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Reading lists

Books to read if you love Cruel Summer

The Tulip Touch

Reissued for the Originals series of powerful teen fiction. 
 
Nobody wants Tulip in their gang. 
 
She skives off school, cheeks the teachers and makes herself unpopular with her classmates by telling awful lies. 
 
None of this matters to Natalie who finds Tulip exciting. 
 
At first she doesn't care that other people are upset and unnerved by Tulip's bizarre games, but as the games become increasingly sinister and dangerous, Natalie realises that Tulip is going too far. 
 
Much too far. 
 
Racing, in fact, to the novel's shocking ending.

This novel will make children aged between 11 and 14 think about the dangers of peer pressure and the collective responsibility of society for unhappy children. As always, Fine teaches her lessons by making her readers feel.

Tulip is the violent child about to crack, the child who echoes famous cases in our recent news. What elevates this subtle telling is that Fine manages to convey sympathetically the probable reasons why Tulip is the way she is.

Anne Fine read Politics and History at Warwick and then became a teacher. Her first novel was published in 1975 and today she is one of the UK's most successful children's writers. She has won many awards including two Carnegie Medals, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Prize. GOGGLE-EYES was serialised on TV and MADAME DOUBTFIRE was made into a hit Hollywood movie. Anne lives in County Durham.

Nobody wants Tulip in their gang. She skives off school, cheeks the teachers and makes herself unpopular with her classmates by telling awful lies. None of this matters to Natalie who finds Tulip exciting. At first she doesn't care that other people are upset and unnerved by Tulip's bizarre games, but as the games become increasingly sinister and dangerous, Natalie realises that Tulip is going too far, much too far, racing, in fact, to the novel's shocking ending.

Our Precious Lulu

A sharp and witty tale of sibling rivalry, bitterness and revenge from this highly-acclaimed author.

Sharp and black ... Fine's depiction of a cunning and manipulative character is masterful, and the conclusion is horribly satisfying.

Fine writes in dignified and clear prose that does ring true.

This wickedly entertaining novel ... is not one to miss

Few writers can convey better than Anne Fine the dangerous currents that ripple through an unhappy family.

Fine untangles all these threads with great psychological intelligence, and a merciless sense of comedy.

Our Precious Lulu is Anne Fine's eighth novel. Her first was the critically acclaimed The Killjoy, which was runner up for the David Higham Prize for Fiction. Taking the Devil's Advice and Telling Liddy have both been adapted for radio. Anne Fine's work has been translated into over thirty languages. She has two grown-up daughters and lives in County Durham.

Lulu has always been intolerable. From spending every childhood moment worming her way into the affections of her stepmother (spitefully undermining poor Geraldine, her dumpy and hardworking stepsister, along the way) to growing into a sexy, long-legged and ruthless adult. Jobs, lovers, fashionable clothes: Lulu picks them up at whim and drops them with equal ease, confident that Geraldine and her faithfully supportive husband, Robert, will bail her out of every passing problem. 
 
But not even watchful Robert has realized quite how much Geraldine's exemplary patience has rested on one simple but long-lasting assumption about her own family. 
 
Could everything finally be about to change ...?

Flour Babies

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

Flour Babies by Anne Fine, won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1992. When the annual school science fair comes round, Mr Cartwright's class don't get to work on the Soap Factory, the Maggot Farm or the Exploding Custard Tins. To their intense disgust they get the Flour Babies - sweet little six-pound bags of flour that must be cared for at all times. 
Funny and poignant, Flour Babies is a brilliant depiction of secondary school life.

Anne Fine has written numerous highly acclaimed and prize-winning books for children and adults. The Tulip Touch won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award; Goggle-Eyes won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal; Flour Babies won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year; and Bill's New Frock won a Smarties Prize. Anne Fine was named Children's Laureate in 2001 and was awarded an OBE in 2003.

Let it be flour babies. Let chaos reign. 
 
When the annual school science fair comes round, Mr Cartwright's class don't get to work on the Soap Factory, the Maggot Farm or the Exploding Custard Tins. To their intense disgust they get the Flour Babies - sweet little six-pound bags of flour that must be cared for at all times. 
 
Funny and poignant, Flour Babies is a brilliant depiction of secondary school life.

Raking The Ashes

A coruscating comedy about the ties that bind more savagely than any other - those of families.

