A compelling story full of magic and music.Sylvie Bartram lives alone with Mr. Jackson the dog and her eccentric composer father, who invents strange and wonderful musical instruments. One day she returns from school to find a message left in toothpaste on the bathroom mirror: her father has been kidnapped. Later that night, the house is visited by a terrifying apparition—a half-man, half-creature who is searching for something and will not rest until he has found it. . . ...

Brett Dalton is a tough guy - hardened, angry, uncaring and always ready to use his fists. When the world hates you, you might as well hate it back...But when Brett is busted by the cops for stealing and sent to The Farm for rehab, there are no fences to keep him in and anger gets in his way - but so does love. Brett's trapped in a grave new world, a world where he's not hardened at all; he's raw.

Winner of the Fidler Award, this is a compelling, globally successful book about becoming a refugee, told with compassion and hope.War and drought have come to Tiger's country. Just before Tiger's family leaves, Tiger finds a fish struggling for life in a drying-up puddle - and rescues it. And so they set off on a dangerous journey across the mountains, with only what they can carry on their backs - the fish's grip on survival mirroring their own.Critically acclaimed for it...

Gemma longs for her lost mother, taking comfort from the cuttings in her scrapbook; pictures of mothers who loved their children come what may.Mike is new to the area; a boy with a terrible secret to hide. A secret about his missing mother.Gemma and Mike - two kids hurt by their past and now inextricably linked. Their effect on each other's lives will be explosive.

William and Pat receive a mysterious text message pleading for help from a girl in a deep coma. They try to help, but a disastrous mix up occurs, and William ends up trapped in her body, leading him to difficult and sometimes comedic situations. The situation becomes even more desperate when Pat falls in love with Stephanie. The boys confront awesome challenges and meet with an unexpected enemy.

Grandpa is dying. He can barely move his hands any more but, stubborn as ever, refuses to stay in hospital. He's determined to finish his last painting, 'River Boy', before he goes. At first Jess can't understand his refusal to let go, but then she too becomes involved in the mysterious painting. And when she meets the river boy himself, she finds she is suddenly caught up in a challenge of her own that she must complete - before it's too late . . .

Best friends, betrayal and bitchiness. It's all part of surviving year nine . . .Holly might be new, but she already knows who to watch out for: Jess Flynn, the most popular girl in year nine. Holly's best friend back in Melbourne, Calypso, says Jess is a liar, a shoplifter and a boyfriend-stealer. Calypso wants revenge for her ex-friend's betrayal, and Holly's only too happy to oblige.But it's not proving easy to follow Calypso's plan and catch Jess out. A...

Newbery Honor BookNew York Times BestsellerThis impassioned, uplifting, and virtuosic tour de force from a treasured storyteller follows three children, in three different times and places, whose lives mysteriously intersect.Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica.

In the tradition of High Fidelity and Empire Records, this is the literary soundtrack to Skylark Martin’s strange, mysterious, and extraordinary summer.This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything.It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old...

A black tunnel began to form around me. My room started to spin. Desperately I tried to cry out but I couldn't make a sound. Then, like shattering glass, I crashed straight through the tunnel and out to the other side.Propelled out of his safe, ordinary world, Andrew is caught in the midst of a desolate city, torn apart by vicious gang wars. Here, the rules of survival are simple – you follow the pack, or you die.Dragged into one gang's brutal takeover campaign, Andr...

A classic children’s story from one of our best-loved authors, former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine.Anneli hates art. She doesn’t like looking at it or thinking about it, and when the paints come out in the art class at school, she just can’t stand it. But behind a hidden door in her house, Anneli finds a painting that draws her into an extraordinary story …Anne Fine’s fun school stories have been delighting children for more than 20 years, winning her awards such as the Sm...

Once there was a girl named Harper who had a rare musical gift. She heard songs on the wind, rhythms on the rain, and hope in the beat of a butterfly’s wing.Harper lives in the City of Clouds, an enchanting place where it rains every day and an umbrella is always a good idea. With her Aunt Sassy, her beloved cat, Midnight, and all of her neighbors in the Tall Apartment Block, every day is full of possibility.But when every cat in the city goes missing-including Mid...