Showing results by narrator "Theo Solomon" in All Categories

It is human instinct to sort and categorise. We are hardwired to discriminate and frame everything in binary black and white. It's how our brains work. Rather than reaching out to those who are different, we bond with those who are similar to ourselves. Rather than challenging our own thinking about the world, we endeavour only to confirm what we believe. The result is that the difference between polarised beliefs becomes ever greater. Dangerous possibilities arise. Black and White Thinking is an alarm call.

From Onjali Q. Rauf, acclaimed author of The Boy At the Back of the Class, come two poignant tales of modern-day heroism, featuring supermarket theives, a visit with the Queen, and plenty of laughs! In this two-novella collection, discover kid heroes making a difference in the world, featuring old friends and some new classmates you won't want to leave.

The Day We Met the Queen: 10-year-old Ahmet has become the Most Famous Refugee Boy in the World. In fact, he's so famous even the queen wants to meet him - and his four best friends! So they're off to Buckingham Palace, with a list of questions for her and one special challenge. The Great (Food) Bank Heist: On Thursdays, Nelson, Ashley and Mum head out to the bank. But not just any old bank - the food bank. With its shining tins and packets of food stacked from floor to ceiling, Nelson thinks it's the best kind of bank there is. But there's a thief in town.

You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A-level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings, it's your old girlfriend and she's carrying a baby. Your baby. You're happy to look after it, just for an hour or two. But then she doesn't come back - and your future suddenly looks very different.

An immersive anthology of stories examining home and belonging, with an introduction from former Waterstones Children’s Book Prize category winner Sharna Jackson, Happy Here features stories and poems by 10 Black British authors exploring themes of family, friendship, laughter, magic and peril - in different genres and styles, but all about joy.

The final part in the story that started with Gifts, and the tale of Gry Barre of Roddmant and Orrec Caspro of Caspromant, two children with extraordinary powers. They play a part in Voices too, the sequel to Gifts, in which Memer, a girl who has grown up in a captured city, is part of the people's fight for freedom. And now, in Powers, we have the conclusion to Ursula Le Guin's beautifully written, powerful and moving story of the Western Isles, a tale that will leave every listener begging for more.

Join Harry and Ava as they battle space monsters, in a thrilling new adventure series that's out of this world! Nothing can escape the Void...or so people on the huge space station Vantia1 believe. So when an unidentified object appears from the black hole that swallowed their home planet long ago, everyone panics.

The 'outward urge' was a factor in the Troon inheritance. Successive generations of Troons, looking up at the stars, heard the siren voices that called them out into Space. And, as the frontiers of Space receded, there was usually one Troon, if not more, out there, helping to push them back. The four exciting episodes related here deal with the parts they played in the building of the Space Station, the occupation of the Moon, the first landing on Mars and the trouble about Venus.

How did a photographer who was a relentless playboy, an unashamed womaniser and a leather-clad motorcyclist marry the queen's sister and become the establishment figure Lord Snowdon? The brilliantly talented Antony Armstrong-Jones often humiliated Princess Margaret, yet he was compassionate to the causes he cared about. Since his death in 2017, Snowdon still hasn't escaped the limelight, as more and more is revealed about his wild and intriguing life.

Harry and Ava are two ordinary kids doing their best to survive life on a massive space station, Vantia1, after their home planet was swallowed by a mysterious black hole known as the Void. Ava is training to be a fighter pilot, while Harry uses his talent for engineering to invent amazing gadgets that help him solve any problem standing in his way. And now Vantia1 is facing a crisis. When they intercept a secret message and discover that a mysterious and unidentified object is about to attack their home, Harry and Ava realise that only they can tackle the evil mastermind responsible.

Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow, who sings without reason and can fly from trouble. His world is a kitchen, a herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the ‘wolves’ – prostitutes and slaves from every corner of the empire – conduct their business.

Marina lives in Merlington, a fish-obsessed seaside town. Unfortunately, she doesn’t care for fish; she loves to tell stories. Marina finds her best story yet when she explores the ruined, haunted pier - a boy called William, with a head of tentacles and crab claws for hands. He has lived on the pier all his life, cared for by a fisherman who has since disappeared and who warned him always to remain hidden. Together, the pair resolve to unravel the mystery of his past - but danger lurks among the fishmongers.

Kai lives in a mixed-race family on a rural council estate in Somerset, where he and his three older sisters have three different dads and his mum is being led into crack addiction by his petty-thief father. He idolises his dad, adores his friend, Saffie, and the school rabbit, Flopsy, and is full of ambition to be the fastest runner in Middledown Primary. He and Saffie build a secret world of friendship in the school garden.

With the Blitz over and London reeling from war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Fresh off the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and has fallen in love with the girl next door. Touring Soho’s music halls by night, pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home - and it’s alive with possibility. Until, one morning, he makes a terrible discovery.

My Favourite Bible Stories is written in a child friendly and dynamic way to encourage and support children in developing their relationship with God through the bible. At the end of each story they will enjoy the Have a Think, Have a Go and Have a Prayer sections to encourage exploration and prayers that will deepen the connection to the story, its characters and key message. The stories come to life in an engaging way that all children can relate to. She captures the authenticity of where these stories are told through the characters like no other children’s bible.

A former carer, primary school teacher and education researcher, Matt Lloyd-Rose became a volunteer police officer to try to understand the challenges facing young people in Brixton, the place he lived and taught. He got more than he bargained for. Each Friday evening, he put on the uniform and policed South London: racing through it on blue lights, patrolling its streets, entering a parallel version of a place he thought he knew.

On Thursdays, Nelson, Ashley and Mum head out to the bank. But not just any old bank - the food bank. With its shining tins and packets of food stacked from floor to ceiling, Nelson thinks it's the best kind of bank there is. But there's a thief in town, and the shelves of the food bank are getting emptier each day, leaving people hungrier than ever. For the sake of his family and everyone else's, Nelson needs to make them stop. But can he and his friends really be the ones to catch the bank robber?

Fifteen-year-old Mack is a hopeless romantic—he blames the films he's grown up watching. He has liked Karim for as long as he can remember, and is ecstatic when Karim becomes his boyfriend—it feels like love. But when Mack's dad gets a job on a film in Scotland, Mack has to move, and soon he discovers how painful love can be. It's horrible being so far away from Karim, but the worst part is that Karim doesn't make the effort to visit. Love shouldn't be only on the weekends.

An action-packed, laugh-out-loud, high-energy story for boys and girls featuring adults taken over by aliens and a brave group of kids who must work together as a team to stop them! Brothers Trey and Jax spend after-school hours rehearsing with their street dance collective the Fly High Crew, until the evening they see a green beam of light flash out of the sky and are thrown into an out-of-this-world adventure! Aliens have landed and are mind-controlling all the teachers and adults: can the Fly High Crew work together as a team and save the day?

In a quiet Surrey village sits Leventree, an architectural practice set up by idealistic couple Florence and Arthur Mayhood, offering apprenticeships to young offenders after their release. Motivated by his own memories of Borstal, Arthur aims to mentor young adults with a troubled upbringing and give them opportunities to succeed. Their first protégées are siblings, Joyce and Charlie Savigear, who quickly settle in; but when a dangerous figure from Joyce's past comes knocking, the Mayhoods' earnest hopes of doing good turn tragic.