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When twelve-year-old Sherrie-Lee witnesses a failed bank robbery in her neglected town, she seizes an opportunity to claim a new identity for herself. Escaping her troubled home life, she tries out a new name and invents stories and personas to cover her tracks. Sherrie-Lee finds both possibility and loneliness in this new freedom, as well as an unusual friendship which she nurtures. But harsh realities close in, and she's plagued with foreboding – from her vulnerable brother at home to the climate crisis. While she dreams of a kinder world, it won't be long before her own deceits start catching up with her. This arresting debut challenges assumptions and captures the powerless yearning of adolescence with a voice that is fresh, magnetic and often funny – one that pulls you in and won't let go.

An unforgettable story of outrunning poverty through the power of stories and imagination.In a neglected part of town beset with social problems, from unemployment and crime to inequalities of health and education, a twelve-year-old girl sees an opportunity to claim a new identity for herself.Escaping her chaotic home life, Sherrie-Lee witnesses a bungled bank robbery and manipulates one of the failed robbers into taking her in. Alone and away from home she is free to be whoever she wants, inventing stories and personas to make sense of the seemingly random world she lives in. In her new freedom she finds a mixed sense of possibility and loneliness, along with a growing worry for her younger brother back home. But it's not long before Sherrie-Lee's deceits start catching up with her and she's forced to flee once again.Fossils expertly captures the powerless half-light of adolescence and the shaky existence of all who are lost.

Eleven-year-old Kiwi Seager knows two things: She's going to hell someday and, even worse, her mother can't love her anymore. Kiwi has done something no mother could forgive, something that has forced this mother and daughter to flee their California home. Can they run fast enough and far enough to lose the evil following them? Or does new danger await them, wearing the face of a friendly stranger?

A schoolgirl and her uncle and his boyfriend have two weeks to solve a murder in a small town style forgot...WINNER of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel'Funny, dark and above all, heart-warming, The Nancys is a celebration of what's important in life - which is family, friendship and also: makeovers. R.W.R. McDonald's novel is face-paced, clever and full of wit and repartee. McDonald pays homage to the novel's namesake Nancy Drew, but adds elements of RuPaul and Shirley Barrett's The Bus on Thursday. The result is a work of fiction that is smart, darkly comic and, in the very best of ways, completely bizarre.'- Katherine Collette, author of The Helpline'A delight - moving and hilarious. I loved every minute I spent with these characters.'- Paddy O'Reilly'How does The Nancys manage to be both sharp and blackly funny, but also uplifting and sweet?'- Toni JordanTippy Chan is eleven and lives in a small town in a very quiet part of the world - the place her Uncle Pike escaped from the first chance he got as a teenager. Now Pike is back with his new boyfriend Devon to look after Tippy while her mum's on a cruise.Tippy is in love with her uncle's old Nancy Drew books, especially the early ones where Nancy was sixteen and did whatever she wanted. She wants to be Nancy and is desperate to solve a real mystery. When her teacher's body is found beside Riverstone's only traffic light, Tippy's moment has arrived. She and her minders form The Nancys, a secret amateur detective club. But what starts as a bonding and sightseeing adventure quickly morphs into something far more dangerous. A wrongful arrest, a close call with the murderer, and an intervention from Tippy's mum all conspire against The Nancys. But regardless of their own safety, and despite the constant distraction of questionable fashion choices in the town that style forgot, The Nancys know only they can stop the killer from striking again.The Nancys is gripping and glorious, a heart-warming novel for anyone who's ever felt they were on the outside looking in. At its heart it is about the family we make and how we must summon the courage to face the truth, no matter what the cost may be.

Told with humor and heart, this is a middle grade story about family, friendship, and hope -- plus cats in sweaters! Living in the small town of East Thumb, Maine, upstairs from her family's diner, twelve-year-old Lizzy Sherman searches for signs to guide her and perhaps guarantee her a bump-free path through life. She pays attention to the clouds in the sky, the ice cubes in her water, the heart-shaped puddle of the juice her friend spilled. If only she can figure out what the signs are trying to tell her, she'll know what to do next. When Lizzy and her best friend go searching for a stray cat and find a runaway girl instead, they want to help. And when Lizzy notices a tiny four-leaf clover tattooed on the girl's hand, she knows it's a sign. Lizzy hides the girl inside her bedroom closet, convinced the girl will be able to protect Lizzy's family from tragedy. But signs can be tricky, and what the girl has to offer may be more valuable that luck.