What should a puppet master do when he’s old and alone, and all his puppets are gone? Sylvester makes one last puppet. But this one is different. When the old man speaks to him, Puppet speaks back. And then he walks?

While Sylvester shows Puppet the town, the playground and the wonders the world holds, Puppet in turn helps Sylvester to make a new friend, and share his puppet-making skills with the next generation in this wonder-filled story of creation and the circle of life.

Illustrated with sequences of wordless spreads by an award-winning artist, this is a modern-day classic.

Nothing is the same for Joff this summer. His dad is sick, his mum is working, there’s a new kid in town. The days are long and hot, and change is in the air.

With his dog, Jet, Joff explores. The Chapel of Doom is always there, ancient and crumbling, with its warning signs and the legend of the Falling Boy.

But Joff isn’t going to go past those signs … is he?

Intense and compelling, this is a brilliant new story from the award-winning author of the bestselling Skellig.

Joe wants to find a way to the stars. With the help of his dad, he builds a ladder, a tower, even a rocket to go up, up, up? Oh no! Crash, bang, wallop! What next?

Together, the pair jump on pogo sticks and build sheds to paint their dreams and find a way. An uplifting and magical tale of sky-high courage, imagination and the bond between father and son that will make your heart soar. Written by internationally acclaimed author David Almond and brought to glorious life by award-winning illustrator Gill Smith in their first collaboration.

“For a soaring story of the loving bond between parent and child, A Way to the Stars? is sheer delight.” The Guardian

“Gently funny, emotionally warm, this magical story is a reminder of how important the bond between parent and child can be.” Daily Mail

Nothing is the same for Joff this summer. His dad is ill, his mam is working, there’s a new kid in town. He can’t wait to escape each day and explore with his dog Jet.

But there’s one place he’s not allowed to explore. Above the town sits the Chapel of Doom, ancient and crumbling, with its warning signs and the legend of the Falling Boy.

And when Joff’s adventures take him beyond the boundaries he discovers something unexpected, something truly magical …

Intense and compelling, this is a brilliant coming-of-age story about hope, friendship and conquering your fears, from the award-winning author of the bestselling Skellig. David Almond is a ‘master storyteller’ Independent

Louise has travelled with her father to the island of Lindisfarne every year ever since she can remember – it’s the place Louise’s mother loved best of all.

The arrival of Hassan from war-torn Syria changes everything. Louise is restless and yearning for independence; meanwhile, the fiercely free and self-reliant Hassan seems to know the island from long ago as if it were his home from birth. Hassan is an acrobat, maybe a sorcerer, possibly a source of great danger. The wild boys who call the island their home want to cast him out.

The forces of love, death and hope move Louise and Hassan together. Lindisfarne will change their lives forever.

David Almond is the author of many beloved and prize-winning books for children and teenagers. His best known work, Skellig, won the Whitbread Children’s Award and the Carnegie Medal and was made into a feature-length film. A Song for Ella Grey, a beautiful retelling of the myth of Orpheus, won the Guardian Children’s Book Prize 2015.

When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister’s illness, Michael’s world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain.

One Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the ramshackle garage of his new home and finds something magical. A strange creature – human? beast? bird? angel? – a being who needs Michael’s help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health.

But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael’s world changes for ever …

Skellig won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award, the Nonino International Prize, and has received an OBE for services to literature. He is celebrated as – in the words of the Independent – ‘a master storyteller’.

‘This strange, hugely readable and life-affirming tale exercises every muscle of the imagination’ Guardian

Louise has travelled with her father to the island every year since she can remember – it’s the place her mother loved best of all.

The arrival of Hassan changes everything. Louise is restless and yearning for independence; meanwhile, the fiercely free and self-reliant Hassan seems to know the island from long ago as if it were his home from birth.

Hassan is an acrobat, maybe a sorcerer, possibly a source of great danger. The wild boys who call the island their home want to cast him out.

The forces of love, death and hope move Louise and Hassan together. The island will change their lives forever.

David Almond is the author of many beloved and prize-winning books for children and teenagers. His best known work, Skellig, won the Whitbread Children’s Award and the Carnegie Medal and has been widely adapted for stage and screen. He has also won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s authors. In 2021, David was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

‘There really is nobody quite like Almond writing in children’s or adult’s fiction today.’ The Times

Annie has never been like the other girls. Her mam tried sending her to school when she was small, but Annie couldn’t seem to make words or numbers stick. She prefers instead to be swimming in the sea, or sunbathing on the shore at Stupor Beach, her head full of tales. She should have been a fish, her mam always tells her, and Annie knows the truth of it. Then a stranger who comes to town is struck by the beauty and the wonder of her, and Annie Lumsden realizes that perhaps she really is half a creature from the sea.

Mina watches as the woman’s fingers fold another elaborate paper form: creased, tugged and teased into the shape of a paper bird. She imagines what it would be like to be a sheet of paper in the woman’s hands, to become a paper Mina. The crowds around her disappear and Kyoto is gone.

This is a beautiful story from one of the masters of magical realism, David Almond, with stunning illustrations from Kirsti Beautyman.

“Spell-binding… impossible to resist… breathless, intoxicating prose. [Almond’s] books seem to exist in their own otherworldly universe, outside all the trends in modern publishing, yet resolutely of the now.” The Glasgow Herald

“David Almond’s books are strange, unsettling wild things – unfettered by the normal constraints of children’s literature. They are, like all great literature, beyond classification.” The Guardian

“[David Almond] is that rare thing – a writer of lucid, mature elegance, who can still see the world through adolescent eyes.” The Daily Telegraph

“A writer of visionary Blakean intensity.” The Times

“A master storyteller.” The Independent