Showing results by publisher "Orion Children's Books" in All Categories

In the magical village of Everspring, everyone receives a fate card before their twelfth birthday, sent down from the mysterious Mount Never. It tells them their purpose, their profession and how old they'll be when they die. Nearly 12-year-old Ember Shadows has always believed she is destined for great things. But when her fate card arrives, it's blank. What does that mean? Then, worse still, her sister's card decrees she will die before her next birthday. No way is Ember's going to let that happen.

Twelve-year-old Jerome doesn't get into trouble. He goes to school. He does his homework. He takes care of his little sister. Then Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, watching his family trying to cope with his death, Jerome begins to notice other ghost boys. Each boy has a story and they all have something in common. Bit by bit, Jerome begins to understand what really happened - not just to him, but to all of the ghost boys.

When war breaks out in September 1939, Laura, Andy and Tim Clark are evacuated to the countryside. The Colonel's comfortable home in Dorset is a huge contrast to their cramped terraced house in London, where their loving parents struggle to put the next meal on the table. Though unused to having children around, the Colonel proves to be a kind and generous, if gruff, guardian until a terrible turn of events means the kids must move on.

Twelve-year-old Eliza and her sister Avery have lived their entire lives in a small fishing village on the coast of Louisiana, growing up alongside turtles, pelicans and porpoises. But now, with sea levels rising, their home is at risk of being swept away. Determined to save the land, Eliza and her younger sister Avery secretly go searching in the swamp for the dangerous, wolf-like loup-garou. If they can prove this legendary creature exists, they're sure that the government will have to protect its habitat - and their community.

All Niamh has longed for is to be remembered: to create something that will last far longer than she will. For her, that means becoming a renowned dressmaker, using the magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric - the same magic that will eventually kill her. When Niamh is commissioned to design the prince's wardrobe for a royal wedding in Avaland, she knows she finally has her chance to leave her legacy. But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined.

When Ruby's dad uproots her from Australia to set up a hotel in the mountains of India, Ruby is devastated. Not only are they living in a run-down building in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by scorpions, bears and leopards, but Ruby is sure that India will never truly feel like home - not without her mum there. Ever since her mum died, Ruby has been afraid. Of cars. Of the dark. Of going to sleep and never waking up

Fly never meant to end up in a cage with a man-eating tiger. And though she's sure she's no princess, when the tiger addresses her as 'your majesty', she can't help but vow to free him and return him home. But the bird-filled jungles and cloud-topped mountains of the tiger's homeland are an ocean away. And not everyone wants the tiger - or Fly - to get there alive. With dark and dangerous forces working against them, will Fly be able to fulfil her promise and maybe - just maybe - become the queen her tiger knows her to be?

Yesterday Crumb is determined, brave and nearly ready to defeat a formidable foe: Mr Weep, the Lord of the Dead. Reunited with her beloved Dwimmerly End - a magical walking teashop - apprentice tea witch Yesterday and her friends begin to search for Mr Weep's weakness. Except the dark influence of a strange flower is taking hold of Yesterday's friends and allies, turning them cold-hearted and pitting them against each other. As the flower's effects spread further, Yesterday needs to save her friends and rally the magical world to overcome Mr Weep's dark reign.

Rookie model, Audrey, is navigating the dizzying bright lights of New York for the first time as Ezra - no stranger to the city, returns from studying abroad with a broken nose and a broken heart. Their connection is instant, smouldering and all-consuming. But when Audrey is confronted with the darker facets of the fashion industry and Ezra's past proves impossible to outrun, will it be enough?

It's been two years since Harper and Will discovered their mum's boyfriend Nick is Santa Claus—now their family is one bigger thanks to baby Yula Hall who's almost a year old. But baby Yula also seems to have Christmas magic she can't control (cue turning the sandpit into a snow pit, causing mischief at nursery by pulling whichever toy she likes out of any drawer and the house being wrapped up in Christmas paper!)

