Troika Books – förlag

Dog pals Dubbin and Todd are going on a walk before breakfast: Dubbin on his skateboard and Todd lagging behind on paws. Not only that but Todd is also carrying a huge bone which is attracting attention from another, not so nice dog. Can Dobbin, Todd and the bone get home safely? A wonderfully funny and beautifully illustrated picture book.

Two popular performance poets join together to make not just a meal but a feast of funny poems about foods that you might like and some that you will definitely hate.

A group of aliens have landed on Earth from Planet Norma Alpha and they are causing mischief. Rita has to call on all her special powers as she smashes an asteroid, takes a lost Norm back to his flying saucer, and then shows the visitors the quickest way home through space.Join in the hilarious adventures of Rita Potter who when she dons her special cloak and boots becomes Rita the Rescuer, strong, fast and fearless, and able to rescue her siblings and others from danger or disaster. These wonderfully funny stories are perfect for early readers with colour illustrations on every page.

This incredibly powerful and dramatic story deals with prejudice, judgement, courage and the difficulty of sorting right from wrong in a complex world.

Dubbin and Todd are at the seaside. Dubbin has his skateboard and Todd's got a blue ball. As they roll along to the pier - disaster! The ball flies over the wall and the Todd disappears. It's Dubbin to the rescue.

A snowy adventure for the dog pals, Dubbin and Todd. Dubbin flips off his wheels and Ta-da! His skateboard becomes a snowboard. Todd follows behind on a tray but there are frightening things along the way - can he and Dubbin deal with them? The third title in the continuing Dog on Wheels series of adventures.

A 'How to' book to encourage children to encounter enjoy and read poetry, whether by listening or reading. With practical suggestions on how to effectively and creatively teach poetry this guide is written by two poets with years of experience working with young people: its full of tried and tested ideas that are practical and fun. It's a cornucopia of advice on how to share, perform, publish and - most important - enjoy poetry. There are lots of suggestions - what kind of poems to choose, who best to read or perform them, how to get started writing a poem, where you might find a poem you like and want to share. Full of enthusiasm and excitement, this is a book for anyone who wants to spread their wings and convey their enjoyment of the written word. If you have ever wondered how best to use poetry in your classroom or library, this is the book for you.

This is Jay Hulme’s first published collection of poetry. It showcases his unique voice and form of expression. The poems have been carefully selected to chart Jay’s journey from growing up in a working-class family in Leicestershire to his feelings and thoughts about school life and his experience as a transgender teenager. As Jay says himself: When it was decided that this collection would be for teenagers I was left with this determination, that this collection wouldn’t speak down to anyone, that the world I portrayed within it would be the world we live in, that there would be no attempt to make reality 'appropriate for children'. People seem to forget that teenagers live in the same world as everyone else, and they face the same struggles adults face every day. Teenagers deal with racism and sexism and disability and poverty and so much more that we don’t even see. The things that are traditionally seen as inappropriate for young people to see, are so often the same things they experience day to day.

‘It follows me and yet it’s not a part of me It does the things I do’.48 inventive, insightful poems exploring the darker side. From bullies to black holes, cats to clowns, these original and thought-provoking poems are a roller coaster ride through both the silliness and sadness of being human.Scared? celebrates the work of poets Neal Zetter and Joshua Seigal and it’s not afraid of exploring the tougher side of growing up. A book that can pave the way for important conversations.This is Neal and Joshua’s second collaboration for Troika. Yuck and Yum: A Feast of Funny Food Poems has been widely praised for its vibrant poetry and has been cited as the perfect book for using in the classroom and engaging children.

In her second book of poems for young people, Shauna Darling Robertson takes an in-depth look at mental health and wellbeing. Shauna says, ‘Young people’s mental health has never been so high on the public agenda and rightly so. In the past three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50% (childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/ourwork/well-being/mental-health-statistics).’The poems in this collection explore a variety of topics, from diagnosed mental health conditions to the everyday personal challenges faced by young people. The poems are variously thought-provoking, reassuring, heart-breaking, galvanizing, funny and hopeful, reflecting a diversity of perspectives, experiences and voices.

'Follow the big blue'.That was the last thing Cam’s father said to him. Cam follows Big Blue - everybody does on the island of Cetacea. Their lives take place within his rules, delivered to them by enigmatic whale-talker, Byron Vos. Byron was once a marine scientist but is now organizing an epic clean-up operation to revive the ocean after centuries of human greed and neglect. And yet Cam wonders if there is a more complex truth. A truth that may be connected to his father’s disappearance.Cam’s quest to understand Big Blue leads him to new friends and shared adventures – but the truth, when he finds it, is more dangerous than ever he could have imagined.

