Carrie's War


Nina Bawden - 1973
    Carrie and Nick are billeted in Wales with old Mr Evans, who is so mean and cold, and his timid mouse of a sister, Lou, who suddenly starts having secrets. Their friend Albert is luckier, living in Druid's Bottom with warm-hearted Hepzibah Green and the strange Mister Johnny, who can talk to animals but not to human beings. Carrie and Nick visit him there whenever they can for Hepzibah makes life exciting and enticing with her stories and delicious cooking. Gradually they begin to feel more at ease in their war-time home, but then, in trying to heal the rift between Mr Evans and his estranged sister, and save Druid's Bottom, Carrie does a terrible thing which is to haunt her for years to come. Carrie revisits Wales as an adult and tells the story to her own children.

The Rose and the Ring


William Makepeace Thackeray - 1855
    When she was young, and had been first taught the art of conjuring by the necromancer, her father, she was always practicing her skill, whizzing about from one kingdom to another upon her black stick, and conferring her fairy favors upon this Prince or that.

The Snowman


Raymond Briggs - 1978
    The pictures have "the hazy softness of air in snow." A little boy rushes out into the wintry day to build a snowman, which comes alive in his dreams that night. The boy invites him home and in return is taken on a flight high above the countryside.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang


Ian Fleming - 1964
    This is a story filled with humor, adventure, and gadgetry that only a genius like Fleming could create.From the Hardcover edition.

The Ship That Flew


Hilda Lewis - 1939
    But this is no ordinary model. The ship takes Peter and the other children on magical flights, wherever they ask to go. Time after time the magic ship takes them on different exciting adventures, to different countries, and to different times.

Please Mrs Butler


Allan Ahlberg - 1983
    It is full of typical classroom events that will be recognized and enjoyed by everyone - from never-ending projects, reading tests, quarrels, making-up, excuses and 'Please, Sir, it isn't fair', Please Mrs Butler accurately portrays everyday primary school life. Fritz Wegner's line drawings beautifully complement the hilarious and poignant verses.Praise for Please Mrs Butler:'Hilarious and poignant school verses about primary school life. A real winner' - Guardian'Clever, funny and nostalgic, the collection is a delight' - Sunday TimesPLEASE MRS BUTLER - The most important 20th-century children's poetry book' - Books for Keeps poll

Storm Boy


Colin Thiele - 1963
    After a pelican mother is shot, Storm Boy rescues the three chicks, and nurses them back to health. He names them Mr Proud, Mr Ponder and Mr Percival. After he releases them, his favourite, Mr Percival, returns. The story then concentrates on the conflict between his lifestyle and the externally imposed requirement for him to attend a school, and the fate of the pelican.

Moonfleet


John Meade Falkner - 1898
    What will be the outcome of the conflict between smugglers and revenue men? How can the hero, John Trenchard, discover the secret of Colonel John Mohune's treasure? As the book progresses these two interwoven themes resolve themselves into a third and richer one, with the friendship and suffering of both John Trenchard and the craggy, taciturn Elzevir Block. Falkner's feeling for history and for the landscape of his Dorset setting combine with his gift for storytelling to turn Moonfleet into a historical romance of moving intensity.

Under the Mountain


Maurice Gee - 1979
    While vacationing with relatives in Auckland, twins Theo and Rachel discover that they are endowed with special powers to oppose mysterious giant creatures that are determined to destroy the world.

The Cow Who Fell in the Canal


Phyllis Krasilovsky - 1957
    She longs to see the wondrous sites in the city, a place she has heard about from Pieter the horse. Quite by accident, her wish comes true one day when she falls into the canal and floats downstream on a raft.

Tarka the Otter


Henry Williamson - 1927
    Tarka the otter pursues an active life, sometimes playful and sometimes dangerous, in the Devonshire countryside.Tarka the Otter relates the adventures of a wild otter, his narrow escapes from Deadlock, the hound, and their final confrontation in the Torridge River

Ordinary Jack


Helen Cresswell - 1977
    Even his little sister can beat him at swimming. But Jack's uncle Parker has come up with a plan to make him and Zero shine: they'll pretend that Jack can tell the future! If only they could foresee what chaos the plan will cause.Helen Cresswell is the much-loved writer of over 40 children's books. She's the author of classics such as Lizzie Dripping as well as having adapted The Demon Headmaster for television. She has been runner-up for the Carnegie Medal four times.

The Cuckoo Clock


Ennis Graham - 1877
    At night the clock transports her to magical places.

Uncle


J.P. Martin - 1964
    Unimaginably rich, invariably swathed in a magnificent purple dressing-gown, Uncle oversees a vast ramshackle castle full of friendly kooks while struggling to fend off the sneak attacks of the incorrigible (and ridiculous) Badfort Crowd. Each Uncle story introduces a new character from Uncle’s madcap world: Signor Guzman, careless keeper of the oil lakes; Noddy Ninety, an elderly train conductor and the oldest student of Dr. Lyre’s Select School for Young Gentlemen; the proprietors of Cheapman’s Store (where motorbikes are a halfpenny each) and Dearman’s Store (where the price of an old milk jug goes up daily); along with many others. But for every delightful friend of Uncle, there is a foe who is no less deliriously wicked. Luckily the misbegotten schemes of the Badfort Crowd are no match for Uncle’s superior wits. Quentin Blake’s quirky illustrations are the perfect complement to J.P. Martin’s stories, each one of a perfect length for bedtime reading. Lovers of Roald Dahl and William Steig will rejoice in Uncle’s wonderfully bizarre and happy world, where the good guys always come out on top, and once a year, everybody, good and bad, sits down together for an enormous Christmas feast.

The Wind on the Moon


Eric Linklater - 1944
    Sighs Dinah, "I think that we are quite likely to be bad, however hard we try not to be," and her sister Dorinda adds helpfully, "Very often, when we think we are behaving well, some grown-up person says we are really quite bad. It's difficult to tell which is which." Sure enough, the mischievous sisters soon convince a judge that minds must be changed as often as socks, stage an escape from the local zoo (thanks to a witch's potion which turns them into kangaroos), and—in the company of a golden puma and silver falcon—set off to rescue their father from the tyrant of Bombardy. A tale of hilarity and great adventure, The Wind on the Moon is also a work of high seriousness; after all, "life without freedom," as the valiant puma makes clear, "is a poor, poor thing."