Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books: Children's Book Picks - August 2019 - Post One

John Robertson (Author), Louis Ghibault (Illustrator)The Little Town of Marrowville - Published by Puffin (1 Aug. 2019) - ISBN-13: 978-0241344743 - Paperback

In a town surrounded by deadly mist, and filled with oddities, two young siblings become orphans.

And that's the best thing that's happened to them all day.

Howard Howard was a Wrecker (a brute and bully by profession) who was brutal and bullish to his children - Aubrey and Aubrey's Sister. Howard Howard deserved to be turned into mince, and thanks to a mysterious duo called The Grinders, that's exactly what happened to Howard Howard. 

Hunted by the police and their father's gang of Wreckers, the siblings find some new friends to help keep them safe: a talented burglar named Charlie (who has no bones, but a great moustache) and a sword-wielding assassin named Calo (who has a sword, duh.) 

In a town already revelling in its own chaos and with new dangers around every corner, Aubrey's Sister and Aubrey stumble into a world of secrets, myths, and monsters.

Ellen Renner - Under Earth (Storm Witch) - Published by Nosy Crow Ltd (1 Aug. 2019) - ISBN-13: 978-1788003605 - Paperback 

As the island's new Weather witch, Storm must sail with the fleet into dangerous waters. The Drowned Ones are out for revenge and the sea itself is treacherous. But it's Bellum Town that brings Storm her first real test. And where she learns that her magic could save her or it could be the end of everything... Another action-packed fantasy adventure as Storm discovers just how powerful she really is!

Julie Pike - The Last Spell Breather - Published by OUP Oxford (4 July 2019) - ISBN-13: 978-0192771605 - Paperback - See Review HERE

A stunning fantasy debut, enter the unique world of the Spell Breathers. 

Spell Breathing does not come naturally to Rayne - she loathes the hours of practice, the stacks of scrolls, and the snapping mud devils that cover her mother's precious spell book. 
But it is spell breathing that keeps her village safe from the dreaded monster curse that plagues their world. It is ancient powerful magic, but as Rayne learns to her horror . . . it is also fragile. 
In one clumsy move, the magic that keeps them safe is broken, her village is plunged into danger, and an incredible adventure begins . . .

Simon Lelic - Revolution: Book 2 (The Haven) - Published by Hodder Children's Books (8 Aug. 2019) - ISBN-13: 978-1444947625 - Paperback

You don't know it exists, but when you have nowhere else to turn, the Haven will find you ... An adrenaline-fuelled adventure, second in the Haven series, by top thriller writer Simon Lelic. 

Our city. Our secret. Our rules. 

When pupils start going missing from a prestigious boarding school, Ollie Turner knows it's a job for the Haven. 

Below the city streets, the Haven is a sanctuary for kids run by kids. 

Ollie and the Haven's investigations team put their lives on the line, going undercover to find the missing children. But little do they realise that a deadly enemy awaits them - one with plans to destroy everything they hold dear. 

What they're saying about The Haven:

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Middle Grade Book Picks (8yrs-12yrs) US & UK Published

Ross Welford - What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible - Published by HarperCollins Children's Books - UK (29 Dec. 2016)

From the author of the unforgettable bestseller TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER comes another surprising, beautiful and funny novel about a child who, by disappearing, will write herself into your heart forever…

Turning invisible at will: it’s one way of curing your acne. But far more drastic than 13 year-old Ethel Leatherhead intended when she tried a combination of untested medicines and a sunbed.

It’s fun at first, being invisible. And aided by her friend Boydy, she manages to keep her extraordinary ability secret. Or does she…?

When one day the invisibility fails to wear off, Ethel is thrown into a nightmare of lies and deception as she struggles to keep herself safe, to find the remedy that will make her seen again – and solve the mystery of her own birth…

Eva Howard - League of Archers (League or Archers) - Published by Aladdin  - US (6 Dec. 2016)

