Jackie French – författare

A boy is pushed too far by his peers, resulting in dramatic and life-threatening consequences as he threatens to release a deadly virus into his schoolMike is just like any other normal kid. He lives in a small town where nothing unusual happens. His next door neighbour is Lance Loosley, known as Loser at school, a bit of a weirdo, always boasting, a kid no one wants to be friends with. One day Lance is pushed too far by his peers and this time the humiliation and teasing is too much. Lance seeks revenge. He has in his possession a test-tube filled with brown powder that he claims is a deadly virus. No one believes him until the test-tube gets smashed in the classroom. First the teacher starts having seizures, then the pupils. Lance disappears. The school is put into quarantine and isolated. No one goes in. No one is allowed out, except perhaps in a body bag. Mike feels he has to do something, and manages to escape and sets out to find Lance. He discovers that the brown powder is not a deadly virus. The reason for the illness is rat poison which Lance had tipped his classmates’ and teachers’ pencils in, the end some people like to chew or suck. Mike has saved the day, but not without personal cost to himself as he reflects on who is really to blame. ‘But I should have been kind to him. I should have been honest with him. I shouldn’t have laughed behind his back.’A chilling and thought-provoking novel about the devastating effects of an unhappy childhood, peer-group pressure and the desperate measures taken to be liked. An immensely exciting novel and a worthy follow up to Hitler’s Daughter, by the same author.

Fast-paced and fesity adventure where slave girl turns warrior in the battle for survival.Hekja is nothing but a slave. The property of her Viking masters. But one day soon, those masters will live to see a slave become a heroine: they will live to see her fight alongside them, for the very survival of the clan.‘Hekja's ma was white with terror and twisted with pain too. She screamed out, 'Run!'That was the last thing she ever said. One of the men – the largest, with a chin like a cod fish and almost no beard at all – plunged his sword into her heart, then pulled it out, all bloody.Hekja screamed. She ran towards her ma's body and knelt down. Her ma's eyes stared at the sky and there was a froth of blood from her mouth…’When Hekja’s family and friends are killed by Vikings, she is taken as a slave and carried away to Greenland. But she is lucky: her mistress Freydis is a kind woman who wishes her no harm. Fiery determination, intelligence and fleet-footedness soon make Hekja indispensable to her new owner – as a messenger, an advisor and a friend. So when Freydis sets off for America with her husband, Hekja accompanies her, along with the treacherous Viking lord Finnbogi.There, she finds a forbidden love with a free man. But this new world holds even greater dangers. Before Hekja can be free, she has to take a bloody stand alongside her captors: against the furious natives, but also against enemies closer to home…

A wombat’s work is never done…Take a trip with a wombat, and discover the ins and outs of her day in this modern classic Australian picture book. There are holes to be dug and territory to be defended – and don’t forget all the eating and sleeping that needs to be squeezed in too!

A wombat’s work is never done…The star of the international bestseller Diary of a Wombat is back – with a new mouth to feed! Cuter, stroppier and even more determined than her mother … meet Mothball''s baby.Like any growing family, this baby wombat and her mum are finding it hard to fit into their home. When setting out to dig a new, bigger hole with room for them both, Shaggy Gully''s newest resident gets some help from a friend, causes more mayhem than Mothball ever did, and sorts things out in hilarious style.

A hilarious view of Christmas as seen through the eyes of Mothball the wombat.Christmas comes but once a year and it’s just as well for Santa’s reindeer who have to fight with Mothball for the carrots left out for them by the local children. And when Mothball takes an unexpected sleigh ride, it’s not just Santa who faces the prospect of getting stuck in the chimney.Christmas from a wombat’s eye view is always going to be interesting – especially when that wombat is Mothball!

A prizewinning novel for readers of 8 to 12, told through the voice of a contemporary child, as she weaves a story about a secret child of Hitler.The bombs were falling, the smoke was rising from the concentration camps, but all Hitler’s daughter knew was lessons with Fraulein Gelber, the hedgehogs she rescued from the cold and infrequent visits from her beloved Duffi, her father.Was it just a story? Did Hitler’s daughter really exist? If you were Hitler’s daughter, would it all be your fault? Could you still love your own father if he had done what Hitler did? Mark, a contemporary child, starts to question his own beliefs as he listens to the story that Anna weaves.A wonderfully sensitive and gripping time-slip novel that will sit well with When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit; Number the Stars and Big Tom. WW2 is a major historical topic studied in in UK primary and secondary schools, but this novel also deals with questions children so often ask of the ‘What if?’ variety.

