R.A. Spratt

Friday is not running away. Yes, she did get on a train to Norway without telling anyone where she was going - but she had to help Binky. He may or may not have been attacked by a polar bear. Now he's facing court martial for dereliction of duty. Obviously, Friday had to drop everything and travel 3000 kilometres to solve the case.The fact that it's easier to handle her feelings for Ian Wainscott if there's a continent between them is just a coincidence. When Friday arrives in Oslo, there are so many mysteries to solve. Is someone trying to keep Binky and Princess Ingrid apart? How can a painting leave a museum when all the doors are sealed? And will Melanie persuade Friday to go to the royal ball without wearing a brown cardigan?If Friday survives her trip to the remote Global Seed Vault, we may find out.

Friday Barnes 10: Undercover

No one believes April saw an enormous bear in the woods. No one thinks Fin didn’t break the Cat Lady’s foot. No one wants to know why Loretta bought Dad new underwear. And no one listens to Joe, because he never has much to say. The Peski Kids are up to their eyeballs in trouble, and it’s all their dog’s fault. Now the Mayor is watching them like a hawk. She won’t let anyone ruin Currawong’s Daffodil Festival. That’s fine, the Peski Kids want to blend in, the only problem is . . . they are really terrible at it.

The Peski Kids 2: Bear in the Woods

Friday's time at Highcrest is running out! The new headmaster is turning everything upside down. Friday's irritatingly high IQ has her fast-tracked to graduation, while a pair of incriminating pants puts Ian on the rocky road to expulsion. When a rumour emerges of embezzled gold stashed on the school grounds, Friday is determined to uncover the truth. But some big questions remain: Can she stay out of detention long enough to solve the mystery? How will Melanie survive without Friday to tell her what class she's in? And will Friday ever get that first kiss with Ian? With implosions and explosions everywhere, Friday Barnes will have to use her head and get a grip on her beating heart in order to find the gold that lies within.

The bestselling detective series

Friday Barnes 8: Never Fear

Friday Barnes is being attacked on all fronts! When Friday Barnes gets involved in her frenemy Ian Wainscott's family dispute, it appears her knack for uncovering the truth may ruin their friendship once and for all. Highcrest Academy is no longer a fun place to be. Ian has declared war on Friday and she is thinking of leaving . . . for good. Meanwhile, there's two new teachers to contend with - a celebrity artist whose intentions are somewhat unclear, and an over-enthusiastic PE teacher on a fitness crusade. Between them and Ian, it's going to be one dangerous term. Can Friday repair her friendship with Ian, restore her perfect school-life balance and work out who is committing the blatant acts of vandalism around Highcrest? No one said high school would be easy!

Friday Barnes 5: The Plot Thickens

Chaos parachutes into Currawong when the annual Mud Run hits town. The Peski kids are soon swept up in the festivities. Or in April’s case, strapped to a vision-impaired competitor in the race. Can Joe beat the fierce opposition? Can Fin hit Joe with a giant mud ball? Can April make it through a school day without getting expelled? Who knows? But when the prize money goes missing someone has to figure out what really happened under all that mud!

The Peski Kids 3: Stuck in the Mud

With a team of international super spies hunting them down, The Peski Kids’ orders are simple – act normal. But for Joe, Fin, April and Loretta that mission is impossible. Tensions run high when their mum moves in and starts spotting enemy agents behind every corner in Currawong. Should The Peski Kids get out of town? Of course they should! But they’re not going to. Not when there’s a potato festival to celebrate.

The Peski Kids 5: The Final Mission

Someone stole the Mona Lisa. Okay, it was over a hundred years ago, but a recently uncovered letter reveals that the thief forged a copy. That means that the painting in the Louvre now is a fake. And the real Mona Lisa could be anywhere! Friday Barnes needs to find the truth - and the real painting. She's going undercover as an art student, along with her partner-in-crime-solving, Melanie, and her staggeringly good-looking boyfrenemy, Ian. As they watch the comings and goings of France's most famous art gallery, they see some very strange things. Amid digital pickpockets, guerrilla graffiti and projectile perfume, Friday soon discovers that the Paris art scene is a hotbed of crime.

The Bestselling Detective Series

Friday Barnes 11: Last Chance

Friday Barnes is being attacked on all fronts! When Friday Barnes gets involved in her frenemy Ian Wainscott’s family dispute, it appears her knack for uncovering the truth may ruin their friendship once and for all. Highcrest Academy is no longer a fun place to be. Ian has declared war on Friday and she is thinking of leaving . . . for good. Meanwhile, there’s two new teachers to contend with – a celebrity artist whose intentions are somewhat unclear, and an over-enthusiastic PE teacher on a fitness crusade. Between them and Ian, it’s going to be one dangerous term. Can Friday repair her friendship with Ian, restore her perfect school–life balance and work out who is committing the blatant acts of vandalism around Highcrest? No one said high school would be easy!

Never cross a flying pig! When Mr Green announces his diabolical plan - he has decided to get married - his children (Derrick, Samantha and Michael) are horrified. Especially when they discover his real motive - he wants to get married so he can sack their beloved nanny, Nanny Piggins. Obviously their father has to be stopped, and Nanny Piggins is just the pig to do it. Because you should never ever cross a flying pig. And so, in the process of ruining Mr Green's matrimonial prospects, Nanny Piggins and the children have many exciting adventures - including being blasted across Dead Man's Gorge with an armadillo, breaking into a maximum-security prison in search of Chinese food and fighting a Gypsy Queen over a pit of fire.

