The Light Jar

"Thoughtful and hugely empathetic" (The Guardian).The Light Jar is a compelling mystery that celebrates imagination and the light within. Nate and his mother are running away. Fleeing from a bad situation at home, they hide out in an abandoned cottage in the middle of a forest. Though it's old and run-down, at least it's a place of their own.Then Nate's mother heads off for groceries and doesn't return. Has she run into trouble, or simply abandoned him? He is left alone and afraid, with the dark -- and all his old fears -- closing in on him.But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places: like a strange girl trying to solve the mystery of a treasure hunt, and the reappearance of a friend from his past. Will Nate find the bravery he needs to face down his fears, survive on his own, and ultimately illuminate his future?The Light Jar is a captivating story of fear and hope, loneliness and friendship, and finding the light within, even in the darkest of times.

Nate and his mother are running away, hiding out in a dilapidated cottage in the middle of a dark forest. When Mum heads off for provisions, and then doesn't return, Nate is left alone and afraid. But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places - a mysterious girl trying to solve a treasure hunt and the reappearance of an old friend.

The brand new read-in-one-sitting mystery from the author of unforgettable bestseller The Goldfish Boy. Eleven-year-old Maxwell is always, always in trouble. Roaming the town with his beloved pet dog Monster (who he rescued as a puppy from being run over) as a way to escape his parents' constant sniping at home, he's a menace to the neighbours and teachers at school. While visiting an elderly neighbour, Maxwell comes across a mysterious cabinet of curiosities and suddenly finds himself erased from his life: it's as if he's never existed. Able to walk around anonymously might be great at first - finally, no-one is yelling at him! - but he soon realises that he misses his old life and, crucially, if he had never existed, then he wouldn't have swooped in and stopped Monster the dog from being hit by that car... Maxwell needs to find a way to reverse his erasure, with the help of his best friend Charlie and his sister Bex, who need a whole heap of persuading that this weird kid they've never clapped eyes on is actually super close to them in his former life...

In this riveting debut, a boy struggling with OCD is uniquely qualified to solve a kidnapping. Lisa Thompson's debut novel is a page-turning mystery with an emotionally-driven, complex character study at its core -- like Rear Window meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.Matthew Corbin suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hasn't been to school in weeks. His hands are cracked and bleeding from cleaning. He refuses to leave his bedroom. To pass the time, he observes his neighbors from his bedroom window, making mundane notes about their habits as they bustle about the cul-de-sac. When a toddler staying next door goes missing, it becomes apparent that Matthew was the last person to see him alive. Suddenly, Matthew finds himself at the center of a high-stakes mystery, and every one of his neighbors is a suspect. Matthew is the key to figuring out what happened and potentially saving a child's life... but is he able to do so if it means exposing his own secrets, and stepping out from the safety of his home?

Lisa Thompson returns to the world of The Goldfish Boy in her new novel. Melody Bird has discovered an abandoned old building in the corner of the graveyard... Though it's dark and creepy, she can't resist its pull. When she goes to explore, she finds a mysterious boy hiding out there. Hal tells Melody that he's a spy, using the house as a base for his undercover surveillance of a nearby suspected criminal. He's very secretive about the details, but Melody comes to trust him and starts helping him with his mission. Melody is determined to decode the strange riddles Hal finds hidden in the graveyard, but her friends Matthew and Jake question Hal's story. They decide to turn the tables and find out the truth about him, uncovering the biggest mystery of all... This extraordinary novel set in the world of The Goldfish Boy is a page-turning mystery with a sensitive story about friendship and trust at its core.

The brand new, read-in-one-sitting mystery from the bestselling author of THE GOLDFISH BOY. When a little white lie leads to a huge dose of trouble... Cole is the odd one out at school: the other kids have the latest gadgets and trainers while his family struggles to make ends meet. Until the day one of his paintings is talent-spotted and sells for thousands of pounds at a posh London gallery. Suddenly, Cole is the toast of the international art world, the star guest on TV shows, rich beyond his wildest dreams, hailed as a boy genius! Being famous is FANTASTIC... but Cole has a guilty secret that if exposed will bring everything crashing down around him... A story of fame and fortune, making mistakes and learning to be true to yourself.

Life in Guatemala is simple for young Davico and his older brother Felipe ... until soldiers invade, and the blackouts begin. Davico lives with his family above La Casita — the Little House — in Guatemala City in the early 1950s. But it’s not just a little house. It’s also the family restaurant! The restaurant provides plenty of distraction and adventure for Davico and his older brother, Felipe. The mean cook, Augusto, and the always-late waiter, Otto, love to play tricks on Davico. There’s a huge oven that Felipe knows how to light — if he can only reach the box of matches above the stove. And don’t forget the glass tank of live lobsters — including the king of them all, Genghis Khan, who stares at Davico with round unblinking eyes. Could Genghis Khan climb on the back of the other lobsters and get out of the tank, Davico wonders. Could he move faster on land than in the water? Then one day, Davico hears shooting in the streets. There are blackouts every evening, and the family must sleep under the big wooden table in the dining room. People stop coming to the restaurant, and tanks and soldiers swarm the front of the National Palace, where a shoeshine boy warns the brothers that the gringos are coming. But what does that mean, and who are the gringos? Davico wants to be brave, but the shooting and tanks and airplanes flying overhead terrify him. He finds comfort in the special lamp that his father buys him to endure the blackouts. But it is not enough to console Davico when his parents announce that it’s time to leave for the United States of America, where no one speaks Spanish, and everything is different. Key Text Features Illustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Tells story of Irena Sendler who organized the rescue of 2,500 Jewish children during World War II, and the teenagers who started the investigation into Irena's heroism.