When Mum gives her the notebook, Scarlet should be happy. It's beautiful, with its shiny scarlet cover and its blank pages full of promise. But Scarlet is absolutely NOT in the mood for a peace offering.Does Mum really think she can tear their family apart and expect Scarlet to be happy about it?Scarlet decides there's only one thing she can write in the notebook. The truth, about everything . . .

A travesty. A violation. An ecstasy. A disappointment. An instant. A lie. A theft. A rite of passage. Whatever you call it, there's only one first time.A.S. King, Melvin Burgess, Keith Gray, Patrick Ness, Anne Fine, Sophie McKenzie, Bali Rai, Jenny Valentine, Mary Hooper, and Andrew Smith. Some of today's leading international YA authors contributed to this hard-hitting collection of original short stories: some funny, some moving, some haunting, but all revolving around the same su...

"... there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it." When Pollyanna Whittier's father dies she is sent to live with her Aunt Polly in Beldingsville in Vermont. A clash of personalities ensues as Pollyanna's sunny disposition sits ill with her aunt's need for quiet, her passion for shutting windows and her obsession with quietly shut doors. The key to Pollyanna's happiness is The Glad Game. No matter how dark the situation it is a...

The portrait of a beautiful girl with tumbling red hair takes on sinister undertones in this unnerving tale from much-loved, multi-award-winning author Anne Fine.Jess’s mum is furious when she discovers a muddy, football-shaped splodge on her bedroom wall and sends Jess on a mission to find something to cover it up. Luckily, Jess manages to bag a bargain in her local charity shop: a beautiful portrait of a girl with tumbling red hair in a frame exactly the right si...

Skye and Harry discover Gran isn’t quite as strict as Dad makes out in this funny family story from multi-award-winning author Anne Fine.Skye and Harry are dreading going to visit their gran, as Dad says she was so strict when he was young. He had to do lots of chores, wasn’t allowed much screen time and only had sweet treats on a Sunday! But when they arrive, Gran is much more chilled out than they were expecting. She lets them relax in the garden and play on thei...

A change in classroom seating arrangements challenges old habits and leads to a new friendship in this funny new school story from award-winning author Anne Fine.At first Ben doesn’t want to sit next to Alice in the classroom. She’s scary and tells him off for his squiggly drawing and poor handwriting. She even points out his bad table manners. But when Ben starts to take Alice’s advice, he realises that she might have a point and discovers that sitting next to her isn’t so bad aft...

Lovers, colleagues, family - Tilly has always been brilliant at pushing people in and out of her life exactly as it suits her. Then along comes Geoffrey, gentle, compassionate, generous to a fault, with his miserable little children and his manipulative ex-wife.Tilly's own expertise in the arts of deception and avoidance should be enough to make sure she's always one step ahead of Geoffrey's disastrous, crumbling family. But time and again she finds herself staying, brought down by...

Reissued for the Originals series of powerful teen fiction.Nobody wants Tulip in their gang.She skives off school, cheeks the teachers and makes herself unpopular with her classmates by telling awful lies.None of this matters to Natalie who finds Tulip exciting.At first she doesn't care that other people are upset and unnerved by Tulip's bizarre games, but as the games become increasingly sinister a...

A classic children’s story from one of our best-loved authors, former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine.Lancelot’s lovely teacher, Miss Mirabelle, is in big trouble. She’s told a giant whopper and unless she can come up with a brilliant plan, she’s going to look very, very silly. Can Lancelot help this damsel in distress? Little does he know that Ivan will leave a lasting influence, and that he himself will never enjoy listening to nursery rhymes ever again …Anne Fine’s fun sch...

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...

A classic children’s book from best-loved Bill's New Frock author, former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine. Perfect for readers aged between 7 and 9 and fans of The Midnight Gang and Pamela Butchart's Wigglesbottom Primary series.It’s Ivan’s first day at his new school, and Boris is told to look after him, and translate for him, because Ivan can only speak Russian. After all, St Edmund’s is a civilized school. Only problem is, Ivan isn’t civilized. So when Ivan starts greeting people ...

A classic children’s story from one of our best-loved authors, former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine.Chester Howard can see Joe’s project ‘How to Write Neatly’ can only be a disaster. Joe makes a terrible mess of his work, jumbling letters and numbers up together. But a project called ‘How to Write Really Badly’ – now there’s something Joe can do better than anyone else. And Chester is about to find there’s a lot more to Joe than he expected …Anne Fine’s fun school stories h...