https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf How many will you read? en-us 2022-05-16 14:56:26 UTC 2025-09-26 17:49:50 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f4da.png helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185881349 Found abandoned in a bear cave as a baby, Yanka has always wondered about where she is from. She tries to ignore the strange whispers and looks from the villagers, wishing she was as strong on the inside as she is on the outside. But, when she has to flee her house, looking for answers about who she really is, a journey far beyond one that she ever imagined begins: from icy rivers to smouldering mountains meeting an ever-growing herd of extraordinary friends along the way.]]> 2022-05-16 14:59:07 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185881349 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185885520 Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him.

His mum doesn't really like looking outside - but it's going outside that she hates. She prefers to sleep all day inside their tower, where it's safe.

Except it isn't any more. Strange plants have started to take over and tower blocks are falling down around them.
Now Ade and his mum are trapped and there's no way out . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:01:20 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185885520 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888020 A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a white police officer, drawing connections with real-life history.

ALIVE
Twelve-year-old Jerome doesn't get into trouble. He goes to school. He does his homework. He takes care of his little sister.

Then Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat.

DEAD
As a ghost, watching his family trying to cope with his death, Jerome begins to notice other ghost boys.

Each boy has a story and they all have something in common...

Bit by bit, Jerome begins to understand what really happened - not just to him, but to all of the ghost boys.


]]> 2022-05-16 15:02:46 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888020 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888178 Jemma knows who did the murder. She knows because he told her. And she can't tell anyone.

Fourteen-year-old Jemma has severe cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate or move, she relies on her family and carer for everything. She has a sharp brain and inquisitive nature, and knows all sorts of things about everyone. But when she is confronted with this terrible secret, she is utterly powerless to do anything. Though that might be about to change...


]]> 2022-05-16 15:02:52 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888178 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888462 ‘Without this child, we shall all die.’

Lyra Belacqua lives half-wild and carefree among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon, Pantalaimon, always by her side.

But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle – a struggle born of stolen children, witch clans and armoured bears.

As she hurtles towards danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she alone is destined to win, or to lose, the biggest battle imaginable.]]> 2022-05-16 15:03:02 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888462 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888820 Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother's heart is breaking and at school friends are scarce. But when someone special swims into her life, Kasienka learns that there might be more than one way for her to stay afloat.]]> 2022-05-16 15:03:14 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185888820 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185889032 Leonard is shocked when he arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is a stranger to him, it’s cold and even the Jamaican food doesn’t taste the same as it did back home in Maroon Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make a better life, so Leonard does his best not to complain, to make new friends, to do well at school – even when people hurt him with their words and with their fists. 

How can a boy so far from home learn to enjoy his new life when so many things count against him?]]> 2022-05-16 15:03:21 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185889032 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185889201 One of the most famous accounts of living under the Nazi regime comes from the diary of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank.

In the summer of 1942, fleeing the horrors of the Nazi occupation, Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse.

Aged thirteen, Anne kept a diary of her time in the secret annexe. She movingly revealed how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with hunger, the daily threat of discovery and death and isolation from the outside world.

A thought-provoking record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, the diary of Anne Frank is a testament to the atrocities of the past and a promise they will never be forgotten.]]> 2022-05-16 15:03:27 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185889201 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185890104 There's been a murder, but the police don't care. It was only a homeless old man after all.

Kieran cares. He's made a promise, and when you say something out loud, that means you're going to do it, for real. He's going to find out what really happened. To Colin. And to his grandma, who just stopped coming round one day. It's a good job Kieran's a master of observation, and knows all the detective tricks of the trade.

But being a detective is difficult when you're Kieran Woods. When you're amazing at drawing but terrible at fitting in. And when there are dangerous secrets everywhere, not just outside, but under your own roof.]]> 2022-05-16 15:04:00 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185890104 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185890318 Tally is eleven years old and she's just like her friends. Well, sometimes she is. If she tries really hard to be. Because there's something that makes Tally not the same as her friends. Something she can't cover up, no matter how hard she tries: Tally is autistic.

Tally's autism means there are things that bother her even though she wishes they didn't. It means that some people misunderstand, her and feel frustrated by her.

People think that because Tally's autistic, she doesn't realise what they're thinking, but Tally sees and hears - and notices - all of it.

And, honestly? That's not the easiest thing to live with.]]> 2022-05-16 15:04:07 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185890318 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891314 A Kind of Spark tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there's more to the story of these 'witches', just like there is more to hers. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and her autism, and make her voice heard? ]]> 2022-05-16 15:04:42 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891314 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891511 Shif is just an ordinary boy who likes chess, maths and racing his best friend home from school. But one day, soldiers with guns come to his door - and he knows that he is no longer safe.

Shif is forced to leave his mother and little sister, and embark on a dangerous journey; a journey through imprisonment and escape, new lands and strange voices, and a perilous crossing by land and sea. He will encounter cruelty and kindness; he will become separated from the people he loves.

