Drowning Days

Small Places, Close to Home

Rachel's Valentine Crush (5)

Shimmy

Finding a Voice

If You Only Knew

Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One

The Lilac Tree

Philip is twelve years old and life is pretty good. He gets on with his mum and gets by pretty well at school – in spite of girl problems, teacher problems, bully problems and – er – poetry problems. Philip’s happy-go-lucky life is disrupted when his mother gets breast cancer. Bad enough that your mother is seriously ill – but could she not have developed a less embarrassing kind of cancer – toe cancer, maybe, or ear cancer? Philip’s attempts to cope with his situation are both hilarious and touching.
Through it all, he’s writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice. Then there’s The Yeti, The Goddess, The Meerkats and Philip’s best friend Ang. Oh, yes, and Mrs Chihuahua next door and her annoying mutt.
A hilarious take on life, love, glasses – and cancer

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Drowning Days

Muriel Ellis Pritchett, 2022

Small Places, Close to Home

Deborah Hopkinson, Kate Gardiner, 2023

Rachel's Valentine Crush (5)

Angela Darling, 2013

Shimmy

Anne Cateaux, 2021

Finding a Voice

Kim Hood, 2014

If You Only Knew

Rachel Vail, 1998

Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One

Judy Blume, James Stevenson, 2008

The Lilac Tree

Helen-Dunmore, 2000