Twelve of the best-loved picture book stories to get your little ones through the longest journeys this summer. Worried about how to keep your little ones occupied this Summer? . . . Worry no more with this compilation of twelve of the best-loved picture book stories. One hour of audio fun to keep your children entertained on even the longest journeys – keeping at bay the dreaded question, ARE WE THERE YET?Featuring some of the biggest names in children’s stories – David Walliams, Oliver Jeffers, Judith Kerr and Emma Chichester Clark – this collection has it all. Full of laughter, and tonnes of fun. A must-have for the Summer Holidays.Playlist:Oliver Jeffers: STUCK – read by Terence StampJudith Kerr: ONE NIGHT IN THE ZOO – read by Susan SheridanDavid Walliams: THE BEAR WHO WENT BOO! – read by David WalliamsEmma Chichester Clark: MELROSE AND CROC: FRIENDS FOR LIFE – read by Emilia FoxDavid Mackintosh: MARSHALL ARMSTRONG IS NEW TO OUR SCHOOL – read by Stephen ManganJez Alborough: CAPTAIN DUCK – read by Matt LucasRob Scotton: SPLAT THE CAT – read by Anthony HeadSimon Puttock: THE LOVE BUGS – read by Cassandra HarwoodRachel Bright: LOVE MONSTER – read by David WalliamsJez Alborough: DUCK IN THE TRUCK – read by Harry EnfieldJackie French: DIARY OF A BABY WOMBAT – read by Finty WilliamsOliver Jeffers: UP AND DOWN – read by Richard E GrantCopyright: STUCK © 2013 Oliver Jeffers (P) 2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; SPLAT THE CAT © 2012 Rob Scotton (P) 2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; LOVE MONSTER © 2012 Rachel Bright (P) 2012 Harpercollins Publishers Limited; MARSHALL ARMSTRONG IS NEW TO OUR SCHOOL © 2011 David Mackintosh (P) 2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; CAPTAIN DUCK © 2002 Jez Alborough (P) 2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; THE LOVE BUGS © 2010 HarperCollins Publishers Limited (P) 2010 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; DIARY OF A BABY WOMBAT © 2010 Jackie French (P) 2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; MELROSE AND CROC: FRIENDS FOR LIFE © 2006 Emma Chichester Clark (P) 2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; THE BEAR WHO WENT BOO! © 2015 David Walliams (P) 2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; UP AND DOWN © 2011 Oliver Jeffers (P) 2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; DUCK IN THE TRUCK© 1999 Jez Alborough (P) 2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited; ONE NIGHT IN THE ZOO© 2010 Judith Kerr (P) 2010 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Darren saw it first, then Pete and by the afternoon everyone could see it, too. Everyone, that is, except Mr Hanley. At first, Pete thought the large furry brown animal was a big dog. But when he looked closely, it looked more like a giant wombat. And it was! A wombat named Bosco. Bosco isn't like other wombats; he knows how to act like a hen laying an egg, gallop like a Mongolian horse and pirouette like a ballerina - and most importantly, Bosco knows when he's needed. Genevieve is someone who needs help and Bosco may be her only hope. But helping Genevieve in hospital may be too hard even for a miracle-working wombat. Can a little wombat-magic from Bosco make things right Ages 8+ Darren saw it first, then Pete and by the afternoon everyone could see it, too. Everyone, that is, except Mr Hanley. At first, Pete thought the large furry brown animal was a big dog. But when he looked closely, it looked more like a giant wombat. And it was! A wombat named Bosco. Bosco isn't like other wombats; he knows how to act like a hen laying an egg, gallop like a Mongolian horse and pirouette like a ballerina - and most importantly, Bosco knows when he's needed.Genevieve is someone who needs help and Bosco may be her only hope. But helping Genevieve in hospital may be too hard even for a miracle-working wombat. Can a little wombat-magic from Bosco make things right? Ages 8+

Iddy cannot remember her name, or where she comes from, or anything about her people. But she finds understanding and friends in the peace and calm of Summerland. Her friends are reassuring - Iddy will remember, when she is ready. In the Summerland the dragons eat mosquitoes and unicorns prune the apple trees; so many strange things to see and imagine, and question. Iddy finds it hard to worry about her loss of memory. Until one day the shadowmen arrive and Iddy is the only one who can save the village, if only she can get past the fear. Ages 12+ Iddy cannot remember her name, or where she comes from, or anything about her people. But she finds understanding and friends in the peace and calm of Summerland. Her friends are reassuring - Iddy will remember, when she is ready. In the Summerland the dragons eat mosquitoes and unicorns prune the apple trees; so many strange things to see and imagine, and question. Iddy finds it hard to worry about her loss of memory. Until one day the shadowmen arrive and Iddy is the only one who can save the village, if only she can get past the fear. Ages 12+

the book every parent and teacher should own. Written in Jackie French inimitable style, one of the aims of this book is to help parents and teachers identify children reading difficulties and then suggest ways to deal with them. the book is full of useful and practical solutions, rather than long, dense paragraphs dripping with educational theory and difficult words that are hard to pronounce. Jackie draws on her own experience of being dyslexic to show that there are many fun and rewarding ways to improve your child reading abilities and stimulate a love of books.

