Great Northern Author Tour 2023

 Mimi adores her wild, fun, full-of-life gran. Then Gran starts forgetting things. Suddenly there are cracks appearing all around their home - and a mysterious black crow - both of which only Mimi seems able to see.

Mimi is determined to solve the mystery. Luckily she has new friends to help: Titch and Nusrat. Together, they're the Stickleback Catchers: solvers of puzzles and seekers of adventure.

Down by the river, where the gang meet and the silvery sticklebacks swim, they discover a mysterious stone, speckled with stars. But this is no ordinary stone: it's the doorway to another world, a world of talking crows and secrets, magical constellations and memories - and maybe, just maybe, Mimi's chance to bring back Gran forever.. 

Washed up as a baby beside a remote lighthouse and raised by a mermaid, Alpha Lux was the first foundling at Haven Point. Now the lighthouse is a ramshackle home for any disabled person who needs somewhere to belong.

Looting from passing ships to make a living, they call themselves the Wrecklings, and for the children of Haven Point life is spent adventuring on the wild shore (and getting into trouble with the grown-ups). But when Alpha spots a strange light up on the headland, she realizes that her beloved family are in danger of being discovered by Outsiders. With their home under threat, the Wrecklings must decide what kind of future they want .

. . and what they're willing to do to get it. 

Every Lunar Eclipse signifies the beginning of The Immortal Games: an epic set of games played by the Gods of Olympus, with randomly-selected humans as their Tokens.

The stakes are high; the Gods covet entertainment and glory above all else, for the Tokens, it's about survival. 17-year-old Ara wants revenge. Revenge on the Gods for allowing her older sister to die in the Games.

She's determined to be selected as a Token and find a weapon powerful enough to kill a God. But when she's plucked from the clutches of death by Hades, God of the Underworld, the odds are stacked against her. Hades is the outcast of the Gods, and the only one who has never won the games.

But he soon realises that Ara does not fear death, just as she does not fear him, and when a wager with Zeus and Poseidon puts both their futures at stake, the games take on a new meaning. With each challenge, the games become more brutal. Can Ara put aside her rage and survive?  

When Paisley Fitzwilliam is summoned to receive the track of stars that will determine her future, she is filled with hope for the future. But the fate she is dealt throws everything upside down.

Then her mother goes missing and the closely guarded secret around her brother Dax is more at risk than ever before. It seems that the previous metal nightsilver might hold the key. .

Can Paisley defy her stars and change the course of history? 

 A thrilling fantasy debut with immersive world-building and tons of action! 

When Paisley Fitzwilliam escapes the clutches of the Dark Dragon, she has just one thing on her mind - getting her brother Dax back from the icy Northern Realms, where he was whisked away by the fierce and mysterious dragon riders, the Krigare.

It's clear that Paisley's track is unique, but with the Dark Dragon and the King's Guard now on her trail, she faces danger at every turn. To rescue her brother and keep the Heart Stone from the clutches of the Dark Dragon, Paisley must harness her power and seek new and dangerous alliances. . 

Nothing exciting ever happens on twelve-year-old Danny's estate. That is until he falls through a locker in his grandad's workshop and finds himself in an Interdimensional Lost Property Office! And - even weirder - his new boss is a giant purple squid on a segway! Now Danny, best mate Modge and annoying cousin Inaaya find themselves in charge of returning alien items to all corners of the universe. But someone - or something - is determined to stop them.

And there's NOTHING these evil aliens won't stop at to achieve complete multi-dimensional domination...even trapping Danny and his friends on a planet a million light years away from Earth. If the fate of the entire multiverse was in your hands, what would YOU do?
 

Brat has always lived in the isolated castle on the island, taking care of the vicious creatures that his master creates, waiting in terror for the moment when they are ready to be put to use. But then the unthinkable happens. The monsters get out.

Now Brat must overcome his fears, and venture into the world he has hidden from his whole life. For the fate of everyone rests on his shoulders alone. . 

 I live near a biscuit factory. Sounds like a dream come true, right? But it's not all fun and jammie dodgers.

You see, the biscuit factory is really a Super-Secret Science Lab. Everyone pretends it makes biscuits. It just makes life easier.

Until today. Because the biscuit factory tore a hole through dimensions, and now HUGE ORANGE MONSTERS are climbing through. Oh, and if we don't do something, the world is going to go KABLOOEY in the next thirty minutes.

NOT ON MY WATCH. You coming?  

 Leeza's parents are ordinary. Unfit, grumpy, a bit embarrassing.

Totally normal, right? Until today. Today they are jogging. Eating salads and enjoying them.

Smiling all the time. They're happy. Really, really happy.

