Roverandom


J.R.R. Tolkien - 1998
    His punishment was to be transformed into a toy, and now he is forced to track down the magician so he can be returned to normal. His adventures will take him to the moon and under the sea, introducing him to many fabulous - and dangerous - creatures.Inspired by the loss of his own child's favourite toy, this charming tale was written by J.R.R. Tolkien long before The Hobbit, yet remained unpublished for more than 70 years. This new paperback edition includes a full introduction and detailed notes about the story.This is an old-fashioned story, yet it still speaks freshly today... would leap to life when read aloud to a child. - INDEPENDENTLord of the Rings buffs will enjoy picking out bits of Nordic mythology and will relish Tolkien's fabulous sense of landscape - THE TIMESCover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

Flambards


K.M. Peyton - 1967
    Christina discovers a passion for horses and riding but finds herself part of a strange household, divided by emotional undercurrents and cruelty.

The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43


Harriet Goodwin - 2009
    If it had come down on any other patch of ground Finn would simply have been another statistic. Death by dangerous driving. But the car hit the surface of the Earth at Exit 43. It slid through the membrane like a hot knife through butter, plunging into the darkness and catapulting Finn from its shattered windscreen as it fell. Finn Oliver knows he'll never come to terms with his father's death, but joy-riding over the moors in his mum's beat-up old car is a quick fix of freedom and forgetting. Until the accident happens - and Finn finds himself hurtling through the wafer-thin divide between the worlds of the living and the dead. Adventurous, charming and poignant by turns, "The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43" is a quirky debut novel laced with humour and a dollop of magic.

Bilgewater


Jane Gardam - 1976
    The Evening Standard described Bilgewater as "one of the funniest, most entertaining, most unusual stories about young love."Motherless and 16, Marigold is the headmaster's daughter at a private backwater all-boys school. To make matters worse, Marigold pines for head boy Jack Rose, reckons with the beautiful and domineering Grace, and yanks herself headlong out of her interior world and into the seething cauldron of adolescence. With everything happening all at once, Marigold faces the greatest of teenage crucibles. A smart and painterly romp in the rich tradition of The Hollow Land and A Long Way From Verona, Gardam's elegant, evocative prose, possessed of sharp irony and easy surrealism makes Bilgewater a book for readers of all ages.

Truckers


Terry Pratchett - 1989
    It is commonly known among these nomes that Arnold Bros. created the Store for them to live in, and he declared: "Everything Under One Roof." Therefore there can be no such thing as Outside. It just makes sense. That is, until the day a group of nomes arrives on a truck, claiming to be from Outside, talking about Day and Night and Snow and other crazy legends. And they soon uncover devastating news: The Store is about to be demolished. It's up to Masklin, one of the Outside nomes, to devise a daring escape plan that will forever change the nomes' vision of the world. . . .

The Firework-Maker's Daughter


Philip Pullman - 1995
    Lila's learned from her father almost all there is to know about making fireworks. But he's held back the final secret, the most dangerous one, saying Lila's not ready to know. Not to be deterred, the headstrong girl enlists the help of her friend Chulak, and discovers that anyone who wants to be a true Firework-Maker must face down the Fire-Fiend of Mount Merapi, and bring back some of the Royal Sulphur. So Lila sets off fearlessly, ready to face pirates and demons and anything else that gets in her way.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle


Hugh Lofting - 1920
    He loves them so much that his home and office overflow with animals of every description. When Polynesia the parrot teaches him the language of the animals, Doctor Dolittle becomes a world-famous doctor, traveling even as far away as Africa to help his friends. This edition of the beloved children's classic contains black-and-white illustrations by Michael Hague and has been edited by award-winning authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack for modern audiences.

