Part of Series
School has started, and secrets and adventures await Binny and her family in this delightful sequel to Binny for Short, which Publishers Weekly called “a well-crafted story that balances moments of hilarity with poignancy” (starred review). Binny’s blissful summer is over and school is beginning. And it’s horrible. From the awful secondhand uniforms to the stuck-up kids, who call her a “grockle,” Binny hates everything about school and the kids who torment her. When a storm damages the roof of their home, Binny and her family must move to a rental home out in the country. Binny, her sensible older sister Clem, and her rambunctious brother James (and his chickens) begin adjusting to a new household. Then one of James’s beloved chickens vanishes. What kind of creature is lurking in the undergrowth? And does it need Binny’s protection? Brilliantly written and full of heart, this humorous story is interwoven with the adventures of three children from 1913—Ed, Peter, and Clarry—who lived at the house previously. The stories of both sets of children come together as Binny discovers that secrets in the past and the present have connections she never suspected.
Author
Hilary McKay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire and is the eldest of four girls. From a very early age she read voraciously and grew up in a household of readers. Hilary says of herself as a child "I anaesthetised myself against the big bad world with large doses of literature. The local library was as familiar to me as my own home." After reading Botany and Zoology at St. Andrew's University Hilary then went on to work as a biochemist in an Analysis Department. Hilary enjoyed the work but at the same time had a burning desire to write. After the birth of her two children, Hilary wanted to devote more time to bringing up her children and writing so decided to leave her job. One of the best things about being a writer, says Hilary, is receiving letters from children. She wishes that she had written to authors as a child, but it never occurred to her to contact them Hilary now lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family. When not writing Hilary loves walking, reading, and having friends to stay.
