A king and some unexpected companions embark on a voyage that will take them beyond all known lands. As they […]

From his seat in the tiny aeroplane, Fred watches as the mysteries of the Amazon jungle pass by below him. He has always dreamed of becoming an explorer, of making history and of reading his name amongst the lists of great discoveries. If only he could land and look about him.

As the plane crashes into the canopy, Fred is suddenly left without a choice. He and the three other children may be alive, but the jungle is a vast, untamed place. With no hope of rescue, the chance of getting home feels impossibly small.

Except, it seems, someone has been there before them …

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson. Under Platform 13 at Kings Cross Station is hidden a quite remarkable secret- a doorway opens to an amazing, fantastical island. Nine years ago, the island’s baby prince was stolen on the streets of London. Now a rescue party, led by a wizard and an ogre, must find him and bring him back.

One day Izzy and her friends are surprised to find that their teacher, Miss Jones, is actually being nice to them. This is the woman who was caught secretly smiling when Maisie Miller fell off her chair. There can only be one conclusion: she’s been taken over by aliens, and now she wants to make them all aliens too!

Think your teachers are bad? Wait till you meet this lot. These ten tales of the world’s most splendidly sinister teachers will have you running for the school gates. Dr Dread teaches science and is half man, half monster… Watch out for the ghastly Miss Seethe. She is ALWAYS furious – and she’s on a detention rampage. And as for Phobe, he’s a teacher with a real difference. He is bone-shakingly terrified of… children!

This is a story about a boy named Kester. He is extraordinary, but he doesn’t know that yet. All he knows, at this very moment, is this:
1. There is a flock of excited pigeons in his bedroom.
2. They are talking to him.
3. His life will never be quite the same again…

Kester lives in a land in quarantine. A deadly virus has killed all the animals except pests and it’s expected to be equally dangerous to humans. But when Kester realises he can talk to the pests, he finds they have great hope invested in him.

A captivating animal adventure destined to be loved by readers of all ages.

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.

RATBURGER is the story of a little girl called Zoe. Things are not looking good for Zoe. Her stepmother Sheila is so lazy she gets Zoe to pick her nose for her. The school bully Tina Trotts makes her life a misery – mainly by flobbing on her head. And now the evil Burt from Burt’s Burgers is after her pet rat!

The aggressive behaviour of an ageing man changes drastically in the company of a young evacuee from London he came across during World War II.

Find more here: Goodnight Mister Tom – Wikipedia

Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.

Twelve-year-old Herbert Lemon lives and works in the Grand Nautilus Hotel in the strange and frequently foggy seaside town of Eerie-on-Sea. The hotel’s ‘lost and founder’, he’s tasked with cataloguing lost things and trying to find their owners. But his newest ‘lost’ item is rather different: an enigmatic girl called Violet Parma.

Left in the hotel as a baby after her parents mysteriously disappeared, Violet is determined to find out what happened to them and wants Herbert’s help. Following the clues quickly leads Herbert into far more danger than he’d like, opening up a whole lot of questions about the town’s extremely eclectic mix of residents and the secrets they’re hiding. And on top of this, things keep pointing them towards the terrifying legend of the malamander, an infamous local sea monster which Herbert would really rather stayed a legend…

Supernatural elements and a steampunk feel combine to make this a fun, mystery-filled adventure with lots of spine-tingling twists and turns. It’s peopled with lots of unusual characters and quirky places, while Herbie is a reluctant hero with a mysterious history of his own to be discovered – luckily, there are more books to come in this addictive new series.

Desperate to escape a harsh and narrow regime, two runaways unwittingly flee headlong into the centre of a terrible battle. This first sequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe includes all the hallmarks of its famous predecessor, though this time the fate of Narnia is wound up in the lives of its own children, and a talking horse!

This was the fifth book written in The Chronicles of Narnia. It now stands as the third book in the series.

The Magician’s Nephew is a fantasy children’s novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia. In recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series. Find more here: The Magician’s Nephew – Wikipedia

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet […]

Harry Potter And the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling. The second book in the JK Rowling series about a young, orphan wizard named Harry Potter begins shortly after his twelfth birthday as he returns back to wizard school.

There are stories about people who want to live forever.

This is not one of those stories.

This is a story about someone who wants to stop…

Alfie Monk is like any other nearly teenage boy – except he’s 1,000 years old and can remember the last Viking invasion of England.

Obviously no one believes him.

So when everything Alfie knows and loves is destroyed in a fire, and the modern world comes crashing in, Alfie embarks on a mission to find friendship, acceptance, and a different way to live…

… which means finding a way to make sure he will eventually die.

Greg Heffley is a normal American kid, albeit one with a habit of getting into (and out of) trouble. His diary, complete with hilarious cartoons, records a year in his life and follows his relationships with his nerdy best friend Rowley, annoying brothers Roderick and Manny and long-suffering parents.

Greg is constantly trying to boost his popularity but his attempts at bodybuilding, cartooning and money-making – all recounted in the same deadpan tone – inevitably fall flat.

In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the frontline. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey’s courage touches the soldiers around him.

Izzy is really pleased to have been put in charge of the new girl at school. Matilde is French, and Izzy and her friends can’t wait to show her their den and its moth, and to help her avoid school dinners (also known as poison). But Matilde LOVES school dinners and even has seconds! And that’s when they know. Matilde is a spy and she has come to find out their secrets. They must stop her before it’s TOO LATE!!!

Arriman the Awful, feared Wizard of the North, has decided to marry. But his wife must be a witch of the darkest powers . . .

A sorcery competition is held to discover which witch is the most potent and fiendish, and glamorous Madame Olympia conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats Belladonna, the white witch, desperately wants to be a wicked enchantress, but her magic produces flowers instead of snakes. How can she become more devilish than all the other witches?

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master, Mr Jones, and take over the farm themselves, they imagine […]

Real witches disguise themselves as lovely ladies, when secretly they want to squish and squelch all the wretched children they […]

Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her cartographer father once mapped. When her best friend disappears, she’s determined to be part of the search party.

Guided by an ancient map and her knowledge of the stars, Isabella navigates the island’s dangerous Forgotten Territories. But beneath the dry rivers and dead forests, a fiery myth is stirring from its sleep.