BigShorts is a growing set of short, stand-alone novels for strong Key Stage 2 readers. Each novel is around 100 pages long. The content is rich and detailed, tackling discussion-worthy themes. BigShorts books appeal to children who are already strong readers, and can engage with challenging subject matter, but choose books by the width of the spine, rejecting the wider ones. I was one of those children!
Being shorter than most novels, BigShorts books are also a great length for teachers to read to their class, or for use as guided-reading texts.

It is 1916, and George's father refuses to go and fight in the trenches of World War 1. He is branded a coward, and George does not know what to think.
Worse still, the school bully hangs George upside-down from the hayloft, and the next day, George gets the cane! So, with a bit of help from Emma, a curious newcomer to the village, he decides to take daring and drastic revenge on both the bully and his teacher. But he could never have predicted what happens next.
The Grubby Feather Gang is the story of three friends helping each other cope with their parents' problems.
 

Trouble is brewing in the tribe. The people are divided. Some detest the wanderers who travel to their valley every year to hunt mammoths, but others see that the wanderers are dying out and need help. Geb and Tanesh, the son and daughter of the tribal leader, along with their reclusive friend, Scrim, are caught in the middle as the tribe splits apart and turns on itself. Can they - should they - help defend the wanderers?
Season of the Mammoth is a Stone Age story of family, friendship, intolerance and injustice.
 

For older Young adults
 

Homelands                                                         

Luke Kennedy keeps his secrets close to his chest.

Introverted,painfully distrustful, he shares nothing with anyone.

But this summer, Luke and Seb – his only friend – travel to his hometown in midwest America, a trip that will force him to confront his past. Reliving childhood demons he thought he had left behind, Luke's entire life will be turned upside down. Will these changes be for the better?

Homelands is the coming-of-age story about a young man's quest for closure and understanding; a tale of love, hate, growth and, above all, the importance of friendship.

When the Crow Cries                                  

What would you do if you found a doorway to another world?

When Robyn becomes friends with Victoria, James and Elliot they show her how to reach higher and further than she could ever imagine. It all seems fun at first. The greatest adventure of their lives. But something darker is stirring in the other world. It's getting harder to leave.
Breaking the barriers across time and space may be fun at first but the key to get back is lost and they can't get home until that moment When the Crow Cries.
Maxine Ridge delivers a strong opening to her Two Worlds trilogy with  an extraordinary take on time and place providing a compelling commentary on innocence and experience, knowledge and discovery that compels the reader to keep on reading, to the unexpected ending.
This is the book you will not put down. Illustrations are by Helen Ridge.