Meet Bond. James Bond. But not as you will have seen him before... James is a recently orphaned boy starting his first term at Eton.

Charlie Higson is the author of the phenomenally successful Young Bond and The Enemy series.

Charlie is a man of many talents. He is a successful actor, comedian and writer for television and radio, but has been writing books for children since 2005.

After studying at the University of East Anglia, Charlie formed a band, The Higsons. He then became a decorator before turning to the world of television and going into partnership with his friend Paul Whitehouse. His successes include Saturday Live, the Harry Enfield Television Programme, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Shooting Stars, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, the film Suite 16, Swiss Toni and of course, the Fast Show. He lives in London with his wife and three sons.

Alex Rider’s back, and he’s in trouble. Real trouble.

Anthony Horowitz is a screenwriter and children's novelist. Born in 1955 in North London, he was educated at Rugby School and York University, and published his first book, Enter Frederick K Bower, in 1978.

He created the television series Foyle's War, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders, Crime Traveller and Menace, and has written episodes for many more, including Agatha Christie's Poirot, Murder Most Horrid and Robin of Sherwood. He has also written a horror film, The Gathering, starring Christina Ricci.

His books for children include the Alex Rider series about the teenage secret agent. There are nine books in the series including Snakehead (2007), shortlisted for the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize. He has also written The Power of Five series, Diamond Brothers series of mystery stories and the Groosham Grange series.

Passionate, beguiling and moving, the book is also an unflinching examination of the horrors of war and the injustice surrounding the execution of soldiers by firing squad, on the – often false – grounds of desertion or cowardice.

Children's Laureate 2003-2005

Award-winning children's writer Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He is the author of many award-winning books for children, including Kensuke's Kingdom, My Friend Walter and Private Peaceful. Many of his books have been successfully adapted for the stage or for film and television including War Horse and Private Peaceful (due to be released in 2012)

As well as writing, Michael runs the charity Farms for City Children with his wife Claire. In 2003 he became the third Children's Laureate (2003-2005), taking on a role he helped to establish together with the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. During his time as laureate he toured extensively, concentrating on sharing the power of stories.

Visit Michael's website

A gripping and electrifying novel, full of suspense, secrets, and - of course - magic.

J K Rowling has written fiction since she was a child, and she always wanted to be an author. Her parents loved reading and their house in Chepstow was full of books. In fact, J K Rowling wrote her first ‘book’ at the age of six – a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. She studied French and Classics at Exeter University, then moved to Edinburgh – via London and Portugal. In 2000 she was awarded an OBE for services to children’s literature.

The idea for Harry Potter occurred to her on the train from Manchester to London, where she says Harry Potter ‘just strolled into my head fully formed’, and by the time she had arrived at King’s Cross, many of the characters had taken shape. During the next five years she outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was first published in 1997. 

The unfortunate Baudelaire children have been enrolled into Prufrock Preparatory School under the safe keeping of Vice Principal Nero and his advanced computer

Lemony Snicket is the pseudonym novelist Daniel Handler used while writing his sequence of darkly comic children's books known as A Series of Unfortunate Events. The 13 novels in the series relate the hard-luck history of the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Snicket narrates their piteous adventures and misfortunes at the hands of evil Count Olaf, a master of disguises and truly bad actor.

The first book in the series, The Bad Beginning, was published in 1999. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, a 2004 feature film based on the books, starred Jim Carrey and featured appearances by Meryl Streep, Jude Law, and many other celebrities. Handler is a longtime resident of San Francisco, and his style has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He also has published novels for older teens and adults, including The Basic Eight (1999) and Watch Your Mouth (2000).

Handler has said that the name 'Lemony Snicket' is not intended to be a tribute to the cartoon character Jiminy Crickett; Handler claims the pseudonym was made up on the spur of the moment while researching material for one of his other books, and that the name predates A Series of Unfortunate Events... Handler is an opera fan and performed in operas as a boy.

Irreverant and charming, this is a hilarious and surprisingly touching story about secrets, love and life.

Children's Laureate 1999-2001
Quentin Blake was born in 1932 and read English at Cambridge, before attending Chelsea Art College. He has won many major prizes for illustration, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (1980) and the Red House Children's Book Award (1981) for Mister Magnolia. He is also the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration and in 1990 was voted 'The Illustrator's Illustrator' by Observer Magazine. A tireless promoter of children's literature – and a long-time collaborator with roald Dahl –  Quentin Blake was awarded the OBE in 1988 and in 2005 he was awarded a CBE for services to Children's Literature. In the most recent New Year’s Honours list he has been knighted.

Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress. During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms.   

Visit Quentin's website

Multi-talented David Walliams is the fastest growing children’s author in the UK market, selling an average of 20,000 books each week. David began his publishing career at HarperCollins in early 2008 with his debut novel, The Boy in the Dress, followed by Mr. Stink in 2009, Billionaire Boy in 2010 and Gangsta Granny in 2011. Cumulatively, David’s first four titles sold over a million copies in the UK alone. Gangsta Granny went straight to number 1 in the children’s book charts and globally his books have been translated into no fewer than 25 languages.

David’s ever-growing army of loyal fans, the sacks of fan mail and countless five-star reviews are testament to his ongoing commitment to creating the very best in literary entertainment for children. His books have been met with unanimous critical acclaim and, as they spread around the playground, children themselves can’t resist his stories filled with humour and heart. The Telegraph called Billionaire Boy: 'The funniest book my eight-year-old has ever read in his life, ever, apparently' (November 2010).

As the Olympics draws nearer, young people can read out all about it, in this official guide to the games, which was recently shortlisted for a Blue Peter Book Award. This accessible book is packed full of fun facts, photos and quizzes relating to both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Simon Hart is a sports writer specialising in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He has reported on three summer Olympic Games – Sydney, Athens and Beijing – and has written extensively on London's bid and preparations for the 2012 Games. He also reported on the Beijing Paralympic Games and his work has taken him to three winter Olympic Games and numerous World and European Championships involving Olympic sports.

Ever woken up to an eerie howl in the night and wondered what it was? This creepy tale about the Considine family might just have the answer

Gareth P Jones is the author of The Thornthwaite Inheritance which has been shortlisted for over eleven local book awards and won seven. His first novel for Bloomsbury, The Dragon Detective Agency: The Case of the Missing Cats was shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Book Prize. He has written three more Dragon Detective books as well as the interstellar crime adventure Space Crime Conspiracy. Gareth works as a TV producer and is a talented musician, creating songs for his books. He lives in London and has seven cousins who he never sees when the moon is full!