Simon Packham – författare

Forced to take employment as live-in carer for a genius quadriplegic undergraduate, failed actor Timothy Salt is not optimistic. His charge, Michael Owen, is only at Oxford to please his devoted mum. When ersatz aristo Phillip Sydney offers the leading role in his student production of Hamlet to Michael, Timothy’s humiliation seems complete. Meanwhile, fellow student thespian Anna Jenkins, deciding that Phillip is the ‘perfect gentleman’ who Mummy so wants her to find, accepts the part of Ophelia.Then TV producer Nikki Hardbody (Kids with Cancer and Pepé: The Boy with No Nose) arrives to immortalise Michael in her latest documentary, and Timothy realizes that the only way he can salvage any self-respect is by sabotaging the production of Hamlet. Michael, meanwhile, is horrified to find himself falling for Anna. As rehearsals progress, Anna discovers that her perfect partner isn’t Phillip Sydney after all. No one is more delighted than cynical Nikki Hardbody.The Opposite Bastard is a dark comedy of manners. An uproarious and moving commentary on love, disability, dignity, political correctness and media opportunism, it is a strikingly original and provocative debut.

Archie Ebbs has the perfect life. Good friends, a nice home and classmates who laugh at (nearly) all his jokes. But all that is about to change. As his family faces upheaval, Archie realises he will have to leave behind so much that he knows and loves, even his cat, Dinger. And soon Archie has other worries ... is he really starting to become invisible?

Josh is such a worrier. He worries about everything. Water slides. School. Global warming. Sleepovers. But he knows something is really wrong when his mum and dad begin to act strangely... His family is moving to Brighton and he must start a new school with new teachers, new pupils and new everything!He used to have his own Worrybot - a home-made cardboard robot which was supposed to eat up his worst fears if he wrote them down on bits of paper and posted them into its mouth. It did help a bit ... but now Josh is terrified that his anxiety will return when he starts at his new school. And he is more than a bit surprised to discover that there's a robot in his new class - a real-life learning robot which sits on the desk next to his and allows classmate Charlie to join lessons remotely. Soon Charlie becomes Josh's best - perhaps his only - friend. Will Charlie's friendship help Josh overcome his fears, or will it just give nasty Noah more reasons to make fun of him? And why won't Charlie come to school anyway? A suspenseful story of emotional high stakes that will appeal to fans of Lisa Thompson, Ross Welford and Elle McNicoll.

Sam has been best friends with Cal, Fin and Jay for EVER. They're all about to move up to a new school together - scary but exciting.But then he overhears them saying they're not going to put him on their Friends Lists! So Sam will be stuck in a different tutor group with a lot of kids he doesn't know. Help!How can Sam convince them to change their minds?Can he keep on hiding his new friendship with ‘weird’ new boy Zak Monroe?And what will happen when these two sides of Sam's life collide?

Ein Roman über CybermobbingVirtuell sterben ... das findet der 13-jährige Sam nicht weiter dramatisch, schließlich verbringt er viel Zeit mit Computerspielen im Internet. Aber seine Mörder scheinen ihn auch im richtigen Leben zu kennen. Wenig später erhält Sam Drohungen per Mail und SMS. Und einen Link zu einer Website, auf der er öffentlich bloßgestellt wird. Wie Sam bald feststellen muss, kennt seine ganze Klasse diese Hassseite. Die Drohungen gegen ihn werden immer konkreter und Sam weiß nicht mehr, wem er noch trauen kann.