The Infinity Files
S.M. Wilson
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
What is this about?
Ash Yang dreamed of being a starfighter pilot. But when she crashes out of her final test - literally - she somehow lands the most powerful job in the universe.
As Guardian of the Infinity Files she must secretly planet-hop through the galaxies, stealing or returning treasures that have the power to stop wars...or start them.
But when her home planet is the one at war, can she get the job done?
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When We Got Lost in Dreamland
Ross Welford
Publisher: HarperCollins
What is this about?
When eleven-year-old Malky and his younger brother Seb become the owners of a 'Dreaminator', they are thrust into worlds beyond their wildest imagination.
From tree-top flights and Spanish galleons, to thrilling battles and sporting greatness - it seems like nothing is out of reach when you can share a dream with someone else.
But... impossible dreams come with incredible risks, and when Seb won't wake up and is taken to hospital in a coma, Malky is forced to leave reality behind and undertake a final, terrifying journey to the stone-age to wake his brother...
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Furious Thing
Jenny Downham
Publisher: David Fickling Books
What is this about?
Lexi's angry. And it's getting worse. If only she could stop losing her temper, her step-father would accept her, her mum would love her again, and her step-brother would return her feelings. She wants these things so badly, she tries to push her fury down. But it isn't easy. Her rage is there for a reason. And if she stays quiet - she might just lose herself...
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Last One To Die
Cynthia Murphy
Publisher: Scholastic
What is this about?
Young, brunette women are being attacked in London.
16-year-old, Irish-born Niamh has just arrived for a summer of freedom, and quickly discovers that the girls being attacked look frighteningly similar to her.
But Niamh is determined not to let her fear destroy her Summer. But can her new friends be trusted?
Will she be able to stay ahead of the attacker?
Or will she be next?
Packed with voice-driven whodunit storytelling, and a retro feel reminiscent of cult classics Scream and Urban Legend, this dark, pacy, and irresistibly-creepy debut really has something for everybody!
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When The World Was Ours: A book about finding hope in the darkest of times
Liz Kessler
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
What is this about?
Three friends. Two sides. One memory.
Vienna. 1936.
Three young friends – Leo, Elsa and Max – spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness, and that events soon mean that they will be cruelly ripped apart from each other. With their lives taking them across Europe – to Germany, England, Prague and Poland – will they ever find their way back to each other? Will they want to?
Inspired by a true story, WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking, and shows how the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
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Edgar & Adolf
Phil Earle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
What is this about?
When he inherits a special football badge, German teenager Adi sets off on a mission to fulfil his grandfather's dying wish and return the badge to its rightful owner, former England footballer, Edgar Kail.
After tracking Edgar down, Adi gets the chance to learn more about the achievements of his grandfather, Adolf Jager, and the story unfolds of a special friendship that spanned twenty years and survived the horror of the Second World War.
Edgar Kail and Adolf Jager played for their respective clubs in the early twentieth century and they remain folk heroes even now. This is a fictional tale of two real-life footballing heroes, and the moving story of a friendship forged by the beautiful game.
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Swan Song
Gill Lewis
Publisher: Barrington Stoke Ltd
What is this about?
Dylan is struggling. Since he started high school, everything has become too much to handle. Now he's been expelled and is forced to move to the tiny village in Wales where his grandad lives. But when Grandad invites Dylan out on his boat to watch the Whooper swans return to their winter feeding ground, things begin to change.
Grandad doesn't judge or question; he just lets Dylan be. Out on the water, with no distractions or pressure, Dylan begins to feel like himself again. But when the swans and their home are threatened, and tragedy strikes at home, can Dylan keep going when it feels like everything is slipping out of control again?
A profoundly moving novel on the redemptive, healing power of nature from bestseller Gill Lewis.
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Shades of Scarlet
Anne Fine
Publisher: David Fickling Books
What is this about?
When Mum gives her the notebook, Scarlet should be happy. It's beautiful, with its shiny scarlet cover and its blank pages full of promise. But Scarlet is absolutely not in the mood for a peace offering. Does Mum really think she can tear their family apart and expect Scarlet to be happy about it? And it's Dad's fault too. Why didn't he fight to keep them all together?
Now Scarlet has to start a new life, and none of it was her choice. Scarlet decides there's only one thing she can write in the notebook. The truth, about everything...
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Circus Maximus: Race to the Death
Annelise Gray
Publisher: Zephyr
What is this about?
Circus Maximus, the greatest sporting stage of the ancient Roman world, where the best horses and charioteers compete in a race to the death, and one girl dreams of glory. Ben Hur meets National Velvet in the ultimate adventure story...
