Books with author Jean Ure

One of the brilliant titles in Jean Ure’s acclaimed series of humorous, delightful and poignant stories written in the form of diaries and letters which make them immediately accessible to children.Lily and Violet are twins – physically identical but quite opposite in character. Lily is brash, up-front and in your face. Lily Loudmouth, her dad calls her. Violet is timid and shy. She lives very much in Lily’s shadow – a shrinking violet.Finding it difficult to make friends, Violet finds the perfect solution in Katie, her new pen pal. Soon the two are writing at a fast and furious pace and become very attached to each other. That is, until Katie suggests that they meet…

The second fantastic book about ten-year-old FRANKIE FOSTER – the girl who wants to help, but ends up causing chaos!Frankie Foster loves fixing people's problems. Her help might not always be welcome – and she might cause the odd total disaster – but Frankie always fixes things. Eventually!When Frankie’s mum agrees to have a friend’s daughter to stay for a fortnight, it falls on Frankie’s shoulders to look after Amelia. Having another girl share her broom cupboard of a bedroom is one thing, but wherever Amelia goes, trouble seems to follow, however hard Frankie tries to keep her out of it!Frankie certainly gets more than she bargains for with Amelia, but in typical Frankie fashion, she soon realises how being different is no bad thing and learns some important lessons along the way… like the true meaning of friendship and how to keep life ‘sweet’!

Jean Ure returns with more warmth and wit in a brilliant book about what happens when two girls decide to run away from home.Fourteen-year-old Jade is fed up with fighting with her mum and step-dad, and her shy sixteen-year-old friend Honey is having a miserable time with her mum, but when Jade decides they should both run away, Honey isn't so sure.It's only when they get to London and things don't work out quite how they expected that Honey shows she has hidden depths, and Jade realises that home is not so bad after all…

The first in a brand-new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams from best-loved author Jean Ure, whose books are described by Jacqueline Wilson as “funny, funky, feisty - and fantastic reads!”When new girl Caitlyn arrives at Coombe House School Maddy is sure she must be a fellow ballet dancer; she certainly has all the grace and poise of a ballerina. So when Caitlyn denies it, Maddy isn’t convinced. But it isn’t until she comes across Caitlyn practising ballet in the gym that she realises there must be more to her story… Just what can it be? Maddy is determined to find out!

The second story in a new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams from best-loved author Jean Ure, whose books are described by Jacqueline Wilson as “funny, funky, feisty - and fantastic reads!”Maddy is delighted when she and her friends are accepted to the prestigious City Ballet School – it feels like one step closer to their dream of becoming professional dancers. But the school brings a whole new set of challenges – and soon Maddy finds herself tested like never before.

The final instalment in this inspiring series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams. From best-loved author Jean Ure, whose books are described by Jacqueline Wilson as “funny, funky, feisty – and fantastic reads!”A big performance looms and Maddy knows that the school has a way of weeding out the weakest dancers. Now is her time to shine. But will Maddy and her friends be celebrating at the end of the year?

The first in a brand-new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams from best-loved author Jean Ure, whose books are described by Jacqueline Wilson as “funny, funky, feisty - and fantastic reads!”When new girl Caitlyn arrives at Coombe House School Maddy is sure she must be a fellow ballet dancer; she certainly has all the grace and poise of a ballerina. So when Caitlyn denies it, Maddy isn’t convinced. But it isn’t until she comes across Caitlyn practising ballet in the gym that she realises there must be more to her story… Just what can it be? Maddy is determined to find out!

The first book about ten-year-old FRANKIE FOSTER – the girl who wants to help, but ends up causing chaos!Frankie Foster loves fixing people's problems. Her help might not always be welcome – and she might cause the odd total disaster – but Frankie always fixes things. Eventually!Frankie’s best friend Skye, who’s pretty serious at the best of times, is acting even more quiet than usual, so it’s up to Frankie and their other best friend, Jem, to find out what’s up.And when Skye confesses that she’s lost a very special pencil, bequeathed to her by her granny, Frankie is determined to discover what’s happened to the precious heirloom. In fact, she’s SO determined to help, she’s prepared to go to some extraordinary lengths… with some hilarious and very spooky consequences!

Come Lucky April is set a hundred years on from Plague 99. Harry's great-granddaughter is a girl called April, who lives in an all-female run vegan society, which is carefully governed to eliminate risk of plague-like situations. Men have shamed themselves and are no longer in power. There's a primitive aspect to life as though the 21st century as we know it never happened. At 12, boys are exiled for 5 years ...'they went away as barbarians and came back civilised', which means castrated. 'Homecoming' is when they are welcomed back - but how welcome are they? We meet Daniel, a survivor of a patrician clan, whose quest it is to find unclaimed parts of the 'outside world'. His great grandmother was Fran and his great grand-father was Shahid from the first part of the trilogy. He wants to find the diary that Fran left behind in her family home in Croydon. In the abandoned house, girls and boy meet ... Daniel and April don't, at first, realise they are connected by their distant ancestors' friendship. A potential romantic attachment forms between them. His presence creates conflict, but they take him into their community, where the conflicts worsen. Daniel questions everything April has been brought up to believe. He challenges the women's views and their rejection of the orthodoxy he knows. He makes David, a long-term friend of April, question what he has lost as a man. An exciting novel, rich in texture and passionate in its ideas.

A fabulous story by Jean Ure, a must for any girl’s collection! At Parkfield High no one would have thought nerdy Ruth and super-cool Shayanne would be friends – but maybe there’s more to Shayanne than meets the eye.Ruth is not enjoying her new school. Things were fine at her junior school, but here at Parkfield High, if you’re not in a gang you’re no one. Even her old mates don’t want to know her any more and the bullies are making her life a misery.Enter Shayanne, the new girl. Shayanne is cool, collected and doesn’t give a stuff about any silly gangs. Ruth is astonished and delighted when Shay pals up with her. The bullies leave her alone and it’s great to have a special friend again. But is the supercool Shay as together as she thinks, and why has she been excluded from two other schools?