matter-of-fact and the magical, into a convincing whole. Here she offers a fast-paced plot—a cat-and-mouse game between hunter and hunted—while exploring questions about religious faith and fanaticism that will resonate with YA readers.

Kira (Shadow Of The Dragon)

Under no circumstances are girls EVER to be allowed anywhere near dragons. THE PENALTY FOR ANY GIRL CAUGHT BREAKING THE FIRST LAW IS DEATH. Kira is twelve, and strong willed. The daughter of a retired dragon knight, she yearns for adventure and dreams of following in her father’s footsteps astride her own magnificent mount. But this can never happen. According to the ‘stupid laws’ of the kingdom, she must be married by thirteen. Kira hates it, but being a girl she has no choice. Then Lord Dorcon arrives, in a whirl of destruction and fire and Kira knows the real fight is just beginning. To stand a chance of seeing her family again, and to protect the life of her younger sister, she will need every bit of willpower she can find. Let the battle commence.

Nightrise

The world is in great danger—and only five kids can save it. But to do that, they must face off against some of the most powerful people in the world. Two of the five, Scott and Jamie, have always known they were different. Twins whose birth is shrouded in mystery, they’ve always been able to communicate with each other telepathically. Their supernatural talent has landed them no farther than a gig in a Z-grade sideshow in Reno, Nevada…until they garner the attention of a very scary clientele. Soon their lives are in jeopardy, with one of them trapped and one of them on the run. In Nightrise, Anthony Horowitz ups the stakes in his most thrilling, intense novel yet.

Eye Of The Forest (Children Of The Lamp)

In their latest adventure, John and Philippa Gaunt find themselves tangled up in a spellbinding mystery that takes them deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle in book five of the NY TIMES bestselling Children of the Lamp series. When a collection of Incan artifacts goes missing, the Blue Djinn of Babylon dispatches the twins and Uncle Nimrod to recover them. Along the way, though, John and Philippa encounter their friend Dybbuk, who was drained of his djinn powers but is determined to get them back.

In a fury, he’s headed to an ancient Incan Empire where he believes he can regain his strength. Dybbuk will stop at nothing . . . even if it means destroying the rain forest, opening a cursed portal, and disturbing the enchanted kingdom of the Incas that has slept for thousands of years. Can the twins stop their friend before he destroys everything?