World Book Day - A World Of Stories Online

How I Live Now By Meg Rossoff Read by Amber Sealey Meg Rosoff's charming coming-of-age novel, How I Live Now is set over a summer of love and destruction. American girl Daisy has had a troubled background, and is sent from New York to stay with her charmingly shambolic family of British cousins, who she has never met. They are Isaac, Edmond, Osbert, and Piper. And two dogs and a goat. Daisy has never met anyone quite like them before and, as a dreamy English summer progresses, Daisy finds herself caught in a timeless bubble as she slowly begins to piece herself together with the the help of her super-eccentric and slightly psychic cousins. Not only does Daisy get better as she easily succumbs to the charms of their adult-free rural home, but she finds herself falling in love with one of her cousins in this intense, gorgeous, summery bubble where they live a timeless existence. So timeless, that when war breaks out they barely seem to notice.... Daisy's life is changed forever and the world is too.

Half Bad By Sally Green Read by Carl Prekopp A debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches. You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch. You get sick if you stay indoors after dark. You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one. You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen. All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday. Easy. Sally Green lives in north-west England. She has had jobs (paid and unpaid) and even a profession but at last has found the time to write down the stories she used to only be able to daydream about. She likes to read, walk in the country and would like to drink less coffee.

Geek Girl By Holly Smale Read by Kate Sobey “My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek.” Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. But she doesn’t know why nobody at school seems to like her. So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her best friend’s dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn’t seem to like her any more than the real world did. As her old life starts to fall apart, will Harriet b

CHERUB: The Recruit By Robert Muchamore Read by Simon Scardifield A terrorist doesn't let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn't know that a kid has bugged every room in her house, cloned the hard drive on her PC, and copied all the numbers in her phone book. The kid works for CHERUB. CHERUB agents are aged between ten and seventeen. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones By Cassandra Clare Read by Ari Graynor Clary Fray is seeing things: vampires in Brooklyn and werewolves in Manhattan. Irresistably drawn towards a group of sexy demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City – and the dangers of forbidden love.

Maggot Moon By Sally Gardner Read by Robert Madge A starkly original and heartbreaking tale of friendship and rebellion Winner of the Carnegie Medal and a 2012 Costa Award winner. Narrated against the backdrop of a ruthless regime determined to beat its enemies in the race to the moon, MAGGOT MOON is a starkly and heartbreaking tale of friendship and rebellion from award-winning author, Sally Gardner.

The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins Read by Carolyn McCormick First in the ground-breaking Hunger Games trilogy. Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her younger sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

A Monster Calls By Patrick Ness Based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd Read by Jason Isaacs Costa Award winner and Guardian Prize winning author, Patrick Ness delivers an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming… This monster is something different though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

The Lie Tree By Frances Hardinge Read by Emilia Fox Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2015. The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night. Faith's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. The tree only grows healthy and bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. The bigger the lie, the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. The girl realizes that she is good at lying and that the tree might hold the key to her father's murder, so she begins to spread untruths far and wide across her small island community. But as her tales spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter . . .

Am I Normal Yet? By Holly Bourne Read by Charlie Sanderson First book of The Spinster Club series All Evie wants is to be normal. And now that she's almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as ‘the-girl-who-went-nuts,’ there's only one thing left to tick off her list... a boyfriend. But relationships can mess with anyone's head - something Evie's new friends Amber and Lottie know only too well. The trouble is, if Evie won't tell them her secrets, how can they stop her making a huge mistake?

Grandpa's Great Escape By David Walliams Read by David Walliams & Michael Gambon Jack’s Grandpa… *Wears his slippers to the supermarket *Serves up Spam a la Custard for dinner *and often doesn’t remember Jack’s name But he can still take to the skies in a speeding Spitfire and save the day… An exquisite portrait of the bond between a small boy and his beloved Grandpa – this book takes readers on an incredible journey wit Spitfires over London and Great Escapes through the city in a high octane adventure full of comedy and heart.

Hugless Douglas By David Melling Read by Alan Davies Hugless Douglas is a huggable, lovable young brown bear who wakes up one morning in need of a hug. He goes to try and find one but none of them seem quite right. Join Douglas on his search for the perfect bear hug!

The Hueys in the New Jumper By Oliver Jeffers Read by Jarvis Cocker The things about the Hueys is that they are all the same. They all look the same, think the same and do the same things. Until one day, Rupert Knits himself a new jumper…. How will the other Hueys react? A hilarious story about individuality.

Five Minute's Peace By Jill Murphy Illustrated by Jill Murphy Read by Miriam Margolyes A modern picture book classic– there's never a dull moment with the Large Family! A family picture book favourite, this is the story of Mrs Large the elephant – who just needs five minutes of peace and quiet away from her boisterous children! So, taking refuge in the bathroom, she fills herself a hot, foamy bubble bath and takes in a tray of her favourite breakfast and the morning paper. But there’s never a dull moment with the Larges, and it soon becomes clear that mum's quiet time is to be very short-lived! Read aloud by award-winning actress Miriam Margoyles, family life is beautifully observed in this warm and funny modern classic from Jill Murphy, one of Britain's most treasured author-illustrators.

The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog By Jeremy Strong Read by Martin Clunes Streaker is a mixed-up kind of dog . . .with quite a bit of Ferrari and a large chunk of whirlwind . Trevor's mum has offered him £30 to walk the dog every day of the holidays. But Streaker is no ordinary dog; she's a rocket on four legs with a woof attached! Trevor enlists the help of best friend, Tina, to keep Streaker under control - with some hilarious results! Laugh your socks off with this lively, funny adventure story full of larger-than-life characters for younger listeners. Brilliantly narrated by comic actor Martin Clunes.

The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island By Enid Blyton Read by Jan Francis Julian, Dick and Anne are spending the holidays with their tomboy cousin George and her dog, Timothy. One day, George takes them to explore nearby Kirrin Island, with its rocky little coast and old ruined castle on the top. Over on the island, they make a thrilling discovery, which leads them deep into the dungeons of Kirrin Castle on a dangerous adventure. Who - and what - will they find there?

Darcy Burdock By Laura Dockrill Read by Laura Dockrill Ten-year-old Darcy Burdock is one of life's noticers. Curious, smart-as-a-whip, funny and fiercely loyal, she sees the extraordinary in the everyday and the wonder in the world around her. In this first book, we are introduced to her family: Mum, who Darcy loves as much as her favourite fried egg and chips, Dad, who is kind and fair if a bit hopeless, and little siblings Hector and Poppy, who Darcy likes dressing up in ridiculous outfits and having dance-offs with, respectively. Plus there's her non-bleating pet lamb, Lamb-Beth and best friend, Will, to have adventures with. Darcy learns that turning into an angrosaurus-rex and causing chaos just gets her in trouble, trying to run away from home with a reluctant lamb in tow leads to sore kneebows, it's best not to throw a massive strop just before your surprise birthday party, Hallowe'en is all about spider costumes and having a pumpkin with a wonky eye, and if she's ever in a situation at home or at

Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit Book Burglar By Emily MacKenzie Read by Lenny Henry Meet Ralfy, a very unusual rabbit, with a passion for . . . books! Some rabbits dream about lettuces and carrots, others dream of flowering meadows and juicy dandelions, but Ralfy dreams only of books. In fact, he doesn’t just dream about them, he wants to read them ALL THE TIME. Soon his obsession sends him spiralling into a life of crime! A book all about the love of reading and the importance of libraries from the hugely talented Emily MacKenzie.