Showing results for "Hilary McKay" in All Categories

After Saffron discovers that she's adopted, life is never quite the same. Her artistic parents and doting siblings adore her, but Saffy wants a piece of her past. So when her grandfather bequests her a stone angel—a relic from the childhood she never knew—Saffy knows she has to find it. Realising that Siena holds the key, she stows away on a car trip to Italy. The rest of the family are engaged in their own wacky projects.

From the Costa Award-winning author Hilary McKay, comes a moving World War II story of family and friendship on opposite sides of a devastating conflict. The Swallows' Flight is the stunning companion novel to The Skylarks' War. 'It’s not necessary to have read The Skylarks’ War (though many...

From acclaimed author and Costa winner Hilary McKay comes The Time of Green Magic: a beautiful, spell-binding novel about a new families, a magical old house and a mysterious cat . . . When Tom and Polly marry, blending their single parent families together, their children find it hard to...

Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2018. The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War One, from the award-winning Hilary McKay. Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall...

Indigo's going back to school after a long bout of glandular fever. He's not looking forward to it, as he knows the bullies will be waiting for him. But he's determined to stand on his own two feet—so when Saffy and Sarah break up a fight in the boys' bathroom, he's furious. Until he meets Tom. Tom is over from the States for a term, staying with his gran while his family sort out their own problems back home. He loves music and joking and is unfazed by the bullies.

Binny Cornwallis has lost something. Something that wasn’t really hers in the first place. With her best enemy Gareth and her beloved dog Max she turns detective to track it down, but the Cornwallis family are anything but helpful. Little brother James and his friend Dill are having an adventure of their own and big sister Clem is acting very strangely. And on top of all this, Binny suspects their next-door neighbour may be a witch....

When Ruth Conroy decides to sponsor a child in Africa, she is unprepared for just how difficult it is to find 10 pounds per month. As any sister's next step would be, Ruth enlists the help of Phoebe, Naomi and Rachel. All too eager to help their sister, the four girls work together to come up with multiple hare-brained, fundraising schemes that are a bit too mischievous to be fruitful. From undisciplined babysitters to unhygienic caterers and fraudulent pavement artists, the Conroy sisters' hilarious projects never fail to cause chaos and mayhem.

With her awful secondhand uniform and stuck-up classmates, Binny's new school is horrible. And life gets even worse when a storm damages the roof of her house, forcing Binny and her family to move to the countryside whilst it's being fixed. Binny; her sensible older sister, Clem; and her rambunctious brother, James (and his chickens) begin adjusting to life in the country. Then one of James' beloved chickens vanishes, and Binny finds strange footprints in the mud. What kind of creature is lurking in the undergrowth?

Hilary McKay revisits Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies after the events of A Little Princess and Sara Crewe's happy-ever-after. Sara is much missed - and most acutely by her best friend Ermengarde, who laments that 'nothing is the same as it was before'. But life must go on at Miss Minchin's as new friendships are made, rivalries continued, lessons learned and, most importantly, fairytale endings are had.

Cadmium Casson is 12 years old the summer that everything changes. Not only are her closest friendships in jeopardy, but her mum is expecting a baby. And when the baby arrives early, Caddy's world turns upside down. Her mother spends all her time at the hospital, and her father takes over the household, which of course turns into one chaotic (though hilarious) crisis after the next. When her charmingly dense boyfriend dumps her, Caddy is at her wits' end. Then she discovers that the fragile baby she is so afraid of losing is not an ending, but a beginning for her whole family.

Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe Conroy are all struggling to deal with the trials and tribulations of first love(s). Ruth develops a crush on the school bus driver, but finds herself conflicted when she also develops feelings for Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, the temporary English teacher (who Naomi is also smitten with) and Alan Adair who works in the butcher's shop. Meanwhile, the younger two sisters have other things on their minds—Rachel is plotting to become May Queen at her school and Phoebe is in training to become an international spy.

From the Costa Award-winning author Hilary McKay, comes a moving World War II story of family and friendship on opposite sides of a devastating conflict. The Swallows' Flight is the stunning companion novel to The Skylarks' War. 'It’s not necessary to have read The Skylarks’ War (though many...

Binny's life has been difficult since her father died and Binny's life has been difficult since her father died and her dreadful old Aunt Violet disposed of her beloved dog, Max. Her world changed then, to a city flat with not enough space for her Mum, her big sister Clem, and her small brother James. Definitely no room for a pet. Then one day Aunt Violet dies, leaving a small cottage in Cornwall to Binny and her family. Binny finds herself in a new world once more, full of sunshine and freedom and Gareth, the enemy-next-door and the ideal companion for dangerous dares.

Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe Conroy love reading and having fun more than anything else. So the sisters are horrified when they learn that their parents are sending them away to Cumbria for the summer, to stay with their fearsome grandmother, but worst of all, she refuses to let the girls read any books. Determined to enjoy their summer, the sisters decide they aren't going to put up with their grandmother's tough regime, and in doing so, they somehow manage to cause inordinate amounts of chaos.

Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2018. The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War One, from the award-winning Hilary McKay. Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall...

From acclaimed author and Costa winner Hilary McKay comes The Time of Green Magic: a beautiful, spell-binding novel about a new families, a magical old house and a mysterious cat . . . When Tom and Polly marry, blending their single parent families together, their children find it hard to...

In The Duck in the Park, Lulu finds a duck egg that has rolled out of its nest and takes it to class to keep it safe. Pets aren’t allowed at school, but surely this doesn’t count? After all, it’s just an egg.... In The Dog from the Sea, she goes on holiday and finds a dog living on the beach. Everyone in town thinks the dog is trouble. But Lulu is sure he just needs a friend... In The Cat in the Bag, a mysterious bag is left on Lulu’s doorstep. The last thing her nan expects to be in it is a huge, marigold-coloured cat. But Lulu knows that this cat needs a lovely new home.

Nine-year-old best friends Danny, Nathan and Anna live with their families in Paradise House along with Old MacDonald the caretaker and a variety of eccentric characters in these stories by award-winning children's author Hilary McKay.

Abi and her two step-brothers, Max and Louis, find that strange things happen when they are alone in their eerie, ivy-covered new house. Abi, reading alone, finds herself tumbling deep into books, while Louis summons a startling guest through his bedroom window. Even Max has started to see shapes in the shadows....Their busy parents see none of it - but Louis' secret visitor is growing too alarming to keep secret, and he finds he cannot manage without Max and Abi's help. Can they find out where the mysterious creature has come from - and how to get it back there?

Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn't fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn't worry about her education, because he knows she won't need it. It's the early 20th century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave. But Clarry wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can't she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted.