Children's / Teenage fiction: Animal stories

Crimes are sweeping the neighbourhood: sofas torn to shreds, muddy pawprints on the beds, poo left on the kitchen floor - all the evidence points towards the culprits being DOGS, and Inspector Keyhole is quick to arrest every last one. But the great cat detective Purrlock Jones thinks she knows w...

Duck is not like other ducks. Duck doesn't like water and is perfectly fine alone, thank you very much. But then, one dark and stormy night, an outgoing, water-loving, and very lost Frog turns up at Duck's door. Can this odd couple find Frog's home? And will they find friendship along the way?

In one of his epileptic fits, Kyle realises that he has the ability to travel to The Stillness, an eerie dimension populated by those who are between life and death. There he meets his real-world crush, Farah, who is in a coma back home.

When Jeremiah plants a packet of sunflower seeds, the very last thing he expects is for the vines and leaves to grow overnight and burst through the ceiling of his apartment! As Jeremiah and his brother chase the magical plant up through the floors of their tower block home, they discover an arra...

Percy's friend the hedgehog has always longed to fly but without wings it's an impossible dream. Until, one day, a stranger arrives in the park, needing the hedgehog's help. Will his wish come true at last? A funny, heart-warming story about kindness, friendship and teamwork, introducing the phen...

Frida is a musical moth who loves to rock out - she puts on her pointy boots and plays her purple guitar really loud! But when the Big Bright Light is switched on, more moths appear, ready to rock together, and Frida starts to feel that everyone is much better than her. Perhaps she isn't so rock-...

Goldy wants one thing, and one thing only - to be a STAR. On the sunny island this gecko calls home, it's always THE GOLDY SHOW, morning 'til night. But when you're dazzled by the limelight, it's easy to lose sight of the world around you. And when Goldy's performance starts to go wrong, the litt...

When Cress starts Witch School, she soon finds out she's not like the other pupils. Her clothes are wrong, and she can't fly a broom or make potions. In fact, the only witchy thing about Cress is her green fingers. But, when there are no pumpkins for the school Halloween party, it's Cress's turn ...

After a run-in with the scariest street cat in the Big City, fox cub siblings Ted and Nancy flee for Grimwood, expecting to find refuge in the peaceful countryside. Instead, they are met with thieving eagles, dramatic ducks, riotous rabbits and an absurd game called Treebonk! While Ted quickly fa...

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...