From the bestselling author of Darwin's Dragons comes a high-stakes aquatic adventure, perfect for fans of The Murderer's Ape! England, 1893, and aquarium fever is at its height. Twelve-year-old Vinnie Fyfe works in the tea-shop at Brighton aquarium, and waits for her milliner mother to return from Paris. The arrival of a giant octopus changes her life for ever. Discovering a talent for art, Vinnie begins to draw the extraordinary beast. She soon realises she can communicate with the octopus through colour and - as a gripping mystery begins to unfold - discovers what true courage really means ... The second middle-grade historical adventure by critically acclaimed Lindsay Galvin, author of Darwin's Dragons A gripping Victorian mystery with a touching connection between a young girl and an octopus at its heart Strong STEM and natural history themes with an underwater twist Effortlessly blends exciting adventure with a rip-roaring historical mystery and non-fiction elements PRAISE FOR DARWIN'S DRAGONS: 'A striking and original adventure ... just the sort of story I love.' EMMA CARROLL 'WHAT a voyage! [Darwin's Dragons] is everything you hope it will be ...' LUCY STRANGE '[A] beautifully fictionalised story' THE TELEGRAPH

From the author of The Accidental Stowaway, it's 1950s London and Caro Monday and her friends have become embroiled in a dangerous art heist! When Caro Monday's mother disappears on one of her jaunts, she has no choice but to go and stay with a miserable woman that she's never met. Not only that but she's told that her beloved rabbit, His Nibs, is not allowed to go with her. Luckily, Caro's not one for following rules. With her rabbit in hiding, and her wild behaviour getting her into trouble as soon as she walks through the door, Caro is only going to find herself in deeper water. In the lining of her suitcase is a small but extraordinary painting of a thrush . . . a painting that some dangerous art thieves are hunting down! Can Caro and her friends solve the mystery of the stolen songbird and find its owners before it's too late? Here ensues an exciting dash across London, with twists and turns as plentiful as the cobbled streets which Caro and her friends must navigate!

My Story: Ignatius Sancho is the extraordinary true story of a young boy's life: a slave, a servant, a business owner, a campaigner, a composer, a writer. Greenwich 1738, and eight-year-old Ignatius lives with three sisters. Not as a member of their family, but more or less a pet - a toy. He serves them breakfast, lunch and dinner, fetches and carries, does their bidding and all without thanks or a smile. He lives with the constant possibility of being sent away to a sugar plantation - to endure back-breaking work away from everything and everyone he has ever known. When the threat of being sent back to the West Indies to be enslaved on a plantation becomes suddenly all too real, Ignatius must escape and start to build a real and brilliant life for himself. an inspirational story based on real life perfect for anyone wanting to understand more about Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade an empowering and important read. "I have to sit down. I need to wipe my eyes. Imagine, me, the little boy who slaved for the sisters and had to fight so hard to be able to read and write, has become the first black man to have a say in who governs England." Experience history first-hand with My Story.

Sally J. Freedman loves making up stories - stories in which she is always the star of her own lavish film spectaculars. But when her close-knit family is separated because of her brother's illness, even Sally's daydreams are not enough to comfort her. With her beloved father left behind in New Jersey, a winter in the Florida sunshine seems gloomy, and the cramped and dingy flat can't compare with her comfortable home, or her new classmates with her old friends. Worst of all it is 1947 and Sally is convinced that Adolf Hitler is alive and living in Miami Beach . . . Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, by bestselling author Judy Blume, is a insightful story which speaks directly to children in Judy Blume's inimitable style.

In early-nineteenth century Scotland, sixteen-year-old Josie, an orphan, is sent to live with an aunt and uncle on the rocky, stormy northwest coast. Everything and everyone in her new surroundings, including her relatives, is sinister, threatening, and mysterious. She's told that Eli, the young man she's attracted to, is forbidden to her, but not why. Spirited, curious, and determined, Josie sets out to learn the village's secrets and discovers evil, fueled by heartless greed, as well as a ghostly presence eager for revenge. An author's note gives the historical inspiration for this story.

Double the trouble! An original novel by Michael Rosen, told alongside the Dickens classic that inspired it: Oliver Twist. Shona and her dad are moving house, and at Shona's new school, the rules are pretty confusing; she keeps getting into trouble without realizing! It's a lot like how it is for Oliver Twist, that boy she's reading about in English class. After Shona is unexpectedly given a mobile phone, she begins to suspect there's something fishy about the new boys she's met. Where did the phone come from? And some gifts, she soon learns, aren't exactly free... Read two stories at once - both illustrated by Tony Ross.