Showing titles in Growing Up & Facts of Life

The mice of Brambly Hedge have many adventures, but they always have time for fun, too. All through the year, they mark the seasons with feasts and festivities, and, of course, the mice never miss an opportunity to meet and celebrate. These four classic stories, read by John Moffatt and Harriet Carmichael, follow the mice’s adventures throughout the year.

In Enid Blyton's best-selling school series, Elizabeth Allen is sent away to boarding school and makes up her mind to be the naughtiest pupil there's ever been. In book seven, the school's strawberry plants are vandalised, and a lost blazer button at the scene of the crime leads straight to the Naughtiest Girl. It is hers, but how did it get there - and why would anyone want to pin the blame on Elizabeth?

Stevie is in for a big surprise while building his treehouse: He's first attacked by a creeper, and then must take on a group of zombies! The near miss has him feeling like the worst mob fighter in Minecraft, so when he finds a portal into a brand-new world, he's willing to take his chances. He steps out of a computer screen and into the room of a sixth-grade girl Maison, who's a talented Minecraft builder.

Kidnapped and forced to shovel coal underneath a half-bombed, blackened power station, 12-year-old Luke's life is miserable. Then, he discovers he can see things others can't. Ghostly things. Specifically, a ghost-girl named Alma. Alma, who can ride clouds through the night sky and bend their shape to her will, befriends Luke. And with Alma's help, Luke discovers he is in fact a rare being—half-human and half-something else ... Then Luke learns the terrible truth of why children are being kidnapped and forced to work in the power station.

The deadly fifth mission in the number-one best-selling Alex Rider series. In the fifth book in the number one best-selling Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, teenage spy Alex travels to Venice to discover the truth about his past. But the truth lies with a criminal organisation known as Scorpia, and Alex must make a choice...work for MI6 once more, or betray everything he believes in.

Taking place seven years after the events of the original Septimus Heap series, TodHunter Moon tells the story of Alice TodHunter Moon, a young PathFinder who comes to the Castle with a Magyk all her own. In this second book, Tod sets out for the Desert of the Singing Sands to retrieve the Egg of the Orm - a journey that will test not only her Magykal and PathFinding skills but her friendships, too.

In book 12, there are strange happenings indeed at Torling Castle! Someone is hiding out in the ruined tower, making the resident jackdaws very unsettled. Who is it, and what do they want? The Secret Seven are on the case! Solve the mystery!

In book 13, dogs are disappearing from the village, but the Seven are so busy arguing and falling out with each other that they don't even notice. Then poor Scamper becomes the latest victim, and it's all systems go for the Secret Seven! Solve the mystery!

Billy and his friends know that Waterfall Woods is out of bounds; strange things are rumoured to have happened there and no one in their village has ventured past its walls for decades. But when they discover a secret way in, Billy and his best friends, Anna, Jimmy and Andy, can't resist the temptation to explore! Only to quickly discover that the woods are brimming with magic and inhabited by all sorts of unusual creatures, including a whole community of sprites who need the children's help!

A magical and hilarious short-story collection from 13 bestselling, much-loved storytellers. This is the perfect seasonal listen featuring 12 brand-new short stories based on their author’s favourite Roald Dahl characters.

Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World - a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods. Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent-minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself.

On the Island of Ayrie, everybody knows everyone. They know each other’s stories as they know every road, every hill and the coming of the tide. In the summer, there are bonfires to celebrate the migration of the puffins. Everything is familiar, nothing much changes, and for Tilda, nothing ever should – it is beautiful, it is perfect and it is home. When newcomer Albie arrives at the island, Tilda wants to show Ayrie off – Albie wants her to leave him alone. She learns quickly that it’ll take more than a tour and some seal viewings to win him around.

Artemis' little brothers, Myles and Beckett, borrow the Fowl jet without permission and it ends up as a fireball over Florida. The twins plus their fairy minder, the pixie-elf hybrid Lazuli Heitz, are lucky to escape with their lives. The Fowl parents and fairy police force decide that enough is enough, and the twins are placed under house arrest. But Myles has questions, like: who was tracking the Fowl jet? Why would someone want to blow them out of the sky? These questions must infuriate someone, because Myles is abducted and spirited away from his twin.

After surviving a holiday to Italy without his parents (which included jellyfish and giant watermelons), Stan reckons he deserves a bit of a break. Or at a least a break in between trying to act in his school play. But when he’s offered the chance to take a tour around a TV studio, he thinks it can’t do any harm. How wrong he is.

'All this could be yours!' Paddington read on the glossy leaflet showing a large, sleek silver-grey car. It took him a long time to eat 15 packets of currants in order to enter the competition. And the Rolls-Royce he'd expected to win turned out to be one of 10,000 consolation prizes - a bookmark! Then Paddington finds himself taking a driving test and, much to his amazement, is presented with a license allowing him to drive a rather unusual vehicle.

Now that Septimus, Jenna, and Beetle are 14 years old, they have assumed larger roles in their Magykal world. Beetle is the Chief Hermetic Scribe of the Manuscriptorium and Jenna will soon be Queen, but Septimus is still battling the remnants of the Darke Domaine, which will remain until the power of the evil Two-Faced Ring is destroyed forever. To accomplish that, the ancient Alchemie Fyre must be relit - a task that sends Septimus to the very origins of Magyk and Physik.

Stan is going on holiday to Italy with his (fifth) best friend, Felix, and a load of strangers. Stan is absolutely terrified. Luckily, his mum's given him an emergency list that includes how to survive a shark attack and what to do if he gets kidnapped. Stan thinks that a better list would include how to cope with odd food and what to do if he accidentally calls Felix's mum 'mum'. And it soon turns out Italy is full of dangers and things that can go wrong. One thing's for certain, Stan's not going to come back the same boy he left. He just hope he comes back at all.

Sometimes Ben's brain makes him count to 4 to prevent bad things happening. Sometimes it makes him tap or blink in 4s. Mostly it makes the smallest things feel impossible. And with a new school, a moody big brother, an absent dad and a mum battling her own demons, Ben feels more out of control than ever. But then he meets April, and with his new friend, Ben might finally figure out how to stand up to the bully in his brain, once and for all.

There is no Magic here on Earth. At least, that's what you've been told... But in an ordinary-looking house in an ordinary-looking village, live a group of children who have just uncovered a secret. A tiny and helpless Magical Creature lost far from home leads the O'Hero-Smith children on another Starcrossing adventure through the Which Ways and across the galaxy. The children have a plan to get little Bug back to the fiery-ice planet where it belongs, and to prove to their parents that they can be trusted with Magic along the way.

Rupert, the young Earl of Westerholme, returns home from the war - and Anna, a housemaid, falls hopelessly in love with him. But they can never be together - Rupert is engaged to the snobbish and awful Muriel. And anyway, Anna is only a servant. Or so everybody thinks.