Short-listed for the 2012 Silver Birch Express Award What if your best friend was a naughty 400-year-old gargoyle? And what if he just happened to be in terrible danger? It’s not always easy, but thirteen-year-old Katherine Newberry is friends with a gargoyle. His name is Gargoth of Tallus, and he lives in her backyard. Gargoth has lost the only creature on the planet who can help him. Her name is Ambergine, and she’s been his greatest friend for hundreds of years. What Katherine and Gargoth dont know is that Ambergine is searching for him too. But she is not alone. Gargoths greatest enemy is prowling the city, and it’s a race against time to find him first! In this sequel to The Gargoyle in My Yard (2009), The Gargoyle Overhead provides the historical backstory to Gargoths life, and further explores themes of friendship, courage and loneliness.

Short-listed for the 2012 Silver Birch Express Award What if your best friend was a naughty 400-year-old gargoyle? And what if he just happened to be in terrible danger? It’s not always easy, but thirteen-year-old Katherine Newberry is friends with a gargoyle. His name is Gargoth of Tallus, and he lives in her backyard. Gargoth has lost the only creature on the planet who can help him. Her name is Ambergine, and she’s been his greatest friend for hundreds of years. What Katherine and Gargoth dont know is that Ambergine is searching for him too. But she is not alone. Gargoths greatest enemy is prowling the city, and it’s a race against time to find him first! In this sequel to The Gargoyle in My Yard (2009), The Gargoyle Overhead provides the historical backstory to Gargoths life, and further explores themes of friendship, courage and loneliness.

They’re troubling. They’re bizarre. And they JUST might be true. They’re Weird Stories Gone Wrong. Here are six spectacularly spooky books from acclaimed children’s author Philippa Dowding that will have you wondering about tall tales, giant flies, and mysterious monsters in the dark. Jake and the Giant Hand—Book #1 Jake doesn’t really believe a giant’s hand was found in a field near his grandfather’s farm, but when Jake begins noticing giant flies buzzing around and Grandpa says the basement is off-limits, he doesn’t know what to believe. Myles and the Monster Outside—Book #2 2016/2017 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award — Shortlisted A series of creepy events follow Myles and his family one rainy night as they move across the country. But the scariest thing has to be the misty, red-eyed figure that won’t leave them alone. Carter and the Curious Maze—Book #3 Carter discovers a creepy maze at the fair and travels farther and farther back in time. How will he ever get back to the present? Alex and The Other—Book #4 Alex is a lonely boy, not exactly bullied but not popular either. Then a girl — named Alex! — arrives who looks just like him. She is popular, and better than him at everything. Soon, she’s even better than he is at being him. Will Alex get his life back, or will his evil twin take over for good? Blackwells and the Briny Deep—Book #5 After seeing a phantom ship, the Blackwell kids run aground on a mysterious island with warring mermaids, zombie pirates, and a strange dolphin-boy named Finn. Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet—Book #6 On Quinn’s third day at the Work Centre he sees a girl run away. After he’s questioned about her escape, suddenly a renegade Officer and Work Bot want Quinn to help the oldest children find sanctuary in the Quiet, Quiet. But why are the children turning blue? How can Quinn help them? And more than that: what’s the Quiet, Quiet anyway?

Do you hear the distant drums? And what about that weird screaming ... Emma Blackwell used to love mermaids. Jonah Blackwell used to love pirates. And William Blackwell tried to be a good captain. Which he would be, if he could get his twin brother and sister to stop fighting long enough to sail their boat, the Peregrine, across the bay. But after the Blackwells see a phantom ship, barely survive a terrible storm, and then mysteriously wake up with seaweed in their mouths, everything changes. They’re becalmed in fog. They run aground on a strange island. They hear distant drums, and their weird adventure begins! The Blackwells face zombie pirates, terrifying mermaids, and a shipwrecked group of cursed ship’s figureheads, including a Roman gladiator and an English knight, all led by the strange dolphin-boy, Finn. It’ll make a great sea yarn one day, if they can just survive it.

