Matt Killeen – författare

Her name is Sarah. She''s blonde, blue-eyed, and Jewish in 1939 Germany. And her act of resistance is about to change the world.After her mother is shot at a checkpoint, fifteen-year-old Sarah meets a mysterious man with an ambiguous accent, a suspiciously bare apartment, and a lockbox full of weapons. He''s part of the secret resistance against the Third Reich, and he needs Sarah to hide in plain sight at a school for the daughters of top Nazi brass, posing as one of them. If she can befriend the daughter of a key scientist and get invited to her house, she might be able to steal the blueprints to a bomb that could destroy the cities of Western Europe. Nothing could prepare Sarah for her cutthroat schoolmates, and soon she finds herself in a battle for survival unlike any she''d ever imagined. But anyone who underestimates this innocent-seeming girl does so at their peril. She may look sweet, but she''s the Nazis'' worst nightmare.

Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award and the Branford Boase AwardNominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal A teenage spy. A Nazi boarding school. The performance of a lifetime.Sarah has played many roles - but now she faces her most challenging of all. Because there's only one way for a Jewish orphan spy to survive at a school for the Nazi elite. And that's to become a monster like them.They think she is just a little girl. But she is the weapon they never saw coming...with a mission to destroy them all.

A boy is trapped in a haunted house...An astronaut needs to evade space dragons to get back home...A girl has a super power – to magic noodles out of nowhere...These are just three of the 27 unforgettable tales in this collection – some fantasy, some science-fiction, some involving ancient gods.But look closer......because, beneath the myths and magic lies something else entirely: moments of courage, fear, hope, and kindness, all drawn from real life stories.Can you spot the truth?Sometimes funny, sometimes thrilling, sometimes heartbreaking, every story here is proof that the most extraordinary adventures aren't just made up.They come from us.This is a collection of children's stories like no other. From intergalactic rescues to magical schools, from ancient gods to futuristic worlds, every story offers something unexpected.But there’s more beneath the surface. Each tale is inspired by the real experiences of someone who lived through the 1940s. Moments of bravery, friendship, loss, resilience, and sacrifice are all reimagined through the boundless creativity of young storytellers, then shared here with the help of much-loved authors.The result is a collection that feels both wildly inventive and deeply true – ideal for independent readers aged 9+ who love variety, surprise, and stories that stay with you long after the final page.

Ghosts, dragons, gods, and UFOs fill these 27 imaginative tales, each created by children aged 9+ and adapted by much-loved children's authors - but each hides a real human experience drawn from the lives of those raised in the 1940s. Thrilling but moving, this anthology for ages 9-12 shows how extraordinary adventures can grow from ordinary lives.