A girl on the run after being accused of killing Robin Hood learns what it really means to be a hero in this exciting adventure story. 
That s the girl who killed Robin Hood! Those words send Ellie Dray racing for the forest and the chance to clear her name. 
Twelve-year-old novice nun Elinor Dray has always idolized Robin Hood. She and her friends try to be like him by sneaking out to hunt on the lands belonging to the village Baron, stealing from him to feed their poor neighbors. They call themselves the League of Archers. 
While returning from a hunting trip late one night, Ellie meets a man in the forest a hunter like herself. But suddenly the man is shot with a poisoned arrow. She manages to help him back to the abbey, but it s too late and he dies. Only in his final moments, does Ellie realize that the hunter is Robin Hood, and that the abbess of the nunnery is Maid Marian. 
With her secret revealed, the Baron immediately arrests Marian. But he needs a scapegoat for the murder of Robin Hood, and who better than a young novice nun? Ellie is proclaimed a hero the person who killed the famous outlaw Robin Hood but the villagers don t agree. A mob forms, vowing to hunt Ellie down and exact their own vengeance. 
Will Ellie and her League of Archers be able to find the real killer, free Maid Marian, and keep Robin Hoods legacy alive?

Wade Albert White - The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes - Published by Little, Brown Young Readers - US (29 Dec. 2016) 

Step into a world made up of magickal floating tiers, where fantasy and science fiction meet in dark alleys, dragons aren't nearly as innocent as they look (which is to say, not innocent at all), and nothing is quite what it seems.

Anne has spent all of her nearly thirteen years at Saint Lupin's Institute for Perpetually Wicked and Hideously Unattractive Children, dreaming of wild voyages and looking forward to the day she and her best friend Penelope will board a ship to a better life. But when that day comes, Anne is denied her ticket due to a bureaucratic technicality (and one very determined, possibly evil Matron), and her escape plan sets an epic adventure into motion.

With a mysterious dragon medallion now fused to her right hand, Anne makes her way to a quest academy and discovers that she has been charged with a Rightful Heir Quest. She, Penelope, and new questing partner Hiro have only days to uncover the truth of Anne's quest, and to conquer it. To succeed, they'll have to travel to strange new tiers, solve myriad riddles, and triumph over time, foes, and bureaucracy-or face the horrible consequences.

Packed with action, wit, and endless heart, debut author Wade Albert White brings us the first volume in an irresistible and original new fantasy series (that doesn't take itself too seriously).

Suzanne LaFleur -Beautiful Blue World - Published by Random House Books for Young Readers (12 Dec. 2016)

Beautiful Blue World is a thrilling and moving story of children who become the key to winning a war. 
Sofarende is at war. For twelve-year-old Mathilde, it means food shortages, feuding neighbors, and bombings. Even so, as long as she and her best friend, Megs, are together, they ll be all right. 
But the army is recruiting children, and paying families well for their service. If Megs takes the test, Mathilde knows she will pass. Megs hopes the army is the way to save her family. Mathilde fears it might separate them forever. 
This touching and suspenseful novel is a brilliant reimagining of war, where even kindness can be a weapon, and children have the power to see what adults cannot."

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Mr Ripley's Children's New Book Picks - October 2015 - UK Post

Lara Williamson - The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair - Published by Usborne Publishing Ltd (1 Oct. 2015)
Becket Rumsey is all at sea.
His dad has run away with him and his brother Billy in the middle of the night. And they've left everything behind, including their almost-mum Pearl. Becket has no idea what's going on - it's a mystery.

So with the help of Billy and a snail called Brian, Becket sets out on a journey of discovery. It's not plain sailing but then what journeys ever are?
An extraordinary story of courage, dreams and finding your way, from the bestselling author of A Boy Called Hope.

Chris D'Lacey - The Erth Dragons: Book 1 The Wearle - Published by Orchard Books (1 Oct. 2015) 

The Wearle came to Erth to find out what happened to their previous colony, who never returned. Gabrial, a young blue dragon, is desperate to prove his worth. But the dragons aren't alone in the mountains.

Out beyond the scorch line, Ren, a young hom boy, is fascinated by the 'skalers'. Little does he know that his fate and theirs are linked in ways he could never have imagined.

Alexander Yates - The Winter Place - Published by Simon & Schuster Children's Books (22 Oct. 2015)

When a mysterious stranger and his brown bear show up on the same day that Axel and Tess's father dies in an accident, Axel fears he might be going crazy, especially as only he can see them. However, the strange duo are quickly forgotten when Axel and Tess are shipped off to Finland to stay with grandparents that they've never met. But when they arrive in Finland, Axel is stunned when the stranger and his bear reappear. More incredibly, the stranger tells him that his parents are lost and need help. Desperate to see his father again, and actually meet his mother, Axel follows the man and his bear, disappearing deep into the frozen wilds of northern Finland. When Tess realises that her brother has vanished she's distraught. And so begins the frantic search across snow and ice into the dark forest. But as the hours creep by and with no sign of Axel, Tess begins to wonder if her brother has ventured onto a path that she cannot follow. Delving into the timeless, fantastical world of Nordic mysticism, set against the harsh beauty of a frozen landscape, The Winter Place is an imaginative, beautiful story of loss, love and hope, a story of family, and of a brother and sister who find each other again.

