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After looking after Charlie’s grandma’s chickens, best friends Charlie, Hannah, Izzie and Xa (Alexandra) form a secret club formed by the first letters of their names. They are the C.H.I.X. They wear a feather around their necks, look for adventure and swear an oath to never eat poultry!

Despite attracting the unwanted attention of a local boy-gang, known to the girls as the Foxes (Pygmies), ultimately they enjoy an easy-going boy-girl rivalry, eventually becoming good friends while always dealing with their own on-off friendships and family dramas.

The perfect chick-lit series for girls aged 10+ written by bestselling author, Cornelia Funke.

The original series of five books in Germany has sold more than a million copies where it has captured a generation of readers who have grown up with the series. Written with Funke’s inimitable blend of warmth, understanding, good sense and humour, the C.H.I.X series is bound to garner a whole new legion of fans in the UK.

Published April 2012.

It was a wonderful day, as warm and soft as chicken feathers. Unfortunately, it was also a Monday, and the huge clock above the school entrance was already showing quarter past nine as Charlie came speeding into the school playground.

‘Oh no,’ she muttered as she shoved her bike into the rusty bike stand and yanked her school bag from the basket. She raced up the steps and through the empty assembly hall.

On the staircase she nearly ran over Mr Mower, the caretaker.

‘Whoa!’ he spluttered, nearly choking on his cheese sandwich.

‘I’m sorry,’ mumbled Charlie, as she rushed on. Two more corridors and she stood, panting, in front of her classroom. Behind the door there was a deadly silence, as always when Mrs Rose was teaching. Charlie took a deep breath, then she knocked and opened the door.

‘Sorry, Mrs Rose,’ she mumbled. ‘I had to feed the chickens.’

Big Olly stared at her. Gorgeous Izzie arched her eyebrows, and Freddie, the class idiot, flapped his arms and crowed. Very funny.

‘Well, that’s an original excuse for a change,’ said Mrs Rose, pursing her red lips as she put a cross in a little notebook.

Glum-faced, Charlie went to her seat. She stuck her tongue out at Fred and sat down next to Xa (short for Alexandra), her very best friend.

‘You’ve got straw in your hair,’ whispered Xa. ‘Why did you have to feed the chickens? Is Grandma Slater sick?’

Charlie shook her head and yawned. ‘Gone to her sister’s. And now I have to get up an hour earlier every day to feed her chickens. A whole hour! Can you imagine?’

‘That’s quite enough whispering back there,’ called Mrs Rose, as she began to draw mysterious sums on the blackboard. Xa and Charlie ducked their heads down until their noses nearly touched their books.

‘But at least I had an idea,’ whispered Charlie.

‘Yeah?’ Xa looked worried. Charlie’s ideas were generally worse than the flu. And she was constantly hatching new ones.

‘Send a message to Hannah and Izzie,’ Charlie hissed out of the corner of her mouth. ‘Secret meeting, next break, girls’ toilets.’

Hannah and Izzie sat next to each other, three rows in front. They were both studiously staring at the blackboard.

‘Oh no,’ groaned Xa. ‘You’re not starting with that being-a-proper-gang stuff again?’

‘Write!’ hissed Charlie.

Xa had mastered the gang’s secret code perfectly, something that could definitely not be said of Charlie, even though she had invented it. Then again, she couldn’t even remember how to spell ‘teacher’ — with ‘ee’ or ‘ea’.

‘Right,’ said Mrs Rose. ‘Can I have someone at the blackboard, please?’

Xa ducked. Charlie stared intently at her textbook.

‘Any volunteers?’

‘What’s the password again?’ whispered Xa, tearing a page from her exercise book.

Charlie scrawled something on the table. Xa screwed up her face. ‘Huh? What’s that supposed to be?’

‘Duh. It’s a chicken,’ Charlie murmured. ‘And it’s the perfect password, OK? Hurry up!’

Mrs Rose was looking in their direction.

‘Freddie’s ready,’ Charlie called out. She rubbed out the wonky chicken with her thumb.

‘Ha, ha.’ Freddie slid deeper into his seat.

‘Done.’ Xa carefully folded up the piece of paper and slid it across the table towards Charlie.

‘Charlotte, how about you?’ said Mrs Rose.

‘Oh no, please, there’s no point, really,’ replied Charlie. ‘Honestly there isn’t, Mrs Rose.’

‘Charlotte! To the front, please!’ Mrs Rose’s eyebrows were slowly knitting together. They always did this when she got angry.

Charlie stood up and walked to the front of the class. She snatched the note from her desk and dropped it into Izzie’s lap. But hidden behind Mrs Rose’s round glasses was a pair of eagle-sharp eyes. ‘Isobel? Could I see that piece of paper?’ Izzie's face turned crimson and she handed over Charlie’s secret message.

‘Nekcihcdrowedockae rbtxenoolslrigehtnogniteem,’ Mrs Rose read out loud. ‘What on earth’s this?’

‘That’s Charlie’s stupid secret code,’ crowed Freddie. He was grinning so broadly that his ears were threatening to fall off. Charlie took a piece of chalk and stared at the blackboard, her lips pressed tightly together.

‘Well, if it’s secret,’ Mrs Rose folded up Charlie’s note and dropped it back into Izzie’s hand, ‘then it should remain secret. Charlotte, please begin.’

The rest of the lesson was pretty unpleasant for Charlie, but at least her secret code had given Freddie something to puzzle over.