Children's / Teenage fiction & true stories

Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, of providing for her family by making alchemical gold and gems for the wealthy to eat in order to stay young forever. But for now, she's trapped in her impoverished village in southern China, practicing an illegal form of alchemy to keep food on the tab...

In the remote South African bush, the Ballantynes have captured the villainous Josef Gerhard and made him their prisoner. After his monstrous predasaurs unleashed a deadly virus on the world, and he framed the Ballantynes for it, he deserves to pay. But Robyn and Ralph are also racing to get the ...

Astrid likes being different - she doesn't care that some of her classmates think she's a bit odd. She's got amazing friends and is the Scribble Society's star writer. When new boy Teddy joins the school, Astrid is super excited to discover they have loads in common. But when Astrid realises she ...

Samuel Blink is the hero of this story, but he doesn't know it yet. Right now, he and his sister Martha are in the back of his parents car. He has no idea a giant log is about to fall from the sky and change his life forever.

The evening is long. It's silent outside. We love silent. The most important thing is for the sirens not to howl. It is a bright day in February, but 7 year-old Ia and her family are in the dark. Church bells are ringing, sirens are screaming. The War has begun. Ia holds her astronaut doll close,...

Join Spidey, Spin and Ghost-Spider for two exciting tales in this heroic collection of stories filled with awesome artwork! Read along as Team Spidey battle the bad guys and learn about how the power of teamwork can save the day!

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 blam...

Fourteen-year-old Hollie has always lived in the small town of Loweburgh on the south coast. When she and her best friend, Parker, start researching repairs to the sea defences, they find that low grade steel has been used to protect the town walls. If there was a terrible storm, bigger than anyt...

Regency housemaid Euphemia Reeves has acquired a faerie godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing. Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There's only one problem; Effie's a housemaid, and she can't marry a gentleman. It seems that Effi...

This story is part of Reading Champion, a series carefully linked to book bands to encourage independent reading skills, developed with Dr Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin of UCL Institute of Education (IOE). Original stories are accompanied by engaging artwork and a reading activity. Each book has b...