Before the name became a legend. Before the boy became the man. Meet Bond. James Bond. An Eton boy s family disappears at sea. James uncovers a shadowy society operating in a hidden corner of the school. And far from England, in the bandit-infested interior of Sardinia, a sinister Italian count has built himself a mountain fortress. Is there a connection? Young Bond is about to find out - and face a lethal group of villains beneath the burning Mediterranean sun.

In the first book in the number-one best-selling Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, 14-year-old Alex is forcibly recruited into MI6. Armed with secret gadgets, he is sent to investigate Herod Sayle, a man who is offering state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers to every school in the country. But the teenage spy soon finds himself in mortal danger.

Otto and Raven are desperate to rescue their friends from the clutches of Anastasia Furan, head of the evil Disciples organisation. First they must track down the location of the Glasshouse, the prison where Furan trains children to become ruthless assassins. But Otto is also being hunted. The three months that Otto has spent following his expulsion from H.I.V.E. have given the Artemis Section - an elite division of the American intelligence services that specialises in capturing the toughest targets and reports only to the president - an opportunity to locate him.

They'll chase you. They'll rip you open. They'll feed on you.... When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician - every adult - fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under 14 remain whole, and they're fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there alive?

You can't go far without a quick brain and some rule-bending in a place like Locksley. After its vast car plants shut down, the prosperous town has become a wasteland of empty homes, toxic land and families on the brink. And it doesn't help that the authorities are in the clutches of profit-obsessed Sheriff of Nottingham, in cahoots with underworld boss Guy Gisborne.

H.I.V.E. is a top-secret school of villainy, where children with a precocious talent for wrongdoing are sent to develop their talents and become criminal masterminds. After all, "Villains have the best lines and wear the best costumes."

Danny Watts' grandfather, Fergus, was a traitor, one of the worst sort: an SAS explosives expert who betrayed his country and his regiment for drug money. He was arrested and left to rot and die in a Columbian jail. At least, that's what 17-year-old Danny is told when his hopes of becoming a soldier are destroyed forever. But he knows something the army doesn't seem to know.

A top-secret government programme needs a crack team of undercover military operators. They must have awesome levels of determination, endurance and fitness. They must be able to think on their feet. The recruits undergo the most rigorous and testing selection process the modern military can devise. And in order to operate in circumstances where adult forces would be compromised, the recruits must be under 16. Only a few are tough enough and smart enough to make it. 

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Matt has always known he has unusual powers. Raised in foster care, he is sent to Yorkshire on a rehabilitation programme, only to find himself in the midst of sinister goings-on. Matt investigates and uncovers a terrible secret - eight guardians are protecting the world from the Old Ones, beings banished long ago by five children. But devil worshippers want to let the Old Ones back in....

Otto and the rest of the elite Alpha stream at H.I.V.E. have been sent on their most dangerous exercise yet: The Hunt. But when Otto and the rest of the Alphas arrive in the icy wastes of Siberia, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Dr Nero, the head of the school, has made some powerful enemies at the Global League of Villainous Enterprises - and the first strike against Nero will be a strike against the Alpha stream.

Nevada, USA. Fourteen-year-old twins Jamie and Scott Tyler are performing a mind-reading act in a dingy theatre. But when a sinister multinational corporation, Nightrise, kidnaps Scott, Jamie is left alone – and wanted for murder. He becomes embroiled in a corrupt presidential campaign and breaks into the American prison system before being propelled 10,000 years into the past, where he encounters the other Gatekeepers and witnesses the creation of Raven's Gate – and the first fateful battle against the Old Ones. 

A terrorist doesn't let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home, and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn't know that one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for Cherub. Cherub agents are aged between 10 and 17. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

After his experiences at Raven's Gate, 14-year-old Matt Freeman thinks his days of battling evil are over. But he is pulled into another horrifying adventure when he discovers a second gate exists. Matt and his friend Richard travel to Peru and, assisted by a secret organisation known as the Nexus, follow a series of clues to the gate's whereabouts. But there is a traitor in the Nexus.... Richard is kidnapped. Matt manages to escape with the help of Pedro, a local boy.

Will Everett has always wished for an adventure. Little does he know his adventure starts the moment he boards the Boundless. There is a murder, and now Will protects a key that can unlock the train¹s hidden treasures. Villains are fast on his heels and strange creatures are lurking outside the windows, as the Boundless hurtles across the country. Together with Maren, a gifted escape artist, and Mr. Dorian, a circus ringmaster with amazing abilities, Will must save the Boundless before someone else winds up dead.