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Julia Green lives in Bath, but her favourite places are wild remote islands, beaches, cliffs and hilltops. She has written more than seventeen books for children and young adults, and is the Course Director for the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Julia’s books for children include To the Edge of the World, Tilly’s Moonlight Fox, Seal Island and The Wilderness War, which was shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Book Award and the Warwickshire SLS Award.
Author photo copyright: Kim Green
Watch a video of Julia talking about Drawing with Light:
June 2019 Book of the Month | Border Guards and suspicion keep the inhabitants trapped on a nameless island surrounded by a supposedly poisoned sea and scraping an existence from the land. Bonnie lives with her Granda, who is growing increasingly frail. Bonnie has no patience for what passes as education, although such rule breaking is punishable. When she discovers, first a boat, and then the injured boy who arrived in it, she hides both, which is even more dangerous because any contact with outsiders is unheard of. Her mother left by sea when Bonnie was a baby. Could this be Bonnie’s route to freedom? But she has both the boy and her beloved Granda to worry about and the mystery of her mother to solve and the Guards on her trail. This is a thrilling read, a truly heart-stopping adventure which has no need to labour the details of the dystopian society in which it is set. The setting is so vividly realised and the nuances of the relationships are so movingly portrayed that the reader is absolutely in the moment with Bonnie. A beautifully written book with a powerful but ultimately hopeful message.
April 2018 Book of the Month | Jamie lives on an island in the Outer Hebrides. He loves its wild beauty and the remoteness too, though he’s aware of just how much they are at the mercy of wind, waves and weather. The island is also home to Mara, a wild spirit not much older than Jamie but, it seems, completely fearless. Her ambition is to sail her boat out to St Kilda, an island that really is at the edge of the world, and when she finally sets out, pretty well accidentally, Jamie goes too. It’s a wonderful adventure story and brilliantly told, as much about the friendship between the two children and their efforts to find a place in the world as it is about their extraordinary trip. Readers who enjoy this story of courage, resilience and survival will also like Wild Song by Janis Mackay.
One of our Books of the Year 2016 | June 2016 Book of the Month - In a Nutshell: protest – friendship – the great outdoors At a time when children are accused of disconnecting from the natural world Julia Green’s story of kids protecting their patch of wilderness is particularly important. The scruffy woods at the end of his street mean a lot to Noah. It’s more than just a place for him and his friends to play away from adult supervision. Noah needs that connection to the wild world, and when he sees a For Sale sign go up he feels physically sick. His friends feel just as strongly and a war against the developers breaks out before the children discover that the law can protect what matters to them. An exciting, often funny story, with a lovely sense of why nature is so important for us all.~ Andrea Reece Click here to download a specially created activity pack full of exciting outdoor activities to do including building a campfire, making a pond, ID the trees around you, go tracking animals and lots more. Recommended for fans of Michael Morpurgo and readers who enjoy this story will also like The Secret Henhouse Theatre and The Farm Beneath the Water by Helen Peters.
A heartwarming story about a girl and her love for a puppy, a perfect choice for animal lovers. Beautifully illustrated throughout with black and white drawings. One puppy with the wild in his eyes. One girl longing to care for him. The puppy would fit on one hand, it was so small. Its fur was a pale silver-grey all over, except for one dark star on its head.
Fans of The Secret Garden will love this touching and sensitive story of how a young girl befriends a fox in a hidden and magical garden. Tilly has just moved house. She’s lonely especially because her mother is resting up for a new baby. Tilly and the fox explore together in a beautiful and imaginative story.
The touching and romantic story of a bright heroine movingly and carefully navigating the complexities of falling in love is compelling reading. When Freya’s train home from her wonderful summer holiday is stopped by a fatality on the line she determines to find out what exactly happened. Following it up leads her to meet Gabes and, through him, his whole delightful family who epitomise everything her family is not. It all seems perfect until Gabes' older brother Theo begins to take an interest in Freya. Theo is older and haunted by the past but Freya is drawn to him especially when Gabes appears indifferent. How Freya handles the choices she must make is cleverly and convincingly explored.
A touching and tender teenage novel of love and exploration this tells how sixteen-year-old Emily finds first love and also begins an important search to find her mother. Emily was only two when her artist mother left home and she knows little about her but, as she develops her own talents, she begins to feel the need to find out what her mother is like and why she left. Emily is helped by sensitive Seb, a new boyfriend, who helps her to find a way forward.
