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2008 Awards

Hox
by Annemarie Allan
Published by Floris

Darkside
by Tom Becker
Published by Scholastic

Escape from Genopolis
by T. E. Berry-Hart
Published by Scholastic

Faced with a cold Saturday afternoon stuck at the Institute for Animal Research, Robbie is angry and frustrated at yet another weekend ruined by his father's job.   Then a disturbing encounter in the animal house thrusts him into a perilous journey through the stunning but inhospitable landscape of a Highland winter; alone but for two enigmatic travelling companions. a shocking realization emerges.

Your home's been attacked.   Your dad's in an asylum.   You're running for your life.   And there's nowhere to hide.   You've stumbled on the city's greatest secret: Darkside.   Incredibly dangerous and unimaginably exciting. Darkside is ruled by Jack the Ripper's children - a place where nightmares walk the streets.   You think you're in trouble now, but your problems have just begun...

 

Arlo enjoys a privileged life as a Citizen of Genopolis - until the authorities discover he has a dangerous secret...  Usha is a runaway slave-girl, stalked by nightmares she cannot understand.   Both are outlaws in a city gripped by terror, where there are few who dare to protect them, and even fewer they can trust.   A gripping adventure set in a chilling future world.

 

Sixteen-year-old Mara and her ship of refugees are tracking the North Star, desperate to find a homeland in the melted ice mountains of Greenland.   The vast, floating city of Pomperoy is just one of the shocks that are not in their navigation plans.   Unwittingly, the refugees bring catastrophe in their wake for Tuck, a gypsea pirate-boy, and also for Ilira - a land whose inhabitants exist in a state of terror at the top of the world.

Maruka is different to the other girls; she likes to hunt and fish deep in the forest, even though it's dangerous.   But she should have stayed in the village the day the Kalinas tribe came and stole her mother.   She would have stopped them.   Two years later, Maruka sees giant white sails rearing up on the horizon.   She is sure of a Kalinas attack but a deadlier enemy wades ashore and plants a flag on the beach....
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The phrase 'asylum seeker' is one we see in the media all the time.   It stimulates fierce and controversial debate, in arguments about migration, race and religion.   The movement of people from poor or struggling countries to those where there may be opportunities for a better life is a constant in human history, but it is something with particular relevance in our own time.   This collection of short stories shows us people who have been forced to leave their homes or families to seek help and shelter elsewhere.

Sixteen-year-old Robert lies anesthetized.   A routine operation has just gone wrong.   'What the hell is that? "That, Mr Ryan, is the inside of this boy."   Christ ...It looks like some kind of plastic.'   As Robert slowly wakes, he can hear, he can feel, but he can't scream.   The operation isn't over.   But life, as Robert knows it, is.   Robert goes on the run, terrified and desperate for answers.....

It was a warning, and I should have heeded it.   A free ticket to the holiday of a lifetime - who could resist?   Chloe's spending six whole weeks on a paradise island with Davinia and her rich, glamorous family.   But how well does Chloe really know her "best friend"?

 

Teenagers Cat and Mouse come from opposite sides of the track in north London, but trouble seems to follow them both around.   Mouse is struggling to keep his graffiti art away from the eyes of the police, and volatile Cat's problems are tearing her apart.   A chance meeting brings them together, but can their friendship survive the secrets and lies and shocking events that follow?

Beren, a Viking princess, is forced to flee her home after her father is killed and her people defeated in battle.   Guided by her uncle, she and the remains of her tribe come to England seeking sanctuary.   But Vikings have been there before and laid waste to the land, and Beren's small group is met with scorching hatred from the locals.   When Beren's uncle takes her men south to fight the king, Beren is left struggling to protect the rest of her followers....

For fifteen-year-old Hal Ditton and his family, summer has always meant six glorious weeks by the sea.   But this year is different - Charley, Hal's sister, is lying in a coma.   When the troubled family makes the difficult decision to return to their holiday home without her, Hal finds it harder than anyone to shake off his elder sister's presence.   In fact, Hal's mind is crowded with thoughts of Charley, and the events that led to her accident on the beach last summer.....

Wilderness is part roaring adventure, part family drama - with a charm that's all Roddy Doyle's.

While Tom and Johnny are on a husky safari in Finland, their half-sister Grainne stays behind to face the mother who abandoned her.   But Tom and Johnny are too caught up in their adventure to think of home - until they find themselves lost in the snow, in a desperate struggle for survival...

