Showing results by author "Anne Fine" in All Categories

The exceptional talents behind some of the nation’s best-loved books - from The Gruffalo to The BFG, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to the Charlie and Lola series - the Children’s Laureates are the perfect ambassadors for children’s literature. It’s been 20 wonderful years of the Laureateship and now all 10 former honourees have banded together to celebrate the only way they know how: through stories and poems. 

Told who to cheer for, who to believe in, Yuri grows up in a country where no freedom of thought is encouraged - where even one's neighbours are encouraged to report any dissension to the authorities. But it is still a shock when a few careless words lead him to a virtual death-sentence - sent on a nightmare journey up north to a camp amidst the frozen wastes. What, or who, can he possibly believe in now? Can he even survive? And is escape possible....?

Cass has always been there for Tom, her twin - racing off to laugh with him in the old, abandoned ice house or planning how to foil Jamieson, the farm's creepy pest-killer. But now Cass is a teenager, she is changing - she wants her privacy and feels suffocated by their life on the farm. Bewildered, Tom struggles to regain their former closeness, but only succeeds in alienating both Cass and Jamieson's daughter Lisa. Until the night of the storm...

This is a highly original tale about a young girl's ability to turn dreams into reality. Is it a gift or is it a curse? Award-winning author Anne Fine has written many other books including Goggle-Eyes, Flour Babies, and Madame Doubtfire.

'Greetings to all you lowly shivering worms!' Ivan doesn't speak English. Which is tough on your first day at a new school. So Boris is roped in to translate for him. But then the new boy starts threatening to make slaves out of all his schoolmates. Can Boris keep the teachers happy and Ivan quiet? It's going to be an Ivan the Terribly interesting day...

Hugo has to choose who to stay with while his mum’s having a baby. Who will care for him and his dog Henry the best? Will it be Granny? Mrs Mariposa next door? Or Uncle Jack?

Once best friends, always best friends. That's the way it is with Angus and Jamie. Join them as they tackle a lively playmate, get muddled in a pretend game, and discover that playing isn't fun unless they are doing it together. More charming stories about a little boy and his toy Highland bull, from former Children's Laureate Anne Fine.

From the moment Jamie sets eyes on Angus in the shop window, he just knows that they belong together. On Christmas morning, they're finally united, and soon the toy Highland bull is Jamie's constant companion.

In a hurry to find five pupils to join a school trip to creepy old Harwick Hall, Miss O’Dell, their teacher, picks them from one of the ‘special’ columns on her list. They have little in common, except for two emergency phone numbers: two homes - two families.Arriving at the Hall in a storm, they discover an old manuscript hidden in a sealed room. Richard Clayton Harwick, long dead and gone, has left a record of the sheer wickedness of his stepfather.

'You? Loudmouth Louis Todd? Stay quiet for even one hour?' Everyone knows Louis is a chatterbox. He can't stay quiet for even a minute. So no one believes him when he says he's going to do a sponsored silence. They don't think he can possibly do it. Not his teacher, nor his school chums and certainly not the dinner ladies: they bet five million pounds each. But Louis thinks just for once he might be able to keep his mouth shut all day! Will he manage it?

Nobody wants Tulip in their gang. She skips school, gives her teachers cheek, and makes herself unpopular by telling lies. But this doesn't matter to Natalie.

Helly Johnston is miserable. Her mother is thinking of marrying again but Helly doesn’t want a stepfather, certainly not this one. She sobs her way out of the classroom all the way down to the cloakroom and the depths of despondency. There, forceful Kitty Killin comes to the rescue. Kitty’s not known for sensitivity or tact but she’s been through it all herself - her mother married the silver-haired, chocolate-bearing, goggle-eyed Gerald.

Jennifer has a diary. Lolanthe doesn't. She has zillions of ideas for stories. But what she wants is - Jennifer's diary. In 'The Worst Child I Ever Had', find out just what Susan did that was so terrible. And what did it have to do with snails?

Anthony the dog has a skin problem. The vet tells him that he must have all his fur shaved off apart from his head and tail! He knows that he'll be laughed at, but instead everyone thinks he's a lion and they treat him with respect.

This is a fast and funny look at the pressures facing young girls to conform to fashion - and how they can be avoided - told in a gripping witty style from award winning author Anne Fine.

Bill's New Frock
One Monday morning, Bill Simpson wakes up to find he is a girl! Forced off to school in a frilly pink dress, Bill discovers one of the worst, most baffling days of his life is about to begin.... The Country Pancake The children of Wallisdean Park School can't believe their luck when the angelic Miss Mirabelle arrives. In order to save her from the fearsome Mrs Spicer, Lance comes up with the most original fund-raising idea ever....

Calling herself Lady Melody Estelle Priscilla Hermione Irwin, Laura weaves a fantastic tissue of lies about herself to her dull penpal. But she soon finds she's not the only one capable of deception.

When the annual school science fair comes round, Mr Cartright's class don't get to work on the Soap Factory, the Maggot Farm or the Exploding Custard Tins. To their intense disgust they get the Flour Babies - sweet little six-pound bags of flour that must be cared for at all times. Young Simon Martin approaches the task with little enthusiasm. But, as the days pass, he not only grows fond of his flour baby, he also comes to learn more than he ever could have imagined about the pressures and strains of being a parent.

Edward is four years old when he is locked away with his mother by her abusive, alcoholic partner, Harris. By the time an elderly neighbour spots his pale face peering through a crack in the boarded-up window and raises the alarm, he is seven. Rescue comes, but lasting damage has been done. Sent to live with a kindly foster family, and then adopted, Edward struggles to adapt to normal life. Even as a teenager it's still clear to his new family and schoolmates there's something odd about him.

Anne Fine's classic story about Tuffy the murderous cat, fabulously narrated by iconic comedian Jack DeePoor Ellie is horrified when Tuffy drags a dead bird into the house.