Critically acclaimed author Keith Gray masterfully grapples with the difficult dynamics of a tumultuous family environment in this compelling and bittersweet tale.When Ben sees a monstrous gargoyle creeping across the midnight rooftops, he’s desperate to tell someone. But Ben feels alone in his new home and is finding it hard fitting in at his new school.Ben’s dad doesn’t believe him. He’s always angry. He says Ben needs to act his age, stand up to the scho...

Ross is dead, and Blake, Sim, and Kenny are furious. To make it right, they steal Ross’s ashes and set out from their home on the English coast for the tiny village of Ross in southern Scotland, a place their friend had always wanted to go. What follows is an unforgettable journey with illegal train rides, bungee jumping, girls, and high-speed police chases—all with Ross’s ashes along for the ride. As events spin wildly out of control, the three friends must take their heads out of the san...

A travesty. A violation. An ecstasy. A disappointment. An instant. A lie. A theft. A rite of passage. Whatever you call it, there's only one first time.A.S. King, Melvin Burgess, Keith Gray, Patrick Ness, Anne Fine, Sophie McKenzie, Bali Rai, Jenny Valentine, Mary Hooper, and Andrew Smith. Some of today's leading international YA authors contributed to this hard-hitting collection of original short stories: some funny, some moving, some haunting, but all revolving around the same su...

Heralding his outstanding return to young adult fiction, Keith Gray captures the subtle agonies of teen life in this compelling, bittersweet tale of rivalry and friendship.In this compelling story of teenage rivalry and friendship, award-winning author Keith Gray captures the subtle agonies and reality of life growing up in a small town.Sully is the best climber in the village. He can scale the Twisted Sister’s tangled branches and clamber up Double Trunker with ease. But w...

Jason has had enough of his parents' arguments. He's running away to stay with his brother in Liverpool. On the train journey he meets a 'runner' called Jam, who lives on the monster Intercity trains and stations. His carefree and adventurous life sounds so exciting that Jason begins to think he might join Jam. Then Jason discovers Jam's secret.

Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010, Keith Gray's hit novel features a group of three friends who embark on a remarkable journey from Cleethorpes to Scotland with a stolen urn containing the ashes of their best friend... Now adapted for the stage by Birmingham Rep for a production by their Youth Theatre in 2011, Ostrich Boys is ideal for KS3 and KS4 English and will appeal strongly to boys as well as girls.This educational edition in Methuen Drama's Critical Scri...

Derwent Drive was known as the Speed Creep. A continual chain of Dashes into Blind. We'd all heard the story about the Creeper who dropped Blind into a garden, only to discover he was standing in a dog pound. It was also the longest creep; twenty-five houses all in a row, no bends, no kinks. And no Creeper had ever done the lot. But Jamie and I reckoned we could do it. Jamie was the best Creeper around. He was the best Buddie you could have. And he was mine. Ever heard about 'creeping' bef...

'I know a place you can go'. It's a secret place hidden among the run-down buildings of the derelict dockyards.A community of young people have gathered in an old warehouse to get away from a world they don't fit in to. Through separate but interweaving narratives Warehouse tells the stories of three of the community's members. There's Robbie who is running away from his violent older brother, Frank, and needs some space to realise that the beatings are not his fault. Amy, who's su...

'Hundreds of people want to be in a band. They all get guitars and they all play gigs and they all write songs, and they still never make it.'There's a big difference between being a rock star and a pop idol - Will and Danny know which they'd prefer to be. They form the group Happy and it seems they are on the way to realising their ambitions. But when Happy's first gig is cut short by a fire at the venue, Will struggles to cope with his bitter disappointment and retreats into his private ...

Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Reincarnation? Ghosts? Buried? Nothing . . .?Some of today's leading writers for teens have come together to ask, what happens after you die?Will you go out with a bang? Or find a peace that only you can see?Is heaven spending eternity reliving your happiest memories? Or is your future in someone else's thoughts?Could it even be that you leave a part of yourself behind?

Sid, a businessman, husband and father of two, through a series of unexpected events fi nds himself stranded temporarily in an inner city. What he experiences that day and several days after opens his mind in a way that changes his life forever..

In 1699 William Milmullen took his six pupils to the lakeside but only he returned after a creature rose up from the water and devoured the six boys right before his eyes. The whole town was shocked and terrified by the tragedy. Many were now too frightened to go out on the lake to fish, and the town's economy was under threat. William Milmullen recovered from the shock of what he'd seen. He named the creature 'The Mourn', and declared himself 'Mourner'. He took upon himself the responsibi...