Cal wants to help new boy Jacob, but Jacob doesn’t want anyone’s help. Most of all, he doesn’t want anyone to know that his whole family needs help – and they’re getting it from the local food bank. But Cal and his mum are volunteers there, and so Jacob’s secret is out. Cal wouldn’t dream of betraying him, but there are others at school who can’t pass up the chance to pick on the kid who’s different.
There was a story Jahir used to tell me. About how the first humans were born with wings. Can you imagine what that would be like? To fly anywhere in the world without worrying about having the right papers?
Mico has left his family, his home, his future. Forced to set out in search of a better life, he instead finds himself navigating one of the world’s most inhospitable environments – the Jungle. A melting pot of characters, cultures and stories, the Calais refugee camp seems like its own strange world. It has a wildness, a brutality all of its own. Unable to buy his way out, Mico is alone, desperate, and running out of options.
But when Leila arrives at the camp one day, everything starts to change. Outspoken and fearless, she shows Mico that hope and friendship can grow in the most unusual places, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll show you the way out as well.
Nathaniel doesn’t want to move to England with his master’s family, leaving behind his mother and sister on the Jamaican plantation. But then he remembers what his mother told him: once a slave sets foot on English soil, they’re free. Perhaps he can earn his fortune and buy his family’s freedom, too.
When Kenny drags Nicky out of bed one morning, Nicky has no idea that he is about to witness a terrible act of destruction, and the senseless killing of an innocent animal. But Nicky manages to save something precious from the disaster, and his and Kenny’s lives are changed forever…
Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers of 12+
