Collins Drama Series

The Book of the Banshee

by Anne Fine

Published 25 July 1991

THE FLOWERS FAMILY AND ITS TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS WITH CONVICTION AND A LIVELY SENSE OF HUMOUR.

Anne Fine's story of how one family looks after their aging grandmother. The book contains a sensitive and funy playscript suitable for classwork and school production, accompanied by resources including background material and lively activities.

When Natasha and Henry decide to put Granny into a home, their four children Nicholas, Tanya, Ivan and Sophie start up a major protest. Nicholas and Tanya begin a series of tantrums and nightmares about Granny going away, while Evan and Sophie write the devastating 'Granny Project': a full account of their grandmother's life for a social science project at school. Their parents finally give in and announce that Granny can stay - on the condition that all the nursing and caring must be done by the children themselves!

The Tulip Touch

by Anne Fine

Published 31 October 1996

Nobody wants Tulip in their gang. She skives off school, cheeks the teachers and makes herself unpopular with her classmates by telling awful lies. None of this matters to Natalie who finds Tulip exciting. At first she doesn't care that other peopleare upset and unnerved by Tulip's bizarre games, but as the games become increasingly sinister and dangerous, Natalie realises that Tulip is going too far, much too far, racing, in fact, to the novel's shocking ending.

Flour Babies

by Anne Fine, Andrew Bennett, Jim Taylor, and Esther Menon

Published 19 November 1992

Award-winning author Anne Fine’s story is humorous and thought-provoking at every turn.

Step by Wicked Step

by Anne Fine

Published 26 January 1995

One stormy night, five stranded schoolchildren uncover the story of Richard Clayton Harwick a boy who many years ago learned what it was like to have a truly wicked stepfather. But the children have stories of their own step-parents to tell stories that have warmth and humour, as well as sadness, and a fair share of happy endings. For children who have some similar experience, this novel will be therapeutic; for those who haven t it s an absorbing read, to make them laugh and cry Sunday Telegraph."