New Releases by Gillian Cross

Jason Banks is a bully. No one likes him and even the teachers are scared of him! It's time that someone taught Jason a lesson and he might just have met his match in the strange pumpkin that keeps appearing on his doorstep. Will Jason ever learn the error of his ways? And can he crack the case of the dreaded Pumpkin of Doom?

When Alice Brett moves from the city to a little village school, she's never seen a real live horse before. And resident horse Mozart's Banana is not just any old horse - he's crazy The children are banned from riding him, but when Sammy Foster dares Alice to get on his back, she takes it very seriously - chaos ensues

What if you woke up tomorrow and everything had changed? Money is worthless. Your friends are gone. Armed robbers roam the streets. No one is safe. Suddenly you're a refugee. After Tomorrow is an unflinchingly poignant but ultimately hopeful story from Carnegie Medal winning author Gillian Cross, exploring the struggle for survival within refugee camps.

What if you woke up tomorrow and everything had changed? Money is worthless. Your friends are gone. Armed robbers roam the streets. No one is safe. For Matt and his little brother, Taco, that nightmare is a reality. Their only hope of survival is to escape through the Channel Tunnel. But danger waits on the other side. Stay or go?

A bold re-envisioning of The Odyssey, told with simplicity and style — perfect for fans of graphic retellings and mythology enthusiasts alike. Odysseus faces storm and shipwreck, a terrifying man-eating Cyclops, the alluring but deadly Sirens, and the fury of the sea-god Poseidon as he makes his ten-year journey home from the Trojan War. While Odysseus struggles to make it home, his wife, Penelope, fights a different kind of battle as her palace is invaded by forceful, greedy men who tell her that Odysseus is dead and she must choose a new husband. Will Odysseus reach her in time? Homer’s epic, age-old story is powerfully told by Carnegie Medalist Gillian Cross and stunningly illustrated by rising talent Neil Packer.

Identity and secrets. People smuggling and kidnapping. Family alliances and bitter enmity. Fashion and falsehoods. In this powerful coming-of-age novel three friends will have to face harsh truths about their world. However painful or dangerous it may be...

Brother Aelred loved singing and looking after the pigs. But it was his secret weapon that stopped invading Vikings from getting the monastery's treasure.

Dinah and her brothers are pretty sure they're rid of the Demon Headmaster once and for all. When people start dismantling the research centre Dinah contacts Professor Claudia Rowe, who's an expert on artificial intelligence. With Dinah's help she saves some of the precious materials and theybecome friends. Then weird things start to happen. Libraries start closing and their books are taken away. Telephones stop working, and there is no internet access. People start talking like robots-even Claudia Rowe-and more and more of them seem to be wearing strange badges. It all adds up to onething: the Demon Headmaster must be back. Dinah's search leads her to the university where she finds him developing a Hyperbrain-a computer with superhuman intelligence and deadly potential. Suddenly she's trapped. Is there any way to foil his plan?Gillian Cross has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Novel Award, and the Smarties Prize, and is a highly-acclaimed author. Sales of Gillian's books exceed one million copies.

From critically-acclaimed author Gillian Cross comes this riveting psychological thriller about a teenage girl threatened by a mysterious stalker, now in paperback.

Colin Jackus doesn't want to be in the school play and is angry because he's been forced into it. But gradually he starts to realize that it's not just a play - the sinster story they are acting has its roots deep in cruel reality and despair. Strange things are happening among the cast of the play and misery is seeping through them. So when the leading actor starts to take on the evil personality of the character he's supposed to be playing, Jackus decides to delve deeper and try and stop the disaster that threatens.

Finch is alone in a motorway cafe when she meets a scruffy bunch of lads who say they are a rock band - Finch can sing and before she knows it she has joined the band - Fame follows, but there is always the strange, brooding figure of Christie for her to try to understand.

Finding a note in Joseph's lost wallet referring to dungeons and warriors, Nick becomes involved in a fantasy game which takes a dangerous turn when gang members send him on a quest which involves betraying Joseph.