Showing results by narrator "Aysha Kala" in All Categories

Best friends Amani and Huda are getting nervous about their GCSEs - and their future beyond school, which they're both wildly unprepared for. Shy, quiet Amani has an outwardly picture-perfect family - a father who is a successful TV presenter, a loving mother and an adorable younger brother - while confident and impulsive Huda has grown up with over-affectionate foster parents who are now expecting a baby of their own.

Meet 10-year-old Joy Applebloom, a girl with a knack for finding the silver lining in even the darkest of rainclouds. After years of travelling the world with her parents and older sister, Claude (Claude rhymes with bored, which is just about right), Joy and her family move to suburbia - back to school, back to her grumpy, rule-obsessed grandad and back to normality. Joy soon finds her usual irrepressible positivity and zest for life waning, but when the powers that be threaten to pull down a mighty oak tree, Joy decides to fight back.

Fourteen-year-old Cat is lonely - reeling from the loss of her father, she’s disconnected from friends and fighting with her mum. But when a new boy, Tyler, arrives for the summer, Cat finds herself opening up to the handsome stranger. A shocking revelation about her dad turns Cat’s world on its head. She and Tyler uncover a series of secrets that take them on a perilous journey. With fresh lies exposed and threats from a dangerous gang revealed, will Cat risk everything to keep herself and her family safe?

Kiki Kallira has always been a worrier. Did she lock the front door? Is there a terrible reason her mum is late? Recently her anxiety has been getting out of control, but one thing that has always soothed her is drawing. Kiki's sketchbook is full of fantastical doodles of the Hindu myths and legends her mother has told her since she was tiny. One day, her sketchbook's calming effect is broken when her mythological characters begin springing to life and Kiki is pulled into the mystical world she drew.

A collection of honest, fierce and beautiful poems about being a mother, from pregnancy and birth to growing up and leaving home. Curated by acclaimed anthology Ana Sampson, Night Feeds and Morning Songs examines motherhood from all angles, capturing the mess and the madness, to the joy and the wonder....

Hi! My name is Joy Applebloom, and I'm 10 years old. People say I am a ‘glass half full’ kind of person, which basically means I see the good in everything. Right now, I’m going to need all my powers of positive thinking to fix a really tricky situation. My new best friend, Benny, just hasn’t been himself lately. I have to find out what’s going on and bring back Benny’s special smile for good.

1944. The Battle of Kohima. James Ash dies leaving behind two families: his ‘wife’ Josmi and two children, Jay and Molly, and his parents and sister in England who know nothing about his Indian family. 2012. Emmie is raising her own daughter, Jasmine, in a world she wants to be very different from the racist England of her childhood. Her father, Jay, doesn’t even have a photograph of the mother he lost and still refuses to discuss his life in India. Emmie finds comfort in the local museum – a treasure trove of another family’s stories and artefacts.

Allyship is a journey, but it's not always easy to know where to start. See things from a different perspective with heartfelt real-life stories by writers from diverse backgrounds, abilities and circumstances. Wherever you are in your allyship journey, these stories about what it means to be an ally can empower you to help make the world a better place for everyone. Find out what you can do and take an active role with resources like self-reflective questions, journaling ideas, prompts and further learning. Be the reason someone feels seen, heard and supported.

The tapestry of life may be more fragile than it seems: pull one thread, and all will unravel. In The City of Woven Streets, human life has little value. You practice a craft to keep you alive, or you are an outcast, unwanted and tainted. Eliana is a young weaver in the House of Webs, but secretly knows she doesn't really belong there. She is hiding a shameful birth defect that would, if anyone knew about it, land her in the House of the Tainted, a prison for those whose very existence is considered a curse.

On holiday with her family and adoring fiancé, Jed, Emily couldn't be happier. But overnight, the idyllic trip turns into a waking nightmare when one of the group is found dead in what appears to be a terrible accident. The devastated party returns to London to cope with their loss while trying to resume their normal lives. But new revelations set Emily on a perilous journey to discover the truth about what happened....

Imagine having the perfect friend, one who never steals, lies or bullies. Now you can, with the TrooFriend 560, the latest in artificial intelligence! What can go wrong with a robot buddy? Especially one that’s developing human characteristics and feelings, and who has just run away with her human?

Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories - fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places-bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling's writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism. In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different.

Monsoon Memories is an unforgettable journey through a mesmerizing, passionate land of contrasts – with a family whose story will touch your heart. Anyone who enjoys the storytelling of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, or Dorothy Koomson will love this. Exiled from her family in India for more than a decade, Shirin and her husband lead a comfortable but empty life in London. Memories of her childhood – exotic fragrances, colours, stifling heat and tropical storms – fill Shirin with a familiar and growing ache for the land and the people that she loves.

An eclectic group of Indian women living in a condominium in Singapore are determined to learn how to swim. To accomplish this, they must challenge cultural taboos, paddle against the tide of ingrained beliefs, tread carefully past family members, and dive deep into their pooled psyche to let go of things held dear.

Uganda 1972. A devastating decree is issued: all Ugandan Asians must leave the country in 90 days. They must take only what they can carry, give up their money and never return. For Asha and Pran, married a matter of months, it means abandoning the family business that Pran has worked so hard to save. For his mother, Jaya, it means saying goodbye to the house that has been her home for decades. But violence is escalating in Kampala, and people are disappearing. Will they all make it to safety in Britain, and will they be given refuge if they do?

Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream — a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk — this time, they’re breaking in!

Bronte and the other trainee knights at Sir Sebastian's School for Squires are visiting the Stones of Forgotten Secrets with the princesses from POOP (The Palace of Obedient and Outstanding Princesses). But the joint school trip is plagued by mysterious mist, which Bronte believes is the work of a weather witch. With the camp in danger, it's up to Bronte and her friends to discover the witch's intentions - a quest that leads them to question history itself. Can Bronte uncover what is truly behind the chaos at camp and succeed in saving the day, like her hero Sir Pen Tine?

Having taken down the Fate-Weaver and freed the future, Ember thought things in Everspring would be easier. But not everyone is happy. People don't know how to live their lives without the Fate Cards telling them what to do. Then, Ember discovers something terrible on Mount Never. Someone has been cutting people's Fate Threads. Convinced it's her fault and determined to do something to stop the Thread-Cutter, Ember heads off to look for clues with Hans, eventually discovering that her only chance at preventing the Thread-Cutter from harming anyone is to go back in time to stop them.

Confined to the besieged Settlement, Yara longs to return to Zehaira and free her mother from the alchemists. When she receives a message to find the Official Residence of the Grand High Sorceress, she and her friends go to search for it, convinced that they will also find powerful magic to defeat the alchemists. Here, Yara and her friends discover storytelling magic – a magic so powerful that it can manipulate time. They also discover a girl, Aaliya Nasrun, claiming to be the sole surviving daughter of the Grand High Sorceress – the sister Yara didn’t know she had.

Bronte Tempestra of the Storm Kingdom is taking charge of her own destiny - she will be the first ever princess to become a knight! But knight school isn't the fun-filled adventure Bronte is expecting - the knights don't seem interested in saving...anything. And when she discovers that the Lightning Steeds have gone missing, leaving the Thunder Trolls to wreak havoc across the lands, she knows it's her moment to prove just how brave a princess can be. Bronte must face down pompous griffin lords and bare-bottomed cloud-stealing gnomes, monstrous horrorflies and spooky zombits.