Who could complain about that? Leeza, that's who. Because it looks like someone's brainwashing everyone in town. Who's going to save the world? Oh no! It looks like it might have to be Leeza.

OK then. Let's do this. You coming? 

 A tense, page-turning story that sensitively deals with themes of family upheaval and kleptomania.

 Ren's family lose their home in a fire. They're living with her grandmother now and things are a bit tense.

Ren lost her collection of things, her clothes; her brother lost his little bear and is inconsolable. So Ren starts replacing things with other people's possessions. They've got loads of stuff, after all.

But she gets caught and has to strike a terrifying deal to avoid detection...
 

Secrets. Lies. Promises.

Sometimes keeping things inside is dangerous. Callie, Ted, Zara, and Nico are best friends. More than friends - they're like family to each other.

But since being embarrassed at school in a practical joke gone wrong, Ted has stopped talking to the rest of the gang. And when Callie, Zara and Nico discover that someone has been living in their school, and sleeping in the building at night, they decide to investigate - without Ted. A wise, heartwarming story of friendship and family.

 I'm Rani Ramgoolam - roving reporter. And I think I've found the perfect story for the junior journalism competition run by the local paper. An eccentric millionaire has created a treasure hunt with a reward for the first person who figures out the clues.

Luckily, my mischievous Nani is visiting from Mauritius. She's promised to help me work out what a priceless painting, a minotaur and a glass eye have in common. "Murder, murder! Call the cops!" Oh, and that's Cookie, my parrot.

I'm not sure he'll be much use. But the race is on and I'll need all the help I can get. Especially when some people are resorting to sneaky tricks to get their hands on the prize... 

 Welcome to the sleepy island of Penfurzy, where nothing exciting ever really happens. OR DOES IT?

Adventure awaits Demelza and her new best friend in the whole world, Nessa, as they explore the island and uncover the mysteries of the Penfurzy Knights. With a honking pet goose sidekick, quirky islanders and a legendary treasure to find, it's up to Nessa and Demelza to ride their bikes, solve the puzzles before them, and face down danger with frisbees, water-balloons, feathers ....

and a toilet plunger.

 Adventure awaits Demelza and her best friend in the whole world, Nessa, as they embark on a whole new adventure, solving mysteries, fending off bullies and celebrating the greatest friendship of ALL TIME. 

When an unexpected guest arrives in Penfurzy, Nessa and Demelza go out of their way to help them, entering a world of ancient myth and legend. Facing ghosts and monsters, and Conan the bully who just keeps getting in the way at the worst possible moment. 

  Hen dreams of joining the family spell-tailor business, making magical homemade outfits. But the shop is struggling, thanks to the cheap clothing factory that has opened nearby.

Stumbling upon a stitch - one that can sew memories into seams - Hen thinks he has the answer that will save them. Instead, he's shocked to be banned from sowing forever. What is going on? And can he unravel the mystery before it's too late? 

 Arianwyn fluffs her witch's assessment. Awarded the dull bronze disc of an apprentice - to the glee of her arch-rival, Gimma - she's sent to protect the remote, dreary town of Lull. But her new life is far from boring.

Turns out Gimma is the pompous mayor's favourite niece - and worse, she opens a magical rift in the nearby forest. As Arianwyn struggles with her spells, it's soon clear there's much more than her pride at stake .. 

 During an eventful holiday in Kingsport, Arianwyn is recruited for an important mission: to retrieve the Book of Quiet Glyphs from its hiding place in the Great Wood. But as she returns home to Lull, feyling refugees gather outside the town walls and hex plagues the forest.

 As tensions lead to fall-outs with her friends, town squabbles and magical mishaps, Arianwyn faces a sobering truth: she alone can find the Book, and wield its secrets ... 

 Lily Grim's life is a mystery. She has lived with her guardian Gabriel, in their rundown second-hand shop in the City of Undone, for as long as she can remember. For years, the city-dwellers have lived in uneasy discord with The Others - a community of wanderers forced to shelter within the city walls, after they were driven from their nomadic camps in the wilderness.

But Undone is a dark and dangerous place to live, especially if you're an Other: feared for their special gifts, they are persecuted by the cruel Master of the City, and taken to the Ring - a prison from which few ever return. When the Master captures Gabriel and throws him into the Ring, Lily is saved by a young Other boy called Dekka. He introduces her to a whole Otherworld that exists beneath the City of Undone.

To her astonishment Lily discovers she is an Other, too - with powerful gifts - and is now in grave danger: because the Master wants her dead. But why?Can Lily find answers about who she is, and where she's from. And can the new friends rescue Gabriel, before it's too late? 

 BERLIN 1961 Anja and Monika live opposite each other. They play together every day, with Otto the cat.

One night they wake up to bangs and shouts. Soldiers are building a huge barbed wire fence between them. A terrible forever wall that gets longer and higher until it divides the whole city.

