The First Year. This item is unavailable.The First Year

Follows the bestselling and multi-award winning The Final Year

"Well-written, authentic and very moving." David Almond on The Final Year

Nate’s eleven and has just finished Primary School. After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he’s got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he’s off to Secondary School with his two best mates.

But while he's making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate's life threatens to throw him completely off course. And The Beast - the anger he tries so hard to control - reappears. Will Nate find a way to keep himself and his family together?

Former primary school teacher Matt Goodfellow is now a full-time author and poet who visits schools across the country to give high-energy performances and workshops. His first poetry collection for Otter-Barry Books, Chicken on the Roof, received wide acclaim. He is also the author of Caterpillar Cake, illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage and shortlisted for the CLiPPA award; Shu-Lin's Grandpa, illustrated by Yu Rong and shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal and The Final Year, winner of the CliPPA award 2024, and he is a contributor to CLiPPA-shortlisted poetry collection Being Me: Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings (all published by Otter-Barry Books). He has written two poetry collections for older readers: Let's Chase Stars Together, shortlisted for the CLiPPA award 2023, and Tomorrow We Begin, published in 2024. Matt lives in Stockport.

Joe Todd-Stanton grew up in Brighton and has a first class degree in Illustration from UWE, Bristol. He is a widely acclaimed author and illustrator of picture books and graphic novels. The Secret of Black Rock was longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award and won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. The Comet won the Shadowers' Choice Award for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration, 2023. He illustrated the award-winning The Final Year, by Matt Goodfellow. His latest book is Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc, published in 2024. He lives in London.