A Girl Called Joy

Book excerpt: 'A delight for its warmth and humour, but principally because the writing is alive and stunning.’ The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week. For readers aged 9+ comes a sparkling new series about family, friends and finding the joy in life! From award-winning author Jenny Valentine, this is the perfect series for fans of Jacqueline Wilson, Cath Howe and Lara Williamson! Meet ten-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, and realizes that not all magic requires wands and spells, and perhaps the most important sort of magic is the power, resilience and courage that was there all along . . . Includes beautiful illustrations from Claire Lefevre