'So savage and sharp in its insights that it cuts, this is a brilliantly compulsive, forensic dissection of a relationship built on ironies and evasions'

'A fearless novelist . . . also a constantly amusing writer. The result is an unsettling, sometimes angry but always engrossing story'

'[A] remarkable novel...there is something terrifyingly recognisable in each of the characters that will have readers looking deep inside their souls'

'Admirably acute observations of the trivialities of domestic life'

'Displays her familiar cool, unfussy style'

'Searing black comedy...a clear-eyed and fearless look at the role of honesty within relationships'

'Family relationships are rarely analysed with the depth of black humour that Anne Fine can bring to bear'

An enjoyably black and bracingly unsentimental novel

Raking the Ashes is Anne Fine's sixth novel for adults. Her first was the critically acclaimed The Killjoy. Taking the Devil's Advice and Telling Liddy have both been adapted for the radio. She is also a distinguished writer for young people, and has won the Carnegie Medal twice, the Whitbread Children's Award twice, the Guardian Children's Literature Award and a Smarties Prize. An adaptation of her novel Goggle-Eyes has been shown by the BBC, and Twentieth-Century Fox filmed her novel Madame Doubtfire as Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams. Her books have been translated into twenty-six languages. Between 2001 and 2003 she was the second Children's Laureate. Anne Fine has two grown-up daughters and lives in County Durham.

Lovers, colleagues, family - Tilly has always been brilliant at pushing people in and out of her life exactly as it suits her. Then along comes Geoffrey, gentle, compassionate, generous to a fault, with his miserable little children and his manipulative ex-wife. 
 
Tilly's own expertise in the arts of deception and avoidance should be enough to make sure she's always one step ahead of Geoffrey's disastrous, crumbling family. But time and again she finds herself staying, brought down by their cowardly backsliding and their barefaced lies. 
 
How has she managed to stay so long in a relationship she knows perfectly well has to be doomed? More importantly, how can Tilly plan her permanent escape?

Madame Doubtfire

Madame Doubtfire by bestselling author Anne Fine is a wonderfully funny, punchy story about family life. Lydia, Christopher and Natalie are used to domestic turmoil. Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and from their volatile mother, Miranda, and their out-of-work actor father, Daniel. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will look mind the children after work - and Daniel gets the job, disguised as Madame Doubtfire. 
 
This bittersweet, touching and extremely funny book inspired the highly successful film Mrs Doubtfire, starring the late Robin Williams. 
 
Madame Doubtfire is reissued in 'A Puffin Book' series of Puffin modern classics.

Lydia, Christopher and Natalie are used to domestic turmoil. Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and from their volatile mother, Miranda, and their out-of-work actor father, Daniel. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will look mind the children after work - and Daniel gets the job, disguised as Madame Doubtfire. 
 
This bittersweet, touching and extremely funny book inspired the highly successful film Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams.

Blue Moon Day

An original, unusual and fascinating collection of short stories from multi-award winning author, Anne Fine.

These ten stories are engaging and funny, written in brisk, uncomplicated prose that will appeal to any reader

The writing is elegant and crisp throughout. Heartstrings are pulled with no trace of sentimentality. I think readers of this book, whether they go to boarding school or not, will love it for the light it sheds on an experience which can be painful for many children

Anne Fine is one of our most distinguished writers for children. She has written over fifty highly acclaimed books and has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and both the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Carnegie Medal twice over.  Anne was appointed the Children’s Laureate from 2001-3, and her work has been translated into over forty languages. In 2003 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Anne lives in County Durham.

Everyone thinks they know what it's like, going to school. But have you ever wondered what life must be like at a boarding school? A school for young offenders? A school for the blind? With her trademark humour, insight, sensitivity and razor-sharp wit, Anne Fine explores these different worlds in a short story collection that will fascinate young readers.

Anne Fine

Goggle-Eyes is a winner: witty, sensitive and warm-hearted - a lovely book

This author is too much of a treasure to be reserved for children alone

Kitty Killin is not just a brilliant story-teller, but also the World's Great Expert when it comes to mothers having new and unwelcome boyfriends. So it's no surprise that she's the one chosen to sort out classmate Helly, who's gone into meltdown. Kitty decides to share her story about old Goggle-eyes - possibly one of the worst episodes in her life...

Anne Fine

Praise for Goggle-Eyes

Goggle-Eyes is a winner: witty, sensitive and warm-hearted - a lovely book

This author is too much of a treasure to be reserved for children alone

Books by Anne Fine

Series by Anne Fine

A Puffin Book117 Books

The Killer Cat6 Books

Articles featuring Anne Fine

Books to read if you love Cruel Summer

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