Katya Balen

When newcomer Albie arrives on the Island of Ayrie, Tilda wants to show the island off – Albie wants her to leave him alone. She learns quickly that it’ll take more than a tour and some seal viewings to win him around. Then, she remembers stories of the old island just an hour’s boat ride away from the shore.

The old island is a death trap. The journey there is treacherous. Trips across to it are strictly forbidden. And there’s a rumour it’s haunted by the ghosts of those left there to die. But with all else having failed, the old island is the only way for Tilda to make Albie see what she sees in Ayrie.

Besides, it’s a different kind of ghost that worries Tilda. The ghost that’s been following her, now, since her brother left the island…

Tom is still quiet and timid, even though his dad has been gone for nearly two years now. Zofia is the opposite. Inside her there's a raging storm that makes her want to fight the whole world until she gets what she wants. And what she wants is for scaredy-cat Tom to get out of her life. Tom hates loud, unpredictable Zofia just as much, but he's moving into Zofia's house. Because his mum and Zofia's dad are in love … and they're having a baby. Tom and Zofia both wish the stupid baby had never happened. But then Tom's mum gets ill, and it begins to look horribly like their wish might come true …

October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is. Until the year October turns eleven. That's the year October rescues a baby owl. It's the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October's mother comes back. The year everything changes.

Written in Katya Balen's heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.

Clem and her friends Ash and Zara are members of the Thames and Tide Club! Every weekend they go mudlarking by the river, searching for treasures that have washed up on the shore.

Clem has found old things, new things and a whole heap of rubbish. But one day, she finds something really special. Something magical that belongs in the river and must be returned to its rightful owner… or else.

Before they know it, the Thames and Tide Club are on the weirdest, wildest, underwater-iest adventure they could possibly have imagined on a mission to save Underwater London!

Frank is ten. He likes cottage pie and football and cracking codes.

Max is five. He eats only Quavers and some colours are too bright for him and if he has to wear a new T-shirt he melts down down down.

Sometimes Frank wishes Mum could still do huge paintings of stars and asteroids like she used to, but since Max was born she just doesn't have time. When tragedy hits Frank and Max's lives like a comet, can Frank piece together a universe in which he and Max aren't light years apart?