June 2019 Book of the Month | Border Guards and suspicion keep the inhabitants trapped on a nameless island surrounded by a supposedly poisoned sea and scraping an existence from the land. Bonnie lives with her Granda, who is growing increasingly frail. Bonnie has no patience for what passes as education, although such rule breaking is punishable. When she discovers, first a boat, and then the injured boy who arrived in it, she hides both, which is even more dangerous because any contact with outsiders is unheard of. Her mother left by sea when Bonnie was a baby. Could this be Bonnie’s route to freedom? But she has both the boy and her beloved Granda to worry about and the mystery of her mother to solve and the Guards on her trail. This is a thrilling read, a truly heart-stopping adventure which has no need to labour the details of the dystopian society in which it is set. The setting is so vividly realised and the nuances of the relationships are so movingly portrayed that the reader is absolutely in the moment with Bonnie. A beautifully written book with a powerful but ultimately hopeful message.
April 2018 Book of the Month | Jamie lives on an island in the Outer Hebrides. He loves its wild beauty and the remoteness too, though he’s aware of just how much they are at the mercy of wind, waves and weather. The island is also home to Mara, a wild spirit not much older than Jamie but, it seems, completely fearless. Her ambition is to sail her boat out to St Kilda, an island that really is at the edge of the world, and when she finally sets out, pretty well accidentally, Jamie goes too. It’s a wonderful adventure story and brilliantly told, as much about the friendship between the two children and their efforts to find a place in the world as it is about their extraordinary trip. Readers who enjoy this story of courage, resilience and survival will also like Wild Song by Janis Mackay.
One of our Books of the Year 2016 | June 2016 Book of the Month - In a Nutshell: protest – friendship – the great outdoors At a time when children are accused of disconnecting from the natural world Julia Green’s story of kids protecting their patch of wilderness is particularly important. The scruffy woods at the end of his street mean a lot to Noah. It’s more than just a place for him and his friends to play away from adult supervision. Noah needs that connection to the wild world, and when he sees a For Sale sign go up he feels physically sick. His friends feel just as strongly and a war against the developers breaks out before the children discover that the law can protect what matters to them. An exciting, often funny story, with a lovely sense of why nature is so important for us all.~ Andrea Reece Click here to download a specially created activity pack full of exciting outdoor activities to do including building a campfire, making a pond, ID the trees around you, go tracking animals and lots more. Recommended for fans of Michael Morpurgo and readers who enjoy this story will also like The Secret Henhouse Theatre and The Farm Beneath the Water by Helen Peters.
'Grace looked directly at the seal pup and spoke softly to it. 'I'll be back soon. Don't give up.' Grace is excited about her holiday, staying with Granny at her house by the sea. A whole week exploring rock pools, collecting shells, and playing on the beach - perhaps she might even get to see a baby seal? Grace makes friends with local boy Col who knows all the secrets of the Island. When Grace discovers a small seal pup, separated from its mother after a storm, she's not sure if she can help it, but she has to try . . . Beautifully illustrated in black and white, this is a heart-warming tale of friendship and discovery in the wild outdoors by the author of Tilly's Moonlight Fox..
Kate's parents are taking her on holiday with them to a cottage on a remote island in the Hebrides. Kate can't imagine anything more boring. But underneath her sulkiness, Kate is scared. Her parents have been fighting and she knows that for her parents this holiday is make or break. Once at the cottage, Kate escapes - outside, anywhere. And there she meets the warmth of the islanders, who are prepared to accept her and to listen to her. And possibly fall in love with her . . .
A heartwarming story about a girl and her love for a puppy, a perfect choice for animal lovers. Beautifully illustrated throughout with black and white drawings. One puppy with the wild in his eyes. One girl longing to care for him. The puppy would fit on one hand, it was so small. Its fur was a pale silver-grey all over, except for one dark star on its head.
Fans of The Secret Garden will love this touching and sensitive story of how a young girl befriends a fox in a hidden and magical garden. Tilly has just moved house. She’s lonely especially because her mother is resting up for a new baby. Tilly and the fox explore together in a beautiful and imaginative story.
Freya has come to visit her grandparents who live on a remote island. Last year she visited them with her brother - but last year her brother died alone in a boating accident. Whilst back on the island, Freya finds a way, with the calming presence of her grandparents and the gentle care and attention of the people around her, to adjust to the fact that her brother has gone, and that life - and love - are still vibrantly in the air. A perfect coming of age for any young girl just tipping into teenhood.
