Exploring the significance and meaning of home, this novella delves into profound themes of belonging and identity. The narrative invites readers to reflect on personal connections and the emotional landscapes that define what home truly means. With a unique perspective, the Carnegie Medal-winning author Katya Balen crafts a compelling story that resonates deeply, prompting contemplation on the ties that bind us to our places and experiences.
Set on the Island of Ayrie, this poignant tale by Katya Balen explores friendship and the meaning of home. Tilda's idyllic life is disrupted by newcomer Albie, who resists her efforts to connect. To bridge their worlds, Tilda considers a dangerous journey to a forbidden island, haunted by her own past. A heartfelt story of discovery awaits.
From the author of October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal, comes a heartbreaking and heart-warming story about sisterhood, found family and accepting love in the most unusual and unknown places. Fen and Rey were found curled up small and tight in the fiery fur of the foxes at the very edge of the wildlands. Fen is loud and fierce and free. She feels a connection to foxes and a calling from the wild that she's desperate to return to. Rey is quiet and shy and an expert on nature. She reads about the birds, feeds the lands and nurtures the world around her. They are twin sisters. Different and the same. Separate and connected. They will always have each other, even if they don't have a mother and don't know their beginning. But they do want answers. Answers to who their mother is and where she might be. What their story is and how it began. So when a fox appears late one night at the house, Fen and Rey see it as a sign - it's here to lead them to their truth, find their real family and fill the missing piece they have felt since they were born. But the wildlands are exactly that: wild. They are wicked and cruel and brutal and this journey will be harder and more life changing than either Fen or Rey ever imagined ...
The mudlarkers of the Thames and Tide Club are about to face Squidmageddon in a funny and fast-paced adventure for young treasure hunters. When the director of the mudlarking museum goes on holiday for a week, he leaves three members of the Thames and Tide Club - Clem, Zara and Ash - in charge. They're determined that nothing will go wrong on their watch, but they haven't planned on an invasion of squid who will stop at nothing to take over the world ... Join the club and dig for treasure in the wildest adventure you could imagine!
Noah has felt misunderstood and abandoned since his dad moved away, but can they find a way to build a new relationship? Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen returns with a stunning tale about a fractured bond between father and son - and the injured bird that helps to heal it.
An exciting new adventure series for young readers from Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen, author of October, October and The Light in Everything 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!
From the author of October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal, comes a heartbreaking and heart-warming story about sisterhood, found family and accepting love in the most unusual and unknown places. Fen and Rey were found curled up small and tight in the fiery fur of the foxes at the very edge of the wildlands. Fen is loud and fierce and free. She feels a connection to foxes and a calling from the wild that she's desperate to return to. Rey is quiet and shy and an expert on nature. She reads about the birds, feeds the lands and nurtures the world around her. They are twin sisters. Different and the same. Separate and connected. They will always have each other, even if they don't have a mother and don't know their beginning. But they do want answers. Answers to who their mother is and where she might be. What their story is and how it began. So when a fox appears late one night at the house, Fen and Rey see it as a sign - it's here to lead them to their truth, find their real family and fill the missing piece they have felt since they were born. But the wildlands are exactly that: wild. They are wicked and cruel and brutal and this journey will be harder and more life changing than either Fen or Rey ever imagined ...
_______________'Original, compulsive, uplifting: this is another triumph for Balen' - Alex O'Connell, The Times Children's Book of the Week'Balen's best book yet: ambitious, funny, spirited, moving, heartfelt and bold all at once. She's a force to be reckoned with' - Ross Montgomery_______________From the author of October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022, comes a life-affirming story about blended families and learning to find room in your heart for new life and new love.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 ... A story of learning to trust, trying to let go and diving into the unknown with hope in your heart, with a stunning cover illustrated by CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winner Sydney Smith._______________
Book Band: Dark Blue (Ideal for ages 9+) An inspiring fantasy story from Katya Balen, author of The Space We're In and October, October. Maggie wants her dad to take her birdwatching like he promised but he's too busy and she ends up at the zoo with her auntie and her annoying cousins. There, she sees a strange bird and takes one of its beautiful silver feathers home. Little does she know, that this is the start of a magical adventure in the moonlight... This magical story features black-and-white illustrations by Pham Quang Phuc. The Bloomsbury Readers series is packed with book-banded stories to get children reading independently in Key Stage 2 by award-winning authors like double Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean and Waterstones Prize winner Patrice Lawrence. With engaging illustrations and online guided reading notes written by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), this series is ideal for home and school. For more information visit www.bloomsburyreaders.com. 'Any list that brings together such a quality line up of authors is going to be welcomed ... Bloomsbury Readers are aimed squarely at children in Key Stage 2 and designed to support them as they start reading independently and while they continue to gain confidence and understanding.' Books for Keeps
October and her dad live in the woods. They sleep in the house Dad built for them and eat the food they grow in the vegetable patches. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They read the books they buy in town again and again until the pages are soft and yellow -- until next year's town visit. 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. This book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. 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.