When an unknown entity forces Connie to create destructive storms, the head of the Chartmouth Chapter for the Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures rescinds Connie’s membership, leaving her on her own to discover what is happening.
The year is 1940 and France has fallen to the German army. In the village of Mont-Saint-Martin, brothers Pierre, René, and Fat Marcel enjoy an idyllic childhood-stealing berry tarts, playing soldiers, and holding contests to determine who of the three is the biggest and best liar. As the small community, especially its Jewish members, begins to feel the effects of the war, René and Marcel form a warm but secret friendship with one of the German soldiers occupying their village. The boys know no good can come of this friendship, but they don’t realize the extent to which they have put the lives of their family and friends in jeopardy . . . until they discover that they are not the only experts at lying. This poignant and thoughtful story is told in the form of letters to a group of schoolchildren by the now-adult Marcel. First published in Ireland.
Generations ago, violence was banned on New Earth. Society is governed and conflicts are resolved in the arena of a fantasy computer game, Epic. Everyone plays. If you win, you have the chance to go to university, get more supplies for your community, and fulfill your dreams; if you lose, your life both in and out of the game is worth nothing. When Erik, seeking revenge for the unjust treatment of his parents, dares to subvert the rules of Epic, he and his friends find themselves up against with the ultimate masters of the game: the Committee. If Erik and his friends win, they may have the key to destroying Epic’s tyranny over New Earth. But if they lose . . .
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Hill is the girl most likely to succeed. And the girl most likely to have everything under control . . . that is, until her dad invites Nick McGowan, the cutest boy at school, to live with them. Rachel worries that this could only be a recipe for disaster, but her best friend Zoe thinks it’s the perfect opportunity for lurve. Sparks start to fly for all the wrong reasons. Nick finds Rachel spoiled and uptight and Rachel dismisses Nick as lazy and directionless. But a secret from Nick’s past draws them together and makes the year Nick McGowan came to stay one that Rachel will never forget.
In this thrilling final installment of Chris d’Lacey’s popular trilogy, David Rain is faced with a perilous task. ICEFIRE’s evil sibyl Gwilanna is back, this time determined to resurrect the dragon Gawain on the ice cap of the Tooth of Ragnar. Can David and his friends stop her before it’s too late?
Morris the crocodile and his best friend, Billy, a tortoise, like nothing better than messing around at the waterhole with their animal friends. In five amusing stories, Morris and company do just what kids do during a hot summer —- perform ill-timed stunts on the diving board, get beaten in soccer by a team of moms, and see their wildebeest friends off on vacation (aka their annual migration). By turns wry and laugh-out-loud funny, Bob Graham’s whimsical waterhole gang pays tribute to the merriment and mishaps of young friendships everywhere.
It’s the year 1095, and fifteen-year-old Anna longs for a different life in her small German village. But as the seasons turn, the year proves anything but ordinary. Her beloved youngest cousin disappears, and another cousin, Martin, runs away to join a murderous army of renegade Crusaders. When Anna risks everything to rescue Leah, an orphaned Jewish girl whose only connection to her former life is a silver cup, the two girls forge a friendship that defies the intolerance of their time. Filling her story with fascinating period details, debut novelist Constance Leeds paints a rich, colorful picture of an eleventh-century life marked by courage, will, and most of all-hope.Winner of the 2008 IRA Children’s and Young Adult Book Award in the Intermediate Fiction Category.
Brind, who was raised with Sir Edmund’s pack of hunting dogs, is the huntsman of Dowe Manor. Together with his best friend, the mastiff Glaive, and the rest of the pack, he protects Sir Edmund, Lady Beatrice, and their foster daughter, Aurélie. But suddenly a tragedy strikes, one that Brind cannot prevent. In a fit of grief, Sir Edmund throws Brind, Glaive, and Aurélie—and her puppy, Gabion—out of the manor. Everywhere they turn, the vicious and lethal Black Death closely follows, as though they are bringing it with them. Can they evade this invisible enemy, as well as the angry mobs, the rogue soldiers, and the other sinister figures now threatening them? Glaive and Gabion—born to hunt, not to be hunted—may be their only chance for survival. Plague-bringers or not, Brind and Aurélie will never stop fighting to keep themselves—and their small family—alive.
Rose knows that nothing stays the same forever.Still, it’s hard to watch her sisters and brother growing up and moving so far ahead of her. Caddy is back, but she’s not living at home. And worse — she’s broken up with Darling Michael. Saffy and Indigo are so busy, they are seldom home. With her father in London and her mother painting in the shed, Rose is often alone in the house.Maybe that’s why she agrees to her new friend Molly’s crazy scheme. At least it seems crazy when Rose finds herself locked in the zoo at night with a roaring tiger. Maybe she should have been paying more attention to what Molly was saying. But on that spooky night, Rose finds out a secret that just might change everything — and help bring her family and friends together and new life to their old house.Hilary McKay infuses her charming characters with much love and laughter in this final visit with the delightfully daffy Casson family.
Outspoken Mags decides to help her new friend Gillian, a talented violin student, reconcile with her estranged father so that he will allow her to attend a prestigious music school in England.