England (UK)

The Roar

Mika lives in future London, behind The Wall, safe from The Animal Plague beyond. Or so he’s been told. But ever since Ellie vanished a year ago, he’s suspected his world may be built on secrets–and lies. When a mysterious organization starts recruiting mutant kids to compete in violent virtual reality games. Mika take the chance to search for his twin sister–and the truth.

Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire

It’s never fun when a great summer comes to an end. Particularly when one argues with one’s adorable, but grossly insensitive, boyfriend the night before school starts. It’s such a terrible fight, Jess doesn’t know—are they broken up? Should she apologize? Too bad Jess is spending all her time in detention and can’t talk to Fred to figure it out. A sadistic new English teacher has decided Jess needs an attitude adjustment, and Jess can’t seem to stop making terrible mistakes. When she ends up pantless in her own backyard, Jess is left to ask herself: Where did she go wrong? And what can be done to make it up to Fred and salvage this horrible, horrible year?

Gangsta Rap

School, what school? My name is X-Ray-X So be careful how you flex I used to freestyle in me bedroom But me daddy got me vex The teacher kicked me out of the classroom Now I’m rapping in The Rex.

Ray has trouble at home and trouble at school. It’s the last straw for everyone when Ray and his friends Prem and Tyrone are permanently suspended. But they know what they want, more than most, perhaps. Their headmaster decides to give them a second chance, a chance to live their dream of forming a rap group. Through a specialized social program, the boys are taught the business of the music industry, what it takes to record an album, and how to lay down a track. Within weeks they have become the Positive Negatives, and within a few months they have signed a record deal and are on their way to the top. But their dream soon becomes a nightmare as violence escalates around them. Suddenly, not only their careers but their very lives are at stake. The Positive Negatives are determined to prove that you don’t need to be a gangster to be a great rapper.

Teen’s Top 10 (Awards)

The Silver Casket (Something Wickedly Weird)

SOMETHING WICKEDLY WEIRD IS HERE  The only thing worse than pirates are undead pirates. He might have survived the first two books, but Stanley Buggles has hardly found a quiet life in his home of Cramdon Rock. Now there are two more dead pirates out to find Stanely, and this time there’s an army with them. They want the precious key to the Silver Casket. Stanley doesn’t know what’s inside the Silver Casket, but he and his friends will do everything in their power to not find out.

Olly And Me 123

A renowned picture book creator makes learning numbers a breeze by weaving them into the familiar scenes of a young child’s world. One is me, Katie. Here I am, all by myself. But I’m not by myself for long. Katie and her baby brother, Olly, make two, which is a good thing when they want to play hide-and-seek. Like every young child, Katie has plenty of things to count, like a friend’s four kittens, six guests at a tea party, or ten people on a crowded bus. Shirley Hughes’s sure, simple language and beguiling, realistic illustrations add up to a gentle story that easily builds preschoolers’ familiarity with numbers.

Cassandra’s Sister

Young Jane — or Jenny, as she is called — is a girl with a head full of questions. Surrounded by her busy parents and brothers, Jenny finds a place for her thoughts in the companionship of her older sister, Cassandra. Theirs is a country life full of balls and visits, at which conversation inevitably centers on one topic: marriage. But the arrival of their worldly-wise cousin Eliza disrupts Jenny’s world, bringing answers to some of her questions and providing a gem of an idea.

A Dusk of Demons

When his father dies mysteriously and enemies set fire to Ben’s house, Ben and his stepsister, Patty, flee their homeland and embark on a perilous journey during which they face imprisonment, gypsies, and terrified countrymen seeking a sacrifice to save themselves from the Dark One.

Wild Stories

Sid the mosquito isn’t the only one exploring the delights of house Number Fourteen and its overgrown garden. Derek the rat is sniffing out old socks for supper. Ethel the chicken is busy trying to persuade the world she is not an orange, while Arnold the mouse is spending more time in the trap than out of it. Frank the ant has a terrible headache and just wants to be left alone, and Joey the budgie is having a bath in the dog’s bowl. Colin’s acclaimed stories about the inhabitants of one particular garden are now collected in this newly illustrated special edition.