The touching and romantic story of a bright heroine movingly and carefully navigating the complexities of falling in love is compelling reading. When Freya’s train home from her wonderful summer holiday is stopped by a fatality on the line she determines to find out what exactly happened. Following it up leads her to meet Gabes and, through him, his whole delightful family who epitomise everything her family is not. It all seems perfect until Gabes' older brother Theo begins to take an interest in Freya. Theo is older and haunted by the past but Freya is drawn to him especially when Gabes appears indifferent. How Freya handles the choices she must make is cleverly and convincingly explored.
A touching and tender teenage novel of love and exploration this tells how sixteen-year-old Emily finds first love and also begins an important search to find her mother. Emily was only two when her artist mother left home and she knows little about her but, as she develops her own talents, she begins to feel the need to find out what her mother is like and why she left. Emily is helped by sensitive Seb, a new boyfriend, who helps her to find a way forward.
Lara is in a muddle - her cat is having kittens soon, and she can't stop thinking about it. And there's so much to remember, too. Every day, she forgets to take the right thing to school and she daydreams in class, which makes her teacher cross. But what can she do to make things better? Book band: Purple Ideal for ages: 5+
Kat and Emily have grown up without their mother for almost as long as they can remember. And now Dad is with Cassy and they all muddle along together well enough - even though they are living in a cramped caravan while their new house is being renovated. Then Cassy and Dad tell them that Cassy is pregnant, and everything seems to shift. Emily feels a new urge to find her own mother. How could she have left them the way she did? Never writing to them? Not communicating with them? And as Emily begins her search, not knowing what she will find, she is at the same time embarking on a new relationship of her own, that of her romance with Seb. This is an evocative and finely drawn novel about family relationships, in particular that of mother and daughter, and the shifting emotions of a teenager trying to make sense of her family and her world.
Freya has come to visit her grandparents who live on a remote island. Last year she visited them with her brother - but last year her brother died alone in a boating accident. Whilst back on the island, Freya finds a way, with the calming presence of her grandparents and the gentle care and attention of the people around her, to adjust to the fact that her brother has gone, and that life - and love - are still vibrantly in the air. A perfect coming of age for any young girl just tipping into teenhood.
The King of Denmark is in trouble. His people are living in a terror of a monster that no one can kill. So the brave warrior Beowulf takes up the challenge. He sets sails with fourteen men, and arrives at the king's hall. That night, he slays the monster in a bloody battle, but now his problems have just begun...Beowulf the Brave is a modern retelling of the classic Anglo-Saxon legend.
Sephy's has an idyllic life on the island of Sicily, she loves to pick flowers in the sun and have picnics with her mother Demeter, but this isn't to last. Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, wants the beautiful Sephy to be his wife, so he kidnaps her and takes her to his underground kingdom. Imprisoned in this place where the sun never shines, Sephy is too sad to even eat, until finally Pluto tempts her with a pomegranate. As she tastes some of its seeds, little does she realise Pluto has tricked her. Now she may never be free.
Taking Flight is a story about love, loss and dealing with death. Luke goes to see his grandpa every day after school. He likes it there, and especially enjoys helping with Grandpa's pigeons. But Grandpa gets sick and muddled and needs more than Luke's help. When he goes into hospital, events take a turn for the worse and suddenly Luke has to grow up very fast...
BABY BLUE picks up Mia's story (begun in BLUE MOON) just after the birth of her baby. Mia is sixteen now, and still living with Dad, although this relationship becomes increasingly under strain. Not only is Mia having to work out the complicated emotional and practical implications of being a mother when she herself is still a child, with huge emotional needs of her own, she is also having to negotiate new relationships with the adults and young people around her.
Fifteen-year old Mia lives with her dad in a small rural community. When she discovers that she's pregnant she doesn't know where to turn - her elder sisters have left home, her mum left when Mia was six, her boyfriend, Will, is too scared to be anyhelp and her dad tries to push her into an abortion. Backed into a corner, she runs away and joins two women on a canal boat. Nobody can find her now but she discovers that the women have their own tragic stories. A fire on the boat makes her realise that she must take responsibility for the baby and herself and that home is the most likely place to get help. Her mother re-enters her life and Will's mother involves herself. Mia learns about love and realises how much her father has done for her.
