Caroline Pitcher

When lonely Mariana finds a Merbaby on the sea shore, hidden inside a crab shell, she loves her more than she's ever loved anything. She takes the baby home and as she grows, the Merchild brings joy to Mariana's life. But Mariana knows that one day, when the sea is calm again, the Merchild's mother, the Sea Spirit, will come to take her daughter back again.

This delightful collection of animal tales is perfect for sharing at bedtime. As the days grow longer and the flowers blossom, a group of woodland friends go in search of the sun, a young rabbit explores above ground for the first time, and a chick hatches in the wrong nest. A beautiful addition to our hugely successful range of anthologies, with delightful illustrations from Alison Edgson and featuring brand-new stories from much-loved authors Holly Webb, Michael Broad, Malachy Doyle, Narinder Dhami, Penny Dolan, Karen Wallace, Caroline Pitcher, Elizabeth Baguley, Caroline Juskus, and Lucy Courtenay.

The sun is rising and Little Fox should be settling down to bed. But he doesn't want to sleep all through the day, when everyone else is having fun! Just one more play? He asks his mum, and scampers off to find his friends. As he races and chases through the woods, he starts to feel tired. Maybe it's time Little Fox was in bed after all.

Deep inside the willow tree the last baby owl is born. He's so very small, a downy white ball. The other owls grow and learn to fly, but no matter how hard he tries, the littlest owl can't quite do it. 'I will', he says. 'Just you wait and see'. Then one night, a howling storm forces the owls from their home. Will the littlest owl make it to safety?

The danger is still close to Jez and Luka. The war bursts into the village when a bomb destroys the orphanage, but Luka is once more drawn into the world of the Cloud Cat. This time he leaves his body as a swallow, searching high over the town for the mother he misses, and becoming trapped in a deadly struggle with the sky's greatest predator: a mountain eagle. While Vaskalia works her old magic, Katrin and Dimitri work theirs in the warmth of the bakery, which now houses Imogen and the children from the orphanage.

Caroline Pitcher's new novel sucks you into the lives of its teenage characters from the very first page and keeps you spellbound. The action is largely set on the bus to and from school, where the dramas and humour of the everyday lives of M and her friends are played out.