Pollyanna


Eleanor H. Porter - 1913
    Despite a difficult start, Pollyanna's exuberance and positivity affect everyone who meets her, and she spreads joy and love wherever she goes. But when tragedy strikes, Pollyanna finds her optimistic attitude tested, and she must learn to find happiness again.A heartwarming tale that has become one of the most loved children's stories of all time, Eleanor H. Porter's 1913 best-seller—the first in a long series of Pollyanna novels by the author and other writers—is a beautiful story with a powerful moral message.

The Water Babies


Charles Kingsley - 1863
    While engaged in this dreadful task, he loses his way and emerges in the bedroom of Ellie, the young daughter of the house who mistakes him for a thief. He runs away, and, hot and bothered, he slips into a cooling stream, falls fast asleep, and becomes a water baby.In this new life, he meets all sorts of aquatic creatures, including an engaging old lobster, other water babies, and at last reaches St Branden's Isle where he encounters the fierce Mrs Bedonbyasyoudid and the motherly Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby. After a long and arduous quest to the Other-end-of-Nowhere young Tom achieves his heart's desire.

Beswitched


Kate Saunders - 2010
    On the journey Flora has a strange dream. She wakes up without her laptop or her phone, wearing a hideous uniform with ridiculous bloomers underneath. Slowly, she realizes she has gone back in time! But why?

Midnight for Charlie Bone


Jenny Nimmo - 2002
    Charlie Bone has a special gift- he can hear people in photographs talking!The fabulous powers of the Red King were passed down through his descendants, after turning up quite unexpectedly, in someone who had no idea where they came from. This is what happened to Charlie Bone, and to some of the children he met behind the grim, gray walls of Bloor's Academy.His scheming aunts decide to send him to Bloor Academy, a school for geniuses where he uses his gifts to discover the truth despite all the dangers that lie ahead.

A Sweet Girl Graduate


L.T. Meade - 1891
    Benet's College for Women, but it is threatened by false accusation. Never a seeker of popularity, Priscilla holds true to her noble character. But is she prepared for what it will cost her?"A Sweet Girl Graduate is a vivid and detailed description of college life among a perfect bevy of young misses in the old English university town of Kingsdene. It follows the fortunes of a young Devonshire lass who goes away to college and finds herself among entirely different conditions of life and points of view than those that prevail in her own narrow village." -from: The Critic, Volume 16, 1891Originally published in 1891 as A Sweet Girl Graduate, then reprinted in 1998 as Priscilla's Promise, part of Harvest House Publishers' "Victorian Bookshelf Series."

The Curse of the Gloamglozer


Paul Stewart - 2001
    He and his father have journeyed to the city of Sanctaphrax – a great floating rock, bound to the ground below by a chain, its inhabitants living with their heads literally in the clouds.But the city hides a dangerous secret: deep inside the great rock, something horrible lurks. With his father away, Quint may be the only one who can save Sanctaphrax from the dreaded curse of the gloamglozer . . .The Curse of the Gloamglozer is the first book of the Quint Saga – first trilogy in The Edge Chronicles, the internationally best-selling fantasy series, which has featured on the UK and the New York Times best-seller lists and sold more than 3 million copies. There are now 13 titles and four trilogies in the series, but each book is a stand-alone adventure, so you can read The Edge Chronicles in any order you choose.

Climbing a Monkey Puzzle Tree


Karen Wallace - 2002
    She's rolled up from the backwoods of Canada, eager for a new life brimming with adventure. But boarding school isn't the fantasy that Nancy had imagined. It is an austere, loveless world where budding relationships are soon put to the test. Nancy wins friends and finds solace by telling stories, but still feels horribly alone inside. And when she leads her dorm in a special fund-raising event that goes tragically wrong, things go from bad to worse. Nancy longs to meet the glamorous brother of her friend, Caroline, and as her troubles build it's an encounter that can't come soon enough—until a shocking revelation comes to light.

Eva


Peter Dickinson - 1988
    Her mother leans over the bed and begins to explain. A traffic accident, a long coma . . .But there is something, Eva senses, that she’s not being told. There is a price she must pay to be alive at all. What have they done, with their amazing medical techniques, to save her?