International espionage and football action combine when these teenage spies are sent to the world’s toughest trouble spots, going undercover with the England youth team.
The world’s in danger and only The Squad can save us.
Read more about the 2 books in this series here:
Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available personalised to order from my local independent children’s bookshop “The Thoughtful Spot” here.
Read about The Squad team here.
Learn more about reading and writing The Squad here.
Read first chapters by clicking on the covers below:
Read my extra story Black and White Op written to celebrate the launch of The Squad series for Newcastle Libraries here.
The Squad Team
Lily is a kind and friendly girl. When people meet her they love her. But, when it comes to it, she is tougher than any of the others in the Squad. She is a very good runner, having been trained by her father to run in the hills of Yorkshire since she was six. Although she is not one of the leaders, she is always listened to by those who do lead. She speaks several languages and is very bright. Lily is a right back in the team.
Hatty is very different to Lily. She is hard and uncompromising. She pushes the other Squad members to make sure they do what she thinks is right. She comes across as mean. She doesn’t trust outsiders. Most of the time this is useful, but sometimes it is dangerous. Hatty finds it hard to understand Lily, but, secretly, she envies her friendliness and gentler nature. Hatty is a central defender.
Lesh is the technical wizard of the Squad. He can use gadgets and is skilled in hacking into computer systems to find things out to help the Squad on their missions. He was born in Poland, but has lived with his parents in England for several years. Lesh has a very dramatic time in Black Op, meaning his role in the second book – White Fear – is very different. Lesh is a left back.
Kester is the leader of the Squad. But he relies a lot on Hatty for support. At the beginning of Black Op the Squad’s leaders have to choose between Kester and Hatty. The fact that Kester was chosen still remains unresolved during the book. Under pressure, Kester shows great leadership qualities when they Squad are under great pressure. He is a central defender, alongside Hatty.
Adnan is the joker of the pack. When he is feeling tense he tries to make everyone laugh. Sometimes it works: sometimes is doesn’t. Adnan is a loyal member of the Squad and would do anything for anyone. He is a very experienced at outdoor activities and often takes the lead on missions in the wild. Adnan is a goal keeper. He also hates football.
Writing the Squad
White Fear was inspired by reports I read in newspapers about how
www.durham.ac.uk/ibru/resources/arctic
quickly the Arctic ice is melting – and the numerous predicted catastrophes :
- the seas will rise
- rare wildlife will die out
- communities that live in the Arctic will lose their way of life
- without the ice in place, the seabed is accessible and some countries will begin to drill for oil, gas and other valuable resources – AND that they will start to jostle for who owns which part of the sea bed.
White Fear draws mostly on the last two threats.
It is set at a fictional conference of the Arctic Powers (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and USA) in Tromso, Norway. These countries are trying, in a last chance to avoid war, to decide who owns which part of the seabed. But evil forces are at large. Forces that profit from war and oil exploitation. Forces that don’t want peace.
The only way to avert war is for The Squad – five British child spies – 
to infiltrate the conference and stop the evil-doers. It involves mountain-top anxiety, abseiling, chases on ocean liners and even a submarine.
It also involves an ecological protest group made up of Inuit people – called White Fear – that is trying to make the Arctic Powers see sense and help reverse the ice melt.
Sadly, recent events have re-highlighted the problems the Arctic faces.
The Arctic ice is now at its smallest and thinnest since records 
began. The melt is accelerating year on year, meaning that some Arctic Powers are already exploring, looking for oil and gas and minerals. Not so long ago the Russians placed a Russian flag on the seabed, appearing to claim it for themselves.
Only very recently Greenpeace has been trying to prevent Russian drilling ships from searching for oil beneath that newly-exposed seabed, facing a very aggressive response from the Russians.
When I researched White Fear, I was on board a Norwegian ship, 
looking at the waters and land that the Arctic Powers are fighting over.
I hope this book does something to raise awareness in children about something that is vital to the future of our planet.
For a daily update on the Arctic ice visit http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
For news from Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic campaign visit www.greenpeace.org.uk/.
I blogged about my research trips here:
You can check out how I used my research to write Black Op and White Fear on my blog:
Characters
Writing about Norway
Squad Awards
2013 The Squad : Black Op wins the Solihull Children’s Book Award
2013 The Squad : Black Op shortlisted for the Leicester Libraries Our Best Book Award
2013 The Squad : White Fear listed in Chris Bradford’s “Top 5 books Every Child Should Read Before They’re 12″
Buy the books
Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available personalised to order from my local independent children’s bookshop “The Thoughtful Spot” here.
The Squad 1 : Black Op Amazon
The Squad 2 : White Fear Amazon