Che Golden - The Raven Queen: The Feral Child Trilogy - Published by  Quercus Books (6 Oct. 2015)
Maddy and her cousins are ready for battle. War in the faerie realm threatens to spill into the human world. The three cousins are determined to protect all they love from the Tuatha, the fearsome faerie leaders. As the Morrighan, the supreme monarch of the Tuatha, awakes, Maddy realises she's going to need more than just physical strength and luck to survive. The Tuath are notorious tricksters, and Maddy will have to outsmart them for good - or else plunge two whole worlds into the darkest chaos.

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: New Middle Grade Children's Book Picks - August 2015 - UK Post One

Curtis Jobling - A New Hero (World of Warriors book 1) - Published by Puffin (6 Aug. 2015)

Richard 'Trick' Hope is used to getting into trouble, but not like this. . .

On the run from bullies, Trick finds himself transported to the mystical Wildlands, a place where the greatest warriors throughout history have been summoned to fight in a battle for survival - from Romans and Vikings to Knights and Samurai!

A cryptic old man tells Trick that he's there for a reason - to deliver the Wildlands from the evil Boneshaker, who rules with an army of terrifying minions. Trick has been chosen to form a band of the seven greatest warriors to defeat this terrible enemy.

As Trick begins his epic quest the stakes couldn't be higher:defeat Boneshaker or never see home again.

Matt Ralphs - Fire Girl - Published by Macmillan Children's Books (13 Aug. 2015)

Twelve-year-old Hazel Hooper has spent her whole life trapped in a magical Glade created by her mother, Hecate. She's desperate to meet new people and find out about the world. And, more than anything, she wants to be a witch. But when her mother is kidnapped by a demon - everything changes . . .

Suddenly Hazel is alone in the world. Well . . . not quite alone. For it turns out that Hazel does have magic - she's just not very good at controlling it. And she may have accidentally created a grumpy familiar in the form of a dormouse called Bramley.

Determined to rescue her mother, the young witch and her mouse set out to track down the demon and find Hecate. However, it turns out that life outside the Glade is far more dangerous than Hazel ever could have imagined. Witch Hunters are everywhere - and the witches are using demons to fight back!

Luckily for Hazel she manages to enlist the help of a handsome boy called David, and his drunken master, Titus White, who are expert demon hunters.

And witch finders . . .

Fire Girl is a fantastic new magical adventure from Matt Ralphs - perfect for young readers with a taste for the extraordinary!

Jacob Grey - The Swarm Descends (Ferals, Book 2) - Published by HarperCollins Children's Books (27 Aug. 2015)

The second book in this gripping, high-impact, high-energy new series.

After the Spinning Man was banished to the Land of the Dead in an epic struggle between good and evil Ferals, Caw’s life has become safer, free of the darkness that had stalked Blackstone for so long. But there’s a new villain in town – and the Mother of Flies will stop at nothing to make crime, corruption and chaos descend once more.

Caw must use every ounce of courage, and every friend he can find, to face-off against some truly terrifying Ferals. Dark family secrets will be revealed – and he will learn to be very careful about who to trust…

Zoe Ferraris - The Galaxy Pirates: Hunt for the Pyxis - Published By Random House Books, (10Aug. 2015)

In this first book of an exciting fantasy-adventure trilogy for young readers, contemporary kids are introduced to a galaxy full of pirates, monkeys, and a colorful cast of other creatures both human and otherwise.

 On the night Emma Garton's supposedly boring parents are kidnapped, she is forced to face the truth: they've been lying to her about many things, including the Pyxis, a mysterious amulet that holds the key to saving another world and worse, they aren't even from planet Earth. 
 
To find her parents, Emma and her best friend, Herbie, must leave Earth and enter the Strands the waterways of space, where huge galleons ply the intergalactic seas. But a journey through the constellations won't be easy not with evil Queen Virgo and every scoundrel in the galaxy determined to find them.
 