12-year-old Dido dreams of becoming the first female charioteer at the great Circus Maximus. She's lost her heart to Porcellus, a wild, tempestuous horse she longs to train and race. But such ambitions are forbidden to girls and she must be content with helping her father Antonius, the trainer of Rome's most popular racing team - The Greens - and teaching the rules of racing to Justus, the handsome young nephew of the Greens' wealthy owner.
When her father is brutally murdered, Dido is forced to seek refuge with an unlikely ally. But what of her dream of Circus triumphs and being reunited with the beloved horse she left behind in Rome? And the threat to her life isn't over as she faces a powerful and terrifying new enemy... the emperor Caligula.
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A Tangle of Spells
Michelle Harrison
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
What is this about?
It should have been a fresh start for the Widdershins sisters, Betty, Fliss and Charlie, who have left the misty gloom of Crowstone for a new life in the pretty village of Pendlewick. But all is not as it seems and as one of their own begins to slip away from them, the sisters find themselves in a race against time to break a dark magic that has cast a spell over the village.
Step into the bestselling Pinch of Magic Adventures in this spellbinding story from Michelle Harrison, winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. Discover more from the Widdershins sisters in A Pinch of Magic and A Sprinkle of Sorcery.
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The Gilded Ones
Namina Forna
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
What is this about?
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in Otera, a deeply patriarchal ancient kingdom, where a woman's worth is tied to her purity, and she must bleed to prove it. But when Deka bleeds gold - the colour of impurity, of a demon - she faces a consequence worse than death.
She is saved by a mysterious woman who tells Deka of her true nature: she is an Alaki, a near-immortal with exceptional gifts. The stranger offers her a choice: fight for the Emperor, with others just like her, or be destroyed...
In this West African-inspired world, girls are outcasts by blood - and warriors by choice.
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We Played With Fire
Catherine Barter
Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd
What is this about?
Maggie has witnessed impossible things. But no one believes her, and now her family has taken her away to spend the winter upstate in a remote, freezing farmhouse.
Bored and angry, Maggie and her younger sister Kate start to play tricks: rapping on the floorboards above their parents’ bedroom, cracking their toes under the table, and telling tales about noises in the night. Then the house starts to make sounds of its own. Neither Maggie nor Kate can explain it, but it seems as though someone – or something – is trying to speak to them . . .
Inspired by the incredible true tale of the Fox Sisters, the girls who made their fortune in nineteenth-century America by speaking to ghosts.
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A Vow So Bold and Deadly
Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
What is this about?
Grey has been revealed as the rightful prince of Emberfall. But the kingdom is crumbling fast, torn between his claim and that of the reigning Prince Rhen and Princess Harper.
Newly crowned as Queen of the enemy kingdom Syhl Shallow, Lia Mara struggles to rule with a gentler hand than her mother. But as Grey moves closer to claiming the crown of Emberfall, both Harper and Lia Mara are forced to question where they stand - and how far they can follow the dictates of their hearts.
Brigid Kemmerer's heart-pounding saga comes to a thrilling climax, as two kingdoms come closer and closer to conflict - and an old enemy resurfaces who could destroy them all.
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Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery
David Baldacci
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
What is this about?
Full of monsters, magic, danger and mystery, Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery (previously published as The Finisher) is the first title in the thrilling Vega Jane fantasy adventure series by bestselling master storyteller David Baldacci. Illustrated throughout by Tomislav Tomic.
Vega Jane is fourteen when she is secretly given a map that reveals a mysterious world and dangerous creatures beyond the walls of Wormwood, a place no one has ever left – or wanted to. Until now. The map makes her question everything she has ever been told about the place she calls home. Her friend Delph and her dog, Harry Two, are the only ones Vega trusts. Trapped by secrets and lies, they want freedom and truth.
But she will have to fight for freedom. And the truth may cost Vega her life.
Continue the adventure series with Vega Jane and the Maze of Monsters.
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Rat
Patrice Lawrence
Publisher: Oxford University Press
What is this about?
When his mum is sent back to prison, Al knows exactly who's to blame. Mr Brayker, who lives downstairs, has been making trouble for Al's mum ever since they moved in, and Al's determined to get his revenge.
Ignoring advice from his gran and sister, Plum, Al takes things into his own hands with a plan that involves the only two creatures he can rely on: his pet rats, Venom and Vulture. But things don't turn out exactly as he'd imagined...
Written by award-winning author, Patrice Lawrence, this is a moving story of community, loneliness, and how you never quite know what's going on in someone else's life.
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