 

This is a powerful historical novel that brings to life an unforgettable story of love, hope and royal duty.   The life of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Day Queen, is all too often remembered as just a line in a history book, but this stunning debut novel reveals the full fascinating and tragic story - a tale of treachery, power struggles, and religious turmoil in the Tudor court.

Soon after escaping an assassin that bursts from the shadows to try and kill him in the dark windswept grounds of his school in Dartmoor, Max Gordon discovers that his explorer father has also gone missing.   Max is determined to find him whatever dangers may lay in his path.   A secret clue, that his father has left, leads Max to the inhospitable wilderness of Namibia and the discovery of a potential massive ecological disaster masterminded by the very powerful and completely ruthless businessman, Shaka Chang......

Fourteen-year-old Will Burrows lives with his family in London.   He has little in common with them except for a passion for digging which he shares with his father.   When his father suddenly disappears down an unknown tunnel, Will decides to investigate with his friend Chester.   Soon they find themselves deep underground, where they unearth a dark and terrifying secret - a secret which may cost them their lives.

 

Meg is a Maker, pouring life into the wooden dolls she carves.   Accused of witchcraft, she flees to Halifax, only to find her father in jail, facing death by the gibbet.   Desperate to save him, she must first learn what being a Maker really means - and confront the demons that stalk her.


 

Verdigris n. is a blue-green rust that tarnishes ageing and forgotten copper coins, altering them entirely ...  When Ryan and his friends are caught stranded and penniless late one night, they steal some coins from a well for their bus fare home.    Soon after, strange things begin to happen.   Peculiar marks tingle on Ryan's knuckles, light bulbs mysteriously explode and a terrified Chelle starts speaking words that aren't her own.   Then the well witch appears, with her fountains for eyes and gargled demands.   From now on, the friends must serve her ...

Orphaned Tanith is lucky to meet Crow when she arrives in the treacherous city.   Crow is leader of the street kids and fights to save them all from being snatched and butchered by evil traders.   But Crow hides an unnerving secret, the real reason the children follow him so blindly which is a strange and unearthly power.
 

Sweet but dull - that's how life has always been for Hazel Louise Mull-Dare.   With money pouring in from the family's Caribbean sugar plantation, a father who spoils her rotten, and no pressure to excel in anything whatsoever, her future is looking as prim and proper as one of her hats.   But on the day of the Epsom Derby - June 4th, 1913 - everything changes.   A woman in a dark coat steps out in front of the King's horse, dying days later from her injuries.   Who was she and why did she do it?   Hazel is determined to find out....

At eight o'clock in the evening, on Friday 24th December 2007, Pinewood Military Installation exploded.   The blast ripped apart acres of forest and devastated the remote highland valley where the base was located.   No official cause was given for the incident.   Inside Pinewood were 185 male and female military personnel - a mixture of scientists and soldiers.   There were also seven children there.   This is the story of their last day...

 

When Ludlow Fitch's parents cruelly betray him, he steals away on the back of a carriage and leaves behind the stinking City.   He arrives in the dead of night at a remote village, where he crosses paths with the tall and limping figure of Joe Zabbidou - a pawnbroker with a difference.   For Joe trades secrets, not goods, for cash.   Ludlow is employed to record the villagers' fiendish confessions in "The Black Book of Secrets" - bodysnatching; thievery; and murder.   The people of Pagus Parvus have much to hide.   But is Ludlow Fitch ready to release his own skeletons?   And will he ever learn to trust his mysterious master?

At the House of the Magician
by Mary Hooper
Published by Bloomsbury

A mafia banker wants to defect and give evidence against his former bosses, and John Chance's boss Ardman is handling the exchange.   But when the criminals realise they might be able to exert influence on Chance by getting at his children, Rich and Jade, the twins find themselves in the firing line.

Lucy has been forced to run away from home as she fears for her safety from her drunken father.   She is taken on as a maid at the house of Dr Dee, court magician, upon whom Elizabeth I relies heavily, even down to advising the date of her coronation.   The household is strange and sinister, and Lucy has a nose for intrigue....

I'm the only one who saw what they did. From the shelter of the pine trees, through the falling snow, John watched as the men kicked down doors, shattered windows and fired their first shot.   It was a long time before he stopped trembling, before he dared to return and see if anyone needed his help.   Among the ruins, he found a small boy, too terrified to tell John his name.   Now the only witness and the sole survivor are running for their lives.   John knows how to look after himself, how to live off the land and his wits.   But now, he's looking after someone else and every choice he makes could mean the difference between life and death.

