The old signal house has been empty for years. So why is someone flashing a light from its boarded-up tower?Fourteen-year-old Jayden Clarke isn't looking for a mystery when a new chain suddenly blocks the road to his grandfather's fishing landing. But that night, a strange light flashes from Black Reef House in an old three-two-one pattern that no one has used in decades.Then Jayden, his younger brother Micah, and their friend Talia find a water-damaged let...

A Sunday Times Best Book for Children 2023From million-copy bestselling author David Baddiel comes a laugh-out-loud collection of three short stories for readers of 8 and up, brilliantly illustrated by Jim Field and Steven Lenton.MEET ALFIE… THE BOY WHO COULD DO WHAT HE LIKED!Previously published for World Book Day 2016Alfie has a routine. To be honest he has a lot of routines.But then...

Book Two of the Mother-Earth Series (Book One: A Measure of Disorder, is available for FREE!)Things are rarely what they seem …Especially when you’re a shapeshifter.Jenni Kershaw just wanted a chance at a normal life. Well, maybe something a little better than normal. But perfect physical features weren’t translating into happiness for Jenni as a freshman in high school. Something was still missing.Jenni never would have guessed that...

Amorangi and Millie lost their mum. Their only clue to her whereabouts is a carving on a tree that says I'm in the past! Rescue me! To do this, Amorangi and Millie must travel up every branch of their family tree and collect an object from each ancestor they meet. They must then be back in the modern day before the sun sets, or they'll all be trapped forever in the past. But can they do it in time? In their travels, the children experience aspects of events in New Zealand history, such as ...

Millie has a mum with a problem: she muddles her words with often embarrassing results. Millie has a brilliant idea to solve it but it doesn't work. Next step? A brilliantly brilliant idea...

On the way to school, Amorangi realises he forgot to bring an old object to school to talk about. Quickly, he and his sister, Millie, decide to travel back in time and find something. They've travelled back before, after all. He pulls a piece of bark from a nearby rimu and pockets it to ensure they return then they jump back in time. Then begins an adventure that they nearly don't make it back from as one of their ancestors dies, and Amorangi and Millie find themselves fading away. In thei...

Hazel Winbolt is a ten year old girl with a very sick mother. Her father sends her to live with her grandmother so she is out of the way. Hazel finds herself in a very old and mysterious house with a grandmother she has never met. As the days progress she is certain that something strange is going to happen. Floors creak and shadows travel up walls when there is nobody there. This is nothing compared to when small animals start appearing out of a little brown box she has. What do they want...

The beautifully written tale of a girl’s journey to understand the reality of her upbringing, from best-selling YA novelist Keren David.Ruby has had a lot of foster siblings over the years, but none of them have been anything like Clara. After growing up in almostcomplete isolation, Clara is distraught at being separated from her mother and overwhelmed by life in a world she doesn't understand. But the more Ruby tries to help Clara fit in, the more she realises she has to face up t...

Clara's last year at school is shaping up to be uneventful, aside from the stress of uni applications. Until one day, classmate Ty (on whom she happens to have a pretty big crush) asks for her help. His computer genius brother has just disappeared, leaving behind a laptop to which access is granted only when you answer a maths question - and maths isn't exactly Ty's strong suit.One question turns into many when Clara and Ty follow his brother's trail and start spending a whole lot ...

Rachel Coakly and her younger brother John find themselves at the start of the main school holiday with nothing much to do. To make matters worse, they have completely lost contact with the friends that they made last summer, David and Sally. Rachel suspects that her arch enemy Robert Hagen is involved, and he has seemingly taken a peculiar interest in an obscure lost painting. Also, as a known anti-rail campaigner, is he responsible for the rather bizarre railway branch line closures that...

Miranda is a spoilt, sulky little girl who likes to get her own way. After a visit from the Police, accompanied by a rather strange lady who reminds Miranda of a crow, the family decide that they need help to teach Miranda that tantrums are not nice. Ignoring her on their family holiday might be enough, or maybe another lesson awaits ... one she won't forget in a hurry!

In this heart-stopping story, Benjamin Zephaniah shows us what it was like to be a child of the Windrush generation.Leonard is shocked when he arrives to the cold, grey shores of England from warm Jamaica and struggles to adjust to his new life. His parents say they moved to Great Britain in order to make a better life, so he does his best not to complain, even when the food tastes different, he struggles to make friends, and even when people hurt him with their ...