'The new wooden soldier was screaming. His eyes were huge holes, his mouth like a wound. He seemed to be stretching his hands towards the sky. 'He's laughing,' said Auntie. 'Johnny, he's 'laughing''.'

It's 1914 and Johnny's father has gone to war, to the mud and the trenches of France. He has made Johnny an army of toy soldiers, and Johnny fights hard with them, like a real soldier, like his dad.

But soon, the letters that arrive from France tell the ugly truth – and the new soldiers Johnny's father carves and encloses begin to show the strain. Suddenly Johnny is afraid. When he fights his battles out in the garden, could he be controlling his father's fate, and even the outcome of the war itself?

A modern-day adventure and classic in the making, in the vein of "The Call of the Wild, " "Hatchet, " and "The Cay, " by award-winning author Iain Lawrence.

Less than forty-eight hours after twelve-year-old Chris sets off on a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they ve got to forage, fish, and scavenge the shore for supplies. Chris likes the company of a curious, friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive.

Because as the days get colder and the salmon migration ends, survival will take more than sheer force of will. Eventually, in the wilderness of Alaska, the boys discover an improbable bond and the compassion that might truly be the path to rescue.

?Steer clear of that ship,? warns the mysterious gentleman who shares the coach to Dover with John Spencer and his father. ?Death she?ll bring you. It?s the way of a ship that was christened in blood.?

This is an ominous introduction to the schooner John is about to be entrusted with for a voyage north to London. But he?s too charmed by the pretty Dragon to heed the advice. The ship looks clever and quick, and John, now sixteen, can?t wait to sail her. She was a smugglers? vessel once, but that was in the past. Now she?s the Spencers? Dragon, and she will proudly carry wool for honest trade.

But soon John will be forced to consider the gentleman?s warning. Could a ship that?s seen a smuggling run truly be spoiled for anything else? And what does John really know about his ?bonny? crew of four?

Alive with breathtaking action and unforgettable characters, this companion to The Wreckers is masterfully entertaining ? a rousing nautical adventure full of danger and surprise.