Prudence is invited by her father's distant werewolf cousins to their gloomy castle to hunt for some missing 'treasure'. Phredde and Bruce accompany Prudence, who is well aware that if she fails then her father will have to take her place. the zombie librarian also makes a reappearance, as does the castle banshee, and Cousin Flea decides that he wants to be a lighting and sound technician and turns what was once a nicely decorated castle into a setting for a television series. Ages 7-12

What do you do when your school librarian starts dressing in leopard-skin and goes off chasing dinosaurs? A school excursion to the Big Koala goes horribly wrong when Phredde, Pru and Bruce - and their vampire teacher Mrs Olsen, and Miss Richards, librarian and martial arts expert - head back into the time of the dinosaurs, not to mention giant marsupial lions, a dinosaur with diarrhoea and an exploding volcano. Who will save them? Can one kid, two phaeries, a vampire and a librarian dressed in leopard-skin survive in the past with just a laptop computer, a flying carpet and a plastic spoon? Ages 7-12

Another spell-binding and spooky story starring Phredde, a fractious but fun-loving phaery, Bruce, a mosquito-eating frog, and Pru, an everyday-normal school girl - except that she lives in a fairy castle, keeps pet piranhas, has a werewolf for a brother and a vampire for a teacher. AND EXCEPt that now she has just inherited her very own mansion and is the envy of ALL her friends. Is this too good to be true? Is there something suspicous about Mr Nahsti, the solicitor? Why do Phredde and Bruce, Pru's best friends in the world, keep sneaking off to Phaeryland without her? And most important: who keeps stealing Pru's underpants? A hair-raising, spine-tingling GHOStLY tale of phaeries, underpants and adventure!

A collection of four more favourites from the Wacky Families series. So you think your family is wacky? Wait till you read these stories...How can Buster solve the disappearance of his werewolf parents when Uncle Wal keeps bugging him to act like a human all the time? What would tJ's friends say if they knew his gran was a gorilla? Is Drackie's Auntie Chook really a vampire chicken? And what will Fuzz do when his Pa makes him travel in the Arctic dressed as a polar bear? With drawings by award-winning illustrator Stephen Michael King, this collection of four new hilarious Wacky Family stories is guaranteed to delight younger readers. Containing: My Uncle Wal the Werewolf My Gran the Gorilla My Auntie Chook the Vampire Chicken My Pa the Polar Bear Ages: 7 - 10

Jackie French explores a distant and fascinating world, where the future is not always as it seems, and the king's displeasure means death. Ages 10 - 14 After Nikko and thetis are taken from their village, their amazing acrobatic skills save them from slavery and make them the focus of the Mycenaean court. the courtiers are in awe of them; the King is enchanted. But thetis may destroy them both when she tells the King a truth about his future that he doesn't want to hear. Nikko and the daring horse dancer Euridce must travel across Greece to find his sister again - and the extraordinary future that awaits them all - in Delphi. Can one young girl change history? Jackie French waves history, myth and fantasy together into one enthralling tale of horse dancers, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as love and courage, from beyond recorded time. Ages 10-14

'The story is equal parts Downton Abbey and wartime action, with enough romance and intrigue to make it 100% not-put-down-able.'-- Australian Women's Weekly on Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies Australian heiress Sophie Higgs was 'a rose of no-man's land', founding hospitals across war-torn Europe during the horror that was WW1.Now, in the 1920s, Sophie's wartime work must be erased so that the men who returned can find some kind of 'normality'.Sophie is, however, a graduate of the mysterious Miss Lily's school of charm and intrigue, and once more she risks her own life as she attempts to save others still trapped in the turmoil and aftermath of war.But in this new world, nothing is clear, in politics or in love. For the role of men has changed too. Torn between the love of three very different men, Sophie will face her greatest danger yet as she attempts an impossible journey across the world to save Nigel, Earl of Shillings - and her beloved Miss Lily.In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies, Jackie French draws us further into a compelling story that celebrates the passion and adventure of an unstoppable army of women who changed the world.

