Has Anyone Seen Archie Ebbs?
Archie Ebbs has the perfect life. Good friends, a nice home and classmates who laugh at (nearly) all his jokes. But all that is about to change. As his family lose their home and move into temporary housing, Archie has his own worries… is he really starting to become invisible? While his older sister is determined to hide their situation from her friends, Archie finds himself disappearing. But being invisible isn’t nearly as much fun as it ought to be. Only with the help of his new (and also invisible) neighbour, Zofia, can he get back his beloved cat, Dinger. And start to make himself visible again.
‘More and more children in the UK live in precarious home circumstances, but treating a serious subject with sometimes laugh-out-loud humour is a rare skill’, said Editor Rebecca Lloyd. ‘Archie is a brilliant, relatable and heart-warming character who carries his story with a lightness of touch that had me rooting for him from the off.’
‘Has Anyone Seen Archie Ebbs? is a hugely empathetic read that’s warm, fun and full of heart.’ (Ben Davis, author of ‘The Soup Movement’ and ‘The Private Blog of Joe Cowley’ series)
‘An important story wrapped up in humour, empathy, a mystery to solve and a touch of magic. Archie’s story is a call to pay attention to people around us because we don’t know what problems they’re facing.’ (Clare Fayers, author of ‘Storm Hound’.
‘I liked Archie Ebbs because it made me have a tingling sensation of happiness and sadness and joy. It makes me want there to be a second book. Archie’s perfect life is about all the wrong way. Archie learns to look at life in lots of different ways and with the help of a forgotten friend Archie takes a different path.’ (By: Harry (age 9) Rating: 4.5/5
‘Hidden homelessness, and its devastating effect on children is tackled with sensitivity and humour in this important book.’ (Marianne Levy – The i – best children’s books for Easter 2022)
(Publication Date: April 7th 2022)
Only We Know
Lauren’s family have moved house very suddenly, and she and her sister Tilda have to go to a new school. Lauren is determined to reinvent herself, but she’s panic stricken when she sees Harry, who she knew a few years ago. Luckily Harry obviously doesn’t recognise her, and she knows she has to make sure it stays like that. Unlike Tilda, Lauren settles in well. She makes friends, is helping to organise the school fashion show and has boys asking her out. But just as her life finally seems to be looking up she starts receiving macabre presents. When she gets the message: ‘Isn’t it time your new friends knew all about you?’ she has to admit that someone knows her secret. But who – and what should she do?
“A beautiful and important story that every young adult and not-so-young adult should read”. (Page To Stage Reviews)
“To blend empathy and comedy in writing about an area that remains beyond the direct experience of most is something of a tour de force”. (Books For Keeps)
“I cannot remember when I enjoyed a young adult book more and Lauren’s secret kept me guessing throughout”. (Nudge)
Trust Games
The next time I saw her on – Monday morning in drama – she was all smiles. But Hannah wasn’t fooling anyone. She was just a great actress. How else could she have managed to look so fascinated by Mr Moore’s lesson on Bertolt Brecht?
“Packham is an extremely good writer who covers tricky subjects with a great lightness of touch. His books are deceptively simple quick reads with very gripping storylines, but they always manage to be immensely thought provoking. This book is no exception“. (Books for Keeps)
Silenced
At first I thought there were technical problems – something wrong with the sound system – because when I opened my mouth I couldn’t hear a thing. But it was more serious than that…I was completely dumb.
Chris loses the power of speech completely when his best friend dies in a car crash. Why? What terrible secret is he hiding? And can he find his voice before it’s too late?
Shortlisted for The Leeds and Warwickshire Book Awards.
“Very intelligent and moving”. (Sue Elkin of The Independent)
“This book is brilliant. It’s gripping, thrilling and moving, and at the same times it’s fantastically well observed, true to life and really, really funny. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it to young teen readers everywhere”. (Chicklish)
Firewallers
Can her life get any worse? Jess returns from a nightmare day at school to find her Dad’s suspended from work and gone into hiding. To escape the slobbering newshounds all eager for the full story, Mum drags Jess and her sister off to a remote Scottish island. Modern technology’s forbidden and there’s only a bunch of teenage uber geeks for company. Without Facebook or even a mobile, Jess feels totally disconnected for everyone back home. And why are they there anyway? What are they really running away from?
“Comic and sinister by turns, this story is so good it almost reads itself”. (The Independent)
“Overall it’s an easy recommendation as a very good book with a wonderful narrator”. (The Bookbag)
“All teenagers—male and female—should read this immensely entertaining, topical and thought provoking book”. (Books For Keeps)
The Bex Factor
When Bex goes for an audition for The Tingle Factor, she begs geeky guitarist Matthew to accompany her, hoping he’ll lift her performance. But the judges want Matthew – not Bex!
Bex swallows her envy, and persuades a reluctant Matthew to take part by offering to help with his family. While Matthew gets swept up in the world of reality TV, it’s Bex who has to deal with his sweet, affection starved sister and his angry, disabled mother.
“Warm, thought-provoking, and very funny.”
comin 2 gt u
Sam Tennant has been brutally murdered in an online computer game. What’s worse, it looks like his killers are out to get him in real life too. ‘The Emperor’ and ‘OllyG78’ say they know him from school, and soon turn his classmates against him with their vindictive website.
With his father away, his mother preoccupied with a particularly difficult work case, and his dying granddad absorbed in some dark, wartime secrets of his own, Sam’s only support comes from terminally shy Abby and Stephen the resident class nerd.
As the threats become more sinister, Sam faces a desperate struggle to identify his persecutors before things get really deadly.
Simon Packham 