Boy 87 is a gripping, uplifting tale of one boy's struggle for survival; it echoes the story of young people all over the world today.]]> 2022-05-16 15:04:48 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891511 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891693 Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents' Chinese takeaway. And things can be tough – whether it's unruly customers or the snotty popular girls who bully Jo for being different. Even when she does find a BFF who actually likes Jo for herself, she still has to contend with her erratic dad's behaviour. All Jo dreams of is breaking free and forging a career as an artist.

Told in diary entries and doodles, Jo's brilliantly funny observations about life, family and char siu make for a searingly honest portrayal of life on the other side of the takeaway counter.]]> 2022-05-16 15:04:55 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891693 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891892 When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price when she was shot in the head at point-blank range.

Malala Yousafzai's extraordinary journey has taken her from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations. She has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and is the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:02 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185891892 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892060 In the first book in the number one bestselling Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, fourteen-year-old Alex is forcibly recruited into MI6. Armed with secret gadgets, he is sent to investigate Herod Sayle, a man who is offering state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers to every school in the country. But the teenage spy soon finds himself in mortal danger.]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892060 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892277 Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is a 'normal' life - friends, swimming, school, family. But his life is far from normal. Not every thirteen-year-old desperately needs a new heart because theirs doesn't work properly.

Finally, one doctor offers hope.
Cameron could - if he and his parents agree - take part in a radical and controversial procedure involving the transplant of a pig's heart into his human body.

It's risky. And it's never been done before . . .

While Cameron comes to terms with the idea, he finds the world around him is much less accepting. But surely everyone will understand that it's better to have a pig's heart that works than a human heart that doesn't - won't they . . .?]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:16 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892277 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892508 Born in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.

Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence.

As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:25 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892508 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892733 Alone and penniless after his father is killed in a cotton mill accident, fourteen-year-old William faces the rest of his childhood in a brutal workhouse. Then his long-estranged uncle Seth sends for him, and William thinks his fortunes are changing.

But arriving at Uncle Seth's grand house in North Wales, Jessop Rise, William encounters a ghostly figure. It soon becomes clear that the place is haunted by more than just one ghost.

But who are the spectral creatures that prowl about the estate? What are they trying to tell William? And what is the dark secret that Uncle Seth has been keeping for so long? As William uncovers the clues, he finds himself caught up in a dark and terrifying mystery.]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:33 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892733 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892921 To aid his recovery from a life-threatening illness Jordan and his family move out of the city for a healthy new start. Jordan's getting enough funny looks as the new boy at school as it is, without his Mum giving him homemade soup every day for lunch! 

But when Jordan meets a homeless man called Harry, and gives him the soup, it is the start of an unlikely friendship. Soon the two of them begin giving soup to the other homeless people around town and when his sister shares their antics on Instagram the #SOUPMOVEMENT begins-they even make it on the news!]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:39 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185892921 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185893111 Meet Stewart. He’s geeky, gifted and sees things a bit differently to most people. His mum has died and he misses her all the more now he and Dad have moved in with Ashley and her mum.

Meet Ashley. She’s popular, cool and sees things very differently to her new family. Her dad has come out and moved out – but not far enough. And now she has to live with a freakazoid step-brother.

Stewart can’t quite fit in at his new school, and Ashley can’t quite get used to her totally awkward home, which is now filled with some rather questionable decor. And things are about to get a whole lot more mixed up when these two very different people attract the attention of school hunk Jared. . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:05:47 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185893111 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185893901 Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League – but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighbourhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.
 
Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.
 
Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up – way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty police officer beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:14 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185893901 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894072 In Boys Don't Cry, bestselling author Malorie Blackman explores the unchartered territory of teenage fatherhood.

You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby. Your baby.

You're happy to look after it, just for an hour or two. But then she doesn't come back - and your future suddenly looks very different.]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:19 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894072 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894224 Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.

]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:25 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894224 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894380 AND THEN THERE WERE SHOTS
Everybody
ran,
ducked,
hid, tucked
themselves tight.

Pressed our lips to the
pavement and prayed
the boom, followed by
the buzz of a bullet,
didn't meet us.

After Will's brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don't cry. Don't snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn's gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will's friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he's doing.]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:31 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894380 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894528 Here we are.
And we are living.
Isn't that amazing?
How we manage to be here at all.

Grace and Tippi don't like being stared and sneered at, but they're used to it. They're conjoined twins - united in blood and bone.

What they want is to be looked at in turn, like they truly are two people. They want real friends. And what about love?

But a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead for Tippi and Grace. One that could change their lives more than they ever asked for .]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:37 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894528 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894688 Kenny, Sim and Blake are about to embark on a remarkable journey of friendship. Stealing the urn containing the ashes of their best friend Ross, they set out from Cleethorpes on the east coast to travel the 261 miles to the tiny hamlet of Ross in Dumfries and Galloway. After a depressing and dispiriting funeral they feel taking Ross to Ross will be a fitting memorial for a 15 year-old boy who changed all their lives through his friendship. Little do they realise just how much Ross can still affect life for them even though he's now dead.

Drawing on personal experience Keith Gray has written an extraordinary novel about friendship, loss and suicide, and about the good things that may be waiting just out of sight around the corner . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:43 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894688 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894856 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:48 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185894856 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895021 Fifteen-year-old Sam is not a famous vlogger, he's never gone viral, and he doesn't want to be the Next Big Thing. In fact he's ordinary and proud of it.

