Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Dylan is the only boy living in the tiny Welsh town of Manod. His parents run the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage - and when he's not trying to persuade his sisters to play football, Dylan is in charge of the petrol log. And that means he gets to keep track of everyone coming in and out of Manod - what car they drive, what they're called, even their favourite flavour of crisps.

But when a mysterious convoy of lorries trundles up the misty mountainside towards an old, disused mine, even Dylan is confounded. Who are these people - and what have they got to hide?

A story inspired by a press cutting describing how, during WWII, the treasured contents of London's National Gallery were stored in Welsh slate mines. Once a month, a morale-boosting masterpiece would be unveiled in the village and then returned to London for viewing. This is a funny and touching exploration of how Art - its beauty and its value - touches the life of one little boy and his big family in a very small town.

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The screenwriter is amazed that he won the Carnegie medal for his first children's book, Millions, he tells Helen Brown.

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

'A thrilling story that mixes historic realism, credible characters and the dreamy, sometimes violent, dimension of a netherworld. The two blend seamlessly in this gripping and orginal story that abounds with gritty suspense. An excellent read.' Mary Arrigan, SUNDAY TRIBUNE

I am Coriander Hobie.

I was born in the year of Our Lord 1643, the only child of Thomas and Eleanor Hobie, in our great house on the River Thames in London.

Of my early years I remember only happiness. That was before I knew this world had such evil in it, and that my fate was to be locked up in a chest and left to die.

This is my story. This is my life.
The story is told by Coriander, daughter of a silk merchant in 1650s London. Her idyllic childhood ends when her mother dies and her father goes away, leaving Coriander with her stepmother, a widow who is in cahoots with a fundamentalist Puritan preacher. She is shut away in a chest and left to die, but emerges into the fairy world from which her mother came, and where time has no meaning. When she returns, charged with a task that will transform her life, she is seventeen.

This is a book filled with enchantments -- a pair of silver shoes, a fairy shadow, a prince transformed into a fox - that contrast with the heartbreaking loss and cruelty of Coriander's life in the real world. With its brilliantly realized setting of old London Bridge, and underpinned by the conflict between Royalists and Puritans, it is a terrific page turner, involving kidnapping, murder and romance, and an abundance of vivid characters. Coriander is a heroine to love. Her story will establish Sally Gardner as a children's writer of boundless imagination and originality.

About the Author

Sally Gardner trained at art college and went on to work in the theatre, winning awards for her costume designs for some notable productions. After her twin daughters and her son were born she started to illustrate children's books, and then turned to writing. She lives in north London.

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Ever heard of a dyslexic novelist? Sally Gardner changed her name because she couldn't spell it. So how does she manage to write novels?

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

‘This is a fantastic, exciting and completely original novel. From fairies with machine guns to trolls on the rampage, this book will capture the imagination of every child who reads it. It will be a massive hit. I for one cannot wait for the sequel...’ Jo Edwards, Children’s Fiction Buyer, W.H. Smith

Twelve-year-old villain, Artemis Fowl, is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. His bold and daring plan is to hold a leprechaun to ransom. But he's taking on more than he bargained for when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit). For a start, leprechaun technology is more advanced than our own. Add to that the fact that Holly is a true heroine and that her senior officer Commander Root will stop at nothing to get her back and you've got the mother of all sieges brewing!


Eoin Colfer describes his creation as "Die Hard with fairies". He's not far wrong. Artemis Fowl hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn't foolish enough to believe in all that "gold at the end of the rainbow" nonsense. Rather, he knows that the only way to separate the little people from their stash is to kidnap one of their number and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put his plan into action he reckons without Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit--a sort of extra small Clarice Starling with pointy ears and wings--and her senior officer Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf) who will stop at nothing to get her back.

Fantastic stuff from beginning to end, Artemis Fowl is a rip-roaring, 21st-century romp of the highest order. The author has let his imagination run riot by combining folklore, fantasy and a fistful of high-tech funk in an outrageously devilish book that could well do for fairies what Harry Potter has done for wizardry. But be warned: this is no gentle frolic so don't be fooled by the fairy subject matter. Instead what we have here is well written, sophisticated, rough and tumble storytelling with enough high-octane attitude to make it a seriously cool read for anyone over the age of 10.
Susan Harrison

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Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

New York Times #1 Children's Bestseller

When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider finds his world turned upside down. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission to Cornwall, where Middle-Eastern multi-billionaire Herod Sayle is producing his state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers. Sayle has offered to give one free to every school in the country - but there's more to the gift than meets the eye...

Spies are great currency for exciting storylines, but few authors manage to successfully concoct realistic scenarios for a willing readership expecting chases, gunshots and thrills aplenty. In the first of what could easily become his most memorable series of novels to date, Anthony Horowitz has added a tongue-in-cheek quality to Stormbreaker that lifts it above several others in the same genre.

Horowitz knows that his main character, 14-year-old Alex Rider, is a normal teenager and he never forgets this when he thrusts his young hero into the thick of several truly edge-of-seat scenarios. There is humour alongside the action too--some great characters and cutting one-liners--that helps to ensure that entertainment is high on the agenda throughout.
Orphan Alex thought he knew his Uncle Ian Rider - until the elusive banker is killed in a tragic car accident.
 
Immediately, Alex's life starts to get stranger by the day as his guardian's friends and colleagues start showing up and contradicting everything Alex thought he knew about the man he'd called Dad for so long. Maybe Ian Rider was not a banker after all? Surely the bullet holes in his Uncle's totalled car reveal that he had not died in an accident, but was murdered? Everything is explained when Alex decides to track down Ian Rider's real employers, but Alex is in for a surprise when they decide to contact him. The truth is hard to take, but maybe by following in his uncle's secret footsteps he might get the chance for revenge.
 
Stormbreaker is a refreshingly energetic yarn that is required reading for fans of the contemporary thriller.
John McLay

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SilverFin by Charlie Higson

'Charlie Higson shakes up the familiar elements to produce a most satisfying cocktail in his story of the young 007.' Philip Ardagh, The Guardian

Meet Bond...James Bond...

James Bond is, without doubt, the daddy of all literary spies. His name is synonymous with intrigue and adventure, action and old-fashioned derring-do. So Silverfin, the first in a series of Charlie Higson’s fully authorised prequels to the most famous of all British Secret Service agents, has mightily big boots to fill.

Fortunately, Higson is a genuine Bond aficionado who has remained true to the style of Ian Fleming’s creation, and his legend, to create an authentic story featuring a teenage Bond that should not disappoint other equally appreciative fans.

After a supremely scary opening sequence featuring some terrifying mutated eels and a gruesome death, Bond’s early days at Eton in the 30’s as a thirteen-year-old are the focus for the first third of the book. Since the death of his parents in a climbing accident, James had previously been educated at home by his aunt. The alien world of this infamous public school is a new world for him and he makes enemies immediately. But young James is not without a backbone of his own, and he soon begins to win small victories against those who choose to bully him.
 
It is, however, when James is in Scotland for the rest of book, at the remote home of his Aunt Charmian and Uncle Max, that his first great adventure, and mystery to solve, truly takes shape. A local Laird, in his ominous castle nearby, is conducting horrific scientific experiments that prove he is very mad indeed and a threat to society who must be defeated. Before this excitement is over, James has a date with some killer eels...

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Find out more about the Young Bond series of books at their website by clicking here...

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