They’re troubling. They’re bizarre. And they JUST might be true. They’re Weird Stories Gone Wrong. Here are five spectacularly spooky books from acclaimed children’s author Philippa Dowding that will have you wondering about tall tales, giant flies, and mysterious monsters in the dark. Jake and the Giant Hand—Book #1 Jake doesn’t really believe a giant’s hand was found in a field near his grandfather’s farm, but when Jake begins noticing giant flies buzzing around and Grandpa says the basement is off-limits, he doesn’t know what to believe. Myles and the Monster Outside—Book #2 2016/2017 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award — Shortlisted A series of creepy events follow Myles and his family one rainy night as they move across the country. But the scariest thing has to be the misty, red-eyed figure that won’t leave them alone. Carter and the Curious Maze—Book #3 Carter discovers a creepy maze at the fair and travels farther and farther back in time. How will he ever get back to the present? Alex and The Other—Book #4 Alex is a lonely boy, not exactly bullied but not popular either. Then a girl — named Alex! — arrives who looks just like him. She is popular, and better than him at everything. Soon, she’s even better than he is at being him. Will Alex get his life back, or will his evil twin take over for good? Blackwells and the Briny Deep—Book #5 After seeing a phantom ship, the Blackwell kids run aground on a mysterious island with warring mermaids, zombie pirates, and a strange dolphin-boy named Finn.

"You are not alone, son of Lore, Yah reassured me, lifting my spirit. 'Twas then he revealed my brothers, brothers not of blood, but of spirit, who would stand by my side to contest Tyro's dominion. You, Terin, are one of my true brothers, sent by Yah in our time of greatest need. Your birth was foretold long ago, long before King Vantor II of the Middle Kingdom revealed the prophecy of the one to find the lost Sword of the Moon. Your birth was foretold long before the rise and fall of ancient Tarelia. Your birth was revealed to Kal himself before he fell in battle, a divine vision from Yah to his most faithful servant. You are his only descendent, his line dying or living through you and you alone. It is through you that his divine gift endures, the power to strip gargoyles of their courage and sense. Against you, they cannot stand. It is Kal's blood that enables you to call upon such power, Kal's blood that ordains you a child of prophecy. It is Kal's blood that calls out to the Swords of Light, drawing you to them, their own power symbiotic to your own. In my hand, your sword can cut through any object and would guide my hand to preserve my life. In your hand, it is so much more, enhancing your power to drive off gargoyles tenfold. The swords were forged for the descendants of Kal. They were forged for you." --Prince Lorn at the siege of Mosar While the Torries and Jenaii celebrate their victory at Corell, the battle in Yatin grows dire, forcing difficult choices on Princess Corry. As acting regent of the northern realm, she is faced with a war-torn land bracing for winter, while her brother fights a desperate battle far away. Heeding her council, she lends him the only aid she can, much to her misgivings. At Corell, Cronus must again bid his beloved Leanna farewell, undertaking a delicate mission on behalf the realm, while Elos helps Alen set his own course in the fight against his former masters. To the east, Morac's legions limp into winter quarters at Notsu, licking their wounds, while their lord plots his revenge. In the Ape Empire, General Matuzak hosts the Earthers, inviting them to aid him in establishing a republic. At Fera, Tyro obsesses over the carvings in Terin's charm, consumed with the possibilities it portends, while Tosha prepares her return to her mother's isle with child and without her consort, preparing for an uncertain reception. Before journeying to Yatin, Terin's father confides in him the great and terrible truth that plagues his past and threatens their future, a truth that shakes Terin to his very core, casting doubt over everything he knows. He must carry this terrible burden into battle, helping his future king in saving an age-old enemy of their people against the greater threat threatening to consume them all. As the war expands throughout Arax, the fate of the Torry Realms hangs in the balance, their only hope for survival dependent on the battle of Yatin.

The first in a series of scary tall tales from award-winning children’s novelist Philippa Dowding. Why is Grandpa acting so weird? And why are there so many giant flies? Jake spends every summer on his grandpa’s farm. But this year, things are a little weird. First, there are huge flies everywhere. Second, Grandpa is acting kind of funny. And third, Jake’s friend Kate keeps trying to scare him with creepy stories. Last year’s tale about the swamp creature was bad enough, but this year’s story about a hand that someone found in a farmer’s field is even worse. And it wasn’t just any hand either. It was a giant’s hand! It might just be the creepiest story of all. It can’t be real. Can it?