None of which was a problem until Dad got rich and Mum made the whole family move to London. Now Sam's off to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where everyone's busy planning Hollywood domination or starting alt-metal psychedelica crossover bands. Sam knows he'll never belong, even if he wanted to. And that's before he ends up on stage wearing nothing but a fur onesie ...]]> 2022-05-16 15:06:55 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895021 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895211 Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:01 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895211 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895380 What if the only thing you had left were the stories in your head?

Amina’s homeland has been ravaged by war, and her family is devastated . . .

The women of the family – Amina, her two sisters and their mother – have no choice but to leave their home town, along with thousands of others, and head for a refugee camp.

But there are even more challenges ahead . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:07 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185895380 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896073 Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people...

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:32 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896073 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896230 I am restless, my feet need to fly.

Amber is trapped - by her father's rules, by his expectations, by her own fears.

Now she's ready to fight - for her mother, for her sister, for herself.

Freedom always comes at a price.

]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:38 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896230 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896403 "The things I’ve seen are burned into me, like scars that refuse to fade."

Father John controls everything inside The Fence. And Father John likes rules. Especially about never talking to Outsiders. Because Father John knows the truth. He knows what is right, and what is wrong. He knows what is coming.

Moonbeam is starting to doubt, though. She’s starting to see the lies behind Father John’s words. She wants him to be found out.

What if the only way out of the darkness is to light a fire?]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:44 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896403 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896594 Nobody free till everybody free.

Moa is fourteen. The only life he has ever known is toiling on the Frontier sugar cane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior, and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking, and the day of the uprising approaches . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:51 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896594 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896790 It was a love story. Me, Gemma and junk. I thought it was going to last forever.

Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn't want to be tied down. She wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, finally, you have to come down.]]> 2022-05-16 15:07:57 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896790 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896937 Things are tense at home for Nicky and Kenny. Their mum's coming to visit and it will be the first time they've seen her in years. A lot has changed since they were little and Nicky's not so sure he's ready to see her again. When they head for a trek across the moors to take their minds off everything, a series of unforeseen circumstances leaves the brothers in a vulnerable and very dangerous position. There might even be a chance that this time not everyone will make it home alive]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:02 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185896937 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897093 They think I hurt someone.
But I didn't. You hear?
Cos people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.

Joe hasn't seen his brother for ten years, and it's for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row.

But now Ed's execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think ...]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:08 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897093 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897267 A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.

When Jay Reguero hears of his cousin Jun’s death, everything changes. Although years have passed since they were last in contact, the stories about Jun just don’t fit with the boy Jay knew. Hoping to uncover the truth, Jay travels to Jun’s home in the Philippines – but the shocking realities of life there lead to even more questions. Can Jay find the answers he seeks?]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:14 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897267 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897428 It is 1939. In Nazi Germany, the country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier - and will become busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed forever when she picks up a single object, abandoned in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, and this is her first act of book thievery. So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words, and soon she is stealing from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library . . . wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times, and when Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, nothing will ever be the same again.

]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:19 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897428 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897597  "What kind of a girl steals the clothes from a dead man's back and runs off to join the army? A desperate one. That's who." 

At the end of the American Civil War, Charley – a young African-American slave from the deep south – is ostensibly freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly free.]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:25 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897597 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897999 Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers--especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami's determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she doesn't know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can't stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:39 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185897999 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898158 Lexi's angry. And it's getting worse. If only she could stop losing her temper, her step-father would accept her, her mum would love her again, and her step-brother would return her feelings. She wants these things so badly, she tries to push her fury down. But it isn't easy. Her rage is there for a reason. And if she stays quiet - she might just lose herself . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:45 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898158 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898387 The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? 

The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. 

The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:50 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898387 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898591 Michelle Robinson started life sharing a bedroom with her older brother Craig, in their family's upstairs apartment in her great-aunt's house. Her parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their children. She would go on to become Michelle Obama, the inspirational First Lady of the United States of America.

This memoir tells a very personal, and completely inspiring, story of how, through hard work and determination, the girl from the South Side of Chicago built an extraordinary life.

A tale of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, this is an incredibly honest account. It will take you from the early years - first kiss, first school, first love - to the wonders of the White House, and the moment Mrs Obama shook hands with the Queen of England.]]> 2022-05-16 15:08:56 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898591 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898753 Felix Love has never been in love - and, yes, he's painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it's like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What's worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he's one marginalisation too many - Black, queer and transgender - to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages - after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned - Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn't count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle . . .

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognising the love you deserve.]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:03 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898753 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898907 On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:09 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185898907 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899046 Two outsiders. Two secrets. David longs to be a girl. Leo wants to be invisible. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School, secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long . . .]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:14 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899046 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899263 Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:21 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899263 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899440 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man falsely charged with the 🤬 of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:27 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899440 helencheetham https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899600 Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?]]> 2022-05-16 15:09:34 UTC https://padlet.com/helencheetham/w0dyi6ts680nbmmf/wish/2185899600