When the book opens Eve, who is the narrator ,is just coming into consciousness. She has been given by God to the Serpent to raise. Her sense of wonder as the Serpent introduces her to life in Paradise is a strength of the book; she learns about nature, love and the way that the new and fascinating world works. When...

'Characterful, page-turning drama and a vivid mixture of research and imagination' - The Sunday Times A gripping tale of a group of larger-than-life con artists who roam the streets of eighteenth-century London. Cato Hopkins is the youngest member of Mother Hopkins's 'family' - a group of skilled fraudsters and pickpockets. There's Addy, who can become a very convincing boy when...

If Mrs Tischbein had known the amazing adventures her son Emil would have in Berlin, she'd never have let him go. Unfortunately, when his seven pounds goes missing on the train, Emil is determined to get it back - and when he teams up with the detectives he meets in Berlin, it's just the start of a marvellous money-retrieving adventure...

Anne of Ingleside is the sixth volume of the adventures of red-haired Anne Shirley. Anne, now Mrs Doctor Blythe, is still sometimes as impetuous as when she was the girl from Green Gables. But with six lively children and hard-worked Gilbert to look after - not to mention Gilbert's disapproving aunt, Anne has to be practical too. Especially when the...

A thrilling, poignant story of hope and loss set during World War 1, from Carnegie Medal-winning author Theresa Breslin. Nobody believes in ghosts until they see one . . . The war has changed everything for Rob and Millie. Their father is missing in action and they are terrified they’ll never see him again. Then one night, deep in the...

LOST IN THE DESERT! It's the Second World War and Biggles is in the desert, defending the vital air-route from the West coast of Africa to the Middle East. Urgent stores, dispatches and important officials and officers are regularly flown over this route, but lately a number of planes have unaccountably failed to arrive at their destinations. They've disappeared on...

Ten years after the school at Plumfield was founded, Jo's boys - including wanderer Dan, sailor Emil and musician Nat - are grown up and discovering more about the world. But life after childhood can be confusing and frightening, and it is Jo and the warm-hearted March family who can comfort and guide the boys when they need it the...

Pretty Thumbelina is the size of a thumb! Find out what happens when she meets lots of strange characters. The classic fairy tale, retold especially for Read it yourself with Ladybird. Read it yourself with Ladybird is one of Ladybird's best-selling reading series. For over thirty-five years it has helped young children who are learning to read develop and improve...

The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll by Aingelda Ardizzone and illustrated by Edward Ardizzone has been delighting generations of children. There was once a tiny doll who belonged to a girl who did not care for dolls. One day when the little girl was shopping in the supermarket with her mother, she threw the tiny doll into a deep...

‘We always allow one pillow-fight Saturday night’ Did you ever wonder what happened to Jo March from Little Women? She grew up, of course, and followed her dream to become a writer. In addition, she opened a school, home to her two children and twelve other boys. There’s accident-prone Tommy, bookish Demi, and greedy Stuffy. Into this large, unusual family...

When Nick Spencer stumbles upon Bargains, the odd little back street shop seems like the perfect place to buy the present he's been searching for. And when the shopkeeper wants to take some of Nick's artwork instead of money for payment, he's even happier. But Nick soon realizes that the deal he's made is not quite the bargain he thought...

Kenny Wright is a sixth grade 'Grandma's Boy' in a tough inner city school, struggling with bullies, schoolwork and keeping his detentions secret from his 'G-ma'. Though in his active imagination he's a world-famous superhero, Stainlezz Steel, who fights crime, saves lives and rescues helpless animals. But now Kenny’s neighbourhood need him – can he step up in his real...

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES by Erich Kastner has been in print ever since it was first published in 1928. Young Emil is robbed on his first real railway journey of money entrusted to him by his hard-working mother for the relatives he is to stay with in Berlin. A gang of boys about his own age come to his aid,...

A TRAVELLER IN TIME by Alison Uttley is a much-loved time-slip novel which vividly captures life at the time of Mary, Queen of Scots. Penelope lives in the 20th Century, and it is only when she visits Thackers, a remote, ancient farmhouse, that she finds herself travelling back in time to join the lives of the Babington family, and watching...

The inhabitants of Halcyon Island are ruled by the laws of the Deliverer and follow the same customs and traditions that have prevailed for hundreds of years. The laws state 'No incomers', but when Thomas and Molly find a shipwrecked canoe with a boy and girl, barely alive, inside they are determined not to reject them outright. New blood on...