Showing results by author "Karen McCombie" in All Categories

When Dani's mum gets the chance to study penguins in the Antarctic, she decides to send 11-year-old Dani to a strict girls' boarding school where students wear smart uniforms that include skirts! Having failed to change Mum's mind, Dani finds herself having to say good-bye to Granny Viv, her dog, Downboy, and her best friend, Arch. But when they arrive at St Grizelda's it seems that there have been some drastic changes: uniforms are out, and instead chaos, anarchy and goats are in!

When her grandma goes into a retirement home, Scarlet must sort through her belongings in the cramped flat above a shop in London. Here Scarlet comes across a real treasure: a novel that Gran wrote, about the life of a girl just like Scarlet, who lived in the flat and worked in a cake shop downstairs. But as Scarlet reads about Ruby's life in Victorian London, she realises this is not a piece of fiction - Ruby was real, facing real danger and a mystery that unravels to the present day.

When local schools are asked to make a film showcasing the surrounding area, Dani and the rest of St Grizzle's set to work. But Spencer and his mates at the village school are determined to sabotage the work of the smelly Grizzlers. Help arrives in the form of Granny Viv, who has secretly taken up residence in the school's tree house. Together they come up with the perfect ghostly video. But will Granny Viv be able to stay once the competition's over?

How to Be a Human is a warm and otherworldly story about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places from highly acclaimed and much-loved children's author Karen McCombie. Kiki has been dumped by the Popular Crew and is feeling the pain of rejection. Wes is a loner and an easy target for the school bullies. Both could use a friend. The Star Boy is marooned on Earth, awaiting rescue. From the safety of the basement of Fairfield Academy he watches the humans, in particular Kiki and Wes.

Bridie lives on the remote Scottish island of Tornish, the youngest of three sisters. Although she loves her island, with its wild seas and big skies, she guiltily nurses a secret dream of flight - to America and the freedom of the New World. But her family are struggling under the spiteful oppression of the new Laird, and it seems that even some of the Laird's own household are desperate to leave. When the Laird's full cruelty becomes apparent, there's no more time for daydreams as Bridie needs to help the people she loves escape to safety.

When Arch turns up at St Grizzle’s, Dani is delighted to introduce her best friend to her new classmates. But she soon discovers that mixing her old life with her new one isn’t quite as easy as she’d imagined. And Arch isn’t the only new pupil - there’s also super-smart Boudicca, who barely says a word to anyone. It’s only when she meets Arch that she perks up and takes to following him everywhere he goes. Then she disappears. With the help of Granny Viv, it’s up to Dani and Arch to find Boudicca...and unravel the truth about this shy tag-along zombie.

Indie's seen a wooden cat that she just has to have, even if her friends think it's weird. Only problem is, it's really expensive. With her parents in a cash crisis, Indie will have to raise the money herself. Will her moneymaking schemes go to plan?

Little Bird has landed in America, far from her home in Scotland, and far from the danger that stalked her family. But the new world holds new perils, and soon she’s on the run again. From the teeming streets of New York to the prairies of the west, Little Bird holds tight to secrets and dreams of freedom. Then, on her journey, she comes face to face with an unwelcome ghost from the past.

Indie Kidd lives between her animal-crazy mum's and her dad's. When Indie's teacher asks the class to write a CV, Indie decides she has no specific 'talents' and decides to search for one she can call her own. While she is trying everything from hair-wraps to magic tricks to origami, she sees an advert in the local paper for a little dog who needs a home. Indie decides to help and makes him a CV and a poster and even arranges a trial stay with a neighbour - to no avail.

With his space-pod destroyed, the Star Boy is adapting to life on Earth with help from his friends Kiki and Wes, but Kiki's long list of don'ts is a constant reminder of how hard it is to pass for a convincing human. But more troubling for the Star Boy is the strange pings and pangs he's experiencing, and the hard-to-hide electrical surges that are worrying his human rescuers. And when the Star Boy accidentally channels his true form on to the whiteboard of every class at Riverside Academy, things reach a whole new level of panic.

Third book in the new Indie Kidd series about the lovable 10-year-old's world! Indie tries to help lodger Caitlin sort out her career by arranging some work experience at a vet's, but it all ends in disaster when she faints! Caitlin soon realises that she'd much rather be Indie's child-minder - which means she has enough time to practise for her dream career - being a didgeridoo-playing MTV star! And Indie learns that it's much more fun being a 10-year-old than an adult!

When the Star Boy’s space-pod crashes in the grounds of Fairfield Academy he knows he must seek shelter. Taking refuge in the school’s boiler room to await rescue he discovers that the room’s small window is the perfect place to watch humans go by. The Star Boy knows about humans from his Earth lessons but no one from his planet has ever studied them up close. Now he has the perfect opportunity.

Indie decides to try to get her separated parents to be friends - and comes up with some endearingly dopey, harebrained schemes. But when Mum and Dad eventually do get matey, it's because they're trying to figure out what on earth is up with their very strangely behaved daughter!

Indie knows she has the best(est) friends when it comes to the two Sophies, so she feels really sorry for her stepbrother Dylan when he confesses that he doesn't have any close mates. So Indie decides to help Dylan become more friend-friendly. But she spends so much time with Dylan that her own bestest friends begin to feel neglected! In the end, it all works out - and Dylan even ends up with some new best friends of his own: Indie, Soph and Fee.

More adventures with Indie Kidd, her animal-mad mum, best-est friends Soph and Fee and geeky (but lovable) stepbrother Dylan. When Fee's cat gets run over, Indie thinks she knows exactly how to cheer her best friend up. But a trip to the Animal Rescue Centre goes horribly wrong, and Indie realises that Fee needs a bit more time to get over the loss of her pet.