Guppy Books – serie

SUNDAY TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEKSelected for 2021’s National Poetry DayFollowing a family move to Maine, twelve-year-old Reena has no idea what to expect. She hopes it's going to be beaches, blueberries and all the lobster she can eat. She certainly doesn't expect to suddenly be put in charge of a menagerie of animals, belonging to the irascible Mrs Falala, who not only has a fast-wheeling pig, a secretive snake, but the most ornery cow she ever thought to meet. A wonderfully funny, moving story of one family's move to the country, and the challenges they face.

SHORTLISTED for the CARNEGIE GREENAWAY AWARD 2022Fifteen-year-old Yuki is struggling at school with her confidence, and goes to Japan to stay with her grandfather, a well-known manga artist and to whom she is very close. But during her visit, a calamitous event occurs - the East Coast Earthquake and Tsunami - and her beloved Grandpa is lost. Yuki and her friend Taka must make sense of the terrible situation and come to terms with the loss of their life as they knew it - and see that through renewal and with resilience, they can emerge from this tragedy with optimism for the future. Interwoven with Japanese folk tales, modern-day ghost stories, and the creation of her very own vibrant manga hero, Yuki finds the courage to overcome extraordinary odds, and take her first steps into the world that lies beyond catastrophe. Told through both prose and manga, this story for young adults will touch the heart of any reader.'Impressive and Original' – Financial Times'Breathtakingly Powerful' – LoveReading

Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn't seen her sister June for two years. And now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months' time, she and her mother decide that it's time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. Along with Aisha's boyfriend, Walter and his parents (and Fleabag the stray cat), the group take a roadtrip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan - to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future.

Ailsa’s mum is ill, not the first time, so they spend the summer with her aunt and uncle. Aunt Bertha, Uncle Nod and their dog Moxie live on an island off the coast, by a beautiful fishing village surrounded by beaches and clifftops. Ailsa and Moxie spend their whole time there exploring these beaches and cliffs, until one day they find a hidden cave. Inside the cave, they find Hefring, a strange woman not keen on strangers. Ailsa slowly gets to know who Hefring is. She is a selkie, a mermaid, a billow maiden from ancient myth. However, she is stuck on land and slowly dying. It is up to Ailsa and her new friend Camilla to save her, but there are plenty of obstacles in the way – not least Ailsa’s own fears and her mum’s illness. The Billow Maiden is a beautifully told tale of friendship, family, healing and transformation from a stunning new writer for children.

Rebecca Strand was just sixteen when she and her father fell to their deaths from the top of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse in 1839. Just how they fell—or were they pushed?—remains a mystery. And their ghosts haunt the lighthouse to this day ...Gabe tells this story every day when he gives the ghost tour on Toronto Island. He tries to make it scary enough to satisfy the tourists, but he doesn’t actually believe in ghosts — until he finds himself face to face with Rebecca Strand. The true story of her death is far more terrifying than any ghost tale Gabe has told. Rebecca reveals that her father was a member of the Order, a secret society devoted to protecting the world from 'the wakeful and wicked dead' — malevolent spirits like Viker, the ghost responsible for their deaths. But the Order has disappeared, and Viker’s ghost is growing ever stronger. Now Gabe and his friends must find a way to stop Viker before they all become lost souls ... A fresh—and very scary—take on the ghost story from Kenneth Oppel.

Maggie Blue is adjusting to a quieter life, back living with her aunt Esme and hanging out with friends Ida and Will as well as her beloved Hoagy the cat. She tries to forget about the events of the previous year - but she's being watched, and one day a small white bird appears. Where has the white crow come from, and why won't it leave Maggie alone? Little does she know that the Dark World is waiting for her to return... and when Cynthia her mum is kidnapped and taken there, Maggie only has no choice but to go back. With the help of Hoagy and some new friends by her side, Maggie must go back to the place that she never wished to see again, if she's ever to see her mum - or gain control of her own life - again.