When fifteen year old Chas finds a website asking people to write to prisoners on Death Row, he thinks it would be funny to get letters from a murderer.   He writes to an inmate, pretending to be his mum.   When his new pen-pal is unexpectedly released, Chas' already problematic life spirals horribly out of control...

 

This story is about two boys, two faiths, and one unholy war.   When Adam's mother dies unconfessed, he pledges to save her soul with dust from the Holy Land.   Employed as a dog-boy for the local knight, Adam grabs the chance to join the Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem.   He burns with determination to strike down the infidel enemy ...  Salim, a merchant's son, is leading an uneventful life in the port of Acre - until news arrives that a Crusader attack is imminent.   To keep Salim safe, his father buys him an apprenticeship with an esteemed, travelling doctor.   But Salim's employment leads him to the heart of Sultan Saladin's camp - and into battle against the barbaric and unholy invaders ...

Siki is an orphan of the Black Mountain Apache.   Her mother was killed by Mexicans three years ago and her father lost in an ambush the winter before that.   When Siki witnesses the brutal murder of her little brother Tazhi, she vows to become an Apache warrior and avenge her brother's death.


 

In an abandoned house in the Lake District, a cupboard door opens into a playroom.   Buried in dust is a collection of children's books in which the names of characters have been savagely crossed out.   Here three children played a make believe game, sacrificing their dreams and wishes to make what they believed come true.   But the game was never finished and in the woods behind the house something waits, hungry for the only food it knows.   Now a new family has come to the house.   Soon they will discover themselves in the game....

Meet Madlen, Bryn and Cam.   A girl, a boy and one who's undecided.   They're in charge of saving the world - well, three worlds actually.   They're just not entirely sure how ...  Luckily they've been designed as heroes by the people in charge.   The only problem is, they're not ready yet.   They're still kids and they have no idea what they're looking for or where they'll find it ...  And as if things weren't bad enough, there's a mysterious villain hot on their trail, determined to stop them at all costs.

A boy with a BIG problem.   A man who says he has the answer.  Darkness.  A gun.   Someone’s about to die.   The nightmare has just become real…


 

Rusti is a Tartar, travelling and pillaging with the legendary Horde of Tamburlaine, Conqueror of the World.   He dreams of honour and riches, and is proud to capture his first prisoners - an elephant and her keeper.   Yet amidst the death and destruction, an unlikely friendship takes hold in this breathtaking tale.
 

Somebody stop the mayhem.   Heather thinks everyone in her family comes from Planet Perfect.   Everyone except her, that is.   Then dad drops a bombshell, and the world turns upside down...  Life's become surprising, exciting and just a little bit mad - but is this topsy-turvy new family somewhere Heather can fit in?

 

Hannah Driscoll is part of a gang called the Lip Gloss Girls.   The gang spends most of their spare time together - or baiting the rival gang the Hell Cats.   The two gangs constantly square up to each other and vie for which gang can fight the best - whether it be at school, in the park or on the train.   Hannah feels safe and comfortable within the gang - until she is accused of betraying the Lip Gloss Girls.   All of a sudden Hannah is made to feel what it is like to be cast out and surrounded by enemies...

In the year 2499, a strange new city has risen, hot and dusty, dotted with half-built pyramids and ruled over by a dark army.   Beneath it all, forgotten statues of ancient gods lie waiting to wreak their power on an unsuspecting world.   One boy will stand up and become a hero.

 

When Paul runs away from home he plans to head down to London and a new life, away from his awful stepfather and away from all the things that make him unhappy in Newcastle.   But rather than running away from stress he runs straight into one whole lot of trouble and into the arms of a radical organisation intent on upsetting the country-wide surveillance system that watches our every move.   But are the people as principled as they would like Paul to think, or do they have dark secrets?

Vowing to avenge his parents' death, Jimmu becomes a Samurai, an expert and lethal fighter.   After infiltrating his sworn enemy's personal guard, his skills and loyalties come under heavy attack.

 

The iron wheel began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster.   The room grew darker.   As the light lessened, so did the sound.   Deeba and Zanna stared at each other in wonder.   The noise of the cars and vans and motorbikes outside grew tinny ...  The wheel turned off all the cars and turned off all the lamps.   It was turning off London. Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondon, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up ...and some of its lost and broken people too.....

