Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Family Life

I’m Rani Ramgoolam–award-winning reporter. And guess what? There’s a film crew in town! A Baldini detective movie is being shot right here in Camberford! But strange accidents are happening on the shoot that mirror the cunning crimes in the Baldini books. My news nose is twitching so it’s time to open up my notebook. Can Nani and I track down the Copycat Crook before someone ends up in real danger?

Darkus is miserable. His dad has disappeared, and now he is living next door to the most disgusting neighbours ever. A giant beetle called Baxter comes to his rescue. But can the two solve the mystery of his dad's disappearance, especially when links emerge to cruel Lucretia Cutter and her penchant for beetle jewellery? A coffee-mug mountain, home to a million insects, could provide the answer - if Darkus and Baxter are brave enough to find it.

I’m Rani Ramgoolam–roving reporter. And I think I’ve found the perfect story for the junior journalism competition run by the local paper. An eccentric millionaire has created a treasure hunt with a reward for the first person who figures out the clues. Luckily, my mischievous Nani is visiting from Mauritius. She’s promised to help me work out what a priceless painting, a minotaur and a glass eye have in common. “Murder, murder! Call the cops!” Oh, and that’s Cookie, my parrot. I’m not sure he’ll be much use.

A tale of magic, mystery and determination which is also in development for film adaptation. Emily longs to be ordinary. But when her parents disappear, she stumbles into the secret world of the Midnight Hour. A Victorian London frozen in time, the Midnight Hour is a haven for all things spooky, including monsters determined to end the world. What secrets have her parents been hiding? There's only one way Emily can find out and rescue her mum and dad: she must be brave enough to embrace her own inner magic....

When Lucy and Alpha's parents split up, they move with mom to their grandad's home in the forest. Mom has a new job at a rewilding center, reintroducing wolves to the wild. Lucy loves the forest where she can stargaze with her telescope. But Alpha hates the forest and hates dad. All she wants is for life to go back to normal. Things between Lucy and Alpha have never felt worse. When a new wolf cub arrives at the center, Lucy names him Claw and they form a special bond. But Alpha thinks he should roam free, and together with her friends, they plot to release him.

Will's beloved granny made cakes and knitted itchy jumpers - that's what he thought. But when she passes away and dodgy Jasper Fitchet moves in to their village, dark magic begins to unravel in Knitford. Can Peter and his gran's old craft group tie Fitchet in knots? With the help of her old motorbike and a flock of magical sheep, they might just do it...so long as they don't drop a stitch.

From the Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author of A Boy Called Hope and The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair. Mabel has a suitcase full of worries - it turned up just after her dad disappeared and before her mum started dating Gavin. She worries about big things and little things and shoves them into her suitcase until it’s so full it might explode....

The ghosts of Craggyford Castle have been happy for 500 years. But outside the world is changing. Soon there will be nothing left of their old haunts, with new factories and houses as far as a ghost can see. So they set out to find a new home.

Twelve-year old twins Mika and Ellie live in a future behind a wall - safe from the plague animals beyond. Or so they've been told. But when one of them disappears, and the other takes part in a sinister virtual reality game, they begin to discover their concrete world is built on lies. Determined to find each other again, they go in search of the truth. And as a strange sound in their heads grows to a roar, they find out that children and the planet have never mattered more.

The five children have grown up, and World War I has begun in earnest. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories...until, for the first time in 10 years, he suddenly reappears. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed; the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint, and the war's impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.

Lauren, Jack, Ruby and Billy live by the seaside with their mum and dad. But their parents are always arguing, and then their dad moves out. Lauren and Jack decide they have to get them together again. And so begins Operation Eiffel Tower... in which the four children try to raise money to give their mum and dad a treat in an attempt to make them happier.

On a storm-ravaged night, a 19-year-old girl is murdered. Three days later, her two younger brothers set out in search of her killer. Cole is a dark-eyed devil who doesn't care if he lives or dies; Ruben is a strange child who sometimes, inexplicably, experiences sensations above and beyond his own. This is the story of the boys' journey from their half-gypsy home in a London junk yard to the ghostly moors of Devon, where they hope and fear to find the truth about their sister's death.

Life in front of the camera is harder than it looks... When Ted is spotted by a model agency, she can't believe it. At the same time her gorgeous sister, Ava, is diagnosed with cancer. With her world turned upside down, Ted has a lot of growing up to do, some of it in five-inch platforms.

Strato Nyman couldn’t be more of an odd-one-out. He’s the only black kid in Hedgecombe-upon-Dray, he knows more about particle physics than his teacher, and he’s constantly picked on by the school bully. One day, Strato picks up a dusty book in a mysterious bookshop and learns how to become invisible. He discovers that people aren’t always what they seem...and realises standing out isn’t so bad after all.

Twelve-year-old Flick adores Jack and loves solving puzzles with him. But Jack is soon to flee the family nest, and Flick worries she'll lose her partner in crime. During his gap year in Peru, tragedy strikes when an earthquake devastates the region and no one knows what has happened to Jack. Flick and her family are thrown into the horrible unknown. She finds a key on a fine gold chain and a note with the initials SF in his room, and clings to the hope that SF (whoever that is) might hold the clue to finding her brother.

Aisha is a 13-year-old refugee. When she finds she’s being sent to a new foster family, she runs away, seeking shelter in the nearby woods. Twelve-year-old Zak is trying to cope with his parents' divorce. He starts researching the history behind his house, which leads him to an old air-raid shelter in the same woods. Both children meet in the heart of the ancient woodland, and unexpected bonds are formed....

Meet Malice Morbid Malign. She’s from Underland, land of sorcery, spooks and skulduggery. But, she and her family live in Topside, and mischief is their business. And the business of mischief is a very serious matter! The Malign family hate books, they hate bathing and they especially hate helping. But when grandad ghosts mysteriously start disappearing, including her own beloved grandad, Malice has no choice but to help. She partners up with her uncle Vexatious, to solve the case of the missing grandad-ghosts.

Twelve-year-old Luca Verani has big plans for his future. But when his aunt announces she's selling the family's ice cream café and his nonna's mind starts to wander, Luca's dreams melt away… Will his family ever be the same again? Heart-warming and gently funny, this hopeful new novel from the Carnegie-nominated author of Guardians of the Wild Unicorns presents a child's perspective on dementia in the family.

Fredegonda, Goneril, and Drusilla are Great Hagges, much more important and much rarer than regular old hags. They think that ghosts these days are decidedly lacking—people haven't been scared of ghosts for years. So one day they decide that something needs to change—it's time for these ghosts to learn a thing or two about being scary. And what better way to teach them than to set up their very own school for ghosts?

Saffi doesn't want her new life, living with her dad, little brother and old-fashioned grandparents in their B&B by the sea. She is grieving for her mom and longs for things to go back to normal. But this new home is anything but normal: the walls change color, a face appears in the mirror, and the pantry is suddenly filled with fancy food. When a party of extraordinary visitors arrive at midnight, Saffi begins to realize that her family has a dark, magical secret. It will take all her bravery to discover the truth and find a way into another world.