'Lake of the Lost'
Lothian 2004
8+

When Kim and Ollie's parents catch the scent of a new bird watching project they immediately pack up the kids, bags, tents. cameras and set off into the unknown. But this time they find more than birds on a remote Pacific island. This time they find someone- or something - that has stayed hidden for thousands of years.

'The Losers' Club'
Lothian 2003
12+

Hippy Harmony, timid Candy and Anichka the compulsive liar are always on the edge of the group in their small country town. Harmony has dreads and lives in an old train carriage, Candy is fat and has no taste in clothes and Anichka is totally missing the slightest grip on reality. It's bad enough that they're all losers with no friends but throw them together into a dangerous situation and you know there's going to be trouble, especially when there's a gorgeous young man involved.

'This novel is delightfully entertaining from the first page' Reading Time

'By writing from different viewpoints, Carol Jones allows us to enter the emotional roller-coaster of adolescence' Viewpoint

'Cupid & Co Lothian'
2002
10+

It was all in the tea leaves if Sofia had bothered to pay attention. But tea leaves are tricky little devils. They usually say one thing and turn out to mean another, even when your grandmother is a gypsy who reads your heart like a map. All Sofia knows is that she's tired of everyone playing Cupid. Her mother wants to set her up with her second cousin. Her bossy friend, Clancy, wants to start a dating agency. And poor Sofia is caught in Cupid's crossfire.

'Although this story has a light touch many young teenagers will find that Sofia's voice rings true as she tries to be true to her own desires, but also to accommodate and understand the wishes of her mother and grandmother, an often amusing and thoughtful story' Magpies

'Girlfriend/Boyfriend'
Mammoth 1997
12+

A boy, a girl, a tale of first love. Two versions of the same story in a 'flip' binding, written in notes, emails, letters and diary entries. Ed is popular, does well at school and thinks he has nothing to lose. Suzie is smart, funny, and will give most things a go. But it just isn't possible to predict how life will turn out - especially when you're sixteen and in love for the first time.

'I found this novel difficult to read. It wasn't the novel itself, it was the fact that I'd leant it to my fifteen-year-old next door neighbour. She said it was "so cool" she leant it to a friend and, fifteen friends later, it came back to me' Viewpoint

'Goddess of Cool'
Mammoth 1996
10+

May Kim can never lose face. She and her friends, the Bimbettes, are the most in-your-face clique of the school Yet, when her icy wit backfires on her and she is forced to play fairy godmother to the biggest loser in the school, her control begins to slip. Memories of another time and place; images of her once-loved grandmother; reminders of the cool perfection of the goddess Kuan Yin; all return to haunt her until she must discover for herself who the Goddess of Cool really is.

'This is young adult fiction of the highest order - psychologically sound, with well developed characterisation and a complicated plot in which childhood memories increasingly intrude into the present' Magpies

'Real Girls'
Mammoth 1992
10+

When Etty meets the beautiful but bitchy Bimbettes, it looks like Daddy's little girl is finally about to grow up. With their help and a little bit of magic, Etty transforms herself into Stella, witty, clever and determined to get the boy. But magic only happens in fairytales - real girls have to save up for the ball and real girls have to make their own lives, even if they make their own mistakes.

'Real Girls has that sure light touch of wit and is often very funny. It never moralises but the points it makes are given stylishly and taken gracefully. An inventive and thoughtful novel' The Sunday Age