Before mum died, she told Sam that she would always be with him.   On the day of mum's cremation, his sister Becky receives a text from a friend: 'Thinking about you. X'.   Sam becomes convinced that the text is from their mother.   Imagine if he could text back!   When he finds mum's mobile phone and a 'contact number' in her handwriting, Sam his heart pounding, sends a message.   It is received by a kind but lonely lorry driver, Tony.   Unthinkingly, Tony responds.   Before he knows it, the boy is texting regularly, and Tony is replying.   Sam thinks he's in contact with mum and forms a plan.   He's going to find her and bring her back for Christmas......

The Mau Mau - the name of a secret society that once struck terror into the hearts of British settlers in Kenya.   An episode in history that ended in a State of Emergency, with violent and brutal acts dividing a nation.   This is an intensely personal and vivid story of two boys: one black, one white.   Once they were friends even though their circumstances are very different.   But in a country riven by fear and prejudice, even the best of friends can betray one another

 

Noman is the brilliant and compelling epic climax of "The Noble Warriors" trilogy from hugely successful Hollywood screenwriter and author: William Nicholson.  In a fortress-monastery on an island live the legendary warriors of the Nomana.  The age of the Noble Warriors is over.  But questions about the Nomana remain unanswered.  Seeker, Morning Star and the Wildman's journeys will lead them to question all their loyalties and those they thought they loved. .....

Strong-willed Minna is just a blacksmith's daughter, yet she raises a sickly abandoned foal to become the pride of the Roman cavalry.   And when her fort is threatened by blood-thirsty pirates, the fate of her people depends on Minna and her beloved horse alone, as they set out on an impossible journey to fetch help.

When Ketil and Ottar sail away with a Viking band to join the Great Army, they dream of famous victories.   But the boys are ill-prepared to survive a bloody and brutal battle with the Saxons.   Courage and friendship alone must win the day in this adventure.
 

As foretold in ancient texts, and marked by the Mayan Long Count, time has nearly run out.   Foreshadowed by a sequence of bizarre phenomena and natural disasters, the End Time is fast approaching.   Only Abraham Black has the knowledge to stop this from happening, ancient wisdom inherited from those who have gone before him: Edwardian scholar, Aurel Lockwood and American adventurer, Brice Ambrose Stone.   With the help of his son, Adam, suicide cult survivor, Zillah, and streetwise Kris, he hopes to outwit the sinister forces ranged against him before it is too late.....



 

Gwyna is just a small girl, a mouse, when she is bound in service to Myrddin the bard - a traveller and spinner of tales.   But Myrddin transfroms her - into a lady goddess, a boy warrior, and a spy.   Without Gwyna, Myrddin will not be able to work the most glorious transformation of all - and turn the leader of a raggle-taggle war-band into King Arthur, the greatest hero of all time.

 

Ben's under a curse that will kill him unless he sells it on to someone else.  Chilling tale.

Mungo's world falls apart when his dad falls ill and dies.   Grieving and angry at his loss, his life is further disrupted by his mother's decision to leave the family home in London and move to a cottage in the middle of the countryside.   Mungo finds it increasingly hard to cope with the sudden and complete change in his circumstances and things become stranger still when he meets a boy in the village who is also called Mungo.   This unusual boy seems to be able to change the world around them in a weird and inexplicable way.....

Abena is a rebellious Ashanti girl sold into slavery on the notorious Transatlantic route from West Africa to Jamaica.   Mungo is an English orphan who becomes a cabin boy, only to be kidnapped and sold as a white slave.   Fate brings the two together and Mungo, risking life and limb, saves Abena from a terrible death.   Together they escape and set out towards the Blue Mountains - where rumours tell of a stronghold of runaway slaves ruled by a legendary leader called Nanny.   But can Abena and Mungo slip through the hordes of Redcoats and baying bloodhounds sent to drag them back...?

From the moment the battle-scarred horse Bucephalas, allows a prince and a runaway girl to sit on his back, he is bound to them for ever.   The prince is the young Alexander, who he proudly carries into battle, blazing a trail to the very edge of the world in his master's search for glory and adventure.   The girl, Charm, is a lowly stable girl, who brushes away the ghosts Bucephalas sees and forgives his arrogant ways.   But unlike the golden Alexander, Charm has darker reasons to stay by his side.   Through the eyes of the horse, history, mystery and adventure unfold.

 

It's lust at first sight. Gabriel is gorgeous.   Friendly, funny, talented - and the No. 1 pin-up for every girl in town.   OK, so I'm just as smitten as the rest of them, but at least I can laugh about it, right?   Unlike my mate Lisa, who seems to be taking it all very seriously...  There are crushes, and then there are obsessions...