'Did you know, you can bump into a poem anywhere? You find them in houses, fields, oceans, cities, trees...the list is endless! I've even found poems in people's faces, when they laugh or cry, or get excited. Of course, you have to write the poems you find, because poems can't hold a pen or type on a keyboard.This book is full of poems I found when I was looking out for them. I had to dig some out of my imagination - ouch! You’ll discover in the pages some things that I think should be in a poem, but I'm sure you can think of more. Go hunting!’Coral Rumble's warm, vibrant, exciting world of poems is complemented by Shih-Yu Lin's expressive colour illustrations.

In this Tale, everyone has an ice cream except Bruno, and he cannot get ice cream off his mind, so much so that he becomes irritable, distracted, and unfocused. Eventually Bruno learns a valid lesson; he was happy when he forgot about the ice cream and focused his attention on what he was doing.

Cosmo is a young boy whose life has been changed forever, after falling out of the tree he loved to climb. Now, Cosmo is disabled and uses a wheelchair. Now, Cosmo wants to have a conversation with the tree.In this outstanding debut collection for children, Stephen Lightbown draws on his own personal experiences as a wheelchair user, while creating a unique and utterly engaging character in Cosmo. Written in Cosmo’s voice and peppered with contributions from the boy’s family, these poems take the reader on a journey of challenges, questions, hurts, explorations and triumphs. Cosmo is endlessly open and curious, and his observations and reflections are at once perceptive, raw, hilarious, confronting and enchanting.How can Cosmo come to terms with, and adapt to, this seismic change in his life? Is his life as he knew it gone? Could there be new possibilities ahead, and also new abilities that Cosmo doesn't yet know he possesses? And will the tree ever reply to his number one question: why?

In this vibrant bouncy new collection Debra focuses on poetry for younger children (Key stage 1 & 2). It’s a wonderful collection of reflective and soothing poems, poems for performance, rhyming poems, silly poems, puzzle poems and ‘carpet’ poems. Debra says: ‘Writing The Moon’s Gorgonzola has been a joy. I’m a great believer in poetry for (especially) younger children being accessible with language they can understand and topics they can relate to. I wanted the book to have a great sense of fun to light the poetry spark that is in all of us! It is a poetry book to be used in school and at home. I write about everyday life and the strange, funny, sometimes sad things that can happen in school and at home. However, it has come with its challenges and a feeling of responsibility to ‘get it right.’ Pitching the content and language at just the right level for each Year group was very important’.

Alara’s incredible gaming skills bring her to the attention of Estrella’s leaders. She is chosen to go on a dangerous mission to London Under, the original older, long-deserted and distrusted city on top of which Estrella (the Star city) was built, to gather ‘vital’ intelligence. Estrella is the perfect society, an immaculate, sanitised, connected environment where everything is channelled through the digital medium. There is no dirt, no pain, no disease, no natural world, even feelings like boredom are frowned upon and discouraged. Alara is dropped down to London Under and into a “new” world which bewilders her and disorientates her. How will she survive in a society where noise dirt and sometimes pain are everyday experiences and where food is not synthetic and tastes real? Will she accomplish her mission? Who can she trust? How will she get back to Estrella and her family and her life without worry?

In her first work of fiction Coral tells the story of ten-year-old Jakub Polanski who cares for his single mum, Maria, who has multiple sclerosis. The weight of responsibility has made Jakub forget he is a child, and his life outside of school is full of adult concerns. Everyone is worried about Jakub’s mental health. To take the pressure off his mum and give Jakub a break, life-long family friends, the Koniks, take Jakub on holiday to Italy. While there Jakub learns about Marta’s passion for writing poetry and storytelling, and she shows him that freedom and adventure are there for the taking. He discovers he is funny and smart and is not only defined by being a carer. And, in Italy, Jakub finds hope as he listens to an old, wise woodsman, who teaches him about otters, especially one injured otter called Piccolo.

Jean Sylvester is a typical, overthinking adolescent whose painful experience with parallel realities teaches her that while life involves her, it's not always all about her.She thinks life isn't fair and wishes hers was different. When she witnesses a traumatic accident, she can't help but blame herself for the events leading up to it. In order to be free of the nightmare she has a choice: she can spiral into despair or reconcile herself with the fact that terrible things happen, and some can't be changed.Splinters is a story about so many things. It starts by looking at the change in our priorities as we move into our teenage years - our desperation for independence and happiness; our vulnerability to change; our misery whenthings don't turn out as we hoped. There are two things that let you down in life: high expectations and other people.