A page-turning and immersive YA novel in verse, telling the story of Lily who is mercilessly bullied at school and who turns to boxing in an attempt to fight back; a story of hope and resilience breaking through even the most difficult situations.Lily turns sixteen with two very different sides to her life: school, where she is badly bullied, and home with her mum and dad, warm and comforting but with its own difficulties. After a particularly terrible bullying incident, Lily's dad determines to give his daughter the tools to fight back. Introducing her to boxing, he encourages Lily to find her own worth. It is both difficult and challenging but in confronting her own fears she finds a way through that illuminates her life and friendships. Meeting Rose, and seeing that there is another world out there, enables her to live her own life fully and gives her the knowledge that she is both beautiful and worth it.__________________'Stunning … Gloves Off punches in the guts' – Nicola Morgan, author of Blame My BrainShortlisted for the Bristol Teen Book Award Shortlisted for the Hounslow and Ealing Teen Read Shortlisted for the Warwickshire Secondary Book Award Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2021

SELECTED FOR 2021’s NATIONAL POETRY DAYJoe and Imogen seem like the perfect couple — they've been in a relationship for years and are the envy of their friends at school. But after accidentally becoming involved a tragic fatal accident, they become embroiled in a situation out of their control, and Joe and Imogen's relationship becomes slowly unravelled until the truth is out there for all to see ... Structured around a dramatic and tense court case, the reader becomes both judge and jury in a stunning and page-turning novel of uncovering secrets and lies — who can be believed?

Abducted by spirits from his village, lost boy Akira must make the long journey in north Japan to find his family and save his young sister, before time runs out. Voyaging deeper and deeper into a Japan ‘between the worlds’, Akira and his companions encounter a host of yokai monsters and famous ghosts, discovering a sometimes comical and sometimes terrifying world of interlinked and ghostly short stories along the way.

'We are living in a golden age of graphic novels and memoirs, and MEXIKID is one of the best I've ever read' - New York TimesPedro Martin has grown up hearing stories about his abuelito—his legendary crime-fighting, grandfather who was once a part of the Mexican Revolution! But that doesn’t mean Pedro is excited at the news that Abuelito is coming to live with their family. After all, Pedro has 8 brothers and sisters and the house is crowded enough! Still, Pedro piles into the Winnebago with his family for a road trip to Mexico to bring Abuelito home, and what follows is the trip of a lifetime, one filled with laughs and heartache. Along the way, Pedro finally connects with his abuelito and learns what it means to grow up and find his grito.

Mel loves Sasha and dreams of a day that Sasha might reciprocate her feelings (even though she's straight) - so the fact that it's thirty degrees outside in January and hasn't rained for a year simply passes her by. Mel is just about coping with being the only 'out' lesbian in school and all the sniping that Janis and Ella aim her way, as well as her dreary Saturday job with the stupidly posh Dorian... But when domestic animals suddenly lethally turn on the human race, and Mel finds herself stuck in a mansion with Dorian and Ella, her love-life suddenly turns on its head in the most extraordinary way.A screamingly funny LGTBQ+ love story from a brilliant new talent.

In the final part of this thrilling trilogy, Maggie Blue finds herself in the Dark World alone and marooned with a strange and unknown baby that refuses to be parted from her. The world has become dominated by climate disasters, wars are breaking out around them between the surviving people and the witches. Maggie has a single quest she must fulfil, but at what cost - to her and her friends, Hoagy, the irascible talking cat, Joan and Ida, Oz and the umons, who are desperate to save her? As the portals between the Dark World and her world start to crumble one by one, Maggie faces a terrible choice - to save herself and her friends or to sacrifice everything she has for the sake of the Dark World. Perilous and exhilarating, the last book in the Costa-shortlisted Maggie Blue trilogy comes to a hair-raising climax...

In the final part of this thrilling trilogy, Maggie Blue finds herself in the Dark World alone and marooned with a strange and unknown baby that refuses to be parted from her. The world has become dominated by climate disasters, wars are breaking out around them between the surviving people and the witches. Maggie has a single quest she must fulfil, but at what cost - to her and her friends, Hoagy, the irascible talking cat, Joan and Ida, Oz and the umons, who are desperate to save her? As the portals between the Dark World and her world start to crumble one by one, Maggie faces a terrible choice - to save herself and her friends or to sacrifice everything she has for the sake of the Dark World. Perilous and exhilarating, the last book in the Costa-shortlisted Maggie Blue trilogy comes to a hair-raising climax...

The same evening Josh Underhill went missing, the black horse appeared on the hill above the house. Ella knows that words are powerful. So she should have known better than to utter a wish and a curse on the same day. Who is Gus, the boy with the impish grin, who seems to appear in answer to her wish? And what does the black horse want? When Ella finds that her grandmother's warnings of creatures that dwell in the lake are more than just stories, she and her pony Magpie are drawn into a dangerous, life-saving mission.