Nanny Piggins And The Wicked Plan 2

From R.A. Spratt, bestselling author of Friday Barnes and Shockingly Good Stories, comes this collection of twenty terrific tales perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Paul Jennings. Featuring Greek myths and fractured fairytales as told by Nanny Piggins (the world’s most glamorous flying pig), a mystery investigated by Friday Barnes (girl detective) and a series of tales so tall they will give you altitude sickness. This book will delight children from four to one hundred and four. Just the thing for reading at bedtime, when you’re supposed to be doing your homework or when you’ve been chased up a tree by an escaped rhinoceros and you’re waiting for the zookeeper to arrive.

Twenty short stories from the bestselling author of Friday Barnes

Astonishingly Good Stories

School camp . . . what could possibly go wrong? Friday Barnes is forced to face her biggest fear – her own emotions! She must wave goodbye to Ian as he takes off to join his father in the Cayman Islands. But when your dad is a white-collar criminal, family reunions never go to plan. Ian is kidnapped en route and it’s up to Friday to rescue him. On her return to school, the Headmaster has a treat in store – a four-week camp for students to learn wilderness survival skills! ‘Camp Courage’ is even worse than Friday imagined. And all her book smarts aren't much help when she's got wood to chop, potatoes to peel and latrines to dig. Can Friday survive the great outdoors, debunk the legend of a camp ghost and make it back to Highcrest Academy alive? Only time (and a compass) will tell!

Friday Barnes 6: Danger Ahead

The final installment in the beloved girl detective series!

Never Fear

Friday Barnes 8 Never Fear

Friday's time at Highcrest is running out! The new headmaster is turning everything upside down. Friday's irritatingly high IQ has her fast-tracked to graduation, while a pair of incriminating pants puts Ian on the rocky road to expulsion. When a rumor emerges of embezzled gold stashed on the school grounds, Friday is determined to uncover the truth. But some big questions remain: Can she stay out of detention long enough to solve the mystery? How will Melanie survive without Friday to tell her what class she's in? And will Friday ever get that first kiss with Ian? With implosions and explosions everywhere, Friday Barnes will have to use her head and get a grip on her beating heart.

In space, no one can hear you oink! Derrick, Samantha and Michael should be in school. Instead they find themselves in NASA's space shuttle, which Nanny Piggins manages to accidentally launch, blasting them all into outer space. This time she has gone too far!In this thrilling fourth instalment of her adventures, Nanny Piggins wrestles with a crocodile, bungy jumps of the roof using the elastic from Mr Green's underpants, staples chicken wire over their chimney to keep out Santa, captures an apricot danish-loving jewel thief and rescues her brother, Boris, from an onslaught of professional wrestlers.

Nanny Piggins And The Accidental Blast-Off 4

Justice served with extra chocolate sauce. Nanny Piggins gets in trouble with the law after some illicit tight rope walking, and is sentenced to 5000 hours community service. But she isn't the type of pig to take her punishment lying down, not when there are old people to rescue, pirates to impersonate and a great big bus to borrow.

Nanny Piggins and The Pursuit Of Justice 6

What if every clue points in the wrong direction? Friday Barnes has been deported to Switzerland! With their in-school detective gone, Highcrest Academy has descended into chaos. Someone's fired all the teachers! The Headmaster claims it wasn't him, and suspicion soon turns to Ian Wainscott, but Friday won't stand by and let her favourite nemesis take the blame. Apart from being innocent (probably), he's seriously good-looking. There's also the problem of the new vice principal and his questionable teaching methods. It's hard to take someone seriously when they wear tie-dyed t-shirts. Can Friday save Ian's scholarship? Can she find the prankster before they bring down the school? Can she run the cross country? She's certainly going to try . . . to do the first two, anyway.

Friday Barnes 4: No Rules

Life is hard enough without having to spend time with your siblings. But there is no other way for Joe, Fin and April Peski to solve the mystery of the cockroach catastrophes that is rocking their new home town of Currawong. Along with Loretta, their stunningly beautiful yet sociopathic next-door neighbour, and Pumpkin, the world’s worst trained dog, they set out to catch the culprit. Together they are The Peski Kids.

The Peski Kids 1: The Mystery of the Squashed Cockroach

When four former headmasters arrive at Highcrest Academy to take part in the school's anniversary celebrations, the students are warned to be on their best behavior. Unfortunately, no one told the headmasters to stay out of mischief too! Which means Friday Barnes soon has a case to solve. But unraveling the truth isn't easy when the whole school is being forced to eat paleo because the cook is on a diet; her best friend's brother won't stop blubbering about the terrible boat accident he may or may not have caused; and Friday is being trailed by a mysterious admirer--or is it a stalker? Can Friday find the facts among the mayhem?

Friday Barnes 7: Bitter Enemies

Imagine if Sherlock Holmes was an eleven-year-old girl! When girl detective Friday Barnes solves a bank robbery she uses the reward money to send herself to the most exclusive boarding school in the country, Highcrest Academy. On arrival, Friday is shocked to discover the respectable school is actually a hotbed of crime. She's soon investigating everything from disappearing homework to the Yeti running around the school swamp. That’s when she’s not dealing with her own problem – Ian Wainscott, the handsomest boy in school, who inexplicably hates Friday and loves nasty pranks. Can Friday solve Highcrest Academy’s many strange mysteries, including the biggest mystery of all – what’s the point of high school?

R.A. Spratt

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