On the East side, Monika is scared - neighbours are becoming spies and there are secret police everywhere. It's Anja who spots that Otto has found a way across. If he can visit Monika, then perhaps she can too.

But Anja gets trapped and there's no safe way back . . .
 

 Malaya, 1942.

Nisha's home is destroyed by war and she and her mother, Amma, flee to her father's ancestral house in England, perched on a cliff top on the cold Northern coast. When Amma falls gravely ill, Nisha is left to face her formidable grandmother alone. Grandmother's rules are countless, and her Anglo-Indian granddaughter is even forbidden from climbing the old weeping tree.

But when a ghost child beckons Nisha to sit under its boughs, and promises her Amma's life in return for three truths, its pull proves irresistible ... 

  A mystery is growing at Dunwick Farm and it all started with a plane crash ... Crooked Oak's mystery-solving team return with another spine-tingling adventure, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Crater Lake. When an unidentified plane crashes in the fields next to Dunwick Farm in Crooked Oak, it quickly becomes clear that it was carrying some unusual cargo.

As people in the town fall suddenly ill and animals start behaving strangely, friends Pete, Krish and Nancy try to find out what was in the glass boxes on board the plane. But as they uncover the facts, the trio realise that they are becoming entangled in a terrifying web ...
 

 One boy's mission to take down a team of super-villains ... with the help of his boring, dishcloth-selling grandad? When Jesse's grandad wins tickets to a retirement cruise and offers to bring Jesse along, Jesse is not exactly thrilled.

A boat load of old age pensioners?! No thanks. Not to mention that he's pretty sure his parents are going to be talking about a D.I.V.O.R.C.E. while he's safely out of the way.

But from the moment the pair arrive on the cruise ship, it's a different story. Mysterious cat burglars, crime lords and smugglers all seem to be on board ... and odder than that, Gramps knows them all! When an attempted murder occurs, Jesse decides it's time to find out what they're hiding, and catch the villain responsible.

But Gramps might be hiding the biggest secret of all ... can Jesse unravel the mystery, before time runs out? 

 Many children think their step-parents are super-villains . . but what if they really were? 10-year-old Billy's mum has just re-married, and his new step-dad Phil is smarmy and try-hard . . .

Even if he is super rich. On top of that, Billy - and his best-friend Viv - are so unpopular at school, only the IT Club rank below them in the school food-chain. And, the school bully keeps throwing bins at Billy's head.

So, when Billy discovers his step-dad is a super-villain with an evil plan to destroy the entire world, it is the perfect excuse to break Phil and his mum up. But gathering evidence about a super-villain is harder than it looks, and when Billy accidentally becomes 'Bin Boy' - a superhero sensation - things become a whole lot more complicated. Suddenly the fate of the global population is on Bin Boy's shoulders.

Can he save his family and the entire world?! A story of friendship, pizza, fizzy drinks, a super-hacker, a volcano secret-lair, excellent technological wonderment, a platinum-toothed crocodile . . . 

 For any kid who ever wanted a hamster: careful what you wish for! Olly Brown is hamster obsessed, but he never gets to take home the Year 6 class hamster. His dad won't allow any pets. But then the most amazing thing happens: a hamster shows up in Olly's house anyway! And it seems smart.

Like, really smart. This new hamster, Tibbles, is in awe of Olly, and it turns out Tibbles is one of many: there's a whole civilization of super-advanced, intelligent hamsters who seem to be worshipping Olly ... as a god? THIS IS SO AWESOME! But how is this possible???  

 10-year-old Freddy Spicer writes letters to his parents - who he believes are working at a Brussels-sprouts farm in Outer Castonga, with no internet or phone access. In fact, Freddy's parents are secret agents out of the country on a highly classified mission - but Freddy has NO IDEA! Throw in:

Grandad's X-Ray specs; 

A laser blaster that accidentally destroys the shed; 

A strange new neighbour flirting with grandad; 

and Suspicious goings-on at school . 

  Leonard the Lion: king of the beasts, master of the Savannah, leader of his pride and ... a great big baby when it's time for a haircut!Nobody, NOBODY, can cut Leonard's hair to his liking. That is, until he meets Marvin.

Marvin is just a mouse but, oh, what wild and whacky styles he can whip up with his teeny-tiny comb and scissors... Soon, Leonard and Marvin are best buddies. The problem is, Leonard wants Marvin to cut his hair and HIS HAIR ONLY.

So when Leonard sees Marvin giving Zebra a new hairdo, Leonard struggles with a spot of jealousy. A comedy of little and large, this high-energy story of friendship, sharing, and working together will have readers laughing out loud - and gently reassure any child who fears the hairdresser's chair.