She eats. She sleeps. She scratches. She goes to school...She sleeps. She eats. She scratches - and finds a hole. When Mothball discovers a new hole, it unexpectedly leads her to the local school. the children learn that wombats love carrots and grass, while Mothball learns that lunch boxes contain very few carrots, that sports sheds can be a good place to have a nap, and that when you're brown and round, it's not a good idea to get too close to a ball ...Ages 3 years plus

Australian Children's Laureate, book lover and dyslexia sufferer Jackie French gives a wonderful insight into how you can help your child discover a world of books. Does your child love books, but can't stay still long enough to focus on reading one? Would you like to improve your child's reading ability? Don't know where to begin to stimulate a greater love of reading in your child? Award-winning author Jackie French knows what it is to struggle with reading and literacy. Drawing on her own experience with dyslexia, Jackie has written this book to help parents identify the possible reading difficulties their children may have. All children learn differently, and Jackie offers many fun and rewarding way s to help launch your child into literacy. these include games for coordination, concentration and focus as well as helpful steps to kickstart your child into reading and to foster a life-long love of books. I SPY A GREAt READER is filled with a wealth of advice, anecdotes and activities - it's a book every parent should own.

From Australia's Children's Laureate comes a delightful collection of stories about horses and unicorns. take a journey through the ages and around the world - from ancient Greece, to the time of Genghis Khan to Arthurian England and then to outback Australia in the 1950s. Each story weaves the fantastic into the commonplace or focuses on the special relationship that exists between humans and horses. Some stories are based on true stories, some on fantasy, all are brimming with heart-warming magic and adventure. Age 8+

Third title following on from the award-winning and best-selling HITLER'S DAUGHTER and PENNIES FOR HITLER. Ages: 10 years + This is the story of Johannes, and Frau Timmins, and the strange girl now known as 'Helga'. It is also the story of how they survived the death camps, the vast wilderness faced by refugees in World War Two, and how they eventually found happiness in Australia. The final title in the multi award-winning Hitler series, this compelling story follows on from Heidi's story in Hitler's Daughter and Georg's in Pennies for Hitler, and shows us that evil must be fought and won. But once you've won, the hardest and most necessary battle is to understand and forgive. And to learn how to love and live again. Ages: 10 years+

Bestselling Mothball is back -- with birthday cake! (Carrot, of course.)She eats, she sleeps, she scratches. But today it's Mothball's birthday and it's time to celebrate!Created by author Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley, Happy Birthday Wombat is a very funny picture book about enjoying a special day -- as seen through the eyes of the world's most famous wombat.PRAISE FOR DIARY OF A WOMBAT AND OTHER BOOKS STARRING MOTHBALL'French and Whatley have conjured an affectionate, believable wombat self-portrait' -- The New York Times Book Review'I absolutely love the tone of Mothball's diary entries -- the dry brevity and classic wombat behaviour that's made this gorgeous creature an Aussie literary treasure. Whatley's divinely funny illustrations yet again make for an all-rounder of a book that will loosen smiles on readers of any age' -- Kids' Book Review

The final and thrilling conclusion to the popular and bestselling Miss Lily seriesA mysterious telegram that says, 'Lily needs you' arrives just before a plane from war-ravaged England lands in one of Sophie Greenman's paddocks.Sophie, Countess of Shillings, has been living a quiet life on her property in Australia, until love and loyalty draw her back to England where she once trained to become one of Miss Lily's 'Lovely Ladies'. Now, in 1942, Shillings Hall trains women to become espionage agents.Sophie's mission? To seek out disaffected German officers prepared to kill Hitler.Across Europe women like Sophie, or Parisian couturier Violette, or Hannelore, German Prinzessin and spy, must determine where their deepest loyalty lies. And as Europe slowly disintegrates, Miss Lily must also decide her final fate.Based on real-life events, this is the story of the women who wielded immense, yet secret, power. And in this fifth and final book in the Miss Lily series, Jackie French tells the story of the remarkable women who have been carefully left out of our war histories: those lost lilies of allied espionage.

A powerful novel from master storyteller Jackie FrenchThe soldiers she saved called her the Angel of Waterloo.The husband she loved and lost called her Hen.The patients she treated in secret called her Auntie Love.She was Henrietta Bartlett, a surgeon's daughter, a survivor of the Napoleonic Wars. But now the battlefield is just a blood-soaked memory, and Hen dreams of peace, a home, and a society that allows women to practise medicine.On the other side of the world, the newly founded colony of New South Wales seems a paradise. But Europe's wars cast long shadows ...From bestselling author Jackie French comes the story of one woman's journey from the hell of Waterloo to colonial Australia, where she can forge her own dreams in a land of many nations.PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH'a master storyteller ... [she] gives women a rich, strong, and brutally honest voice'- Better Reading'Heartwarming, heartbreaking and hard to put down' - Australian Women's Weekly on If Blood Should Stain the Wattle