Books with author Vivian French

The girls in Team Starlight learn spells and earn their stars in this magical new young fiction series! Welcome to Stargirl Academy, the magical school in the clouds! Previously a rather old-fashioned establishment, it has been reopened by its head teacher to train children to be modern day fairy godmothers. Fairy Mary McBee selects a group of girls: Lily, Ava, Madison, Sophie, Emma, Olivia - and Melody and Jackson who think they're better than everyone else. The girls learn lots of spells - shimmering, starry, shining, sparkling, glittering and twinkling ones - which they use to fix problems and help people in trouble. For every successful mission they gain a star, and once they have six stars they will be fully qualified stargirls! Emma leads the fifth mission: she wants to help a family who have moved in two doors down - the baby cries all night and the older children can't play in the garden because it's overgrown. Mr Appleby would be the perfect person to help as his immaculate garden is right next door, but he's been complaining about the noise. Melody and Jackson perform some very risky magic and, against his will, Mr Appleby finds himself mowing the noisy neighbours' lawn! Thanks to Emma's skilful glittering spell and Mr Appleby's good nature, all is well, but Fairy Mary is furious with Melody and Jackson and they don't receive a star. The other girls however, are rewarded - only one more to go!

It's nearly Cockenzie Rood Day and Prince Albion wants a grand celebration. But his plans are ruined when he is kidnapped by the terrifying zombie Fiddleduster Squint, who wants to get into the Five Kingdoms. When Squint is refused entry across the magical border he and his creepy shadow go in search of giants with the intention of tricking them into causing all sorts of mayhem. It's a race against time but Gracie Gillypot, Prince Marcus and Gubble the troll manage to get there first and avert disaster. Albion can have his party after all, the giants are left in peace and our heroes return just in time to celebrate Queen Bluebell's birthday. What's more, as the series nears the end, it's clear that Gracie and Marcus are headed for a royal romance.

Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.Hank can't work out where all his customers have gone. They usually queue for miles for a taste of his rats' tail pizza and special guts pie with blood sauce. And when he finds them all at a newly opened cake shop, sitting at tables and sipping tea, he can't believe it! He's got to find a way to win his customers back. But how?