Squire the Squirrel lives in the queen's royal garden with all his friends, which is like a paradise for them. It's that time of year when the royal swans throw a party to celebrate the queen's seventieth jubilee. Squire is overjoyed at the opportunity to participate. Nonetheless, it appears to be a challenging chore for him to do it alone for such a massive gathering. He considers seeking the support of his friends, but he is unsure whom to invite and whom to exclude. He decides to consult a parliament of owls for advice. Let's read to find out how he gets things done.

Index with coverage from 1906 to 1980.

The story embraces the tenacity of a feisty sixteen-year-old taking on the challenges of teenage pregnancy. She is faced with ridicule and downright rejection in terms of societal norms. She, however, receives undying support from her lifelong friend and her friend's mother, who also experienced pregnancy at a relatively young age. She suffers severe embarrassment at school, due to the attitude of both pupils and teachers alike, particularly as she is unable to identify the father following an end of summer drunken party. Her biggest fear is breaking the news to her parents and not knowing how they would react. She is determined to keep the baby against all odds, and to obtain good grades for the remainder of her school career and then progress to university. Through her 'never say die' attitude she wins support from unlikely quarters and continues with her brave journey.

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews | A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date. Praise for Black Swan Green “[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel. . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods. . . . This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.”—The Boston Globe “[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer. . . . As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.”—Time