This is the follow-up story to Zinc about three Jewish siblings John, George and Eva who continue to play different roles to help the war effort in WW2.George trains in Scotland for his SOE mission to Poland to help the fighters in the Secret Army.After his work at Bletchley Park, John is now stationed in Cairo in Egypt working on plans to deceive Field Marshall Rommel about the location of the impending battle, while sister Eva in Hungary is finding life for anyone Jewish getting harder and harder as the Nazis harden their grip over the country. Will the siblings ever manage to get together? They share so many memories, but war keeps them apart.Based on the extraordinary real-life experiences of Sue Klauber’s father (Coding at Bletchley Park), uncle (SOE in Europe) and aunt (Resistance), she wrote Zinc and now Cobalt  to illustrate the courage of her Jewish family.

In this debut collection for children Sarah takes the reader on a vibrant journey based on her acute observations of everyday life and language. Loosely arranged across a school year - September through Halloween, Christmas, Spring, Summer holidays, a new school year/just before secondary - Sarah's witty observations, juxtapositions, and playful use of language pervade every poem and bring a vivid charm and freshness to every page. This debut collection heralds the emergence of a strikingly new and inventive voice in children's poetry.

In this rollicking greatest-hits collection covering Neal’s first eight Troika books, he has chosen poems that children have most frequently requested during his twenty years of school visits. Books covered include Bees in My Bananas, It’s Not Fine to Sit on a Porcupine, Here Come the Superheroes, Yuck and Yum, Invasion of the Supervillains, Gorilla Ballerina, When the Bell Goes and Scared? With the inclusion of two new bonus poems, this is a fantastic introduction to the ever-creative mind of one of the UK’s most beloved children’s poets.

Mortimer is taking a picnic to his best friend Oggy, who has a bad cold. But a hungry crocodile, a wolf and a troll all want to eat the picnic AND Mortimer!

Nadia Nadim was born in to a prosperous and well connected family in Afghanistan. She is one of five sisters who, with their Mother, had to leave their war torn country in fear of severe repression and even violence against them. Her story  is one of an incredible and dangerous journey across continents to start a new life without fear of war and danger. It’s a story of starting again with nothing and with determination, courage, resilience, and talent, building a new life. Nadia’s story is a story of hope, arriving in a country where she did not understand the language to becoming a world famous football star, a doctor (and surgeon), a linguist, a broadcaster and a role model. In July 2019, Nadia was named UNESCO Champion for Girls and Women's Education.

Electric Life ended with Alara living in London Under and rejecting her life on Estrella. At the beginning of Electric Life: Surge Alara has now lived in Under for six months and she is struggling to adapt. Alara feels claustrophobic, panicked, she dreams of escaping to the surface with her partner, Jay, and travelling in the open but Jay is consumed by Under’s volatile politics. Tensions rise as the city fractures under the pressure of scarcity.  In this dramatic, tense and fast-paced sequel, Alara has to make the most difficult and dangerous decisions of her life to help save Estrella and London Under from mutual and catastrophic destruction.

In this debut collection, Shagufta’s poems reflect the things that mean the most to her.There are poems about family, love friendship and faith, Eid, climate change, ninja cats, geraniums, Bath, and Bristol, The Coral Reef, chillis and even shoelaces; all illuminating her vibrant imagination, her passions, and her very distinct voice.Shagufta says, ‘this is a book for young people who are trying to make sense of the world, and for grown-ups who want to remember the magic and mayhem of childhood’.

The last ice cap has melted, and the world is on the brink of collapse. A deadly force - Terra Electrica - has been unleashed. It feeds on electricity. It is infecting civilization.In this chaotic, rapidly changing reality, 12 year-old Mani has lost her family and community to Terra Electrica. Armed only with some ancestral wisdom and a powerful, ancient wooden mask she was never meant to inherit so soon, she suddenly finds herself responsible for the fate of the world.Can Mani piece everything together and harness her newfound powers in time to save humanity?

The city is starving but the farms are bursting with food. Something is very wrong.In the aftermath of a riot turned lethal, city-kid Acker goes looking for law and order. After a farm truck is attacked in the city, farmgirl Dot sets off to find answers. When the two teens meet, they find common ground and a terrifying truth about the future. Someone has to confront reality…what’s left of it.... And it looks like it's them.In this dramatic, thought provoking, and prescient story Mimi and Rachel imagine a world where AI, initially  created to eradicate all human error, has gone disastrously wrong endangering the survival of the human race.

Eleven-year-old Arlo Skinner hasn’t felt settled since his dad disappeared in London. Moving to a small Cornish village with his mum was meant to help, but making new friends — or trusting anyone — still feels tough.With the help of his teacher, Mr Murray, and two boys at school who slowly win him over, Arlo begins to feel like things might finally be getting better. Then a sailor’s skeleton is unearthed, sparking Arlo’s love of all things pirate and pulling him into the buried history of a long‑lost shipwreck.As Arlo digs deeper into the secrets buried beneath the Cornish soil, surprising clues about his own family begin to surface. Just when Arlo starts to believe he could belong here, he worries that a hidden truth from the past might wreck everything.