In this interstellar adventure, YALSA Alex Award winning author Zoë Ferraris transports readers to a vast, magical universe filled with fantastical creatures, merciless villains, and fearless heroes.

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Children's/Teens Book Picks - July 2015 - UK Post Two

Chris Wooding - Velocity - Published by Scholastic Press (2 July 2015)

Cassica and Shiara have grown up in an outback settlement far from anywhere. Life's hard where they live, but these two girls have a dream. They want to take on the Widowmaker: an off-road rally through some of the most dangerous places on Earth. It's their ticket to fame and fortune. But it just might be the death of them...

Kevin Brooks - The Snake Trap ( Travis Delaney Investigates ) Published by Macmillan Children's Books (2 July 2015)

Following a death-defying escape from the hands of a criminal overlord, young PI Travis Delaney thinks he might finally be getting closer to finding out who killed his parents, and why. But things are about to get a whole lot more deadly . . .

One moment Travis is trapped in an armed face-off in the offices of Delaney & Co, private investigators. The next terrorists have stormed the building and he's been abducted. Kept captive alongside Winston, the rogue security officer who Travis believes is responsible for his parents' death, Travis is quickly plagued by more questions than answers.

As the truth begins to emerge, Travis is faced with the ultimate dilemma: how do you choose between saving your own life or saving the life of someone you love?

Lu Hersey - Deep Water - Published by Usborne Publishing Ltd (1 July 2015)

When her mum vanishes, Danni moves to a tiny Cornish fishing village with Dad - where the locals treat her like a monster. As the village's dark, disturbing past bubbles to the surface, Danni discovers that she's not who - or what - she thought she was. And the only way to save her family from a bitter curse is to embrace her incredible new gift.

David Hofmeyr - Stone Rider - Published by Penguin (16 July 2015)

Adam Stone wants freedom and peace. 

He wants a chance to escape Blackwater, the dust-bowl desert town he grew up in. Most of all, he wants the beautiful Sadie Blood.

Alongside Sadie and the dangerous outsider, Kane, Adam will ride the Blackwater Trail in a brutal race that will test them all, body and soul. Only the strongest will survive.

The prize? A one-way ticket to Sky-Base and unimaginable luxury.

And for a chance at this new life, Adam will risk everything . 

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Children's/Teens Book Picks - July 2015 - UK Post One

Robin Stevens - First Class Murder: A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery - Published by Corgi Children's (30 July 2015)
This book is from the author of Murder Most Unladylike. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday on the world-famous Orient Express. From the moment the girls step aboard, it's clear that each of their fellow first-class passengers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: rumour has it that there is a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, there is a scream from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered, her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer is nowhere to be seen - as if they had vanished into thin air. Daisy and Hazel are faced with their first ever locked-room mystery - and with competition from several other sleuths, who are just as determined to crack the case.

Shane Hegarty - Worlds Explode: Darkmouth BK 2 - Published by HarperCollins Children's Books (30 July 2015)

The second book in the monstrously funny and action-packed new series: Darkmouth. It’s going to be legendary. The adventures of the most unfortunate Legend Hunter ever to don fighting armour and pick up a Dessicator continue…

On a list of things Finn never thought he'd wish for, a gateway bursting open in Darkmouth was right up there. But that's about his only hope for finding his missing father. He's searched for a map, he's followed Steve into dead ends, but found nothing. And he's still got homework to do.

But soon Finn and Emmie must face bizarre Legends, a ravenous world and a face from the past as they go where no Legend Hunter has gone before. Or, at least, where no legend Hunter has gone before and returned with their limbs in the correct order.

Emma Carroll - In Darkling Wood - Published by Faber & Faber (2 July 2015)

'You're telling me there are fairies in this wood?'

When Alice's brother gets a longed-for chance for a heart transplant, Alice is suddenly bundled off to her estranged grandmother's house. There's nothing good about staying with Nell, except for the beautiful Darkling Wood at the end of her garden - but Nell wants to have it cut down. Alice feels at home there, at peace, and even finds a friend, Flo. But Flo doesn't seem to go to the local school and no one in town has heard of a girl with that name. When Flo shows Alice the surprising secrets of Darkling Wood, Alice starts to wonder, what is real? And can she find out in time to save the wood from destruction?

Leo Hunt - 13 Days of Midnight - Published by Orchard Books (2 July 2015)

When Luke Manchett's estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father's ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they're more than happy to take his son. It isn't fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead.

Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching. With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: New Children's/Teen Book Picks - June 2015 - UK Post One

David Almond - A Song for Ella Grey - Published by Hodder Children's Books (4 Jun. 2015)

I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both... knew how they lived and how they died.

Claire is Ella Grey's best friend. She's there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene: catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges and ancient collapsed mines. She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured and taken from her. But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world. This is her story - as she bears witness to a love so complete; so sure, that not even death can prove final.

Eoin Colfer - The Forever Man ( W.A.R.P. Book 3) - Published by Puffin (23 Jun. 2015)

You can't outrun your own history . . .

Still trapped in Victorian London, FBI agent Chevie Savano is determined to help her friend Riley find his long-lost brother. But the WARP wormhole has other ideas . . .

Pulled two centuries into the past, Chevie and Riley find themselves in the village of Mandrake. Under siege from prowling monsters that have escaped from the wormhole, the village's only protector is the sinister Witchfinder - a man with a hidden past and deadly powers.

With Chevie branded a witch and sentenced to be burned at the stake, can Riley thwart the Witchfinder's plans before he destroys them all?

Lucy Saxon - The Almost King ( Take Back the Skies 2) - Published by Bloomsbury Children's (4 Jun. 2015)

Thrilling, edge-of-seat fantasy adventure from the author of Take Back the Skies. Set in the same world, but with a new hero and an action-packed dramatic story ...

Aleks Vasin is the youngest of four brothers, each with his path mapped out. But Aleks doesn't want to work in his father's shop in a village in the westernmost corner of Siberene for the rest of his life. Tired of being picked on and treated like the runt of the family, he decides to save his parents the cost of his keep and leave. First he heads south - though everyone tells him not to - to Rudavin, headquarters of the Kingsguard. He signs up for the army, little knowing what brutality it entails. After only a few weeks, Aleks realises that this garrison is full of liars and thieves; he's signed away four years of his life to a commander who steals his money and a captain whose only goal is power. This is not a noble destiny. After a brutal beating, Aleks escapes into the night, hoping to find safety and a new life somewhere in the north. And there, this deserter finds LOVE, ADVENTURE and a SKYSHIP in which he might just prove himself a hero after all ...

Helen Falconer - The Changeling - Published by Corgi Childrens (4 Jun. 2015)

Some of us are born to be magic.

Aoife is an ordinary teenager, hanging out with her childhood friend Carla, putting up with school. The worst she has to contend with is that the boy of Carla’s dreams is trying to get off with her instead.

But then, after chasing a lost little girl no one seems to be able to see, Aoife starts to develop mysterious powers. Eventually her parents confess that she isn’t their real daughter. Their human child was stolen by the fairies, and Aoife is the changeling left behind in her place.

Shocked and disorientated, Aoife turns to Shay, the taciturn farmer’s son who is the only person who might believe her story. Together, they embark on a dangerous journey, which takes them deep into the underworld and changes everything they thought they knew about fairies.

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Children's Middle Grade Book Picks - May 2015 - US POST ONE

Jonathan Auxier - The Night Gardener - Published by Harry N. Abrams (May 5, 2015)
The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its inhabitants are not quite what they seem. Soon, the children are confronted by a mysterious stranger—and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives.

A mesmerizing read and a testament to the magical power of storytelling, The Night Gardener is a spine-chilling fable in the tradition of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe.

K . L . Armstrong & M . A . Marr -  Thor's Serpents (The Blackwell Pages) - Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 19, 2015)

For fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the thrilling conclusion to The Blackwell Pages, written by New York Times bestselling YA authors, K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr.

Thirteen-year-olds Matt, Laurie, and Fen have beaten near-impossible odds to assemble their fellow descendants of the Norse Gods and complete epic quests. Their biggest challenge lies ahead: battling the fierce monsters working to bring about the apocalypse.

But when they learn that Matt must fight the Midgard Serpent alone and Fen and Laurie are pulled in other directions, the friends realize they can't take every step of this journey together. Matt, Laurie, and Fen will each have to fight their own battles to survive, to be true to themselves, and to one another - with nothing less than the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

Polly Holyoke - The Neptune Challenge - Published by  Disney-Hyperion (May 19, 2015)

Danger lurks beneath. . . . 