Nico Cloud desperately wants to be an explorer, but her parents think adventures aren't for girls. Fate intervenes when Nico chases a kitten on board a ship...and then the ship sails out to sea! Nico is an accidental stowaway. Lucky for her, the ship belongs to a famous scientist who is on a quest for new discoveries. But clouds are brewing overhead, and cunning pirates are determined to wreck the crew's mission. Can Nico steer the ship to victory and prove her parents wrong?

10-year-old Audrey has a secret. A secret no one - not her friends, her teachers, not even her neighbours - knows about. And to keep it hidden she has become one of the best actresses on the planet. As soon as she steps out of the front door, the show is on, and all the world becomes her stage! No-one would ever guess that she is a nurse and doctor for her mam, the family food shopper (and sometimes shoplifter), a medicines collector, and even bedtime-reader for her younger siblings. But when Audrey's mam gets sicker, things go from difficult to impossible.

Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few Black boys at his school, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in whiteness. Most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbed the 'Black Brother', Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter skinned brother, Dre. When an incident with a white student leads to Donte's arrest and suspension, he's sure the only way to get even is to beat the student at the school's most valued game: fencing.

The magic ring that Emily Windsnap - half mermaid, half ordinary girl - finds buried in the sand belongs to Neptune, and he wants it back. But the ring, once on, won't come off, and an angry Neptune sends Emily's boat spinning away across the sea. When it comes to rest, she and her best friend, Shona, can see a mysterious castle shimmering in the mist on the horizon.... Another magical adventure full of fun and friendship!

Dinah's whole world is upside down, dead things and angry men and cuts all over her head that are beginning to sting.... Seventeen-year-old Dinah needs to leave her home, the weird commune where she grew up. She needs a whole new identity, starting with how she looks, starting with shaving off her hair, her 'crowning glory'. She has to do it quickly, because she has to go now.

Last spring, the otters' home flooded. Now the water is high again. Young otter Sedge believes he can save his holt from another flood - but he has to be brave enough travel downstream for help. Downriver, the beaver lodge is also at risk. Silken—who is too small and weak to do the work needed to strengthen the beavers' dam—feels something calling her up the river. As the two animals unknowingly swim towards each other, they are drawn to the spirit of Greenriver, who takes the form of a snow-white otter, Lady River. But will Lady River hear their plea for safety?

Rachel and Hilary are sent to live with their ambitious aunt who runs a stage school, training a troupe of dancing girls. It's heaven for Hilary who loves to perform, but quite the opposite for quiet Rachel. The last thing Rachel wants is to become one of her aunt's Little Wonders—particularly if it means behaving like their irritating show-off of a cousin. A mischievous, fun and moving story about young performers, from the acclaimed author of the classic Ballet Shoes.

Shifa and her brother, Themba, live in Kairos City with their father, Nabil. The few live in luxury whilst the millions like them crowd together in compounds, surviving on meagre rations and governed by Freedom Fields - the organisation that looks after you, as long as you opt in. The bees have long disappeared; instead children must labour on farms, pollinating crops so that the nation can eat.

Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen's tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat. Until one day when a mysterious earthquake shakes the land and her older sister Hari vanishes in its wake. Accompanied by her loyal sea hawk, Nara, Ysolda embarks on a desperate rescue mission. But when she is forced to strike a bargain with the wolf queen herself, she soon finds herself embroiled in a quest for a magic more powerful - and more dangerous - than she could ever have imagined.

For Zeina and Jackson, life has changed dramatically. Now on the run with the fearsome sky pirates, The Smog Rats, their days are full of adventure. Still, Zeina is excited to be safe for a week or two when she and The Smog Rats attend the infamous Solstice Festival in a grand but secretive palace built by the ice bears. As humans are usually forbidden to attend and celebrate the Gathering - the only gathering of horned sky whales left, which happens only once every 10 years - she and Jackson are honoured. But things aren't quite right.