Showing results by author "Hilary McKay" in All Categories

Saffron's two sisters, Cadmium and Rose, and her brother Indigo were all named from a color chart by their mother Eve, a fine-arts painter. When Saffron, known as Saffy, discovers that her name is not on the chart, it soon leads to another discovery. She has been adopted.

In The Duck in the Park, Lulu finds a duck egg that has rolled out of its nest and takes it to class to keep it safe. Pets aren’t allowed at school, but surely this doesn’t count? After all, it’s just an egg.... In The Dog from the Sea, she goes on holiday and finds a dog living on the beach. Everyone in town thinks the dog is trouble. But Lulu is sure he just needs a friend... In The Cat in the Bag, a mysterious bag is left on Lulu’s doorstep. The last thing her nan expects to be in it is a huge, marigold-coloured cat. But Lulu knows that this cat needs a lovely new home.

Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe Conroy love reading and having fun more than anything else. So the sisters are horrified when they learn that their parents are sending them away to Cumbria for the summer, to stay with their fearsome grandmother, but worst of all, she refuses to let the girls read any books. Determined to enjoy their summer, the sisters decide they aren't going to put up with their grandmother's tough regime, and in doing so, they somehow manage to cause inordinate amounts of chaos.

Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn't fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn't worry about her education, because he knows she won't need it. It's the early 20th century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave. But Clarry wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can't she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted.

Lulu loves animals. When Lulu's next door neighbour doesn't seem to be looking after his rabbit properly, Lulu and her cousin Mellie devise a scheme to make him pay more attention to his pet.

Abi and her two step-brothers, Max and Louis, find that strange things happen when they are alone in their eerie, ivy-covered new house. Abi, reading alone, finds herself tumbling deep into books, while Louis summons a startling guest through his bedroom window. Even Max has started to see shapes in the shadows....Their busy parents see none of it - but Louis' secret visitor is growing too alarming to keep secret, and he finds he cannot manage without Max and Abi's help. Can they find out where the mysterious creature has come from - and how to get it back there?

Feisty Rose takes center stage as the highly original Casson family faces a long, hot summer. As usual, things are a bit chaotic. Eldest daughter Caddy is now engaged to darling Michael, and she’s not altogether sure she likes it. Saffy and Sarah are on a mission to find Saffy’s biological father (while cultivating hearts of stone). Indigo is cautiously beginning a friendship with a reformed bully, who desperately wants to feel like part of the Casson family.

Binny's life has been difficult since her father died and Binny's life has been difficult since her father died and her dreadful old Aunt Violet disposed of her beloved dog, Max. Her world changed then, to a city flat with not enough space for her Mum, her big sister Clem, and her small brother James. Definitely no room for a pet. Then one day Aunt Violet dies, leaving a small cottage in Cornwall to Binny and her family. Binny finds herself in a new world once more, full of sunshine and freedom and Gareth, the enemy-next-door and the ideal companion for dangerous dares.

In this delightful sequel to A Little Princess, Sara Crewe has gone away with the Indian gentleman, and now nothing is the same at Miss Minchin's. Shy Ermengarde, spoiled Lottie, and awful Lavinia are all left behind at the Select Seminary for Young Ladies, and without Sara, school is even more dreary than before. But things are about to change....

It's back to school for the start of a new term. Indigo's returning after a bout of glandular fever and is dreading it. Rose is worrying about Indigo, and her new glasses. Saffy is busy dictating Rose's homework answers, while Caddy agonizes over ways to dump her current boyfriend. And their mother, Eve, is busy trying to dry her latest painting with a hairdryer.

In England, Ruby has no friends because of the speckled blotches on her face that kids say look like dirt. And Kate is sickly all the time, her older siblings each taking turns looking after her. Ruby and Kate’s first meeting is nearly disastrous, but the two lonely girls soon strike up a friendship. Their connection becomes all the more important when England joins the war against Germany and the blitz begins overhead.

Grace Darling nearly drowned when she was eight years old, leaving her with a fear of boats and the sea. But it’s a fear she has to overcome as the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, living on the Longstone Rock with her parents, four brothers, three sisters and her beloved dog, Happy. Losses at sea bring shadows to an otherwise idyllic childhood, but everything Grace learns growing up on the coast is put to the test in 1838, when The Forfarshire is wrecked on the Harcar Rock, and she has to row out through the storm to the rescue.

Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe Conroy are all struggling to deal with the trials and tribulations of first love(s). Ruth develops a crush on the school bus driver, but finds herself conflicted when she also develops feelings for Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, the temporary English teacher (who Naomi is also smitten with) and Alan Adair who works in the butcher's shop. Meanwhile, the younger two sisters have other things on their minds—Rachel is plotting to become May Queen at her school and Phoebe is in training to become an international spy.

When Ruth Conroy decides to sponsor a child in Africa, she is unprepared for just how difficult it is to find 10 pounds per month. As any sister's next step would be, Ruth enlists the help of Phoebe, Naomi and Rachel. All too eager to help their sister, the four girls work together to come up with multiple hare-brained, fundraising schemes that are a bit too mischievous to be fruitful. From undisciplined babysitters to unhygienic caterers and fraudulent pavement artists, the Conroy sisters' hilarious projects never fail to cause chaos and mayhem.

Here are two of a series of stories about the riotous children who live in Paradise House.

Clarry and her older brother, Peter, live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But normal life resumes each September - boarding school for Peter and Rupert, and a boring life for Clarry at home with her absent father, as the shadow of a terrible war looms ever closer. When Rupert goes off to fight at the front, Clarry feels their skylark summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?

When Robin Brogan comes down with chicken pox, he doesn't think it's really so terrible. After all, it gets him out of acting in the school play. And since his best friend Dan also has spots, they are staying together at Robin's house in England overlooking the ocean. When the hours begin to drag, Robin's mother tells stories about a wonderful summer she spent in their shoreline house.

When the children are snowed in during a dinner ladies' detention for what could turn into weeks, things look bad. After all, dinner ladies are not overly fond of children, and their cooking is terrible! Now London has been evacuated, and time and food are running out. Bagdemagus, the magical school cat, is behaving very strangely - can he help the children make their escape?

Pudding Bag School is an ordinary school. But this year, Class 4b has the magical Miss Gilhoolie teaching them, and suddenly things are much more exciting.... A special class prize will be awarded to the children who make the most money at the Pudding Bag School Summer Fair. With their teacher ill, Class 4b and their pet moose need something special - and it arrives just in time. But it smells very strongly of magic! Will anyone notice?

Simon Percy's parents went up in a hot-air balloon when he was six weeks old. It's now his 10th birthday, and they still haven't returned! Simon is dreading the new school term, but the arrival of an unconventional new teacher cheers him up.