 

'I was at boarding school in East Anglia, my third. I didn't want to be there.   But if there had been no school, there would be no Finn.   He lived in a hut on the coast.   He was like the hut, in fact - it took a while for both of them to warm up.   But that is all I longed for.   Finn, warming to me.   A nod.   Half a smile.   Asking me to help on the boat.   Not asking me to leave.   I didn't want it to end.   Now I am waiting for the end, and looking back to the beginning.'   Haunting, intense and with a surprising twist in the tale.....

Livia Marcel can't believe it when she learns that her friend Max is wanted by police.   For murder!   When she receives a mysterious note, warning that she too is under surveillance, Livvy fears for her life.   Who can she trust?   The boy on the boat, Cai?   Her father's old army colleagues?   The shadowy Bleiddiaid?

 

A thrilling sci-fi novel set in a believeable - and terrifying - near future...  Johnny Online and Kestrella are hybrids - victims of "Creep", a pandemic sweeping the country which causes sufferers to merge with items of technology when over-exposed to their use.   Kestrella persuades a wary Johnny to help her find her missing mother, but the Gene Police have other plans for him...

The only difference between fear and courage is hope.   This is a fresh and powerful story about one girl's strength of character and her journey of hope. Mulumbe's village is plagued by marauders, and then an elephant eats the last of her family's crop.   She determines to save her family, and embarks on an adventure fraught with danger: travelling to the famed City of Gold to be reunited with her brother, Tom, and save her family by earning some money.   Grandmother tells her many riddles and it is these life lessons that carry her through the obstacles and dangers she encounters.........

A classic Jean Ure story for girls AND boys, about a boy who's driving girls wild...  Dorian Jones is an 11-year-old boy who is having 'terrible trouble with girls'.   They just won't leave him alone.   Girls at school and his annoying younger sisters' friends have massive crushes on him, but Dory's passion is for dinosaurs and he is happiest excavating his back garden.   His best friend at school is Aaron and his best friend out of school is a girl called the Herb.   How will Dory stop girls throwing themselves at him?   Why is Aaron holding hands with Sophy Timms?   And why is the Herb acting so strange around Dory all of a sudden!

Sixteen-year-old Lucas Swain becomes intrigued by the urn of ashes left in a cab office. Convinced that its occupant -- Violet Park -- is communicating with him, he contrives to gain possession of the urn, little realising that his quest will take him on a voyage of self-discovery and identity, forcing him to finally confront what happened to his absent (and possibly dead) father!

 

Otto and Wing have special permission to leave H.I.V.E.'s secret island location to attend a funeral (all too common in their line of business).   But before they reach their destination they are ambushed.   Who would risk assassinating Otto Malpense, star pupil of the Higher Institute of Villainous Education and favourite of Number One, the most powerful villain alive?   A new power is rising to challenge Number One's authority, and they need H.I.V.E. and its powerful computer to do so.........

Dark, magical and exciting, Cat Weatherill's new fantasy takes the legend of the Pied Piper and gives it an unexpected twist.   Mari and her brother Jakob have followed the enchanted music and are now trapped in a world of wild magic.   A world as cruel as it is beautiful.   And all the time, they are being stalked by a fearsome beast, who needs one of the children to break a centuries-old curse.   But the price of breaking the curse is a terrible one ...

Tegen, headstrong druid-in-training, has struck out alone but the world beyond her village is a dangerous place.   The Roman invaders are tightening their grip on the land and the British tribes are warring instead of uniting.   When Tegen meets a sensible young druid, he seems the perfect guide.   But Owein's dark past is chasing him and he brings Tegen into the orbit of a deadly new enemy.....

Fifteen-year-old Freedom Smith is a born fighter - it's in his gypsy blood.   Freedom's no angel, but he's no killer either.   When falsely accused of murder, the law gives him the chance to prove his worth, by infiltrating a sinister fight game that's recruiting runaway boys.   But what he discovers is something else.   Something big.


 

Who wouldn't want to star in the world's greatest romance?   Your dream's come true.   Your school's doing "Romeo and Juliet" and you get the starring role of Juliet.   Perfect!   There's just one catch: the boy you hate is playing Romeo.   He isn't any old enemy - your families are at daggers drawn.   A bit like in Romeo and Juliet ...except there's no way you're going to fall for him...

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Last updated 20/06/2008 14:56
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