Books published by publisher Avril Rowlands

When Nelson and his family arrive in Britain, Nelson can hardly believe that this cold, grey country is their 'promised land'. He is soon homesick for his relatives in Jamaica and for the sunshine, colours and way of life of the Caribbean. It is 1958, and the Vincent family are among the first immigrants to Britain from Jamaica. They soon find out, though, that it isn't easy to adapt to a new country. And although the British government asked them to come over and work, some people in Britain make it very clear that they don't like immigrants. As he gets used to his new surroundings, Nelson finds a friend in old Mrs Waterman. Wellington, Nelson's older brother, makes lots of friends - though not the sort his parents would approve of - and he starts his own rock band. So they all begin to settle in; but as the long hot summer goes on, tensions rise around them until the situation explodes in violence.This is a sympathetic and fast-moving story by Avril Rowlands, who has written numerous books for children and the screenplays for two complete series on children's televison.'Avril Rowlands makes an important contribution to the race debate in this powerful and disturbing novel.' (Junior Bookshelf)

When Sam finds granddad's model train set had magically come to life, she isn’t too surprised - after all her granddad was the famous 'Alfredo, the Amazing Man of Magic'! But when her granddad gets ill and she finds herself right inside the railway, things became altogether different. Who are the strange and frightening mis-shapes? What do they want? Her granddad is in hospital, her parents far away, her brother, Joe, is a pain. Then her unpleasant Aunt Dory and her even more unpleasant son, Craig, arrive, and threaten to dismantle and sell off granddad's train set as well as his home in Mablethorpe. Sam is the only one who can sort things out, both in the actual world and in the magic world of the railway. But time is running out and, in any case, Sam is living in both worlds, so which is the real one?

Cal doesn't want to come over to England from America on a school trip and he certainly doesn't want to have to learn all this stuff about Shakespeare. Okay, so Shakespeare was the greatest playwright in history, but what does that have to do with him?It has everything to do with him when Cal finds himself transported back into the past. There is a mystery, and danger, and Cal is thrown into the middle of it all. At first it doesn't seem important. How much would anyone care about a lost manuscript by Shakespeare? Not very much, Cal would have thought, but he soon learns how wrong he can be. Greed. Revenge. Power. There are all kinds of forces and all kinds of enemies that pursue Cal both in the sixteenth century and in the present day. Can the past ever be rewritten?

Julie can't believe her luck when she's chosen to play a leading part in a children's television drama about smuggling in the eighteenth century. Thrilled at the chance but also rather scared, she arrives on location in Yorkshire and is immediately thrust into the magical, make-believe world of film-making. She's soon made welcome and feels part of the close family of the film crew and actors. It's a warm and happy feeling.But odd things are taking place in and around the film unit and Julie begins to realise that things aren't as they appear. There are the harmless, or perhaps not so harmless, practical jokes; there's the disturbing conversation she overhears, and when she finds Bob, the costume designer, on the beach, victim of a vicious attack, she is determined to find out just what is going on. What's happening in the real world seems to be increasingly like the story in the film. Is present-day smuggling actually taking place? And if so, of what and by whom? What secrets lie in the disused railway tunnel and who, if anyone, can Julie trust? As she gets closer to the heart of the mystery so the danger grows and when at last Julie does find out the truth, is she too late to do anything about it?