Genetically engineered to survive in the ocean, Nere and her friends are recovering from their treacherous journey to Safety Harbor, an undersea refuge founded by the scientists of the Neptune Project. But plenty of enemies prowl just outside the colony's boundaries, and when two of the children are kidnapped, Nere, her loyal dolphins, and the other Neptune kids must set out on an expedition even more perilous than their first.

Tasked with infiltrating the kidnapper's high-tech undersea base, Nere soon discovers that rescuing the missing Neptune kids isn't all there is to her mission: the secret to saving the world's oceans is hidden somewhere deep inside this vast fortress, and she and her friends will have to risk everything to find it. 

With bloodthirsty shark mutates and savage kids roaming the corridors, will Nere and her companions find a way to save their friends, themselves, and their underwater world? The stakes couldn't be higher in this thrilling sequel to the award-winning The Neptune Project. 

Claudia White - Servalius Window - Published by MP Publishing Ltd (May 18, 2015)
Servalius Window is a story of destiny, change, knowledge and time, combining the ancient story of Gilgamesh and Chinese Proverbs to tell the story of two worlds inextricably linked: Servalius and Earth. Written in three parts, with the first part on Servalius, the reader learns of a perfectly ordered world where everything and everyone lives according to their destined journey. Servalians have no knowledge of their celestial journey that began on Earth but celebrate the images of the Earth’s vibrancy through Enya Harding’s art and Alfred Canat’s music. But when twelve year old Mia learns that she does not fit into her destined path things change forever… In part two, the reader is introduced to Indigo Jasper, a friend of Felix Hutton who is gifted with strange and unexplained memories and extraordinary knowledge. Felix knows that Indigo is different from his other classmates but believes that her exceptional intelligence is what sets her apart until she and everything associated with her ceases to exist and only Felix and other Athenites can remember her at all. Part three involves the reappearance of Indigo’s ghostly form as she provides some of the answers to her mysterious disappearance, her travels on Earth and what awaits her when she returns to Servalius (as Mia) having completed this part of her destined journey…  

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Book Picks: Children's and Teens May 2015 - UK Post One

Jason Rohan - The Shield of Kuromori - Published by Egmont (7 May 2015)

Science meets Myth when ogres armed with high-tech weaponry steal a huge telescope as part of an insane plan to cast the world into permanent darkness. With global catastrophe looming, Kenny and Kiyomi take the fight to the enemy, even if it means going out of this world.

But all is not well between the friends. Kiyomi's behaviour is growing increasingly erratic and it soon becomes clear that her life - and her humanity - are in danger. Kenny is faced with an impossible choice - does he save his friend or fulfil his duty?

A . F. Harrold - Fizzlebert Stump and the Girl Who Lifted Quite Heavy Things - Published by Bloomsbury Children's (12 Feb. 2015)

It's the great Circus of Circuses competition, and Fizzlebert Stump has no act. He's no longer the Boy Who Puts His Head In The Lion's Mouth (the lion retired) and putting his head in a crocodile's mouth instead didn't work out for some reason. Can Fizz find a new act in time? Can the Bearded Boy find his long-lost parents? And can their new friend Alice, professional flower-arranger and secret Strongwoman, find her rightful place in the circus?

Paul Magrs - Lost on Mars - Published by Firefly Press Ltd (14 May 2015)

With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, third generation human settlers on the red planet who are struggling to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding in the desert landscape, surviving storms and sinister rumours of un- explained disappearances until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear themselves, Lora's family is driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find the beautiful, dangerous City Inside.

Heather Brewer - The Cemetery Boys - Published by HarperTeen (7 May 2015)

 Part Hitchcock, part Hinton, this first-ever stand-alone novel from Heather Brewer, New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, uses classic horror elements to tell a darkly funny coming-of-age story about the dangerous power of belief and the cost of blind loyalty.

When Stephen's dad says they're moving, Stephen knows it's pointless to argue. They're broke from paying Mom's hospital bills, and now the only option left is to live with Stephen's grandmother in Spencer, a backward small town that's like something out of The Twilight Zone. Population: 814.

Stephen's summer starts looking up when he meets punk girl Cara and her charismatic twin brother, Devon. With Cara, he feels safe and understood—and yeah, okay, she's totally hot. In Devon and his group, he sees a chance at making real friends. Only, as the summer presses on, and harmless nights hanging out in the cemetery take a darker turn, Stephen starts to suspect that Devon is less a friend than a leader. And he might be leading them to a very sinister end. . .