Letteratura e Narrativa

Camilla ha dodici anni e vive in un paese di provincia insieme al fratellino e alla mamma. Il papà, in passato braccio destro del Primo Ministro, non c'è più: si è suicidato in carcere sei anni prima, dopo essere stato accusato ingiustamente di corruzione. Da allora Camilla odia la politica e tutto ciò che ha a che fare con essa. Ma un giorno in paese arriva un barbone, che prima la aiuta a ribellarsi a un gruppo di bulli della sua scuola, e poi, piano piano, le insegna che cosa sia la politica, quella vera, quella a cui il suo papa aveva dedicato tutto se stesso.

La guerra sta per finire e Loretta è costretta a trasferirsi con la sua famiglia, fedele fino all'ultimo al regime fascista, sulle rive del lago di Garda. L'idea di lasciare Roma e i suoi amici proprio non le va giù, ma solo perché ancora non sa che la sua vita sta per trasformarsi in un'incredibile avventura.

Quando Brunisa, la ragazza ebrea di "Una valle piena di stelle" ritorna a casa, la città è in rovina, ma la gente è fiduciosa e cerca in ogni modo di ricominciare. L'aspettano nuove amicizie, vecchi pregiudizi, la ricerca dell'amato Claudio e, soprattutto, un mistero che tinge di giallo la sua vita... Un vivacissimo ritratto dell'Italia del dopoguerra con le speranze e le illusioni che l'accompagnano alla democrazia.

C'è un campo, la Base, dove crescono i bambini senza ricordi o memoria. Tra loro c'è un gruppo più vivace, composto da Hana, capo del Guscio, dura e metodica, Dudu, sempre attento e guardingo, Glor, grande e goffo, Cranach, il più lento di tutti, Orla, la più piccola, e infine ZeroSette, l'ultimo arrivato. C'è anche Tom, ma lui appare diverso: si perde in mille pensieri e a volte sente riaffiorare un Coccio, un frammento di vita passata.

‘The sky split open. A sky of brilliant yellow light; a world of noise that filled his ears like sand at the seaside, so that afterwards there was only total silence’. But silence brings terror and grief to Sonny’s family as they come to terms with the loss of his mother in a German bombing raid. In a fit of anguish and grief, his father joins the RAF to avenge her death, and Sonny is left alone. As he fights for survival, Sonny embarks on his own dramatic and intensely personal confrontation with the enemy….

A classic fable from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, read by Johnny Morris. Have you ever wondered how and why the animals came to be as they are? In these magical tales, drawn from stories he heard as a child in India as well as on folk traditions he later collected all over the world, Rudyard Kipling gives some wonderfully imaginative explanations.

What do witches do when their wands break? Where do wizards shop for stuff for spells? The Magic Factory - it's where Midden and her team of helpers come up with magical answers to all sorts of problems.

The Boy lives in a cottage with his mother and father, and the Dragon lives in a cave on the Downs. The Boy is his only friend. The Dragon is not at all the sort of Dragon one might expect to meet, however: he's polite and friendly.

Magical retellings of four classic fairy tales. In "Rapunzel" read by Tamsin Greig, beautiful Rapunzel has been imprisoned by an evil enchantress. Every day, she sits at the window of her high tower, and sings as she lets down her long hair. Then one day, a prince comes riding by.... In "The Tinder Box" read by Stephen Mangan, a wizened old woman promises a soldier riches beyond his wildest dreams. All she wants in return is a small tinderbox - but is there more to the tinderbox than meets the eye?

Bernard Cribbins reads Charles Kingsley's much-loved tale about a little chimney-sweep who is turned into a water baby. Tom the chimney-sweep has a hard life. He is beaten by his master, the cruel Mr Grimes, and forced to climb up dark flues where he bruises his knees and elbows and gets soot in his eyes. He is always hungry, for there is never enough to eat, and always dirty, as there is nowhere for him to wash.

The village of Templeton was evacuated during World War II - but something terrible stayed behind. Now even the ghosts are leaving. Ben and his new friends at the School of Night must find out what’s going on. But they are soon trapped in the village, where even the trees and plants turn against them. Could you survive against all the odds? Could you free the village from a curse that threatens the whole world? If you could, then maybe you have what it takes to join the School of Night…

Mel the cat had always wanted to fly, and Geoff the cat had always wanted to understand how the universe worked. Their wishes are both granted one evening when two space creatures, Grok and Klek, make an unauthorised visit to Planet Earth. But achieving their dream only opens the cats’ eyes to the real world. They see the pollution, the poison and the cruelty of the men who seem to run things. Mel and Geoff think they can make things better.

At first, the day seems like any other Sunday in a quiet English village... but then something very strange starts to happen. In each house, the clocks go bonkers, their hands whizzing round like lightning. And in each house, the adults go a little bonkers too! Their extraordinary behaviour is just hilarious at first, but when it becomes more threatening, the children decide they’ll have to do something.

Chancey Balogh makes all the best monsters for horror and science-fiction films and he is the man twelve-year-old Matt admires most in all the world. Because he is good with his hands, Chancey allows Matt into his studios as a kind of sorcerer's apprentice, where he works happily on some reptilian monsters called Slurks. Gradually Matt becomes obsessed by them not their mechanics, which he knows very well, but by their very nature. Are they real?

Visiting France to view some famous medieval bibles (and confusing the natives with his 'fluent' French), Cyril Bonhamy mistakes the most dangerous criminal in France for the director of the Bibliothèque, and is plunged into one of the most terrifying adventures of his life.