Category: New books

What would you do if you woke up one day to find that your best friend has become your worst enemy?

That’s exactly what happens to 11-year-old Ryan in this brand-new comedy adventure from bestselling author, comedian, and presenter Danny Wallace, perfect for readers age 8+ and fans of Stephen Mangan, Andy Griffiths, Jenny Pearson, Helen Rutter, David Walliams and David Baddiel.

Separated only by a garden fence, Ryan and Tom have been best friends since they were two years old. But while Ryan is looking forward to starting secondary school together, Tom doesn’t seem to want anything to do him with anymore. Suddenly, he’d rather hang out with mean Minnie and horrible Simon!

Ryan sets out to repair their friendship . . . but everything he tries backfires spectacularly. So Ryan decides that there’s only one thing for it – he must exact terrible revenge on his ex-best friend. Cue: Operation Evil Genius.

The brand new, read-in-one-sitting, packed-with-twists mystery from bestselling Lisa Thompson.

Todd and Laurie’s dad is either on top of the world, taking them on fun adventures, or down in the depths and sleeping all the time.

In the middle of the night, he bundles them into the car and drives to them to the Paradise Hotel. He paints a picture of a luxurious mansion surrounded by acres of land – a golf course, a swanky swimming pool, a grand ballroom, firework displays. The reality is a rundown dump – and the disappointment means Dad takes to his bed.

Todd and Laurie discover the unsolved mystery of a famous novelist vanishing from her room on the top floor of the hotel. Rumour has it that she hid a priceless manuscript somewhere in the building, and set some fiendish clues that would reveal its whereabouts. Can the kids crack the case and find the prize?

Annie’s family is made of love.

When her moms open up their bookshop in the morning, there is always a mysterious pile of books on the counter. By evening, every book has found its ideal reader. But one day there is a book that doesn’t get bought. It has to lie there all on its own. Who can its reader be, and why don’t they come?

Days pass, and the book with no owner gets lonelier and lonelier. The bookshop is unhappy, and the moms are worried that the shop isn’t making enough money.

Then someone starts borrowing the book. Eventually, we realise it’s Annie’s sibling Charlotte ― and it is a book about being non-binary. Mum explains what ‘non-binary’ means to Annie. Charlotte asks to be called Charlie and says that their pronouns are they/them.

The bookshop cheers up. Customers start buying books again.

This family is made of love.

Comic Strip Biology makes learning about the science behind animals, plants and the human body fun!

Each spread in this series features a short, funny comic strip that explains a process or aspect of science. Around the strip, diagrams and panels give further information on the topic. They are a fantastic way to engage children aged 8 plus with science.

The illustrator, Jess Bradey, is winner of the 2021 Blue Peter Award for Best Non-Fiction for A Day in the Life of a Poo, Gnu and You and also writes and draws for The Phoneix comic.

Comic Strip Physics makes learning about the science behind forces, energy and simple machines fun!

Each spread in this series features a short, funny comic strip that explains a process or aspect of science. Around the strip, diagrams and panels give further information on the topic. They are a fantastic way to engage children aged 8 plus with science.

The illustrator, Jess Bradey, is winner of the 2021 Blue Peter Award for Best Non-Fiction for A Day in the Life of a Poo, Gnu and You and also writes and draws for The Phoneix Comic.

From football legend, Gary Lineker, comes a collection of truly uplifting, empowering and extraordinary football stories that have inspired him throughout his career.

Have you heard about the most controversial goal in world cup history?

Or about the women’s team who showed the world that football truly is for everyone?

And I bet you didn’t know about the team that won a match without scoring a single goal?

Written with author and TV writer Ivor Baddiel, in this fun and fact-packed book, Gary Lineker shares 50 of his favourite football moments that highlight the many awe-inspiring, heart-warming and eye-opening moments that have changed the game – and sometimes the world – forever.

From pioneering players, trailblazing managers, and incredible tales both on and off the pitch, this book contains everything you ever wanted to know about the beautiful game. And with Gamechanger Awards presented by Gary to incredible teams and players throughout, this is the ultimate gift for young footie fans everywhere.

Do you ever wonder where the stuff around you all came from? No, not from eBay. I mean, who had the amazing idea of making a mobile phone or the annoying idea of building a school? For example, did you know that Velcro was invented by a dog and WiFi by a movie star? (Spoiler alert – it wasn’t Zendaya.)

In the fourth laugh-out-loud book from Adam Kay and Henry Paker, you’ll learn all about the coolest, grossest and most ridiculous inventions in the world. You’ll meet the queen who used the first ever toilet, learn why margarine used to be full of maggots and find out why Ancient Greeks wiped their bums on dinner plates. Oh, and hopefully some slightly more useful facts as well…

An A to Kay to Z of the random, ridiculous and revolutionary inventions that changed our lives. (And some that definitely didn’t . . .)

‘There are no stupid questions, nor any forbidden ones, but there are some questions that have no answer.’

Hédi Fried was nineteen when the Nazis snatched her family from their home in Eastern Europe and transported them to Auschwitz, where her parents were murdered and she and her sister were forced into hard labour until the end of the war.

Now ninety-eight, she has spent her life educating young people about the Holocaust and answering their questions about one of the darkest periods in human history. Questions like, ‘How was it to live in the camps?’, ‘Did you dream at night?’, ‘Why did Hitler hate the Jews?’, and ‘Can you forgive?’.

With sensitivity and complete candour, Fried answers these questions and more in this deeply human book that urges us never to forget and never to repeat.

Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But in the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need to figure out what this killer is after. Is there more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever

From the bestselling author of When the Sky Falls: The Times Children’s Book of the Year, winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Children’s Fiction, winner of the British Book Award for Children’s Fiction Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Writing

September 1939. The world is on the brink of war. As his dad marches off to fight, Noah makes him a promise, to keep their beloved family dog safe.

When the government advises people to have their pets put down in readiness for the chaos of war, hundreds of thousands of people do as they are told. But not Noah. He’s not that sort of boy. With his two friends in tow, he goes on the run, to save his dog and as many animals as he can. No matter what.