Melvin Burgess is a British author celebrated for his bold and realistic explorations of young adult life. He has gained recognition for tackling controversial themes such as teenage drug use and sexuality with unflinching honesty. Burgess skillfully weaves polyphony into his narratives, creating complex layers of experience for his readers. Beyond gritty realism, he also ventures into fantastical realms, consistently offering a distinctive and impactful voice in children's and young adult literature.
Tam is unhappy at home and often takes refuge in the ruins of Thowt It Farm. But then one day he is transported back to the Second World War. Alone and afraid, he makes friends with May, who has been rescued from a bombed-out house. She tries to persuade him to stay at the farm, but Tam is afraid of being trapped in the past forever.
A Carnegie Medal NomineeTwelve-year-old David lives with his dad in a big London apartment building called Mahogany Villas, where he climbs through the building's old ventilation system to play tricks on the other tenants. But David's nasty pranks disturb more than just his elderly neighbor. One day, he comes face-to-face with a ghost, at first friendly but eventually terrifying. Soon the old man and David are in great danger.(AR) For ages 9-12Available only in Young Adul Standing Order.
Fifteen-year-old Sigurd, son of King Sigmund, is the last surviving member of the Volson clan. His father's kingdom - the former city of London - is gone. And his father's knife, a gift from the gods, has been shattered to dust.
Billy Elliot's tough, funny and heart-warming story is given new depth by best-selling author, Melvin Burgess. Billy's mother is dead, and his father and brother are fiercely involved in a bitter miners' fight that has split the local community. Billy's father wants his son to learn boxing, like he did and his father before him. But Billy is fascinated by the grace and magic of ballet and is determined to dance his way to a different future. Told from the differing viewpoints of Billy, his father and brother and his friend Michael, Melvin Burgess has captured the spirit of the original film screenplay while demonstrating the skill and inspiration he showed in his award-winning novel, Junk.
When Nick's mother dies suddenly, the fourteen-year-old is sent straight into a boys' home, where he finds institutional intimidation and violence keep order. After countless fights and punishments, Nick thinks life can't get any worse - but the professionally respected deputy head, Mr Creal, who has been grooming him with sweets and solace, has something much more sinister in mind. The scarring, shaming experience he suffers at the hands of Mr Creal can never quite be suppressed, and when the old hatred surfaces, bloody murder and revenge lead to an unforgettable climax.
Gemma runs away from home to join her boyfriend Tar in London. Soon they find themselves hooked on heroin and Gemma is forced into prostitution to pay for the drug.
Set in northern England during the 1984 miner's strike, "Billy Elliot" tells the story of a young working class boy who chooses not to follow his widowed father's instructions to train to be a boxer. Instead, fascinated by the ballet class sharing the same building as his gym, Billy hangs up his gloves to pursue dreams of being a dancer. But even as he discovers his virtuoso gift for ballet he must hide his triumph from his father and brother -- both miners on strike struggling to keep food on the table. A hit at last years Cannes Film Festival and a smash success in the UK just one week into its premiere, "Billy Elliot" is being hailed as one of the best films of the year.
Someone mad was screaming at them from the upstairs window of a house next to the station. It was a girl. "Oh, that's April. Don't mind her... deaf and dumb, see." Abandoned by his father to a life of poverty, Tony is angry with everyone, and desperately lonely. April Dean, the deaf girl, needs friends too. But their growing relationship arouses deep prejudices which threaten to engulf not only Tony and April but also the whole village. This moving and powerful love story is about two very different people, worlds apart.
THE FIRST ADULT NOVEL BY THE CARNEGIE PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF JUNK'A spirited retelling... witty and insightful.' i PAPER'His prose is electrical, crackling with a mischievous charge.' BUZZ MAGAZINE'Told with wit [and] verve... it's a book that exerts a curious charm.' MAIL ON SUNDAY'Burgess recounts Loki's genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifully lyrical masterwork.' SFX MAGAZINE'a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.' CULTUREFLYStep into the ancient fir-tree forests of Scandinavia and bear witness to legends as epic as those of the Greeks and the Romans.Melvin Burgess revolutionised children's literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. In his first adult novel, Loki, he breathes new life into Norse myths.Starting with the Norse creation myths, the trickster god Loki takes the reader on a wild ride through Norse mythology, from the time the gods - the founders of Asgard - defeated races of monsters, and hurtling through famous stories, including Odin hanging himself on the World Tree, the theft of the corrupting gold ring and the murder of Baldr, the god of love and the Sun. This narrative may seem familiar enough at first, but the reader should beware. Born within the heart of a fire in the hollow of a tree- trunk, Loki arrives in Asgard as an outsider. He is a trickster, an unreliable narrator, the god of intelligence and politics. In spite of his cleverness and sparkling wit (or, perhaps, because of this...) Loki struggles to find his place among the old patriarchal gods of supernatural power and is constantly at odds with the god of thunder - Thor. Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki's many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin's famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful - a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society. This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence.
Everyone says fourteen-year-old Billie is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends. But her care worker sees someone different. Her classmate Rob is strong; he can take care of himself and his brother. But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate. And Chris is struggling at school; he just doesn't want to be there.