'Heartbreaking, visceral, and powerful' Kathleen Glasgow, author of Girl in PiecesA stunningly powerful YA novel from a master storyteller told in both prose and verse. No one knows Ruby is pregnant - not even Ruby herself. So when she gives birth at school on a miserable February morning, her world is thrown into chaos. Keeping the baby isn't an option, but keeping quiet about who the father of her child definitely is; because if Ruby's best friend Ashley finds out the truth, then she'll lose her too.When Ruby finally realises what she and her baby need, somehow that doesn't seem to matter any more. So Ruby must take matters into her own hands, with tragic consequences...

Evie and Maryam are in the same class at school, uneasily thrown together at the start of a new term as they start a project together looking into their family trees. The two girls don't think they have much in common - Maryam feels like an outsider, and Evie thinks Maryam is a bit odd. But when the two girls each find the same mysterious folder containing documents in a secret language that belong to their grandmothers, they discover their ties go back two generations, all the way to India, to partition, and to two best friends who inspired each other more than they ever know. A beautifully told historical family-based exploration of identity, inheritance, difference and friendship.

'A spellbinding and chilling fable' Financial Times'One of the best YA books I have read this year' Just Imagine'Hugely thought-provoking' GuardianWhen Xavier wakes up on the first morning of an enforced family weekend away with his pregnant stepmum and dad, he doesn't recognise where they are - it's as if the house has inexplicably been transported to the set of a video game, inside an impenetrable dome where the family have been 'donated' chickens, goats, wheat to help them survive. There is no trace of their mysterious captors and no way to escape. Three years later, he's sixteen and resigned to life without the internet, other people, let alone a girlfriend... when suddenly another family appears, one with vastly contrasting political ideologies and priorities. In the confines of this strange world, Xavier and 17-year-old gorgeous Mackenzie are thrown together, Mackenzie's erratic father becomes obsessively fixated on escape, and tensions between the two families begin to rise with devastating and tragic consequences... Kenneth Oppel's most thrilling novel to date is challenging, provocative and unforgettable.

'A spellbinding and chilling fable' Financial Times'One of the best YA books I have read this year' Just Imagine'Hugely thought-provoking' GuardianWhen Xavier wakes up on the first morning of an enforced family weekend away with his pregnant stepmum and dad, he doesn't recognise where they are - it's as if the house has inexplicably been transported to the set of a video game, inside an impenetrable dome where the family have been 'donated' chickens, goats, wheat to help them survive. There is no trace of their mysterious captors and no way to escape. Three years later, he's sixteen and resigned to life without the internet, other people, let alone a girlfriend... when suddenly another family appears, one with vastly contrasting political ideologies and priorities. In the confines of this strange world, Xavier and 17-year-old gorgeous Mackenzie are thrown together, Mackenzie's erratic father becomes obsessively fixated on escape, and tensions between the two families begin to rise with devastating and tragic consequences... Kenneth Oppel's most thrilling novel to date is challenging, provocative and unforgettable.

Unsure where she fits in at her new school and reeling from the unexpected death of her dad, Ava finds herself drawn to Dustin, a troubled older boy who performs rituals in the woods to communicate with the crows, messengers between this world and the afterlife. When the crows offer to return her beloved nan’s memories, Ava must decide whether she will pay their price and exchange a soul for a soul.

‘Steininger’s art transforms a tale that was already rich in soaring heights and breathless hazards into an even more vivid and vertiginous odyssey’ – Kirkus ReviewsShade the young silverwing bat is determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum. But when a fierce storm catches him in its grasp, Shade is separated from his colony and left alone. On his journey back to his family, Shade meets other winged loners. Marina the brightwing bat, Zephyr the mystical albino bat with an unusual gift, and Goth the carnivorous vampire bat. Shade needs all the help he can get, but with a long and perilous flight ahead, how will he know who to trust?

Inexperienced but determined, Connie is desperate to become a caster to save her village from the deadly Shade.Arrogant and privileged, Jasper is everything she detests. He intends to become a seeker like his father before him, and he has no time for a no-hoper like Connie.Thrown together at Blackwood, Connie and Jasper are pledged to each other as caster and seeker, learning to light the oath lamps and conquer the Shade, as well as their mutual dislike... but could the undeniable connection that flickers between them become an unbreakable bond? Their lives depend on it, for the vows are failing, the Shade is advancing and only those with the strongest conviction will survive.